Western Book Roundup

Wroblewski Rolls with “Edgar Sawtelle”

By Jenny Shank, 6-25-08

It seems that just about everyone who got his or her hands on an advance copy of Colorado writer David Wroblewski’s debut novel, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, predicted its success (myself included—let me pause here to pat myself on the back, because that’s what everyone else is doing).  According to the Wall Street Journal (via Publishers Lunch), the book “has gone into its seventh printing—a total of 90,000 copies—a week after its publication.” Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg of WSJ credits this development to Amazon.com, who “chose the book as one of the best books of June and aggressively hyped it.”

Meanwhile in the blogosphere, Megan Sullivan, a buyer for the Harvard Book Store who writes fine litblog Bookdwarf is miffed that the WSJ gave credit for Sawtelle‘s success only to big retailers.  She writes: “Nowhere do they mention the fact that independents have been on the Sawtelle bandwagon from the beginning. I read it months and months ago and forced others at my store to read it as well. I recommended it heavily in January at the ABA Winter Institute and I wasn’t the only one. We’ve been behind this book from the moment the galleys hit our desks.”

And closer to home, Patti Thorn, my editor at the Rocky Mountain News’ Book section, devoted her Saturday column to Wroblewski’s phenomenal sales.  Thorn, who had predicted the book’s success in May, writes, “Of all the words in the English language, here are four of my favorites: I told you so.”

Personally, I don’t care who saw it coming—I just think it’s great that a book by a Colorado writer is receiving such coast-to-coast attention and praise.  The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is definitely the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed book by a Colorado writer since Kent Haruf’s Plainsong became a finalist for the National Book Award and hit the national bestseller list after its 1999 release.  And Wroblewski’s book has only been out for two weeks, so who knows what else is in store for it?

Perhaps the best measure of how well Edgar Sawtelle is taking off is that I actually overheard a group of four women discussing it, praising it, and recommending it.  Sure, I was at the Boulder Book store for the Andre Dubus III reading, so it was a bookish crowd, but I almost never overhear people talking about literary fiction.

In other news, Nina de Gramont, a former bookseller at the Boulder Book Store, will return this week not to help with shelving, but to promote her debut young adult novel, Gossip of the Starlings.  The author, who currently lives in North Carolina, will read and discuss her book on Thursday, June 26 at 7:30 p.m.

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