Steve Brumfield, owner of Manteo Booksellers in Manteo, N.C., on the
Outer Banks, responds to a series of queries we will occasionally ask
people in the business. Herewith questions and his answers:
On nightstand now:
The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant, The Complete Short Novels of Chekhov, Russian in 10 Minutes a Day and Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend Is Laid by Malcolm Lowry
Favorite book when you were a child:
The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene DuBois
Top five authors:
Paul Bowles, Milan Kundera, Jane Austen, Fyodor Dostoevsky, John Fowles
Book you've "faked" reading:
In college I'm sure I "faked" any textbook I was assigned to read.
Book you are an "evangelist" for:
"Evangelist" would not fit my personality But I'm most apt to "evangelize" classic literature like Flaubert, Tolstoy, Steinbeck, etc. These are the books most often "faked" I'm afraid, and they're really not to be missed.
Book you've bought for the cover:
I'm just the opposite of this statement. Instead of covers "selling" me on a book, ones that have holes cut in them and other gimmicks actually make me avoid themI can't think of any cover enticing me to buy the book.
Book that changed your life:
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Favorite line from a book:
Unfortunately I've never memorized a line from any book.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Any book by Jane Austen
On nightstand now:
The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant, The Complete Short Novels of Chekhov, Russian in 10 Minutes a Day and Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend Is Laid by Malcolm Lowry
Favorite book when you were a child:
The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene DuBois
Top five authors:
Paul Bowles, Milan Kundera, Jane Austen, Fyodor Dostoevsky, John Fowles
Book you've "faked" reading:
In college I'm sure I "faked" any textbook I was assigned to read.
Book you are an "evangelist" for:
"Evangelist" would not fit my personality But I'm most apt to "evangelize" classic literature like Flaubert, Tolstoy, Steinbeck, etc. These are the books most often "faked" I'm afraid, and they're really not to be missed.
Book you've bought for the cover:
I'm just the opposite of this statement. Instead of covers "selling" me on a book, ones that have holes cut in them and other gimmicks actually make me avoid themI can't think of any cover enticing me to buy the book.
Book that changed your life:
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Favorite line from a book:
Unfortunately I've never memorized a line from any book.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Any book by Jane Austen