Host good evening and welcome to the rare book room. My name is nancy and i am the owner of the store. This strand was founded in 1927 by my grandfather benjamin and then on to my father fred and then on to me. For a little bit of history in the late 18 hundreds, syria around this bookstore here in greenwich village, was the epicenter of publishers and booksellers. Divine press, and they all had editorial offices and down below, they had theks bookstores to display their books rated along Fourth Avenue just around on that side, was known as book row. And spike of the work 48 used bookstores of which strand is the sole survivor. As the owner of the strand, 18 miles of books, i am not easily faced by 1000 books. But the bucket list, and tonights featured book taught me in my tracks. [applause]. s expansive scope is coupled with a delightful wit and a perfect eye for supplies of detail never again will you have to wonder what to read next. It is a one stop shop holiday gift for anybody who likes books. And who does not like books. His book 1,000 boks to read before you die. And ie cannot think of a better person to have written a book like this. James mustick, princeton graduate with a degree in English Literature and a bookseller who started his career as shop briarcliff working for just 2. 70 an hour. [laughter]. Is no don is the cofounder and guiding voice for the claimed bucket catalog, the common reader. Up until recently, he was a Vice President of Digital Products a barnes noble. Everybody is wondering about the future books. In bookstores at the strand i would like to say that we are going great. [applause]. Thanks all of you. Were thrilled to have our friends cspan book tv with us tonight. They are an american treasure was done an amazing job of promoting incredible books. For the format tonight, i going to ask james some questions and then will open up the mike to your questions but first upon being seated, hope everybody got their literary quiz. [laughter]. No. [laughter]. I read it. In 2016, the New York Times challenged their readers best strands literary quiz job application rated tonight, james and i are challenging you to tester book smarts with a new version of this quiz. The 1,000 boks to read before you die quiz. The use of any 21st century device, is prohibited in answering these questions. Its a noo you cannot phone a friend, used during google or alexa. At the end of the event, james will give us answers to the quiz and spoiler alert, we have five prizes for the soon to be affirmed reforms. Our top prize is 100dollar Gift Certificate for the strand and so big with overflowing with items including any books from workman press. Now, without further ado, please join me in a big warm welcome to james mustick. [applause]. James thank you nancy. Thank you everybody. [applause]. Nancy so james, tell us how does this book take place. James about 15 years ago now. The late peter workman, personally about this book. Workman is published quite successfully 1000 places to see before you die which some of you may know. I was very successful. One evening as i recall, we were having cocktails at the workmans home in connecticut. And the owner of workmans publishing is here tonight. [applause]. And peterd said, i think we should do one of those books about thousand things books babout books. When you like to write it denied without hesitation, i said yes. Then i hesitated for 14 years to deliver the manuscript. So in addition to being visionary, workman has been extraordinarily patient. Nancy agrees to take me out for lunch. A week every year if not spicier. Humanoids talk about you in the book. So i think, while he died five years ago. I know he was so on abusive part of me thinks he must be proud of this very moment that world together. James i hope this a case im pretty sure it is i think it would be pretty pleased to see all of these people here. And you know many people are talking about the book and see such a beautiful execution of the book byy the whole workman team. This is an extraordinary effort in terms of the design led by janet who is sitting right there. [applause]. Extraordinary job of design. It was almost exactly one year ago today, that i sent ten lastminute manuscripts for this book. In the book of houston, its a thousand digital. Its beautifully designed and went off to the printer in march. So between november and march, theres a of work done. I think peter would be delighted. Nancy you read all 1000 books. James of read the majority of them. Some books you can talk about softft enough you beat them convince you read them. So sure theres a couple of dozen of them in here but ive become familiar enough with them that they can be in here. Speedo to have like the ranch, the bible, things like that. James is a pretty broad range of titles. In a degree goes. Yes. Fourteen years is a long time. Nancy can you describe your process of eliminating hundred and 30 million books that are in print joella down to 1000 books. James the process is dignifying the whole thing with a little bit more rigor than aat house. But what i did the start was make an enormous list of books. It was several thousand. These were books that loved myself or loved selling going to love the advocacy of other readers. The common reader was a wonderful community. You call it a book while the social community of readers except until the invention of the internet, we just. The scallop to mail them out. When hundreds of thousands of customers around the country and they would often brighten after they have purchased books to say that they were delighted to discover a certain book. But also to recommend other books that they thought belonged with the collections that we were making. My wife margo who is here,. [applause]. And i and if she knows, we have eight filing cabinets in a basement filled with these letters the people sentd us. Just prompting us to discover new books that were catalogued. And bring some of them back into print. We would publish from another who from people who are sitting here in the audience. He did not know this book and so we got together and he didnt provide condition we sold new catalog. That could reader enthusiasm for books, that really was a criteria. Either i wanted to give someone come you have to read this or me the samegiven to fashion. The more books would to be included. So i finally decided to do is the framework was to, was reading the book a great literary critic and at one point, he has a passage about the miscellaneous morning a bookstore unorganized by the larger principal which seems to me a perfect thing for this project. So that would apparently have a thousand bucks. I can only have 1000 books, will they be. I want to have something for anyone who might come in looking at for that help me to narrow it down and get the kind of ranges that i wanted to get rid of many people to keep a book that would be fun to explore when they opened it up. The static reference book. Nancy and you could open abo book like this. James we can talk about that. We could go into a partnership. Nancy you have tried to set the description in the audiobooks and you have other books written by that author. So he kept going on and on and on. James every book of the thousand has a short essay to give context and become an invitation to the book. And then the end of the each of the essay is an endnote. When the book was first published, with the best translation might be but the recommendation also for further reading. Either of the books by the same author for further reading on the subject, if the book is about world war ii or the civil war or football. In another book to try be like that one. So it is about 500 books referenced in this book and theyre all indexed in the back. And also, i should add is i always forget to say this. We built a website, a thousand books to read. Com. Just 1000. Com. The house one question of the top of it. What book should everybody read before they die. He has my list. And has three buttons next to books i have chosen. A little snippet fromk the book itself. But the buttons are green and life is too short in the third button is to be read file. Greed was the first one. You can add your own book on that site. Beyond 1000 that i have chosen. Theres no sales on site. It is designed as a tool for source libraries. People can come and on their phones and some of list by genre or subjectst to find interesting things too read. Nancy so if you are writing a book, the one book you have to read before he died. James it would be this one. [laughter]. For long time i wasnt sure i was going to get there. Fourteen years. Nancy on to say i love your sub headers. You described as the American Union and that i love the any for sharing crossroads. Single white outofprin print. He mustve had a lot of fun imagining and how to summarize the book. James and sometimes they can easily and sometimes it took longer to come up with than actually writing the essay. Because its hard right short. Writing this very long letter because it didnt have enough time to write you a short one. As the famous maclean said. Nancy so going back to the choice of which book. The pressure from your daughters or your wife or your publishing to include books because everybody has their opinion. You feel that. James was be below your writing a book called 1000 books to read before you die. You can never enjoy the dinner party and quite same way again. Everyone has their own words put in. His mother the enthusiasm of everybody from a book that they really love. So that was part of the fun of the process and for me, really part of the fun of the whole project is to promote those discussions among readers and among booksellers and librarians. And just traveling around various stories and libraries across the country, promoting the book, there was a lot of fun to talk to audiences like this read and bookstores have would often have displays of the book with books from within the book get it. And would say you should also have a table of books that you think that should be in it that i left out because as part of the fun. Nancy we have stranded 90 table. Were checking out what our choices were. James is a pretty good crossover yes. Nancy was it hard to sometimes not give the ending of the book in the synapse another and rebecca, you did not tell us what was going to happen. James is very conscioussc of not runng any spoilers to the book. Because of the that would particularly for certain kind of books, you would not want to give it a away. I had rain myself in sometimes. And sort of europe, like what part of the research was knowing enough to know when not to say. For that reason in particular. Nancy give a lot of jims books and here and travelogues and you have interpretation of dreams they were so expensive. You were. James i believe that people read the way the eat. They might want to hotdogs for lunch one day and the next day, they will go out for a fancy french meal with wine and the whole 9 yards. I think that is really important to our reading lights. I wanted the book to represent that. To be more of a menu and people would find inviting rather than a prescription. That was homework or physical therapy so if i wanted to have something for every type of reading appetite. Six. This book as a reader if you have Good Night Moon and where the wild things are and go all of the way through to the comingofage and others. It is a cradletograve reading is you could call it. James i will read a little bit from the introduction then we can open it up to questions. Once people know youre writing a book called 1,000 boks to read before you die, never enjoy the dinner party by the way you did before. No matter how many books you have managed to consider, no matter many pages you have written, every conversation with a fellow reader is almost sure to provide seeking out or to expose an egregious omission for a gap in your knowledge to say nothing of revealing the privileges and prejudices however unwitting, underlying points of reference. For years, a thousand bucks felt like too many to get my head around but now it seems to view by several multiples. So let me say what already should be obvious, this book is neither comprehensive nor authoritative. You have a good number of the title assembled here, would be most most essential reading for it is meant to be an invitation to a conversation even primary argument about the books and authors then listed as well as the books and authors included. Because the question of what to read next, is the best prelude to even more important one like how to live. And who debate. Such power in the learning and imagination it nourishes, something ive been lucky enough to take for granted as both fact and freedom. Its nothing i fear may be forgotten and in the great amnesia of our in the moment news feed and algorithmically identities which hide from our view the complexity feelings and ideas, the books demanded we quietly and determinedly engage in. To get lost in the story or even study, is inherently to acknowledge the voice of another. To broaden ones perspective beyond the confines of ones own understanding, a good book is the opposite of sophie. The right look at the right time can expand our lives in a way that loved us. Making us more thoughtful, more generous, more brave and more alert to the world wonders and more pain by its inequities. More kind. And more wise. [applause]. Nancy we ask that you stand up and not be so timid. Its a goahead and raise your hand and il can bring your microphone so that you will be heard. Guest to make the value of any crisis, will prizes, National Book awards. James i reviewed all of the list of prizewinners. To kind of nature that i was not overlooking something. But the award itself, except when giving the book and easy access to the book, didnt mean all that much. Guest i would like to ask you what are you reading out be said that youre probably not reading out. [laughter]. If you know it, because youre so busy when is the last book you read. James twopart answer. The last book that i would think everybody is these truths by jill which iss the history of te United States from the discovery of north American Continent up until two years ago. It is remarkable in being 800 pages long but still very readable. But it reveals, means that we are grappling with as a country no that have been present from 1776 and before. So its instructive. I recommend that to everyone. The book im ready now, as an author that is appearing at is another strand of it tonight the China Institute called the body problem. Im not quite sure how to pronounce his name. It is a marvelous book, recommended to me quite passionately by reader. Im in the middle of that. Speech of you find copies left over to. But bac the challenges and the interesting aspects of reading somet guest can you talk about the interesting aspects about the translation of of reading. James thats a great question. I try to be as international as possible given the fact that i was ready for the emergingmarket most predominantly works in english. But theres more than 200 works in translation. I think a fire drill. With translation, theres a couple ofon additions. One iser for the older works because if you are talking about uomework for the greek tragedies are neat latin literature, there are many translations pretty sunny pick the best ones. I think it was careful to try to do to try to recommend to people because there is nothing worse than someone taking up a great book like the odyssey and having to translate work translation that is dated or does not really speak to moderator. So for those folks, i was pretty lonely with recommended translation for classic works. Its the same thing. Every great book for each new generation, as new translation. In part because the language changes in part because publishers want to keep the copyright. That means there are lots of choices to make. So i was careful there too. What is particularly difficult in terms of working translation is that anymore that we get, but are translated from another culture, are already filtered by an editor orr publisher who is deciding this book would appeal to an american or british market. That is why it is translated and you never really know for actually getting a deep picture of what that literature is of another culture. Its problematic but its fun s well. Guest i really love your description of cradle to grave reading. And what you read and what you from before printing anything p about your process when you percent might be reading a book versus when youre au tidal chid or two daughters. James i try to be conscious of the fact that i wanted this book to appeal to somebody who was 17 as well as 37 and not just my age. So when you read the book when you areun younger, it is a certn meeting to you and some books are rich or if you reread them when youre older. I think particular middlemarch by george eliot, which is my own favorite novel which i read when i was 19 read i thought it was the wisest book i never read them. So much so the reddit every decade since then read and it just seems to have gotten so much wiser. It was only there beginning you notice different things. And then there are other books that you read that were really important to you, my case look like on the road. Marvelous book to read when youre young. Its important that those folks are represented here as well. Still a marvelous book but not quite as overwhelming when you read it when youre 20 years old. And then there are books that are totally different. Ill tell you a little story. I was fortunate to read an author and a cocktail party. At the time i met him, his book, catch22, had been listed on the list of the Modern Library. The 100 best novels of the 20th century november 6. So i went up to him, because he lived down the road for my wifes parents. Is it congratulations on the book being so hot on the Modern Library list. But i think they picked the wrong book. And he glared at me really what you mean. The boy was thought that your second book something happened, which was a much better book. Images glowed. He sits on the die. So i told him about my express with that book. Read it in 1970 when it came out. I was probably in college. I thought this was the funniest book i have ever read. I memorized both pages of his description of office life except on them so mutely. I told that he said it was really middle age persons book dennis i know because i read last drink got it completely horrifying. All the things i found very amusing when i was shallow 20 yearold, is a middleaged person, i was just over there for but the grace of god go i. So book changed. In the space you different ways at different times. Nancy reading patti smith just kids, its published in 2010 a first they did not and i cannot read thisk. Book. In an addictive just recently in a cell brilliant and i poetic. But i needed that time to absorb it. Guest did you include any books that you disliked. But for some reason they were aimport