Dottie 's comments (member since Jan 07, 2008)

Dottie 's comments from the Q&A with David Liss group.

I often wonder what people looking at the titles on the shelves in my home might think -- my shelves here are even more revealing most likely because they are all right there -- many of my real life books are packed in boxes at least for the moment.

Wow -- now that second part is an interesting little bit of info to know! Heh.

I wanted to thank David Liss for his time and openess in speaking with us here and to than Otis for providing this venue and inviting us here as well.

This is the best book site I've seen since joining Constant Reader on the old Prodigy message boards -- and we CR folks are very happy with our newest accomodations as a group here on Goodreads, Otis, so again, thank you.

Mr. Liss -- I was rather impressed with the bookshelves -- perhaps as I saw several which are high on my own lists among your choices, but I don't believe that is the only reason. Seeing what an author chooses to have on his shelves is a rather unique experience for this reader at least. I'm also one who will peruse openly or covertly the titles on shelves in others' homes given the opportunity -- should I have confessed that or not?

I have read only one of your books thus far and have two others on my to-read shelf here on this site so I went exploring to find more of your books and to get some idea of publication dates, etc. More than likely my to-read shelf will grow even more as a result.

The book which I read was The Coffee Trader and I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I purchased this in Belgium in either late 2002 or early 2003 and read it there just before we left to return home to CA -- well, I came home while my husband moved with the job to Taiwan for a year.

I think my attraction to the book was the concept of how coffee became an economic indicator -- a product functioning as a stock exchange of sorts. I had just read another book with a similar theme (Tulip Fever)and followed up a while later with another (The Tea Rose). Please note that I am not putting these three volumes on a level in any way other than the similarity of at least a thread or theme within the whole of each.

I do remember also that I loved the description in The Coffee Trader -- the settings of the cafes (that's not the correct word though) where the drink was first served so secretively and the growing interest in the product and the building craze for the drink -- I think modern day Starbucks almost now that I mention it!

The characters -- whose names have faded were well-drawn and became very real for me in the setting of the book. It may well be that being close to the lowlands or Flemish character for a few years before encountering the book made some of them seem familiar, I can't really say.

I am curious about the upcooming books The Whiskey Rebels and Devil's Company -- aack, I think I've muffed one or both of the titles there, please forgive me if I have. Being a genealogical researcher of some long standing, I have entertained the possibility that an ancestor was in the whiskey making business (I've found slim evidence of it but enough that I've not given up the idea as yet -- and one branch of this line may have spent time in Barbados -- think rum running). None-the-less -- The Whiskey Rebels will definitely go on the to-read shelf and move up ahead of some which can wait a while longer since they've waited this long -- in other words it's time for another David Liss book.

And to sum up, it's always good to have access to an author and to hear from him or her some response to one's own thoughts on their work. So I thank you for being here.

Dottie