…Jonathan Safran Foer. The 25-year-old author has been the buzz in the literary community for the six months leading up to the April 16 publication of his brilliant debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated. Introduced by Houghton Mifflin at a lunch at the Russian Tea Room back on September 24, Foer and his book enjoyed extensive pre-publication coverage. Reviews have been stellar, with the author being compared to Anthony Burgess, Zadie Smith, Michael Cunningham, Jonathan Franzen and Dave Eggers, to name just a few literary stars. HM is already on its fifth printing, making 85,000 copies in print; first printing was 30,000; the book is #17 on our hardcover fiction list. With the book chosen as the #1 ABA BookSense Pick for April/May, independent retailers are jumping onto the hand-selling bandwagon. Retailers' typical accolades mirror that of Rick Simonson of Seattle's Elliott Bay Book Co.: "This is one of the most fabulous books I've read in a long, long time."
With reporting by Dick Donahue.
