MICHAEL NEAL:

Longtime bookseller and staff member, Michael Neal is a fixture at the Village Voice. He discovered the Municipal Lending Library at the age of nine (in his native England) and has been constructing a wall of books between himself and humanity ever since. He says, “I am convinced there is something of value inside every book – no matter how dull or, even, obnoxious. I am interested in outsides of books as well as their insides. Keen on footnotes. This year’s slogan is from Logan Pearsall Smith: ‘People tell me that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.’ ” Michael's great sense of humor is evident in how he refers to himself as an “obsessive re-reader.”

Michael’s recommended reading/books include:

Why I Write by George Orwell
In Defense of English Cooking
Complete Works of George Orwell
The Language Police by Diane Ravitch

VINCENT PIERROT:

Vincent studied cinema and literature at the University of Utah, where he also taught film. He worked as a projectionist and director of programming in an independent theatre, as well as at the Sundance Film Festival. A bookseller for now six years, Vincent has a keen interest in crime/mystery fiction, travel literature and books on the cinema/film. In 2005, Vincent orchestrated the evening with Jonas Mekas and Budd Schulberg for a reading at the Village Voice Bookshop, followed by a screening at the local Action Christine theatre.

Vincent’s recommended reading/books include:

The Sabers of Paradise by Lesley Blanch
The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski
The Asiatics by Frederic Prokosch
The Point by Charles d'Ambrosio
Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead
Trawler by Redmond O’Hanlon
Antipodes by Ignacio Padilla
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
The Ends of the Earth by W.S. Merwin
The Big Red One by Samuel Fuller (DVD) + Fuller’s autobiography, A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting and Filmmaking
Je N’Avait Nulle Part Ou Aller by Jonas Mekas

Mysteries:

Cypress Grove by James Sallis
The Deadly Percheron by John Franklin Bardin
Flicker by Theodore Roszak
The Small Boat of Great Sorrows by Dan Fesperman