A Cappella Books turns 20

When A Cappella Books celebrates its 20th anniversary this December, 20 local authors will line up to talk. But instead of simply reading and discussing their own works, they’ll also speak about the books that have impacted their writing. Marc Fitten will talk about Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, a book he says “felt like a road map” to becoming a writer. Former CL columnist Hollis Gillespie will discuss Joan Didion’s Book of Common Prayer. She says, “I’ve almost committed the entire book to memory, but still I keep it around just to arbitrarily open to any page and begin reading, to remind myself that writing is a craft, and those who do it well should be celebrated.”

A Cappella owner Frank Reiss doesn’t have a spot on this marathon, two-day schedule. If you ask about his favorite book, though, he’ll probably say Norwood by Charles Portis.

Reiss first read Norwood in the early ’80s while living in San Francisco and working at Acorn Books. Trade paperbacks were still an emerging trend when a line called Vintage Contemporaries hit the market.

“The first few titles that came out in this line of books were Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City, which was a huge deal at the time. They also published The Sportswriter by Richard Ford, one of my favorite books,” Reiss says. “I kind of fell into this line of books – whoever was editing them or selecting them, they really were touching something at the time.”

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(Photo by Joeff Davis)