Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Simon & Schuster (2013), Edition: 1St Edition, 448 pages
Description
An account of the book publisher who is home to more Nobel Prize-winning writers than any other publishing house in the world reveals the era and city that built FSG through the stories of two men--Roger Straus and Robert Giroux.
User reviews
LibraryThing member LissaJ
This is very close to a five-star read but I have to take away half a star, if only for the enormously large number of names listed throughout this book. It was way too much and I don't think a third of the people were that important. Regardless, this is one of the best books I have read about
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Publishing and book acquisition. The best parts of the book described FSG's relationships with its authors and the ways in which the books were acquired. The larger than life Roger Straus proves to be a fascinating subject and the editors and authors involved with FSG definitely reflect his personality. This was a very well-written and expansive book that should appeal to book lovers. Show Less
LibraryThing member wayneclark
I enjoyed this well-researched look inside the world of what once was New York publishing and wondered whether there ever again will be such stories to tell of large personalities and eccentrics in the future as the now very-corporate publishing world locks horns with digital.
LibraryThing member TimBazzett
HOTHOUSE, by Boris Kachka.
I wasn't sure if I'd like this book, an account of the history of one of the most prestigious publishing houses in America, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, in its many names and guises over the years. But I did like it; in fact I liked it a lot. Because I am a booklover, and
There are anecdotes and stories galore here, and I knew right away I'd have fun with this book, and began immediately jotting down the names of books and authors I've known of for years, but still haven't read. Now I have a stronger resolve to read folks like Jean Stafford and Robert Lowell, and maybe I'll even finally give ON THE ROAD another try. And Eileen Simpson's memoir, POETS IN THEIR YOUTH, sounds delicious. Sontag? I probably still wouldn't understand her stuff, but then I did enjoy reading SEMPRE SUSAN, Sigrid Nunez's memoir of her time with Sontag, a book cited a couple times here, as Kachka has much to say about the close relationship Sontag enjoyed with publisher Roger Straus. And it brought back so many fond memories of FSG authors I have read, both recently and long ago - Flannery O'Connor, Philip Roth, Thomas Merton, Nelson Algren, Solzhenitsyn, and others. And, more recently, Jonathan Franzen and his disingenuous public "dis-ing" of Oprah.
Plenty of people have already weighed in on HOTHOUSE, so I'm just gonna list a few favorite lines here. Like when editor Robert Giroux asked T.S. Eliot "Did he think it was true that most editors were failed writers? Tom supposed it was, but then so were most writers." I LOVED that!
Or Giroux's coining of "the term 'ooks' to describe the 'not quite books' that dominated the bestseller lists and gift sections of bookstores."
Or just the mentioning of newer old favorites of mine, like Oscar Hijuelos's THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE or Michael Cunningham's A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD. Kachka didn't have to dwell on names and titles like these; their mere mention evoked pleasurable memories. And this is much of the charm of HOTHOUSE - all these names, all these titles, famous and obscure alike.
Another section which touched me deeply was that last conversation between Roger and his son, Rog (Roger III), finally acknowledging that the son was not coming back to FSG, that he did not want to inherit the family business. And then the phone call in which Roger arranged to sell the company to a large German conglomerate, the end of an era in publishing. I was reminded of my own father reaching a similar realization, fifty years ago, that none of his sons wanted his family business, built up over a twenty-year period. And so he sold it. Selling the family business, problems between fathers and sons. It's sad, but it happens.
I have only barely brushed the surface of the myriad stories in HOTHOUSE, but for book enthusiasts, this is definitely a must-read. I am not surprised to see a cover endorsement from Larry McMurtry, whose own memoir (which I also loved) was called simply BOOKS. Highly recommended. (four and a half stars)
I wasn't sure if I'd like this book, an account of the history of one of the most prestigious publishing houses in America, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, in its many names and guises over the years. But I did like it; in fact I liked it a lot. Because I am a booklover, and
Show More
this is a book just made for people like me.There are anecdotes and stories galore here, and I knew right away I'd have fun with this book, and began immediately jotting down the names of books and authors I've known of for years, but still haven't read. Now I have a stronger resolve to read folks like Jean Stafford and Robert Lowell, and maybe I'll even finally give ON THE ROAD another try. And Eileen Simpson's memoir, POETS IN THEIR YOUTH, sounds delicious. Sontag? I probably still wouldn't understand her stuff, but then I did enjoy reading SEMPRE SUSAN, Sigrid Nunez's memoir of her time with Sontag, a book cited a couple times here, as Kachka has much to say about the close relationship Sontag enjoyed with publisher Roger Straus. And it brought back so many fond memories of FSG authors I have read, both recently and long ago - Flannery O'Connor, Philip Roth, Thomas Merton, Nelson Algren, Solzhenitsyn, and others. And, more recently, Jonathan Franzen and his disingenuous public "dis-ing" of Oprah.
Plenty of people have already weighed in on HOTHOUSE, so I'm just gonna list a few favorite lines here. Like when editor Robert Giroux asked T.S. Eliot "Did he think it was true that most editors were failed writers? Tom supposed it was, but then so were most writers." I LOVED that!
Or Giroux's coining of "the term 'ooks' to describe the 'not quite books' that dominated the bestseller lists and gift sections of bookstores."
Or just the mentioning of newer old favorites of mine, like Oscar Hijuelos's THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE or Michael Cunningham's A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD. Kachka didn't have to dwell on names and titles like these; their mere mention evoked pleasurable memories. And this is much of the charm of HOTHOUSE - all these names, all these titles, famous and obscure alike.
Another section which touched me deeply was that last conversation between Roger and his son, Rog (Roger III), finally acknowledging that the son was not coming back to FSG, that he did not want to inherit the family business. And then the phone call in which Roger arranged to sell the company to a large German conglomerate, the end of an era in publishing. I was reminded of my own father reaching a similar realization, fifty years ago, that none of his sons wanted his family business, built up over a twenty-year period. And so he sold it. Selling the family business, problems between fathers and sons. It's sad, but it happens.
I have only barely brushed the surface of the myriad stories in HOTHOUSE, but for book enthusiasts, this is definitely a must-read. I am not surprised to see a cover endorsement from Larry McMurtry, whose own memoir (which I also loved) was called simply BOOKS. Highly recommended. (four and a half stars)
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LibraryThing member Sullywriter
A fascinating, entertaining, and gossipy insider's history of the revered New York publishing house.
LibraryThing member michigantrumpet
Business 'Biography' of the New York City publishing house,Farrar, Straus & Giroux -- chock full of delicious tidbits and gossip from inside the world of books, authors,agents and editors. The main stars are industry giants, Roger Straus and Robert Giroux. I'd just finished two fictional works on
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publishing: Matthew Pearl's 'The Bookaneer" about literary piracy, and Janathan Galassi's roman a clef, "Muse". Seemed like just the right time to take an actual look behind the scenes. Entertaining read. Show Less
LibraryThing member michigantrumpet
Business 'Biography' of the New York City publishing house,Farrar, Straus & Giroux -- chock full of delicious tidbits and gossip from inside the world of books, authors,agents and editors. The main stars are industry giants, Roger Straus and Robert Giroux. I'd just finished two fictional works on
Show More
publishing: Matthew Pearl's 'The Bookaneer" about literary piracy, and Janathan Galassi's roman a clef, "Muse". Seemed like just the right time to take an actual look behind the scenes. Entertaining read. Show Less
LibraryThing member jonerthon
The publishing industry has a whole lot going on behind the scenes that is worthy of being captured and retold, including underpaid and exploited employees, quasi-legal deals, and impatient investors. This book offers a touch of all of those as it gives the 70-ish year history of the publishing
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house FSG. There is also gossip and stories of mostly believable bad behavior as editors tried to rein in infamous authors like Tom Wolfe, Susan Sontag, and, yes, the recently passed Joan Didion. I flew through it and found it guilty fun; lots of name-dropping and office affairs, but also a chronicle of a place with heart. Show Less
LibraryThing member fmclellan
Gave up halfway through. Overwritten, gossipy, name-dropping, and badly needed an editor.
Awards
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction — 2013)
Original language
English
Original publication date
2013
Physical description
448 p.; 6 inches
ISBN
1451691890 / 9781451691894