A New Edition & A Possible New Hobby

Hey beautiful people,

I am on a fucking roll with book recommendations lately. I don’t want to brag too much, but I got at least two people to read TRUE GRIT this year, and one to read THE SILVER CROWN. One thing I truly miss from working in bookstores is hand-selling the right book to the right person.

So to celebrate the launch of THE BOOK OF THE MOST PRECIOUS SUBSTANCE in the UK next month, from my beloved team at Faber & Faber & Faber, I am going to pick a book for you, if you’d like me to¹.

Here’s how it’s going to work. Send me an email (you can reply to this newsletter) OR leave a comment below (comments are on, just this once) with one or two or all of the following:

• Your three favorite books.

• The three books you’ve reread the most (in other words, your REAL favorite books).

• Your three favorite movies.

• A short statement that contains information you think I should have.

And let me know in your email if I can publish it or not—just please note if it’s private or not. Either way is totally cool. I would never include your name or email address, but I’ll put some or all of the requests (and my suggestions) from people OK with being public in the next newsletter, which will come out when the book comes out, which is November 3rd, and I think it will be a fun way to celebrate together.

I’m sure some of you will defeat me, so a response is not guaranteed. Timeliness is also not necessarily on offer here, so please be patient. Also I have my favorites so some of you will get the same recommendations (and it will be TRUE GRIT).

1. If you would not like me to, I may do it anyway; I could break into your house to study your bookshelves, study your social media, follow you on a typical afternoon to observe your subtle preferences and meaningful gestures, use my gifts of insight and intuition, ask the dead, perform a divination ritual, cozy up to your friends and family and slyly work in pertinent questions about your tastes, email you under the guise of offering a great recognition of some sort (an award, an honor) and use this as a ruse to ask personal questions, sort through your trash, find you on dating apps and subtly lead you to the sexiest topic of all (books)—as you see, your participation here is not required, although it will make my task easier. I do think this is a fantastic opportunity and it would be, maybe, morally incorrect of me not to do this. I mean obviously if you’re subscribing to this newsletter you either value my thoughts to some small or large degree—or, maybe, you’re a hate-reader, and all the better if you are, because the perfect book I select for you will aid you to overcome your hate, not for my benefit, but for your own, and you can continue life with a bit of a smaller burden—which is, after all, what I’m here for.