The first work in the series, “A Gay and Melancholy Sound” by Merle Miller, was originally published in 1961, and was just republished in April. “Many of these books went out of print before they could find their audience,” she said. “They’re books I haven’t really heard of.”

“I don’t know if there’s any audience for these books,” he said. LaFramboise said Pearl would be welcome at Politics and Prose, but he still didn’t plan to stock books from the Rediscoveries series. “I am feeling a little bit not eager to go into places I was form erly eager to go into,” Pearl said, suggesting she might have to do so in disguise.Ī librarian action figure based on actual Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl demonstrates her 'amazing push-button shushing action.” (TED S. One store owner said that Pearl “can no longer continue to be accepted as an objective and impartial promoter of books.” According to one booksellers blog, people “were doing not-so-nice things to their Nancy Pearl action figures.” When the deal was announced in January, some 50 independent bookstores threatened to sign an open letter castigating Pearl. What the books share is Pearl’s straightforward dictum on what makes a book worth reading: “These are books with fabulously constructed three-dimensional characters who remain with you long after the book is over.” The series - with introductions and reading guides by Pearl - will include an array of genres, from coming-of-age novels to westerns. As e-books, the series is available exclusively on Amazon’s Kindle in print, it is available only in paperback. The online retailer is publishing and selling Pearl’s 12-title Book Lust Rediscoveries project. That’s because earlier this year, Pearl, a 67-year-old grandmother of three who lives in Seattle, joined forces with Amazon, the arch nemesis of brick-and-mortar bookstores. But her new series, a selection of formerly out-of-print novels, may be harder to find on the shelves of your local bookshop, independent or otherwise.

Her first book - “Book Lust,” an annotated compilation of reading lists - “helped us pay the bills for a while,” said Mark LaFramboise, chief buyer for Politics and Prose Bookstore in the District. Nancy Pearl, the ex-librarian and frequent NPR contributor who inspired an action figure, has long been the toast of independent bookstores.

Book lust to go