BookPage: January Burning Questions

JANUARY 1997

Haven't heard from your favorite author in a while? Curious to know if another book is on the way? Send us a note (email and snail mail address below) and we'll see what we can find out for you. Each month the BookPage Burning Questions staff goes to the ends of the Earth and back again to find the answers to our readers' most burning questions. The answers are printed each month, both online as well as in our print edition. Go ahead, try to stump us!

Top Ten, part 1

Dear Burning Questions:
Out of curiosity, what are your ten favorite novels of all time? And what classic novel was so execrable that you would rather have your fingernails ripped off than read it again? Thank you for your anticipated response.
Scott R. Williams
Allentown, PA

For a long time Gone with the Wind topped the list, until our English teacher in eighth grade explained that we really should spend our time with something more substantial. That's when we discovered Irwin Shaw.

"Favorite" books, you say? We're not going out on the "of all time" branch because we're not dead yet. But here are top ten books we love, in no particular order.

Light in August by William Faulkner.
Extraordinary in every way.

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.
Completely shocking to read for the first time. It's "favorite" in the life-changing way.

World's End by T. Coraghessan Boyle.
Ancestral dirt set in the Hudson River Valley.

The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth.
A novel in verse set in San Francisco of the 1980s.

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje.
We admired this long before Ralph Fiennes got involved (though we don't begrudge his involvement a bit).

Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor.
Now we know what grotesque means.

Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe.
Hey, we're Southern.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
OK, so it's true crime. Quit picking.

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.
Such a gentle intelligence.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens.
Our favorite novel featuring spontaneous combustion.

And a special category for all the Mark Twain we have read and are yet to read.

Fingernail-ripping material:

Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne. It reads way too much like a conversation with our family.

The Ambassadors by Henry James. Gave us a great whacking headache from start to finish.

We invite readers to share their favorite novels with us. We'll start little coffee klatsch or something.

A distinct contender

Dear Burning Questions:
Nicholson Baker is such an incredible writer. Any news of new books?
via the Internet

Nicholson Baker is currently in England at work on a novel that will be published by Random House sometime in the near future. There is no publication date scheduled as of yet.

And another one

Dear Burning Questions:
Any idea about the timing of Richard Ford's next work of fiction and what it might be? I heard somewhere it was to be a book of novellas. Thanks.
via the Internet

You heard right. Alfred A. Knopf will be publishing a collection of three of Richard Ford's novellas entitled Women with Men. It's scheduled for May of 1997.

A new dose of Pern? You betcha

Dear Burning Questions:
I was wondering if Anne McCaffrey is planning on writing anymore Pern novels. I would understand if she is not, simply because the series has lasted for nearly 30 years, but I just cant seem to get enough of Pern!
Renee Fredette
Ft. Myers, Florida

The Pern novel Drangonseye by Anne McCaffrey will be released in February 1997 from Del Rey.

Here is a sneak peek from Del Rey's catalog:

"Thread: deadly silver strands that fall from the sky devouring every organic thing in their path. It's been 200 years since Thread supposedly fell on Pern, and since then the dragonriders have been practicing Threadfighting techniques learned by their besieged ancestors. Now the dragonriders must face an enemy they've never fought before -- and convince the nonbelievers of its powers."

Dave Robicheaux: collect the set

Dear Burning Questions:
I am writing to ask if you have any information on the top ten books ever sold. I know the Bible is number one. But I am really interested in the number two book. My friend said it was Dale Carnegiešs book How to Win Friends and Influence People. I disagreed.
Lisa Mettler
Port Richey, Florida

For help with this we turn, of course, to our favorite book from fifth grade, The Guinness Book of World Records. The fortieth anniversary edition has just been published (Guinness Media, Inc., $24.95, 096523830X), which does indeed confirm that the Bible is top dog.

Curiously, Guinness claims Guinness Book of World Records as the all-time best-selling book, when excluding non-copyright books, such as the Bible and the Koran. First published in October 1955 by the Guinness Brewery, its global sales in 37 languages had reached more than 79 million in April 1996

We continue to sleuth for the other eight, but in the meantime, here are some other tidbits.

Most weeks on the bestseller list: The longest duration on the New York Times bestseller list was The Road Less Traveled -- its 598th week on the list as of April 14, 1995. Over five million copies of the book, which is published by Touchstone, are currently in print.

Top-selling fiction author: Agatha Christie (1890-1976), whose 78 crime novels have sold an estimated 2 billion copies in 44 languages. Royalty earnings from her works are estimated to be worth $4.25 million per year.

Wondering why your favorite writer doesn't call, doesn't write anymore? Inquire with us, and we'll try to find out what's up: Burning Questions, 2501 21st Ave. South, Suite 5, Nashville, TN 37212. Or better yet, e-mail us at Burning_Questions@bookpage.com.

Alas, we regret that personal replies are not possible.

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