The Week’s Most-Clicked Book News

Barnes & Noble Picks Its Book of the Year

This year’s Barnes & Noble’s book of the year had been popping up a little even before it was one of the retailer’s finalists. And Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser feels a little like a throwback. It’s a novel about a a girl who is losing her vision and her grandfather’s quest to show her works of art, one a week for a year, across Paris’ museums. The cover is a close-up of a painting that appeared on another crossover breakout, and the theme of sucking the marrow out of life on the precipice of loss is not without precedent among books that have become sensations. And its publisher, Europe Editions, had a global bestseller that had a similar bittersweet, affirming message. Intrusive thought: did attention for this book have anything to do with people getting excited about the Louvre because of this?

David Baldacci Donating $13 Million to Fund Civil Discourse Initiative

Bestselling author David Baldacci is donating $13 million to fund an initiative to promote civil discourse and educate people about “how to be informed members of a democracy.” Citing books as “body armor against bigotry,” Baldacci is partnering with his alma mater Virginia Commonwealth University and the Library of Virginia to plan, among other things, a speaker series and public debates intended to foster “civil, constructive and respectful dialogue about complex issues.” The details are still in the works, but Baldacci’s vision is clear: get people off their phones and into rooms with each other.

“I think when you bring people together physically and the anonymity goes away, that all of a sudden they’re accountable — it’s a totally different dynamic,” he said. “Just bring people back together and have good debates, civilly, peacefully, knowing that everybody deserves respect, regardless of what they think.

May his efforts succeed.