A few times this past summer, customers approached me and asked for recommendations.  The conversations went something like this:

Customer: What do you recommend?

Me: What kind of book are you looking for?  Light and fluffy?  Serious?  Uplifting?  Funny? 

C: I just want a really good read but I prefer books that end on an uplifting note. 

M: .........

I am quite sure that every such interaction leaves the customer shaking his or her head at the illiterate help that the bookstore employs.  It would really be much easier if I just had a sticker on my name tag that said "I am constantly reading but none of the books have ever been part of a tv program's book club."  Because, despite what people tell you, they in fact are scared off by titles that have never been endorsed by a celebrity.  Except for one woman to whom I recommended Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible.  The copy I found had an Oprah's book club sticker on it and the woman stopped listening to me once her eyes spotted that.  "Oh I'd never read anything that Oprah picked."  I tried to tell her that the book had been released and received accolades long before Oprah touted it, to no avail.  But that woman seems to be the exception to the rule, at least as far as I've experienced.

But when someone walked in wanting a light summer read, with an uplifting storyline, all that came to mind were the two books about the Holocaust I had just finished.  Uplifting!  Light reading!  Err- not exactly.  Even the more hilarious books I read are not your normal humor books.  Sarcastic to be sure, but, unfortunately, not for everyone.  Recommending books is hard work!

So how DO people find out about what they want to read next?  Well, some readers stick to the same tried and true authors, as several customers proclaimed as they gladly bought the new Nicholas Sparks book from me Tuesday.  Some stick to a certain genre, getting leery if a title is classified where they aren't comfortable roaming.  Some read the local papers and then ask for an obscure local book that hasn't been printed in ages but was just profiled "recently".  Some listen to NPR and come in with no title or author because they had no opportunity while driving to scribble down such needed information.  Some read the Sunday New York Times Book Section and are shocked to hear that a book might be profiled before its release.  If one visits a local library, they might have recommendations from Bookpages, a free monthly publication if the library carries it.

Well, as less communities have bookstores for publishers to display their wares in, publishers have been looking for new ways to reach out to readers. 
Which brings us to this:

This is a trailer for Chuck Klosterman's new novel The Visible Man which was released last week.  A video preview for a book?  It just doesn't sit well with me.  I rarely read a book after I've seen a movie version of it because the movie influences what my mind's eye visualizes from the book.  The main character now looks suspiciously like the Hollywood actor cast in that role.  The locale is strikingly similiar to the movie shoot's location.  Even when a movie is said to be so different from the book, I still rarely find myself coming up with a story independent of the movie's influence.

But in this age of technology ruling every aspect of our lives, can books survive without technology intervening?  The e-book revolution is happening.  Will a trailer for each new book be the next big thing to take readers by storm?  I hope not, though I'm also a holdout of the e-book revolution.