Valerie Koehler, for close to 11 years owner of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Tex., a general neighborhood bookstore, writes from her messy desk about the books which surround her. Here she answers questions we occasionally put to people in the industry:
On your nightstand now:
At last count, 35 books! (It's a large, round table). Actively reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell, Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls by Meg Cabot, Audrey Wait! by Robin Benway, Intellectual Devotional (all year) and underneath the table, the Harper spring/summer picture book galley box.
Favorite book when you were a child:
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. I really wanted to live in the museum!
Your top five authors:
In no particular order, Haven Kimmel, Ann Patchett, Marianne Wiggins, Mary Doria Russell and Lois Lowry.
Book you've faked reading:
Many! Most notably, Wuthering Heights. I saw the movie starring Laurence Olivier about 50 times in high school but never got around to reading the book. And I really don't remember reading The Catcher in the Rye.
Book you are an evangelist for:
Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins. For this fall, The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson. For everybody, Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings. I have personally recommended it so many times that it has been adopted our local school district.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Conner. And I wasn't wrong--every customer who has ever picked it up has bought it.
Book that changed your life:
Gone With the Wind. I read it in three days over Christmas break in high school and that's when I knew that I craved stories and that I would never be bored so long as I had a good book. My know-it-all brother put it best when he said that reading was a way to be by yourself in a large room with a large family.
Favorite line from a book:
"He floated along thinking he would like to love the world as it was, and he felt a great deal of accomplishment for the occasions when he did, since the other was so easy. Hate took no effort other than to look about."--Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Book you have re-read:
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I really don't know why anyone else needs to address the subject. She expresses the feelings of so many women in a gem of a book that is like the perfect diamond. Other "stones" don't hold up to the clarity.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. It unfolds in such a wonderful way. And this time, I know what music to listen to while reading. I have my own playlist for this book.
Best line from a customer:
Upon entering the shop, a young customer (probably no more than seven) yells (as only kids can do!) "I LOVE THIS PLACE!" And I do too.