Am I going to be the last person in North America to read Anthony Doer's All the Light We Cannot See? I'm starting to think so.
For whatever reason/s, I was very slow even to become aware of the novel's existence. Then, when I put it on hold at my county library, I was awarded hold number 360, meaning that 359 readers were already stacked up ahead of me. That was on September 12, 2014 - and, as of today, twenty-one of those people are still ahead of me.
Honestly, I still know very little about the book because I've been reluctant to read even the description that's on its dust-jacket. What I know is that it is hugely popular with the library crowd, and that it is on bestseller and end-of-year lists everywhere I look. That makes me want to pick up All the Light We Cannot See as "cold" as possible so that I can judge the book by its merits and not by what others have been saying about it since last May.
But for the benefit of the handful of readers in the world who might still be as uninformed about the book as I am, here are a couple of short videos that just might put the book atop a few more TBR stacks. First, this one in which the author describes his inspiration for the novel:
And, then this one, in which Mr. Doer reads a short chapter from the book:
No, I've not read it yet either but I did have it out from the library very briefly. It only went back as I wanted to start with a clean slate and read from my shelves this year, but I do look forward to it eventually..... I have heard many good things about it!
ReplyDeleteMost of the comments about the book I've seen, Danielle, are absolute raves...should be interesting.
DeleteSam, thank you for this posting. Amazingly, you have hit upon a book that I have picked up in the bookstore so many times -- flipping though it and finding it intriguing. And I must admit that initially I was drawn in by what I think is a beautiful book cover, and alluring title. Now, after watching the video clips of the author, this one goes on my Wishlist.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can relate to what you are saying about lengthy waiting lines for Library books. I have often been on such lists, way back in the 2 or 300's... waiting, waiting for a popular book. Here in my City, we have "Express" items also, meaning certain limited copies that circulate, and you can only get them if you are THERE and they're on the Express shelf. But they don't last long, obviously. You can't reserve them, in other words. So, when they coincide with the very book I've been waiting for -- and I'll see online that someone has just returned one of the Express copies.... well, I have even left work and driven like a madman to the other end of the city to nab the thing. Sometimes I get it, and sometimes I'm too late. But whether I get the thing or not, always on the drive back to reality [and at normal speed levels, and stopping for red lights now] it always runs through my mind, like the voice of a psychiatrist... "Dude, you are nuts about books!"
Coincidentally, I was notified by email just yesterday that the book is finally "in transit" to my local branch of the county system, so it won't be long now before I finally get a reading copy of the thing.
ReplyDeleteHey, Cip, at least your shrink is willing to qualify his statement that you "are nuts" by adding "about books." Could be a lot worse...just saying.
That express system thing sounds pretty cool...sort of like winning the lottery. My library slips up every once in a great while and does that exact same thing by accident. Twice I've stumbled upon a book that still had a list of forty or fifty people on hold, me included...at least I think it's an accident. Maybe one of the library staff people just wants to have a little fun with us...