A Quick Look at a Very Good Year for Square Books – Part 2

Old friends returned to Square Books with new books in 2013, and many made our year-end top 100 list – Jonny Miles and his brilliant novel, Want Not (23); Bob Shacochis (91); Jill McCorkle (19); Nell Dickerson and Porch Dogs (62); Lisa Patton (70); Clyde Edgerton (79); Molly Crosby (97); Jeff Shaara (35); Ann Patchett and This is the Story of a Happy Marriage (26); Jayne Anne Phillips and Quiet Dell (28); Daniel Woodrell with The Maid’s Version (20); and Philipp Meyer with his Western epic, The Son (16).

 

Staff picks often find their way up the list, like Rules of Civility (55), Mary Hamilton’s Trials of the Earth (60), Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (61), Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (73) and William Maxwell’s So Long, See You Tomorrow (54). Humor has its appeal, in Julia Reed’s But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria (29); How Not to be a Dick (50); Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die by Willie Nelson (46); Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Little Golden Book (32); and I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar (65).

 

Congratulations to John Hailman, whose From Midnight to Guntown continues to find readers (6) and to Robert Khayat, who, upon retiring as University of Mississippi Chancellor, sat right down and wrote his memoir, The Education of a Lifetime, our number 1 book of the year – and to Neil White, his publisher at Nautilus.

 

New to Square Books this year were some huge favorites – The Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra (67); Jamie Quatro and I Want to Show You More (25); Kristopher Jansma and The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards (30); Damien Echols, off death row with his memoir, Life After Death (58); Ree Drummond, whose The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays (67) + 2 other books, made our list; a memorable visit from Gail Godwin with Flora (22); Bill Cheng and Southern Cross the Dog (17), and Anton DiSclafani and The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls (15).

 

Our heartfelt thanks go to these authors, the many publishers who helped them make it here, and to Square Books friends from near and far – for giving us our best year ever.

 

For a report on top titles at Square Books Jr, check this blog Tuesday.