Book news: a new store, celebrity books’ prospects, Sarah Silverman
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Veronique de Turenne visits the new Diesel bookstore in the Brentwood Country Mart. ‘The space is lovely, like a period library with crown molding, crisp white shelves and a walnut floor. And the books, oh, the books, an eclectic, surprising and deeply satisfying selection that seems impossible for the size of the store.’
Maybe they ought to steer away from celebrity memoirs, which really aren’t doing so well. At least, not in England. ‘HMV, which owns Waterstone’s, Britain’s largest bookstore, said that the popularity of celebrity books has weakened considerably in the current economic climate,’ the Telegraph reports.
Maybe celebrity essays are exempt? HarperCollins probably hopes so. The publisher paid $2.5 million for a book of essays by comedian Sarah Silverman. She decided this week to work with editor David Hirshey, who told the New York Observer:
‘I think we both see the book as Sarah bringing her overarching sunniness to life’s darker moments,’ Mr. Hirshey explained. ‘No comedienne out there is funnier about depression, death, religion or bed-wetting. It’s that juxtaposition of light and dark that will be at the heart of the book. Or, as I like to think of it: equal parts gravitas and gravlax.’
Agent Peter H. McGuigan is confident that celebrity books are one of the ways publishing will weather these upcoming times. ‘This is a much better time for celebrity books,’ he told Galleycat this week. McGuigan sold ‘Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World’ -- still on our bestseller list -- to Grand Central for $1.25 million. If Dewey wasn’t a celebrity before the book, the kitty sure is now.
-- Carolyn Kellogg
