How did you find books that you love? Oh yes, Amazon certainly makes it easy to just order a book you read a review about or heard about from someone. Ahh, but the adventure of discovery is so much more rewarding. An interview with Jane about how she discovers her most favorite reads.

How did you discover your own favorite authors growing up?

My first reading influence was my mother. She was well-read, and we always had books in the house. All she had to do was say, I loved such-and-such a book or author, and I’d run off to the library to find a copy for myself. One series she turned me onto was the “Jalna” books by Canadian author Mazo de la Roche. There were sixteen books in total, all about a large and very dysfunctional Scottish-Canadian family, and I devoured every single one. She hardly ever steered me wrong.

Later, my tastes were shaped by school reading assignments and authors I stumbled upon while leafing through books at the library. I once picked up a paperback by British author Mary Wesley at a WH Smith in a train station. It was cheap, and I needed something to read while on the train. I ended up hooked on her work. Sometimes, discovery is pure happenstance.

Do you have a "type" of place you gravitate toward — public libraries vs. book sales vs. indie shops vs. free libraries vs. somewhere else?

To find my everyday reading, I spend most of my time browsing libraries (and have since I got my first library card at age 6). Sometimes, if I fall in love with a book I’ve taken out of the library, I’ll buy it so I can have a copy of my own.

I have a couple of indie bookstores that I love, staffed with people who are great at recommendations. It’s always fun to hear what they like to read. Buying online is easy, but it’s great to have a rapport with a person who knows your taste and can point you in a direction they are sure you will like.

Another favorite place for finding books is a used bookstore. I’ve found a first edition of Rupert Brooke poetry in York, England (“Stands the Church clock at ten to three? And is there honey still for tea?”), some gorgeous Complete Poems of William Blake with color plate reproductions of his engravings, and a really lovely edition of Laurie Colwin’s Another Marvelous Thing. More on that next…

Is there a book you still own that you found in an unusual spot? What's the story behind it?

So about that Laurie Colwin book from the used bookstore…

I was living in Chicago at the time, not long out of college and working in the hospitality industry. I’d had a subscription to Gourmet magazine for years at that point, and there was a monthly column in it that I loved. It was written by a woman who chronicled things she whipped up in her New York City kitchen, mistakes and all. Nothing was fancy, and often the stories were more engaging than the food.

I used to make a few of these at home (a favorite was the Nantucket Cranberry Pie). If you had asked me her name at the time, I probably couldn’t have told you because I can be terrible with names, but I loved the stories and felt as if I knew this woman, or I could be this woman. I was also writing my own stories at the time, and a literary agent asked to see some of my work.

When we spoke after he’d read what I sent, he told me the stories I’d given him reminded him of Laurie Colwin’s. Of course I went looking for her work (and subsequently found that first collection on the used bookstore shelf), and I was absolutely taken aback to discover this was the same writer who was bringing me into her home life every month in Gourmet! I realized then why my voice in those short stories may have sounded like hers: I wanted to be her. Anyway, I went on to read everything she ever wrote and eventually developed my own voice, which is as it should be.

Has a reader ever told you they found one of your books in one of these unexpected places?

Oddly enough, yes. When we lived in Switzerland between 2015 and 2018, our US mail got collected and then forwarded to us twice a year. In one of these batch mailings, I found a note card from a reader who had checked out The Mosaic Artist from her local library, which was somewhere in the Midwest - unusual in that this book was self-published, and often these don’t circulate far and wide without great effort on the part of the author. I had no idea how it found its way to her library.

*Jane’s second book, The Mosaic Artist.*

When she finished reading the book, she tracked down my local library and asked if they would get a letter to me, which they did. It was important for this reader to let me know that something I wrote about in the book mirrored something happening in her life at the time, and that seeing such a similar story in print was healing to her. I appreciated her writing to let me know.

Does the idea of a reader "finding" your book by chance feel connected at all to your idea of everyday magic/sleight of hand?

I certainly think in this case, yes, this was the everyday magic of books. First, stories connect us to common emotions and situations. For this reader, she found the story she needed at the exact moment she needed to know she wasn’t alone in her life situation. But stories also connect us to each other—reader to reader, reader to writer. This woman was halfway across the country from my local library, and halfway around the world from where I was living at that time, and yet we had a moment of profound bonding. Maybe she’s forgotten sending me that note, but I haven’t forgotten receiving it.

What's it like knowing your book is one of 4 million+ published this year? Does that feel daunting, motivating, both, or something else?

More books are being published than ever before because the pathways to publishing have expanded so much over the past decade. Some books reach a lot of readers; most don’t. While we have to focus on our sales numbers and should feel a responsibility to put out books people want to read, we also need to remember that our books won’t be for every reader. What I concentrate on is connection. If one of my books found its way to a reader, did the reader and material connect? Did something in the story linger after the last page was turned? If so, I’ve done my job.

Dear Readers - where have you discovered unexpected books, stories, genres, and authors? What adventure were you on that led you to find your treasured favorites? I’d love to hear your stories.

Share your discovery adventure using this prompt, or any of the questions I answered above on my Instagram, Threads, or Facebook feeds, or via email.

The Adventures of Discovery

Done! Now What?

Wandering Wales