‘Tis the season to be reading
Author and bookseller Olivia Spooner on the art of bookselling at Christmas, buying local, and her reading recommendations for summer. Read an extract from Olivia’s book The Girl From London here.
Olivia Spooner — photo credit: Samantha Donaldson Photography.
Booksellers around the motu develop a wild look in their eye come December. It is the busiest month of the year by a country mile and it’s the moment when we all ask ourselves – have we made the right predictions and ordered the books our customers will want? Have we ordered the correct quantities? Have we anticipated what will be the bestsellers? The majority of the books you see in NZ bookstores come from distribution centres in Australia, which means by mid — November it’s too late to order more. You either have the book for Christmas or you don’t.
This year, book sales have slowed. I’ve been wondering— is this due to the economic downturn and higher cost of living or are people simply reading less? Are books losing their value in our society? This is my greatest fear as a bookseller, as an author, and as a reader. Because reading is just so damn important and not enough people are aware of the benefits. Readers are better thinkers. Readers can imagine and therefore create a different future for themselves and the world. Readers have greater empathy and attention/focus. Numerous studies show that readers are smarter, healthier, happier, and sleep better. Children and young adults who read grow up to enjoy those benefits. And when I talk about reading, I mean reading for FUN. Reading what you like to read, not what some well-meaning person tells you to read.
That said could I make some reading suggestions? After all that is my main role as a bookseller. Over the past few years there has been an exciting and welcome shift to New Zealanders wanting to read more books by local authors. It’s hard to choose only a few but I would recommend: Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts by Josie Shapiro, The Bone Tree by Airana Ngarewa, Bookshop Dogs by Ruth Shaw, and both Pet and The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey. I’d suggest my new historical novel too (The Girl from London) but then I’d feel weird about it!
As far as international fiction goes, here are a few stand outs: Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton, Days of Innocence and Wonder by Lucy Treloar, and North Woods by Daniel Mason. Of course there are many more books I could recommend: books for toddlers and older children, books for your nephew, your work colleague, your granddad, your neighbour, for the Aunty you only see once a year.
Booksellers live to talk about books so I urge you this Christmas to head to your local bookstore and ask for some suggestions. Or if you don’t have the time or opportunity to get to a bookstore, check out BookHub.co.nz. It’s a fantastic new online book-buying resource providing fast personal service from independent NZ bookstores.
‘Tis the season to be reading! Meri Kirihimete everyone.
About Olivia Spooner
Olivia Spooner is the author of the bestselling The Girl From London and owner-operator of The Book Lover bookshop.