If They Sold If I Did It
Distasteful is perhaps not strong enough a word to describe how some
booksellers feel about selling a book by O.J. Simpson, particularly one
called If I Did It. The ReganBooks title is scheduled to be
published November 30 and will be promoted on Fox TV in two segments
featuring Simpson interviewed by Judith Regan.
As Nancy Olson, owner of Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh,
N.C., put it: "Do we take a 'stand' on such a book, thereby sending our
customers who want to buy it to our competitors? Is this a form of
censorship? Or do we make it available without displaying it other than
having it on the shelf?" She added, "I'm disturbed to be put in such a
position. Freedom of the press notwithstanding, the way they're marketing
the book raises huge ethical questions. We all know the publishers are
desperate to make money on commercial books, but this takes the cake."
Late yesterday, Olson said, the store decided to sell the book but donate proceeds "to
Interact, a nonprofit here that shelters battered women and children."
Several California booksellers have also decided to sell the book but donate
the money earned from it to appropriate charities. Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena,
Calif., will give proceeds from If I Did It to the Nicole Brown
Foundation. "Although in the spirit of freedom of speech, we will be
carrying the book, we choose not to profit from it," general manager
Allison Hill wrote. "We'll have bookmarks in the book to let customers
know."
Green Apple Books, San Francisco, is donating proceeds to Casa de las
Madres, a local shelter for battered women and will use shelf talkers
to let customers know of the policy. Kevin Ryan called it "a good
solution because we still have the book but are making a statement at
the same time." He added the store had done this with several books,
beginning with former President Nixon's memoirs in 1978.
Kelly Justice, manager of Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, Va., told Shelf Awareness that the store has cancelled its order for If I Did It, which like other bookstores, it had to buy blind. Fountain will fulfill special orders for the book and quietly
donate proceeds to charity. She added that as of yesterday the store
had decided on a new policy: it will no longer purchase a title for
which the publisher gives no information. "It's been going on for
years, and I can't do my job like that," she said. "It's not
acceptable."
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In today's New York Times, Judith Regan offers some tortured explanations for publishing If I Did It,
which she called "his confession. I would have had no interest in
publishing anything but that." She stated that she had been the victim
of domestic abuse and wanted to expose abusers like Simpson. Moreover,
"We are all in the publishing business, and our business is to tell
stories about what is going on. This is a news event."
She was also remarkably vague about where the advance and royalty money
are going, saying that she had dealt with "a manager who represents a
third party" that owns rights to the story. "I was told that the money
would go to his children," she told the Times. "They said the
money was not going to Simpson," who owes more than $33.5 million in
uncollected civil court judgments to the families of his ex-wife,
Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman, whom he may or may not have
murdered.
This is one gorgeous cookbook, from the deep aqua and gold cover to the
tinted pages to the decorative art. And the photographs! My husband
opened the book to a full-page picture of Eggplant and Tomato Salad
(Batinjan Raheb), which absolutely glows with pomegranate seeds and
mint, said, "We have to make that!" and was off to the store in a
trice. We made it that night, and it was not only lovely but utterly
delicious. Spinach and Beans with Caramelized Onions (Sabanekh Bi
Loubia) will make you try spinach again: a simple dish that combines
the leafy green with haricot beans, chickpeas or black-eyed peas (the
best choice, in my biased opinion), the recipe again lives up to the
photo. I'm not a zucchini fan, but the depiction of Zucchini Fritters
(Kabak Mücveri), made with the addition of onion, mint, dill and feta,
has me seriously reconsidering my aversion. Arabesque makes good on the
promises of its illustrations, and is both a culinary and visual
pleasure.
This backlist title is new to me, but in a month will become part of my
essential cookbook library. The holidays are stressful, so why add to
the agita by attempting to make complicated recipes designed to
impress? The best holiday food, to my mind, is easy, comforting and
familiar. A few tweaks here and there are O.K., but don't go messing
with the dressing. A Roasted Pepper Tart appetizer with sour cream and
Parmesan cheese or Spicy Nut Nibble Mix with cumin, cayenne and
cinnamon sound yummily acceptable. The photograph of Roasted
Caramelized Onions is almost scented, it looks so good. Creamy Roasted
Yam Soup has whipping cream in it, a vital seasonal ingredient. The
Butter Tarts, with their filling of brown sugar and raisins, remind me
of the sugar pies my grandmother and mother made with brown sugar and
butter and leftover pie crust. The recipes in Walker's cookbook bring
to mind the kind of winter meals we either had or dreamed of having, no
matter what the holiday.
Nigel Slater's Toast is one of the best books about food and memory
that I have read. His new cookbook has the same evocative style and
content, and is sure to enchant both readers who cook and readers who
just eat. Sometimes his diary may create envy--few of us can say, "The
last fat, yellow leaves fell off the fig tree this morning, leaving
next year's buds at the tip of each gray branch, [while] the figs we
eat today are those sent by a kind reader, and we gorge on their
melting flesh like lushes."--or frustration that we can't get that
fabulous chorizo from the Brindisa shop in Exmouth Market. These
moments are offset by the wealth of marvelous recipes and easy,
graceful style: "Few sights lift the spirits like a crate of lemons
with their glossy leaves intact" leads into a recipe for Lemon and
Basil Linguine, where the sauce is "all about the sharpness of the
lemon tempered by the Parmesan [and] the fragrance of the basil . . .
it is sumptuous and incredibly simple." In December, "The smell of
white rice cooking, clean, nutty and warm, casts a serene peace over
the house. As if snow has fallen. Seasonings change with the day, but
tonight it is green cardamom, black cumin seed, cinnamon . . .
fleeting, intriguing, gentle." The Kitchen Diaries is reassuring,
familiar and cozy, and a delight to read.
Vij's is another lushly beautiful cookbook, awash in reds and oranges
and yellows. The food photographs could be a bit more plentiful for a
cook new to Indian cookery, but the instructions are clear, with
practical recommendations: Beef Tenderloin with Black Cumin Curry is
marinated in demerara sugar and tamarind; the cook is advised not to
use tenderloin if it's to be cooked well-done (it will be chewy), and
to roast more cumin seeds than the recipe calls for because it's
difficult to roast just one tablespoon at a time. With Curried Brussels
Sprouts with Paneer (a mild cheese) and Bacon, the authors explain why
thin bacon won't work after it's mixed with the curry, and recommend a
wine match, saying to start the wine while the Brussels sprouts are
cooking--excellent advice. Written by the husband and wife owners of
Vij's Restaurant in Vancouver, B.C., the book includes information
about Indian cuisine, stories about their lives, and innovative recipes
that will tempt you whether you are familiar with Indian cooking or a
novice.--Marilyn Dahl