The Browser asked Alain de Botton to recommend his favorite essay collections and I was happy to see him make the case for Geoff Dyer‘s Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It – I was the publicist at Pantheon when this brilliant book came out over a decade ago, and remember trying to convince booksellers that the book didn’t really belong in the “Yoga” or “Self Help” section…but where to shelve it? The only possible place is the “Geoff Dyer” section – which every bookstore should have.
Alain’s list is here.

Sonia Sotomayor on 60 Minutes last weekend was a perfect author TV interview – the segment gives just enough of an idea of what Justice Sotomayor’s book is about, a hint of her personality and a couple newsworthy sound bites (“tough bitch”?! What?!) This segment leaves me wanting to know more about her and makes me want to buy her book – I love it.

One of my favorite publishers (to work with and to read), Europa Editions, will be publishing a new series of critically acclaimed crime novels from around the world: Europa World Noir starts in Naples 1931 with Maurizio De Giovanni’s I Will Have Vengeance. All I know is I want every single one of these books.

So happy to see these former students of Max Sebald’s compiled this list of his writing tips. Each line is gold, but I especially like this: “Don’t listen to anyone. Not us, either. It’s fatal.”

I’m thrilled to be helping Ann Leary with pr for her novel, The Good House. If you’re in NYC, she’s reading tonight, Jan. 16, at Barnes & Noble on Broadway at West 82nd Street at 7pm. And if you missed Ann talking with WNYC’s Leonard Lopate yesterday, you can hear their great conversation now online.
Here.