Are you BookSexy? 2009 BBAW Interview Swap

In order to celebrate Book Blogger Appreciation Week I participated in an interview swap. I was introduced to tolmsted of BookSexy, a blog built around the motto "Who you are is what you read" and dedicated to helping readers find books that make for great conversation long after they've been read. I was intrigued by the ideas behind BookSexy, and it was a pleasure talking with tolmsted. Here's the interview:
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I really like the idea behind your blog, BookSexy. Could you explain it again here?

BookSexy started out based on a hypothetical situation – if you were spotted reading a book in public (for example: on the subway or in a coffee shop) what book would it be? What would it say about you? What kind of people would it attract and who would it repel? When I notice someone reading, especially strangers, I'm always trying to see the title of the book. A book is a kind of billboard to the world about who you are.

BookSexy is meant to direct readers to books that provide something to talk about after they're done reading. It’s not about the bestseller list – though those books might end up being reviewed on the blog. It’s not about Literature with a capital ‘L’. I just feel it’s important that people read good books; just like you should eat healthy food, wear clothes that look good on you, and get a great haircut. The blog motto is “Who you are is what you read”.

As I'm saying all this, I don't want to be misunderstood. I'm not trying to set myself up as the arbitrator of what people should read. Booksexy is about letting people know what books are out there and what is important (or not so important) about them.

How long have you been blogging? What inspired you to start?

BookSexy started as another blog entirely. I set it up to consolidate the reviews of books I thought my friends would be interested in reading. Up until that point I’d been sending out mass emails to people I knew which I figured had to be getting pretty annoying. The expanded version of the old blog and those emails became BookSexy. Once I realized I wanted to reach a wider audience I felt like I needed to focus my message. Because I read all over the map - so it wasn't going to be a cookbook blog, or a fiction blog or a history blog. I asked myself why I felt certain books are more important than others. I looked at the kinds of books I was recommending and who I was recommending them to. It really came back to my friends. They’re a really interesting, successful group of people. They’re great at parties and in social situations. I feel that has a lot to do with the fact that they’re all readers… whether its non-fiction, fiction, newspapers, etc. They’re interested in the world around them. Which is where I got the name, BookSexy. It’s been around since 2008.

Are you persistent when reading books you don’t enjoy rather than putting the book down and walking away? Why or why not?

This is a great question, and its one I’ve been thinking about. I’ve been promising a review of A.S. Byatt’s The Children’s Book on my blog for about 3 months now! Reading it has been like pushing a boulder uphill. I just can’t wrap my head around it. Normally, I might give up and put it aside – but this is a book that I think it's important to finish. Because it was nominated for the Booker Prize, because A.S. Byatt wrote Possession, and because it’s a difficult book (you follow the lives of about 20 characters throughout the story). People who’ve read it seem to have strong opinions. It's a book people can talk about.

There have been other books I’ve started reading and feel no guilt putting aside unfinished. Usually because the writing was terrible, the plot unoriginal or the author lacked the ability to edit him or herself. This may sound harsh - but life is short and there are a lot of books out there. Unless the book is important in some way I’m not going to waste time reading it if I don't want to.

What genre do you lean towards?

I'm pretty much all over the map - I just grab things that look interesting to me. But unfortunately I have a lot of interests!

When a book is adapted into a movie, the book becomes more widely read. How do you view the social activity of reading in connection with movies and other extensions of books?

This is entirely my opinion, so take it as that. I’m not so sure that a movie gets people to go out and buy books. For example – did people rush out to buy Cormac McCarthy novels after No Country for Old Men came out? A lot of people bought the first Harry Potter book before the film version - and then complained about the film leaving bits out. I’m sure it sold more books later and helped to sell the subsequent novels, but it was already a literary sensation on its own. The same with Twilight and The DaVinci Code. These books were bestsellers separate from the film versions.

In my experience, I’ve always found that going from a movie to the book or a book to the movie was a disappointment. More often than not they aren’t the same story (Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mohicans for example. Loved the movie, but found the original book frustrating because it wasn’t the story I expected). Maybe they provide a middle ground for the reader and the film watcher to meet. Still, I feel that they’re two unique and separate experiences that while they might share things in common, are not the same.

What bothers you the most about the books you don’t like?

Well first, I think there needs to be a definition of what you mean by "like". There are a lot of books and authors I don’t like. I still recognize that they are good books and strong writers. Tom Robbins is one of those...I can’t stand him but he is like a trapeze artist with words. It’s really amazing what he puts on paper. I hate his books – his characters do nothing for me. In fact, they kind of turn me off.

But if you’re asking me about what makes a bad book – well for me it comes down to the writing. I hate gimmicky stuff, like a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter. Or authors that never edit, so that a story that could have been told in 150 pages takes 495. Or over-used plot devices. (Actually, Julian Barnes in Flaubert’s Parrot had a very funny list of types of novels that should be banned - I'd recommend picking up that book and skipping to that part).

Do you feel that lack of editing is a common problem in books?

Oh definitely. I've read books that went on for literally 495 pages (I wasn't making that up) where they could have easily gotten away with half as many. One of my favorite authors, Kazuo Ishiguro, writes these incredible books - and they're always slim. I think some writers mistake quantity for quality. A good example is Faulkner's novel Sartoris. It was originally called Flags in the Dust. His editor gutted it,and it's a better book because of it.

I don't write, I can only speak from the point of view of the reader. But don't you find that the best books leave you some room to fill in the blanks. They let you connect the dots, rather than inundating you with every little detail in case you might miss something?

What’s your favorite book of 2009 so far?

That’s tough. I suppose I’d have to go with Brother Gardener’s: Botany, Empire & the Birth of an Obsession by Andrea Wulf. It’s a non-fiction book about how Britain became a nation obsessed with gardening and agriculture. It was very well written and it explained a lot about how we’ve come to be where we are today environmentally. The individual stories are interesting and entertaining. At the end you’re left with a big picture view of the whole thing, of how the men she discussed, without any formal coordination, changed gardening & agriculture around the globe.

I enjoyed a lot of the books I've read this year, but I haven't really found my favorite book for the year yet. I've high hopes for Margaret Atwood's Year of the Flood. It's set in the same world as Oryx & Crake, a book I absolutely love!
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Thanks for a great interview, tolmsted! If you haven't checked out BookSexy yet, what are you waiting for? It's full of great reviews and interesting (Good interesting, to be clear) reading selections.

If you'd like to see the full story, go here to see my answers to tolmsted's questions: Duck...Duck...Duck...BOOKDUCK! (Best. Title. Ever.)

Hoping your Tuesday has been terrific,