Country Driving : A Chinese Road Trip

Getting a new book from a favourite author sends a tingle down my spine. It is almost like renewing a conversation with an friend you haven't seen in a while. You know in advance more or less what you are going to talk about, but you are excited to break new ground and catch up on the last year or so.

These were my feeling when the new book by Peter Hessler 'Country Driving : A Chinese Road Trip ' arrived in the latest shipment.

Hessler's first book, River Town, won the Kiriyama Award for writing about Asia. In it he recounts the two years he spent as a volunteer English teacher on the River Yangtze. What I admired most about the book was the elegance of the writing. Hessler knows exactly where to insert himself into the picture to bring his characters and stories to life. He writes with insight, sensitivity and killer wit.

You might have the impression that I enjoyed it.

In this new book Hessler recounts his seven years of travels around the country by car. It is divided into three parts. (At least I assume it is three. I still have about 50 pages left.) In the first part he drives along parts of the Great Wall and narrates the history of the monument and the lives of the people who live beside it. Next he offers insights into the life of the rural community which he retreated to for his writing. The final segment he views Chinese economic growth through the lives of two entrepeneurs, and their migrant workforce, who establish a factory in an economic development zone.

This book effortlessly lifted me from of the day-to-day and had me reading until the early hours of the morning.

Speech to the Geneva Writer's Group

An excerpt from a speech I made recently to the GWG:

It seems strange as a bookseller to be speaking to a room of writers. We sit at opposite ends of a long and complicated supply chain. I am wondering what I can say to you, other than 'We have enough books now. Please stop writing.'

I thought I would begin by answering the most common question that people ask me, 'Why did you open a bookshop?' When I hear this question I often read the sub-text as, 'With all the bookshops closing around the world, why did you begin the quixotic adventure when it is sure to end in bankruptcy, public humiliation and possibly madness?' (As writers I am sure you are often asked the same thing.)

My answer, and I suspect your answer too, is that we do it because we love it. And if you are passionate about something you tend to do it as well as possible.

But if you are a bookshop owner you need something else, a sound business case. You ask yourself, 'If my rent is this much, and my salary is this much, then how many books will I need to sell..?' Assuming, therefore, that you place a high value on books, and you have convinced yourself of the business case, then one day you find yourself standing behind a till, waiting for the customers to arrive and thinking, 'Is this the biggest mistake of my life?'

The customers do come. They mess up the displays, ask awkward questions. Occasionally someone might even buy a book. And if you are lucky and your in-comings are greater than your outgoings, even if the difference is only sixpence, then in that six pence you find something very precious: happiness. And that is when the fun of independent book selling begins.

The bookshop supports, and is supported by, three book clubs which we have set up. We also supply books to numerous other clubs throughout Lausanne. We have a children's book club, although it is probably better described as a book riot. We run cultural events, author readings and have even helped to launch other small businesses.

Everyday you make connections, putting people in touch with one another. Very soon you find yourself close to, if not at the very heart of, a community of book lovers.

That is the thrill. That is the passion. Walking into a bookshop.

So, if you accept these arguments about the value of a bookshop you should ask yourself why you buy online. Sometimes, not always, you may save yourself a few francs. But those francs are reinvested in your community. You feel the benefits many times over.

It does not even have to be an independent bookshop. Go to a chain bookshop if you like. Or to a knowledgeable, modestly priced, friendly, fun-loving, shit-kicking independent. It's up to you. But please go to a bookshop.

I know I was flippant when I began this speech. Keep writing, keep loving it. Stay foolish.

The Flavor Bible

It seems appropriate to review the book that prompted me to start the blog: 'The Flavor Bible' by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg.

This is not a traditional cookery book. It is something even better. Page and Dornenburg spent eight years speaking to the top chefs in the US. They were trying to work out which ingredients produced the best flavors when used together. In short, they were looking for deliciousness.

What they have published are the results of almost a decade of research. Take a food, almost any food, and the book will describe the taste and then list a long line of ingredients that bring out or compliment the flavor.

I think the book is for amateur and professional cooks who want to create their own dishes or improve their culinary intuition. While it does provide information on how to cook a particular food it does not contain recipes.

Look out for this title. I think it is going to join 'The Silver Spoon' and 'Culinary Artistry' as a classic cook book.

You can hear me talking about this book on World Radio Switzerland (WRS) here. If you are thinking of buying it then consider your local, independent bookstore.

Obligatory First Post

Owning a bookstore gives you a different perspective on books. When the postman brings you about 500 new books a week you start to think of them more like book-shaped objects. You weigh them, price them, index them, use them to cosh your colleagues with. Then you go home and think, 'I've got nothing to read!'. I am not joking. I forget to take them home and am stuck with the books I have read a hundred times before.

Then the other day I recommended a book and sparked a trans-Atlantic conversation email exchange between half-a-dozen people I hardly knew. It reminded me of the power of books. Characters from fiction that rely on you, the reader, to imagine them into life. These facets of your imagination who can amuse you, bore or annoy you, disappoint and uplift. Or non-fiction titles that lead you down new roads and can introduce you to parts of yourself you had not considered before.

Books, beautiful books. A lifetime of reading. And let us not forget sharing. Recommending books is a privilege. This is not a decision between the red dress and the green one. This is the choice between Paul Auster and Jane Austin. Coe and Coehlo. While the answer for books and clothes happens to be the same - 'Why not take both?' - the question is the most crucial part of the equation. 'What shall I read?'. I hope this blog might offer you some assistance.

But, be warned.

I am a picky reader. If on the first page - or in some cases the first line - the author uses a cliché then I drop the book. I don't care if it is a New York Times bestseller or if it 'changed your life'. I want writers to be craftspeople and storytellers. They must have something to say and be able to say it well. The same is true for non-fiction. Either the idea you have is book-length or it shouldn't be published in that format. Repetition doesn't make an idea better or more compelling.

Along the way I hope to give some insights of what it is like to own a bookstore. I imagine some of my more exuberant customers will force their way onto these pages. For myself, I want to fall in love with literature again. Repeat after me, 'I am a book, I am not an ISBN number'.