Biblioracle: With the flood of new books, don’t overlook these 6 titles
Regular readers will recall my annual frustration with the flood of new books that arrive in the fall season as if readers are only capable of paying attention to books...
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Biblioracle: Inflation is the big story of the moment, with book prices the exception
Here's a quick quiz, no cheating. If a hardcover book published by Simon & Schuster in 1972 had a price of $7.95, which price best reflects what this book would...
Biblioracle: Now’s your chance to buy items once owned by Joan Didion, from books to art to paper clips
I'm sitting here wondering if Joan Didion had a clock radio. Let me back up and explain. In 2019, I wrote a column about an auction of the late author...
Biblioracle: Publishing has not seen a phenomenon like Colleen Hoover and ‘It Starts with Us’ in years
Colleen Hoover's "It Starts with Us," a sequel to 2016's "It Ends with Us," sold an astounding 800,000 copies on the first day of its release, a number that includes...
Biblioracle: Rediscovering Chicago writer Thomas Rogers and his ‘Confession’
I want to tell you all a story about how I discovered a "forgotten" Chicago writer in a central Pennsylvania college town, and how coincidence and connection have introduced me...
Biblioracle: ‘The Last Chairlift’ is said to be John Irving’s last big novel. His books have always felt personal.
When I received an email from a publicist offering me an advance copy of John Irving's "last novel," I jumped at the chance. John Irving has been an important writer...
Biblioracle: Data on book sales is murky. But more numbers may not be the best solution.
If you think about it, isn't it a little strange that we, the public, generally have very little idea how many copies of individual books are sold? Movies report the...
Biblioracle: Elizabeth Strout’s ‘Lucy Barton’ series shows how sometimes just one sequel isn’t enough
Earlier this year I wrote about the inherent — small, but not insignificant — letdown that comes when a sequel arrives for a beloved book, how the update has a...
Biblioracle: These things happened during Banned Books Week, reason enough to sound the alarm again
I am writing this column during Banned Books Week. I know what you're thinking, John should have gotten his act together and written his column about Banned Books Week in...
Biblioracle: Adam Langer’s ‘Cyclorama’ shows how books can reveal hidden things about the places we know best
You think you know the place you grew up in — in my case, the northern suburbs of Chicago — but then a novel comes along that makes you see...