I must be the only person on the planet who missed hearing about Reif Larson's upcoming (due May 5th) novel The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. The current issue of Vanity Fair has a piece on Larsen (not online) and the six figure advance he got for the book which is described by the publisher thusly:

When twelve-year-old genius cartographer T.S. Spivet receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian announcing he has won the prestigious Baird Award, life as normal — if you consider mapping family dinner table conversation normal — is interrupted and a wild cross-country adventure begins, taking T.S. from his family ranch just north of Divide, Montana, to the museum's hallowed halls.

T.S. sets out alone, leaving before dawn with a plan to hop a freight train and hobo east. Once aboard, his adventures step into high gear and he meticulously maps, charts, and illustrates his exploits, documenting mythical wormholes in the Midwest, the urban phenomenon of "rims," and the pleasures of McDonald's, among other things. We come to see the world through T.S.'s eyes and in his thorough investigation of the outside world he also reveals himself.

As he travels away from the ranch and his family, we learn how the journey also brings him closer to home. A secret family history found within his luggage tells the story of T.S.'s ancestors and their long-ago passage west, offering profound insight into the family he left behind and his role within it. As T.S. reads, he discovers the sometimes shadowy boundary between fact and fiction and realizes that, for all his analytical rigor, the world around him is a mystery.

All that he has learned is tested when he arrives at the capital to claim his prize and is welcomed into science's inner circle. For all its shine, fame seems more highly valued than ideas in this new world and friends are hard to find.

It's an illustrated novel, with Larsen including bits of T.S.'s maps throughout. Not all the reviews are glowing - some folks don't seem to know what to make of it or if they are "getting it" but you see that kind of thing whenever anyone does something new. I love illustrated novels (Barbara Hodgson is a master at this form) and the whole idea here of a child fascinated with maps is widely appealing to me. (Stephen King apparently loved it which makes me that me that much more excited.)

I am, as usual, curious as to why a book with a child protagonist is marketed to adults and not teens; I'm hoping this one has huge crossover appeal, most especially for boys (it seems that it would but I'll have to read it to be sure). What really puzzles me though is how I missed this. I hit the major literary sites basically every day but I don't recall reading about this advance or the unique nature of the book. (Megan McCain's advance I did read about and honestly I'm quite happy for her - the girl has been working the political show circuit relentlessly and I think will do a good job writing on that subject.) How did I miss this one? It's curious as so often it seems book lovers are assailed by news of the latest and greatest - or what the marketing machines determine is the latest and greatest. Sheila recently had a post up on sort of this same subject, lamenting that the same titles appear on the bestseller and award lists while so many readers wander around wondering what to read. (Her post is aimed at YA readers but the same message applies to adults as well.)

I'm all for writing about books that everyone seems to have missed - in fact I spend a lot of time trying to review books that might have been missed or lightly noticed elsewhere - then something like T.S. Spivet comes along and I realize that even the biggest marketing departments in publishing don't always get the message out to everyone. If it wasn't in Vanity Fair this month (and if I wasn't a subscriber) then I doubt I would have heard much unless it started showing up on the blogs I read. Which brings us to another part of this "how to find books" discussion - be a faithful reader of blogs written by folks whose literary opinion you respect and you will find tons of books that otherwise would have escaped your notice (thank you Jessa, Jenny D., Ed, Dan Wickett and Gwenda - just to name a few.) Are any of them planning to review The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet? I have no idea. But in the meantime Gwenda has been all over Jedidiah Berry's The Manual of Detection and Bookslut has an interview up with him this month and so I know that is a book that I must read.

See that's how this whole not-big time-marketed book thing works; you find them through the advice of others and you find those folks who give the good advice by being patient and curious and taking the time to find your way through the lit blogosphere. And then sometimes you just get lucky through the major media (hello Vanity Fair) but that's rare for me - so rare that I don't even expect to find a book this way and that is why Spivet is a nice surprise. Otherwise though, I'm faithful to the bloggers who have led me to right words in the past. Thus far not one of them has let me down and I'm sure that will remain true in the future. (I just added Eduardo Galeano's The Book of Embraces to my Powells wish list based on Gwenda's comment Tuesday and the amazing book dedication she quoted.)

I don't need a list of overlooked books (although I'm all for making them - every bit helps); I just need the bloggers I follow to write about the books they love and I'm one happy reading camper. (Oh - and the occasional major media moment of serendipity as well!)

[Is that a killer cover for Spivet or what?]
[A review of the book from Seth Marko is here.]