Bestseller
The first good news of the New Year came in an e-mail from my publisher saying that McNally Robinson Booksellers, in its January-February 2005 newsletter, has listed my most recent book, Boondoggles, Bonanzas and Other Alberta Stories, at No. 18 on its Top Twenty Bestsellers List for 2004. “Some of our bestselling books are not always reflected in the national bestseller charts,” says the newsletter. This is gratifying news for a “regional” (though internationally published) writer like myself, who happens to believe that “local” stories can often resonate nationally as well as internationally. I still remember the laughter in the house during a Broadway production of Hugh Leonard’s A Life, when the cranky lead character told his wife he didn’t need to buy a car because “the buses go everywhere in Dublin.” The wife retorted, “They don’t go to the middle of Booterstown Avenue,” and the New York audience cracked up. Was it because they knew about the shortcomings of the Dublin public transit system? No, it was because they knew that every city in the world has a Booterstown Avenue - a place where the buses do not...
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