Good Housekeeping USA – May 2022
English | 132 pages | pdf | 97.57 MB
Since Good Housekeeping’s earliest days, books editors have dedicated themselves to searching out the best reads from the embarrassment of riches getting published every month. After finding an April 1930 essay from Emily Newell Blair, GH’s books editor at the time, I realized that my modern-day process isn’t much different from hers. Every season I meet with publicists to hear their new lists, pore over publishers’ catalogs to earmark what may become new favorites for our audience and read hundreds of upcoming releases to find the diamonds in the rough
and pass them along to our readers.
Of course, many publicist meetings take place virtually these days, and I read a lot of books on my e-reader instead of calling to get hard copies of galleys or early bound manuscripts, though nothing beats the thrill of holding a hotly anticipated book in my hands sooner than almost anyone else (except passing it along to a fellow bookworm!). Read on to see how Newell Blair described her hopes and fears, including the very same anxieties I have about missing something great. —Lizz Schumer
My objective is to find at least 12 books which I can recommend for one reason or another to 12 different kinds of persons with differing tastes and interests. Unfortunately, my forebears have cursed me with a New England conscience. So I can never be satisfied until I am assured that I have found the best books available for this purpose. This means that my search is never ending, for the number of books that are sent to me is great. I have nothing to guide me except the “blurbs” on their jackets and the notices sent by the publishers. And these, as every one knows,
cannot be accepted on faith.
Some months, therefore, I read a dozen books without finding one that seems to me worthy of a place in my articles. But time is inexorable. The article must be written by a certain date. And so I hurry on, trying another and another. Some are discarded immediately on reading; under no circumstances will they do. Others are possible.
They would do in lieu of a better [one], which I hope against hope I may find. Usually I do, but occasionally I am forced to make my list with the uncomfortable feeling that there, in that pile of the not-yet-read, may be the very book I seek.
Often I am in luck. Book after book is just what I want. Then I wish to include them all, and the exigencies of space demand that I make a choice. There will be a splendid book for one kind of person and none for another.
From “Hunting the Best Books Is a Year-Round Sport for Emily Newell Blair,” April 1930
Filling Bookshelves
Then Good Housekeeping published
excerpts of novels, short stories
and even poetry in its pages in
addition to book recommendations.
Now The Good Housekeeping
Book Club launched in 2021 to invite
readers into the conversation about
our favorite feel-good reads.
Much has happened in the past 137 YEARS (and beyond!). Find fun facts throughout the issue.
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