Sunday Salon: New books or old books?

-
Happy Sunday, everyone! It's the wonderful time of year in upstate New York when it's sunny and spring-like during the day and still crisp and wintery at night. For me, it's the best of both worlds. I can spend time outside reading during the day and still snuggle in at night. I've had a hectic few months, but our new apartment is getting more put together each day, which gives me (thankfully) more time to read. Mr. Nomadreader and I are off to meet a friend for brunch on the Wine Bar & Bistro on Lark's fantastic patio, which is even better now that we live close enough to walk. After brunch I'm looking forward to an afternoon and evening full of relaxation and reading. I'm currently devouring Sara Gran's quirky, dark, and beautifully written forthcoming mystery Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, which is set in post-Katrina New Orleans. I'm also hoping to start The Twisted Thread by Charlotte Bacon today.

New or Old?
My Waiting on Wednesday pick this week was the forthcoming novel by Lydia Millet, Ghost Lights. I first read Millet last April after she was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist. As soon as I heard she had a new book, I rushed to know more about it. When I discovered it included a character from a previous novel, I got to thinking. When did I become anti-backlist?


For years, I kept a list of authors whose works I wanted to Read Every Word. About once a month, I would search Books in Print to see when they had new novels coming out, but I also got caught up on their already published titles. The world of book blogging has made me more aware of publishing trends. In many ways, I'm more aware than ever. I correctly predicted a third of the Orange Prize longlist. In some ways, however, I'm less knowledgeable than in my days as an independent bookseller. Even at an independent bookstore in an affluent, well-educated Atlanta neighborhood, we mostly sold bestsellers. I could list the titles and order of all the typical bestselling authors. Now? I'm a little out of the loop, and I'm okay with that. I'm a literary fiction devotee, and I love being part of the conversation.

When The New York Times named their five best fiction picks for 2010, I had already read all three novels (short stories interest me less, as we all know.) Tomorrow, the Pulitzer Prizes will be awarded. I'm hoping I've read at least one of the three. There is a certain level of gratification that comes from being an evangelist for a book before others are. There's a joy in being part of the conversation about contemporary literary fiction. I have no plans of leaving the conversation anytime soon, but I do want to incorporate more backlist reading.

A New Goal: Backlist Reading
I'm adding a new reading goal for 2011: read at least one backlist title a month. I may find it browsing the shelves at my wonderful public library (I do love now being a few blocks from the downtown branch with the city's biggest collection) or I may choose to explore the older titles of authors I've enjoyed. Either way, I'm determined to squeeze in at least one backlist title among the new releases I enjoy each month.

Now tell me: do you prefer new releases or backlist titles? 

As an affiliate, I receive a very, very small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you for helping to support my book habits that bring more content to this blog!

Comments

  1. JennyApril 17, 2011 at 10:30 AM

    I love the new titles I think because it's fun to have read all the new stuff and be able to talk about it. I like trying to keep up with the trends in books. But before blogging, I, too, was devoted to collecting and reading an author's entire backlist if I liked them. I would keep track on an excel spreadsheet of what I had and hadn't read, LOL! I just recently read a backlist title (Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones) and loved it so that was motivation to try to be more conscious of that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. (Diane) Bibliophile By the SeaApril 17, 2011 at 12:04 PM

    I always preferred to read the latest released titles, but I've grown tired of seeing so many reviews on the same book, that I am trying to read some of my older books now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Clare DudmanApril 17, 2011 at 3:21 PM

    Yes, same here, I suppose I try to do a little of everything: at the moment I am working through Haruki Murakami's back list, but like Jenny I do like feeling part of the loop when I've read something that's new and wins an award. I feel I've championed it a little. Then I feel I ought to try and support other writers that write really good books and don't get publicised at all. Ah, it's a hard choice;-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. JennaApril 17, 2011 at 5:25 PM

    Lately, I've been reading more older titles, since more of my recent purchases have been from used/thrift stores. However, there is definitely an appeal to having read the newest releases and being able to talk about them with fellow bloggers. Also, it's nice to get to a book before it gets so over hyped that I get weary of reading it for fear of disappointment.

    ReplyDelete
  5. TiApril 17, 2011 at 5:26 PM

    I don't like to read what everyone else is reading, although it happens all the time. For that reason I prefer backlist titles.

    ReplyDelete
  6. LBCApril 18, 2011 at 12:37 AM

    I am a new follower of your blog. This is a great question. I get distracted by new titles now that I blog, but I often wish I spent more time dedicating myself to reading more deeply. I think your plan to alternate a bit is a good one.

    Also, my new books often become backlist books, because there are too many of them.

    ReplyDelete
  7. nomadreaderApril 18, 2011 at 11:34 AM

    @Jenny - Tayari Jones is an author I've been meaning to read for years. I bought Leaving Atlanta for my Kindle and am looking forward to reading it this summer!

    @Diane - I'm also loving the luxury of 4-week checkouts on older books at the library instead of 7-day. It gives me more freedom to read what I want to!

    @Claire - If only we could read and write for a living, right? Murakami is an author I hope to read for the first time this year too.

    @Jenna - I love being an early champion of books too. It's nice to have the freedom of backlist titles too!

    @LBC - Welcome! I have the same problem of wanting to read far too many new books that they are old by the time I read them!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Happy reading!

Popular posts from this blog

book review: A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

-
Image
The backstory: A Dangerous Place  is the eleventh historical mystery featuring Maisie Dobbs. My reviews of the other eleven (plus Winspear's stand alone historical novel) are in my Book Review Database . The basics: Set four years after the last Maisie Dobbs novel, Leaving Everything Most Loved , in A Dangerous Place , we meet up with Maisie in Gibraltar in 1927 during the Spanish Civil War. She gets off her England-bound ship in Gibraltar because she's not quite ready to return. Note: this review contains spoilers about what happened in those four years of Maisie's life between books, all of which are revealed in this novel's first thirty pages.  My thoughts: Sunday I wrote about the Maisie Mail I received. These postcards appear in the book itself, along with many others. After setting the stage in Gibraltar in the opening pages (Maisie stumbles upon a dead body), Winspear recounts the last four years of Maisie's life in the form of postcards, letters, an
Read more

book review: Run by Ann Patchett

-
Image
The backstory: After loving State of Wonder  ( my review ), I set out to read all of Ann Patchett's books. The basics: Run  is the story of the Doyle family: Bernard, an Irish Catholic ex-mayor of Boston, his deceased wife Bernadette, their adult son Sullivan, and their two adopted college ages sons, Tip and Teddy, who are biological brothers. My thoughts: I'm beginning to think Ann Patchett is my soul sister. Her writing reaches me deeply, and I've adored everything she's written. It was a special treat to read Run , the novel of hers I knew the least about going in. Although I had the framework of two of her novels and one memoir, I didn't know what to expect. Run  isn't as universally loved as some of her other works, so I was particularly curious to see how it measured up. Admittedly, Run  started off slowly for me. It took two chapters to really get into the heart of the story, but once it happened, I was hooked. One of the things I love most about
Read more

book review: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

-
Image
The backstory: Gilead  won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2004, and was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2006. The basics: As Rev. Ames nears the end of his life in the 1950's, he begins a letter to his young son because Ames realizes his son is too young to really know him. Gilead  is that letter. My thoughts: Gilead  is a novel I'm been meaning to read for years. It's a character-driven, Midwestern narrative by one of our best contemporary writers. It should be a novel I love, yet I struggled to finish it and admit I was wowed by neither the story nor the writing. Gilead  seemed almost stream-of-consciousness at first. I appreciated that Robinson jumped right in: this novel is a letter from father to son; the reader's ignorance of these two characters is not the focus. As the novel progressed, more details began to be filled in, and the reader begins to understand the characters, setting and purpose. I enjoyed the fir
Read more