Dear Reader

Boy meets girl... not really

This is a read for those interested in how books are published. It's not full of references to literature, or the process of bringing out a book, but it will have a niche market interest.

Translated from the French, it is the story of Robert Dubois. His 'Dear Reader' is his fairly new and unwanted e-reader. He's a book publisher and less than keen on embracing the screen book, though forced to do so as he reads around the city, looking for the next publishing heavyweight. Whatever form the books take, why do so many of them subscribe to the 'boy meets girl' formulae?!

Robert is no longer young, and though he loves books, he is somewhat jaded with the system and what it churns out. We follow him as he works with old hands, schmoozes new writers, and tries to carve a path to keep literature and publishing on the route he would like it. With the office interns.

It's a short tale, and quite a funny read if you like reading about books and publishers. I wasn't sure at times what Robert was actually plotting. The funniest parts for me were the publisher interacting with and contemplating his Reader. Very amusing.

The afterword from the author I found absolutely incomprehensible. Something that should have been at the start maybe, along the lines of a code/rhythm to the way the text was written. Went over my head completely, and I wasn't going to read it a second time to work it out.

A pleasant and wryly funny short read.

Review of a Netgalley advance copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this charming little book about the world of books and publishing – and, of course, reading. Robert Dubois is an old-school publisher gradually having to come to terms with new-school publishing, including getting his first e-reader (and there are some very funny and recognisable episodes with that!). It’s a gentle and affectionate satire which anyone with any experience of books will enjoy and relate to. Literary references abound – but you don’t need to get them all (although I got a nice smug feeling when I did). There’s also a very sad and touching sub-plot involving Robert’s wife, which adds a sombre note to the narrative, and definitely adds depth to it. I found the afterword a bit puzzling, and feel it really should have been a foreword to have any effect, but in any case it’s more for those interested in form rather than substance. All in all, a good read.

Both a formal experiment and a tale of the relationship between traditional and new-media publishing, Dear Reader is a delight to read (even on my own dear reader).

A great book for all of us in the book business!