List #35 Stephanie Anderson

Stephanie Anderson: WORD. Brooklyn, NY. 11222.

Here are her self-imposed rules for the following list:I feel like I need to qualify this list with the rules I made for myself, which was the only way to get it under 50. For a book to be a favorite handsell, it must meet the following criteria:

1. It is a book that a reader is unlikely to have bought on their own (this is a rule I broke on several occasions)
2. It is a book that has several odd yet appealing characteristics that make it a very good fit with a certain sort of person
3. It is a book which, if successfully handsold, leaves me with the feeling that I have done A Good Deed

I also did not include any books published this year, as otherwise the list would be made up half of them and that seems somehow wrong. They need to age a bit, don't you think? Hi, I'm crazy. Also also, I tried to spread the love across as many sections of the store as I could, but of course fiction got the lion's share.

1. 33 1/3: CELINE DION'S LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE by Carl Wilson
2. ALEC: THE YEARS HAVE PANTS by Eddie Campbell
3. AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD by Annie Dillard
4. APPETITES by Carolyn Knapp
5. THE BEST OF EVERYTHING by Rona Jaffe
6. BIG RABBIT'S BAD MOOD by Ramona Badescu, illustrated by Delphine Durand
7. BOMBARDIERS by Po Bronson
8. BORN TO RUN by Christopher McDougall
9. THE CITY & THE CITY by China Mieville
10. CLOWN GIRL by Monica Drake
11. THE CURSE OF THE APPROPRIATE MAN by Lynn Freed
12. THE DARK IS RISING by Susan Cooper
13. THE DAYS OF ABANDONMENT by Elena Ferrante
14. FATHERS AND SONS by Alexander Waugh
15. FLATLAND by Edwin Abbott
16. THE GONE-AWAY WORLD by Nick Harkaway
17. GETTING THINGS DONE by David Allen
18. GRACELING by Kristin Cashore
19. HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING by Mark Bittman
20. HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS by Nigella Lawson
21. INFINITE JEST by David Foster Wallace
22. THE INTUITIONIST by Colson Whitehead
23. IT'S USEFUL TO HAVE A DUCK by Isol
24. K BLOWS TOP by Peter Carlson
25. KING DORK by Frank Portman
26. LAST NIGHT IN MONTREAL by Emily St. John Mandel
27. LAST SUMMER OF THE DEATH WARRIORS by Francisco X. Stork
28. LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN by James Agee
29. LOOK AT ME by Jennifer Egan
30. MATTERHORN by Karl Marlantes
31. MONEY by Martin Amis
32. THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY by Trenton Lee Stewart
33. OUT by Natsuo Kirino
34. NINE RULES TO BREAK WHEN ROMANCING A RAKE by Sarah Maclean
35. NOBODY'S BABY BUT MINE by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
36. THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton Juster
37. PROMETHEA by Alan Moore
38. RAYMOND CARVER by Carol Sklenicka
39. RUMSPRINGA by Tom Shachtman
40. THE SELECTED STORIES OF DEBORAH EISENBERG by, well, Deborah Eisenberg
41. STONER by John Williams
42. TENDER MORSELS by Margo Lanagan
43. TRAITOR TO HIS CLASS by H. W. Brands
44. TWENTY FRAGMENTS OF A RAVENOUS YOUTH by Xiaolu Guo
45. VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackeray
46. THE WESTING GAME by Ellen Raskin
47. WHAT IT TAKES by Richard Ben Cramer
48. WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead
49. WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD by Jincy Willett
50. WRITTEN LIVES by Javier Marias