Translated from the French by Alison Anderson
Five words from the blurb: place, books, envy, secret, literary
A Novel Bookstore revolves around a secret committee, established to select the finest books for a new shop. This book shop will not sell new releases, but will only stock books specifically selected by the committee because of their importance and their ability to move and influence the reader.
For as long as literature has existed, suffering, joy, horror and grace, and everything that is great in humankind has produced great novels. These exceptional books are often not very well known, and are in constant danger of being forgotten, and in today’s world, where the number of books being published is considerable, the power of marketing and the cynicism of business have joined forces to keep those extraordinary books indistinguishable from millions of insignificant, not to say pointless books.
A Novel Bookstore is billed as a mystery because members of the committee receive threats and then suffer violent attacks, but anyone looking for a mystery will be disappointed as this aspect of the book is minor and ultimately disappointing.
The main benefit of this novel is that it recommends a large number books to the reader.
Among the books he wanted for The Good Novel were Dernier amour, by Christian Gailly, which, blown away, he mentioned to me; Sous réserve, a first novel by Hélène Frappat; and, among the foreign novels, short stories by Roberto Bolano. Francesca liked Tristano muore by Antonio Tabucchi, La réfutation majeure, by Pierre Senges, and more than anything, Segalen’s complete Correspondence, published at last.
The main problem, for the English reader, is that most are unavailable in this country. Some books are mentioned briefly, others described at length, but all the ones that intrigued me were impossible to track down.
In a Bengalese novel that I love, The Night on the Shore, the author devotes twelve pages to a description of the preparation of a traditional rich dish for weddings. It’s an unforgettable passage.
This is, perhaps, the point the book is trying to prove. These gems of literature are buried under a sea of averageness and only those with a specialist knowledge will be aware of their existence.
Most blog readers will be familiar with debates about what makes a book important and whether or not readers are wasting their time by reading lighter, more entertaining books, but if you are interested in these discussions you’ll find plenty to hold your attention in this book. I thought the arguments were put across very well, but I had heard all the points before and found reading over 400 pages of them a bit tedious.
This is a book for literature lovers and I’m sure the dream of owning a perfect bookshop will resonate with a lot of people, but although I found some aspects of the literature debate interesting I thought this book was too long for its weak plot.
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The thoughts of other bloggers:
While acknowledging that it is highly flawed…I also have to acknowledge that Cossé created a very appealing nook for a book lover to read in for a while. Nonsuch Book
….an engaging read which held my interest, despite the basic implausibility of the story…. A Common Reader
…it makes me think about what reading means to me, what novels mean to me, what writing means to me. Of Books and Reading
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I love books about books. This one reminds me a little (only a little) of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, which I liked a lot. (The mystery element of that was not as strong as the rest of the novel, also.)
Maxine, I enjoyed The Thirteenth Tale too! This book is very different to that. I’d almost count A Novel Bookstore as a non-fiction book – in fact it would have been far better had it gone down that route and removed all the mystery elements. If you enjoy books about books then this is a good choice as it contains loads of discussions about the importance of books and book shops.
I’ve been curious about this one, and actually yours is the first review I’ve read. Appreciate your thoughts.
Diane, Glad to be of help
I’ve seen some very, uh, SPIRITED discussions about this book. I think that most of it is really tongue-in-cheek, poking fun at how high brow some book lovers can be. This would certainly make you ponder our own behaviors towards books we deem as fluff. (Like, how I sneer at some authors. Bad Sandy.) But I wasn’t convinced enough to grab it.
Sandy, I’ve missed the spirited discussions. *heads off to find a few now that I’ve read the book* I can see why it would cause debate as there are a lot of interesting points raised, but I can also see why you’re not convinced about it – there are as many pluses as there are minuses
I love books about books, too. Was recently reading about this one on amazon and was surprised to see that it’s over 400 pages long. I still may get to at at some point.
JoAnn, Yes. I think the length is one of the biggest problems with this book. It might have been quite good with 150 pages cut out. If you enjoy books about books then I think you’ll find a lot to enjoy.
I’m not sure why I was never tempted by this one. I saw the book list but since I don’t only read in English I wasn’t aware that the books were hard to find in English. I’m surprised it was translated in that case.
I think the length put me off as it didn’t sound as there was all that much of a plot.
I do prefer non-fiction about books or something like The Jane Austen Book Club, entertaining but still about books. “Good taste” is something I find suspicious and it sounds as if this is the concept this book is based on. Sounds like rules and regulations.
Caroline, I wasn’t aware that books were difficult to find in English until I read this book. I think it is a sad reflection of how few translated books are read in this country. As you read books in different languages you’ll probably find this one a lot more useful than I did.
I was very intrigued to see what you thought of this one, as I have hovered over buying it for months but haven’t been sure I would like it. I could at least read the French authors it recommends! But then I do have quite a few unread French books already… On the whole I don’t think I’ll try this one. I would be very frustrated by the weak mystery plot.
litlove, A lot of the authors recommended in this book are not French – authors from a fascinating range of countries are mentioned. I assume that all have been translated into French though, so you’d have a wealth of new suggestions to try. I would recommend that you got this book, but you’d probably be better off treating it as a piece of reference material. Perhaps wait and see if you stumble across a copy that you can look at, rather than rushing off to order it online?
I’ll very grudgingly concede that you are essentially right here, but I still loved the book. Not for the mystery aspects which were fun, but for the details about how the bookstore worked. Reading it was a bit like getting the chance to run the sort of bookstore I’d like to run if I could run a bookstore. That is was a bookstore in Paris only added to my wish-fulfillment.
I guess the mystery elements added to my wish-fulfillment, too.
cbjames, I can see why the details of running a bookstore interested you. Perhaps my problem was that I had too much knowledge and so found nothing new to excite me? I’m pleased you enjoyed it so much and hope that one day you get your own bookstore to run
I’ve been wanting to read this book, and now I’m not so sure. 3.5 stars from you means I may like it 3 or less – as I think it’s a topic that appeals more to you than to me (although I do find it interesting too).
Judith, I have no idea what you’d think of this book! In fact, I’d like to know so that I have a better gauge of your reading taste.
Well, I would like to run a book store (like cbjames) but this sounds a little too literary for me. I’d love a second-hand book store with coffee and cake!
Anyway, I have no idea either whether I’d like the book. I like the premise for sure!
Judith, Coffee and cake sounds good! I also think I’d prefer a second hand shop – they have more character than a shop lined with new books that I’m always scared to touch.
This book is quite easy to read, but the large number space dedicated to literary arguement may well be too much for you. I think that, like me, you’d have mixed thoughts on it.
I’m sure most readers have a secret fantasy of owning a bookstore. It sounds like my bookstore would not have a lot of crossover with this one!
Jenners, I actually think my ideal bookstore would be very similar to this one – although I’d have a large childrens section in mine.*dreams of perfect bookshop*
this is on my TBR, having read about it on another blog, as it intrigued me.
parrish, I look forward to seeing what you make of it.
I love the premise and have had it on the wish-list for a while now. I’m curious about this issue around “forgotten classics”. Have you hear of the Project Gutenberg Project? We’re trying to unearth some of them
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Alex, I have heard of Project Gutenberg, but I don’t know a great deal about it. You should do a post on it so we can all learn a bit more
I have this one on my to read list right now. I think I was hoping for a bit more mystery, which is unfortunate it’s not there, but at least I’ve been warned. Thanks for the review, I’ll still read the book but maybe I won’t rush to put it at the top of my to read list!
Shan, This book has a lot of positives so I’m sure you’ll get something from reading it. I look forward to seeing what you make of it.
I read this book sometime ago (review also up on my blog) and enjoyed it very much.