Transcripts For CSPAN2 Interview With Ron Charles 20160905 :

Views, but their war against dissent and desire to control have never been as intense as today. You can watch this and other programs online. And bookt. V. Org. Watching book t. V. On cspan 2, joining us now from chicago, is ron charles, who is the editor of Washington Post book world. What do you do for a living . I assign most of the daily reviews in the Washington Post and every wednesday i write my own review of books. How many . 20 books a week. Not bad. We get about 150. So most go in the flames. Why isnt there a book section . Gloss line. But, we decided, about fouryears ago to, spread the reviews out, to see if we could find more readers. I have had to admit what do have more readers for book reviews. We put them in places where people read more. It was the section that everybody put aside to read later and it never came. Now, everyday and style, and weekend art section, and outlook, and people see them more. What kind of books do you review . I tend to review lit temporary fix. Political, science, bying on grefy, a lot of art coverage on sundays. Books about the history of film and theatre. Why do you stick to fiction . Because i dont have to know anything. Is that the end of your answer . Yes. You have to be an expert in five days, in this subject. Who are you to go up against the author. With fiction i can say whatever i want. Do the publickers want to have their books reviewed. I think they do. There are fewer outlets for book reviews. So yeah, i think its one of the important venues for book criticism. Jonathan yardly. We lost. He retired. One of my colleagues for many, many years, every week, sometimes twice a week, now we still have michael though. Every thursday. Another one of our book critics. So, how did you get into this business . I was an english teacher which i love. But, the paper grading was just wearing me down. I thought if i graded one more paper i would kill someone. And, a students mother suggested i review books instead, and so i just went to a book sport and bought a book and wrote up a review, and they bought it and asked for more. So how long were you at the monitor . 7 years. Exa good review or a bad review sell or hurt book sales . Thats the question that they want the answer to. Some suggest that a review has a positive effect on sales. But it doesnt matter whether it is positive or negative. It is just getting the cover and name out there. I know there are cases where very positive reviews have pushed them on the best seller list and it is sticky, and, tend to stay there. The post continue to print book reviews . Yes. I know we will. Because we did this, added staff to the book section. So were committed to it. What are some of the books that are coming out . Big one, about the under ground railroad. It imagines that the underground railroad before the civil war was an actual railroad under ground and they said this is fantastic. Huge novel coming out. People are very excited about. Butler, and, he has a book coming out. And vietnam war days. Supposed to be wonderful too. Who are some of your go to authors. Ann tyler, and, i love jonathan franzen. Obriens novels. I could not believe it. I am amazed by the number of really fine authors, and the number that we keep producing every year, that, and i say our writing programs are good at producing fine fiction writers. So many more books being produced that we want to review than we have room for. I would say that it is a recommendation, but more and more i think we are turning that way because people need direction. They go into the bookstore and theres so many books. They want to know, what should i read . Its getting hard scber harder, to justify using our limited space. To say heres a book you never heard of, dont read it. I want to point people to books that theyll enjoy. In washington is it important that you review a lot of the political books. It is. People turn to us for that. My colleague, steve, the non fiction assigns a lot of political books. And hell write on hissery and policy books. And, books on law or government. I think we specialize in that. How do you develop your bestseller list . It is generated by neilsen, and they take from the maryland, virginia and dc yes and that information is just given to us and then we filter out textbooks and other things, that you read certain times of the year as everyone else does. To make it better. What are some of the best selling books in washington right now . Gosh, i wish i looked at the list. It doesnt different from the nationalist. Once in awhile there will be a event and it will push books. And someone will visit and theyll move 300 copies and that will push it up. In general, the list tracks pretty much the nationalist. Keep looking at that, and, we like it, and, but, it isnt that different. Ron charles, youre here at the publishers convention in chicago. Whats the importance of this to you . I goat meet a lot of publicists and that i communicate by email. They give me good recommendation. And i meet the authors, and i can set up interviews and sometimes im just a fan and i can just get an autograph or embarrass myself. Do you do anything electronic with the book reviews. We tweak them, we facebook them. I started to experiment with buying videos, i have this series about books we received dozens of messages from all over the home, in these heck particular times, you need book kritsdcism thats fun and good, people and me, how long can you keep this up . Thethe expense. And, good question. Still just as challenging as it is did way back at the beginning. This week post new book is a blockbuster called freedom. You may heard about it, because the literary chat, you could buy it. New York Times reviewed it, back in 1834,. They say its a masterpiece. What does it mean, pa . I dont know. Friends have been on the cover of Time Magazine. Do you realize what a big deal that is . The cover of Time Magazine here. And, president barak obama was fighting for freedom. What is it all about . If you read it, you will feel like youre in familiar territory. It follows the rise and fall after troubled married couple. Its classic franzen, a smart if a on suburban life. Were trying to figure out where readers are, any kind after platform and reach them. Like everybody else. Are you finding success . The book videos, it has been fun, to talk to those that enjoy them. I dont know what the numbers are yet. On twitter, i meet readers all over the country and facebook. It is fun. And its good to have risms with people over several years. And never meet. Enjoyable. A lot of Washington Post writers are also authors. Do you review that . Thats tricky, they do write books in the office. And, we go through a very strict process to come make sure their books are assigned to people who have no corn next to us. Itit is the worst part of my jo, of my friends books. And theyre not always positive. Thats really agonizing, and we think its important, and all my colleagues put up with it, they know, and i can honestly say theyve been supportive. What book reviews do you read. The other on the east coast. The l. A. New York Times. Yes. I have heard good things. The l. A. Book review is a great setup, online. Not any more but im impressed. And i read all those trade reviews, and, Library Journal and trying to figure out what to assign three months out and book review sections. Guardian, and im full of envy. Ron charles, the editor, this is book t. V. On cspan. Thanks so much. You know, everybody told me, theres Nothing Better than being a grandparent. Its the best thing. So i heard that, and but no one talks about this emotion. It is, its a kind of loving, that is unlike any other. I wanted to find out what that was and now i know its a surge of hormones and no one thinks that way and it changes us. Yeah, i was going to mention this, the science in the book, that you talk about, and tell us about some of the research that you did. How you studied about the science of it. Well that was a big question. Almost from the beginning, what was going on with me . And i discovered a book called the female brain, which i recommend by lou ann. And she talks about the chemistry of women, at every stage of their lives, so when theyre children, teens, mothers, and grandmothers. The grandmother part was very short. So i did what i would do, if it were a 60minutes story and i called her, and, she said you know its crazy. But i really feel like i have fallen in love in the classic sense of falling in love and she said you did. And then along came two. And i thought we are not going to have to same feeling for number two. And i thought i want because it doesnt happen twice. Well of course it did happen twice and i bonded with her, too. This is a picture of you that is more recent. I find among the many changes that take place in us, both grandmothers and grandfathers, that we cannot say no to our grandchildren. No matter how strict we were as parents, how critical, how much we were on their case, grandparents love unconditionally. We never say no. It is always yes. I hated going to the park with my daughter. I hated slides. It is pushing the damn swing back and forth