A bit of an itinerant in the book business, in a 25-year career Kevin
Morrissey has worked at a half-dozen bookstores including Gringolet
Books, Minneapolis, Minn., the Hungry Mind, St. Paul, Minn., and
Canterbury Books, Madison, Wis.; three publishing houses (Oxford
University Press, Clark City Press and Minnesota Historical Society
Press); one wholesaler (Pacific Pipeline); and now a literary journal, the Virginia Quarterly Review. Here he answers questions we occasionally put to people in the industry:
On your nightstand now:
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan and the obligatory stack of New Yorkers.
Favorite book when you were a child:
I have to admit that I was one of those geeks who liked reading the encyclopedia, but I do remember devouring all the Henry and Ribsy books by Beverly Cleary.
Your top five authors:
John McPhee, Ian Frazier, Tobias Wolff, Lawrence Weschler, Michael Ruhlman
Book you've "faked" reading:
The Chicago Manual of Style. I can say I've read most of it (had to for a job at a book typesetting firm), but have yet to complete it.
Book you are an "evangelist" for:
Recent: Fiasco by Thomas Ricks
Old fave: Driving and Drinking by David Lee
Book you've bought for the cover:
Ooh-la-la (Max in Love) by Maira Kalman
Favorite book about books:
The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
Favorite line from a book:
"They threw me off the hay truck about noon." (The opening line from James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice.)
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Stop Time by Frank Conroy
Guilty Pleasures:
All the mysteries by Ross Thomas (kudos to Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's for bringing these back into print)
On your nightstand now:
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan and the obligatory stack of New Yorkers.
Favorite book when you were a child:
I have to admit that I was one of those geeks who liked reading the encyclopedia, but I do remember devouring all the Henry and Ribsy books by Beverly Cleary.
Your top five authors:
John McPhee, Ian Frazier, Tobias Wolff, Lawrence Weschler, Michael Ruhlman
Book you've "faked" reading:
The Chicago Manual of Style. I can say I've read most of it (had to for a job at a book typesetting firm), but have yet to complete it.
Book you are an "evangelist" for:
Recent: Fiasco by Thomas Ricks
Old fave: Driving and Drinking by David Lee
Book you've bought for the cover:
Ooh-la-la (Max in Love) by Maira Kalman
Favorite book about books:
The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
Favorite line from a book:
"They threw me off the hay truck about noon." (The opening line from James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice.)
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Stop Time by Frank Conroy
Guilty Pleasures:
All the mysteries by Ross Thomas (kudos to Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's for bringing these back into print)