| 50 Book Pledge | Book #27: A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash |
On Friday, May 4, 2012, @HarperCollinsCa posted this tweet to its followers: “We’re heading into a planning meeting. Help us out, what makes you take a chance on a new author/book?” Obviously, the first things that come to mind are the cover and the title; however, neither one factors heavily for me. Instead, I rely on the tag line, synopsis and buzz in my decision-making process.
The tag line is an art form that’s incredibly difficult to master. Why? Because you have to sum up an entire novel in a phrase of no more then ten words. A single line that must illustrate the mood and tone flawlessly. A line that has to make you want to read. One of the best tag lines I’ve come across this year comes from This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel: The purest intentions can stir up the darkest obsessions. Dark and intense, just like the story of Victor Frankenstein and his Monster. Now that is a home run.
My next book is A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash. I chose this book because of the following line that appears as part of the book’s synopsis: “A Land More Kind Than Home is a modern masterwork of Southern fiction—one that is likely to be held in the same enduring esteem as such American classics as To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and A Separate Peace.” To say that I adore Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is an understatement. In fact, Atticus Finch is the best literary character ever written. I’m inclined to read A Land More Kind Than Home just to see if it’s worthy of such a generous accolade.
Any author and publisher will tell you that reader buzz is invaluable when it comes to selling a book. Nothing trumps word-of-mouth. Earlier this year, readers were talking about The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll. For weeks I heard praise after praise for this book that I knew nothing about. I finally decided to see what all the hype was about. I’m glad I did. Like I sa