Sam Tanenhaus, editor of the New York Times Book Review, just published his evaluation of Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, which he called "a masterpiece of American fiction." He went on to say, "The family romance is as old as the English-language novel itself -- indeed is ontologically inseparable from it. But the family as microcosm or micro-history has become Franzen's particular subject, as it is no one else's today."

Ahem.

Allegra Goodman
Alice Hoffman
Barbara Kingsolver
Jhumpa Lahiri
Claire Messud
Sue Miller
Alice Munro
Mona Simpson
Elizabeth Strout

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First published in 1992, Daniel Pennac's The Right's of the Reader was retranslated into English and republished in 2008, with an introduction and illustrations by Quentin Blake. Passionate and funny, but never didactic, Pennac explores why we read, and most importantly, why we don't. His premise is summed up in his opening sentence... "You can't make someone read. Just as you can't make them fall in love or dream..."

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While stopped at a traffic light yesterday, I noticed a puttering station wagon next to me with a little old lady in a floppy gardening hat behind the wheel. I could just make out her profile as she peered out her windshield patiently waiting for the light to change.

My obstructed view was not due to her petite stature or an advanced stage of osteoporosis, mind you, but rather from the climbing stacks of old newspapers, rotting stuffed animals, cardboard boxes, blankets, and foils in differing states of decomposition; overall, a stockpile that threatened to bust out the windows and swallow her whole.

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If you are an author, published or not, there are two new Twitter hashtags that you'll likely want to follow: #waystoimpressbooksellers and #dearpublisher. The latter will probably be of passing interest to many book lovers as well, as will the often funny #bookstorebingo.

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Following on from my earlier post, "Overheard in a Bookstore", here's a link to some more gems; this time collected by Shelf Awareness, including:

"I definitely don't want nonfiction. I like autobiographies and history."

"This is the only bookstore I've ever been in that didn't have a popcorn machine."

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There have been mumblings in certain quarters recently suggesting that libraries are a waste of money in this day and age.

Pardon me, but I beg to differ; and this is why:

• Two-thirds of Americans have a library card.
  
  
• Every day 300,000 Americans get job-seeking help at their public library.
  
  
• 13,000 public libraries offer career assistance. By comparison, the US Department of Labor offers 3,000 career centers.
  
  
• Americans are six times more likely to visit a public library than they are to attend a live sporting event. US public libraries receive 1.4 billion visits annually.
  
  
• Small business owners and employees use public library resources 2.8 million times each month to support their businesses.
  
  
• 5,400 public libraries offer free technology classes - that's more technology training classes than there are computer training businesses in the US. Every day, 14,700 people attend free library computer classes - a retail value of $2.2 million.
  
  
• Every day, 225,000 people use library meeting rooms at a retail value of $11 million. There are more meeting rooms available at public libraries than there are meeting rooms in all the US conference centers, convention facilities and auditoriums combined.
  
  
• Most public libraries offer internet access - a vital resource for the approximate 1 in 4 people who do not have internet access at home.
  
  
• Every day, US libraries circulate 7.9 million items. That's more materials than FedEx ships worldwide.
  
  

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