This Is Novel

Stopped by Square Books yesterday and picked up a copy of ANGELA SLOAN, the brand new novel by James Whorton, Jr., to which I have been looking forward. I bet it's going to be great! There's an "author Q & A" at the back of the book, and the first thing he mentions is C-Span! That's Jim Whorton for you! I tried not to read too much of the Q & A because I want to be surprised. But I did skim over it. I notice that Whorton says Nixon hired people to shout "traitor" at Donald Sutherland! When asked what he wants people to learn from his book, he replies, "give an old man a break sometime." And the last thing he mentions is the interesting squirrel population in his neighborhood. All of this makes me miss Jim Whorton. Before I bought ANGELA SLOAN, I went upstairs and checked on my recommendation shelf. It has sold NINETEEN BOOKS so far, which is a world record for selling things. Recent titles to fly off the shelf include SMONK and CITRUS COUNTY, not that they needed any help. Say, that's a good tip for you recommendation shelf stockers: be like me and recommend stuff people want to buy anyway!