My nonfiction book is getting a second printing

Thanks to everyone who came to my NYC event on Wednesday night. There were around sixty people? A lot of people! The room was full, and the event sold out. I really appreciated everyone who came. It’s nice that this blog has enough fans that I don’t have to aggressively pound the pavements and badger my real-life friends to come to my event—of course I’m happy that some of my real-life friends came, but I hate making your availability to come to downtown Manhattan on a Wednesday night into a litmus test on our friendship.

In any case, a lot of people came, and I had a great time. Thank you so much to Clare Frances for moderating. There was a video-camera operator there from CSPAN, and he said eventually the event would be on TV and then uploaded to YouTube.

This morning, my editor told me that many people have purchased this book—after two days, it is already headed to a second printing (and, in related news, after two days the book is already PUP’s best-selling title for the month of May).

I actually don’t exactly know what it means to say your book is getting a second printing (especially so soon after release), because this has never happened to me. I don’t think it means the book is literally sold out or unavailable—I am pretty sure you can still buy it on Amazon and at many bookstores. I think what it means is that orders from bookstores have exceeded the available copies in the warehouse, so now they need to print more. Right now, there are likely still many copies available on shelves. So get yours while you still can.

My nonfiction book, What’s So Great About The Great Books? is still probably available for purchase! Order a copy from Amazon or from Bookshop or buy a copy at my event in SF (May 30). If you want to attend the SF event, you must RSVP.

In other news, the book was reviewed by Valerie Stivers at Unherd (here’s a link that gets you past the paywall). I haven’t read the review, but all my friends say it’s a bit weird, because there’s some stuff in the review about me being trans. But she likes the book!

Other Press

• When I was in New York, I was also on the radio, answering questions for All of It on WNYC. The recording is here.

• Tash wrote about the book: “I love her way of writing about books and writing and the literary scene. So I knew I would want to read her new book and that I’d enjoy spending time in her company. And I did!”

• Abra McAndrew also wrote about the book: “Have you ever had FOMO about not reading the classics? In her forthcoming book, Naomi Kanakia positions herself as an encouraging guide for contemporary adults who want to be well-read and yet are not sure whether reading Great Books will reward their time.”

• John Warner interviewed me for his newsletter.

• Petya K. Grady also did one of her Reading Life specials with me.

• An excerpt from my book (it’s basically the first chapter) was posted on LitHub.

  There’s a set of books that you’ve probably already heard of. These are the ones that’ve been extolled by professors and critics. They’ve been referenced in countless speeches and essays. And in school, your teachers most likely claimed that these books were among the world’s greatest works of literature.

  I’m talking about texts like Melville’s Moby-Dick, Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Dante’s Inferno, Cervantes’s Don Quixote, and about a hundred others—most people have heard of these books, and most people have some preexisting ideas about them. (Collectively, these texts are often referred to as ‘The Great Books.’)