Replay!

For those who didn’t get to hear it, here’s my You Must Read This which I did for last week’s All Things Considered on NPR.

Best part is all the people who are emailing in saying how much they LOVE this book (even got a note from the author’s sister. Just wild). See below for more insanity. But read it. You will love it. And if you don’t, there is no heart in your chest.

Breaking Bookselling News from BookThink.com

The Brad Meltzer ‘You Must Read This’ Effect

You Must Read This

Brad Meltzer’s rave recommendation on NPR’s ‘You Must Read This’ of the novel Replay, by Ken Grimwood, took it to #5 on the Amazon bestseller list. Amazon is now out of stock...

It is, by the way a great book. When you discover it and read it, you wonder where it was all of your life, and it feels like your own discovery. Meltzer expresses that aspect of its appeal very well.

Karin Bergsagel, BookThink News Editor

Early Word, The Publisher Library Connection

‘Replay’ Redux

Brad Meltzer’s over-the-top rave about an out-of print 1987 cult title, Replay by Ken Grimwood, sent it to #5 on the Amazon bestseller list (it’s now down to a still astonishingly high #16).

Meltzer talked about Replay on NPR’s "All Things Considered," as part of their "You Must Read This" series, on Thursday (July 10). He loved the book so much that when he was in his early twenties, he tried to buy the film rights, despite having no money (unfortunately, they were already sold. No word on what’s happened; perhaps this attention will bring the project back to life).

Harper is reprinting the book.

Omnivoracious

A Bestseller All Over Again

by Tom on July 11, 2008

Wondering why a novel first published in 1986 jumped from nowhere into our top 10 today (it's currently at #4)? Three letters (which for our customers are often right behind those magic five letters--starting with "O'--for recommending books): N-P-R. Thriller and comics writer Brad Meltzer contributed a very convincing "You Must Read This" entry to All Things Considered yesterday about Ken Grimwood's Replay, a book with a Groundhog Day premise (written before the movie) about what you would learn if you had to live your life over (and over) again. I confess I had never heard of it, but, as Meltzer found out himself it has a strong following out there (and a couple hundred five-star reviews on our site):

So how much do I love this book? When I was 22 years old, I was working and playing puzzles at Games magazine. I had no money, a $359 apartment and $10,000 in college debt. And the first thing I did with all the cash I didn't have? I tracked down Ken Grimwood and tried to buy the movie rights for this book. I didn't just love Replay, I believed in it, I dreamed of it. I wanted this book - this book that only I had found.

And that's when his agent told me the film rights were snatched up years ago. Nice try, big shot.

Years later, when the Internet became the Internet, I found myself searching for Ken Grimwood again and learned that he died in 2003. I also discovered that I wasn't only believer; at the time, there were fan sites dedicated to Replay. Hundreds of people - like the fellow replayers we never realize are out there - were all dreaming my same dream.

Here's one of the fan sites, kengrimwoodlibrary.com , where I learned he wrote under other names as well, although the only book identified as his is Two Plus Two, under the name Alan Cochrane. --Tom