Librarian author Patrick desiblitt on the success and mystery of what readers want

Patrick desiblitt is enjoying the splendor of a very specific feeling: the high view after reading, after the public. “The pharmaceutical industry needs to make a pill that makes you feel this way,” says Vancouver Island-born, Portland, Ore.- based deantanitt. “They had to sell it and sell it, and I would buy them in bulk.”

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The event that triggered this dizzying release of dopamine is the one that might surprise you: it’s a reading in the city where he lives, the thing he’s “afraid” most of all the things he’s done to promote his latest novel, The bestselling no. Librarian.

“All my friends and family are there watching me,” he explains. “If I fool myself, You know, Eastern Europe that’s bad enough. But if I fool myself in my hometown in front of people who love me, then I am causing them suffering by suffering myself at the same time.”

If you’ve read Librarian – or any of his four other novels-you’ll be familiar with deanair’s curiosity about the human condition coupled with a sense for comedy that is clear-eyed but never cruel. Not only are his books critics-favorites, two of them – French Exit and Sister Brothers they’ve been made into great movies. He talked about the Globe for success.

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Was a “bestselling author” an ambition for you?

The impulse of writing books is its own thing, and any hope for the book in terms of its commercial success follows. I really don’t understand what makes a bestseller a bestseller. I don’t know what most readers think. I’m always surprised by what they like or don’t like in my work. It has happened where books that have done very well, I had predicted they would do badly, and the opposite is true too. I don’t think it makes much sense for an artist to aim for any kind of status, because I don’t think it’s something that can be predicted. The idea of connecting with strangers makes me happy, and you want work to connect with people.

What are some of the places where you are surprised by the results?

Sister Brothers. I really felt like I was making a mistake. It’s not that I didn’t believe in the book, but I had this meaning that wouldn’t translate. I remember thinking that Western fans would smell that it wasn’t a real westerner and that literary readers wouldn’t read it because it would be too Western. That ended up not being true. For whatever reason, it was accessible to most readers. My third book, Under Major Domo MinorI thought people would enjoy it more than they did. The public reaction is mysterious, but I’m not describing a bitter disappointment. I honestly do not know what people want, and it is a constant curiosity for me as each book comes out.

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When it comes to Librarian, are you surprised at how people respond?

I was surprised both ways. Some of the responses have been disappointing, or I felt, ungenerous. Some were beautiful beyond what I had anticipated. It’s hard to get people to discuss literature in this day and age, but people are discussing it, and it’s early in her life, but it seems like people are going out and getting it. That’s really great-and it’s not a given, even if you have a healthy career and readers. Sometimes books are just D. O. a., and you do not know what will happen. So far, I’m very pleased because people, for the most part, have been really open to the idea of the book. It represents somewhat of a departure thematically for me, and tonally is a little different from previous books. I think readers are more a) generous and B) brave than we give them credit.

Many people simply have such a warm reaction to the words “librarian” or “library”.”It’s such a positive, immediate association. Could there be something like this in the game, where you’re getting people to pick up something by riding the tail of that love for libraries?

Sure. The title itself is a bit confusing. It was a book that was titled with a near term in mind. I’ve always had a problem with titles. Every one of my books I’m down to the wire, and I just throw something out. Titles are my Achilles heel. Call public libraries and librarians, as you say … I think it’s a pretty positive starting point. If someone is in a bookstore looking to buy a new book on hardcover, chances are they’ve had some kind of experience with public libraries, and most likely have a positive connection. When I think of libraries, it’s very uncomplicated. I think about my youth and young adulthood, and what libraries would say about me and how they have changed my life.

Is this your handwriting on the cover?

It’s not, but I’m laughing because it’s becoming a very common question, even with friends and family. It looks a lot like my handwriting.

I ask because the pattern of uppercase and lowercase letters is quite idiosyncratic in its inconsistency. If that was the case, I thought it might have been enough.

If I’m typing, I tend to do all the caps, but the “de” are small because that’s how my name is set. I think the art director probably recognized him and went with him. But there is a certain life for it, because it is written in pencil. I think as an object, this book seems to me the best. It feels good in the hand. When an author receives his or her book by mail and you hold it for the first time, sometimes there’s an anti-climax feeling, which is just part of being alive. Things tend not to meet your expectations, but it’s a moment we’re really looking forward to, and this one was delivered.

I am one of these people who tend to buy used books because most of my reading is antique and I do not ask for rare copies, but I prefer the hard cover copy. There are any number of books in my mind that I’m on the hunt for that are stored away in the database of my brain. If I can find two copies and one is old and one is new, I will always buy the old one if it is not too expensive. The cover of the book and the way the book feels in your hands affects the reading experience. It’s not a small thing. If you find a beautiful edition of a beautiful book, that’s double the winner.

What’s in that database right now?

It is more of a writing school, which is mainly Commonwealth writers from the era of the 1950s. I found these really beautiful editions of his first novel, which is called The Old Boys. The cover is this portrait of these really tough-looking old men, wild white, bald, in suits. It’s about this association of old boys who went to school together, and are now in their dotage. They are always at each other’s throats, and competing for power in the group. It is the perfect book-really funny, modest, beautifully done in terms of its craft. Da8n Poimagnell is another. She is an American writing in the 1930s, 40s, 50s in New York. I had never read it, but I started with her diaries, and I really got a sense of her view of the world. I’m just starting out, but I can feel like I’m going to read all her books.

What is your mechanism for detecting these things?

I love used bookstores because there is a sense of gambling. You don’t know what will be there. I can go online and buy any book that’s in my brain, but I don’t want to do that. There’s something to be said for a) supporting your local bookstore, but what happens in the bookstore is random. You will come to the bookstore and you will see that someone has passed away or sold their library, so there will be seven hardcover, the first edition Dasibln Posiblells. You can do it all if you are there at the right time. It’s a happy search.