>> why isn't there a book festival? >> there is a stand alone book festival online but we decided to spread them out through the paper to see if we could find more readers. seemed like a disaster at the time to me but i had to admit we do in fact have more readers for book reviews now. we put them in places people read more. we are in there every day in style, in the weekend art section, outlook every sunday. people see our reviews more. >> what kind of books do you review? >> i tend to review only literary fiction but we do political books, science, history, biography, arts coverage on sunday, books about history of film and theater. >> why do you stick to fiction?

>> because i don't have to know anything. if you want to do non-fiction you have to be an expert. do the publishers want to have their books reviewed in the "washington post"? >> they say they do. there are fewer outlets than there used to be for book reviews. >> jonathan yardly? >> we lost him. he retired after many, many years. every week, sometimes twice a week or many years before i got to the post-but we still have michael every thursday. >> ron charles, how did you get

into this business? >> i was an english teacher for many years which i loved but the paper grading was wearing me down. i thought if i graded one more piece of paper i would kill someone. a student's mother suggested i review books, and i bought a book, wrote up a review and sent it to the christian review monitor and they bought it ask asked for more. >> how many years were at the christian monitor? >> seven years. >> can a bad or good book review affect sales? >> there is some academics i read saying a review has a marginal positive effect on sale but it doesn't matter if the review is positive or negative. it is just getting the cover and name out there helps a little bit.

i know there are positive reviews and once you get there, it is sticky and you tend to tay there. >>ual the post continue to post book reviews? >> yes, for the first time in many years we added staff to the book section. >> andrew crew has a book coming out. robert butler has a book reaching back to his vietnam war days coming out that is supposed to be wonderful. >> who are your go-to authors?

>> i am a sucker anything ann rice writes. i love jonathan francis. i couldn't believe it. i am amazed by the number of really fine authors we have in this country and the number we keep producing every year. there are many more books being produced than we have room to review. i will not say every review we run is a recommendation but more and more i think we are turning that way because people need direction. they go into the bookstore and it is overwhelming. they want to know what should i read and it is getting harder and harder to justify our space

here is a book you never heard of, don't read it. i want to point people to books they enjoy and want to read. >> in washington, is it important that you review a lot of the political books that come out? >> it is. people turn to us for that and i think we have a lot of expertise in that area. particularly with the election time but all of the time we write on the history books, policy books and books that impenge on law and government. >> how do you develop the best-seller list? >> it is generated from nielsen and they take from the maryland, virginia, and washington, d.c.. and that information is given to us and we filter out some things

like textbooks and things that show up certain times of the year. >> what are some of the best-selling books in washington right now? >> i will have to look at the list. it doesn't differ that mauch from the national list. once in a while a conference comes in and that will push brooks up or someone visits -- books. someone will come to politic and pros and they will move 300 copies that week and push it up. but in general, the list tracks pretty much the national list. we like the idea of elements popping up once in a while. >> ron charles, you are here at the publisher event in chicago. what is the importance of you? >> i get to meet a lot of

publicists i e-mail all year. i can meet authors and setup future interviews with them. sometimes i am just a fan and i can get an autograph or embarrass myself. >> do you do anything electronical with the book reviews? >> we tweet them. i have a series we set-up. hello, i am ron charles. you may know me as the book critic for a major newspaper. in response to previous episodes we have received comments from all over in this hectic times you need book criticism that is fast, fun and incredibly hip.

this is a block baus buster here called freedom. this started long before anyone could buy it. "the new york times" ran their review in 1834. >> what does it mean? >> i don't know. >> it has been on the cover of "time" magazine. do you realize how big of a deal that is? president obama was fighting for freedom when it came out. what is it all about? the previous best seller, "corrections" from 2011

follows the story of a troubled married couple with two children in st. paul, minnesota. a smart highly feigned take on suburban life. >> we are trying to figure out where readers are and reach them with book criticism or news like everybody else. >> i don't know what the numbers are. i meet people all over twitter and that is fun. you talk about books i will never read. >> a lot of "washington post" writers review the office writers. >> that is trouble because a lot of colleagues write books in the

office and we go to a strict policy to make sure they are connected to people whoo no connection. it is the worst part of my job waiting for reviews to come back of my friends' books. it is agonizing but we think it is important to our independence. all my colleagues but up with it. they have all been supported even under the worst circumstances. >> what other book reviews to do you read? >> i read the la book review, that is a great setup online. it is not a setup anymore but i am impressed by the qualityty of their reviews. i am trying to figure out what to assign three months out.

ron charlie, the redter of "washington post" book world. thank you so much. >> on sunday, september 4th, booktv is live from hillsdale college in michigan with dennis prager on in depth. his recent book examines how the ten commandments are relevant today and writes about good and evil, racism, the holocaust and other things in this book. in his 2013 book, still the best hope, he lays out why he believes american values must triumph in an uncertain world. here is here from a los angeles time festival of books.

>> if everybody lived by the ten commandments you would not need an army, a police man, no locks on the door. this is all humans need. it is amazing. sunday, september 4th from noon to 3:00 p.m. eastern. >> up next on booktv on c-span2 investigative journalist seymour hersh talks about his newest book called "the killing of osama bin laden"challenging the facts made by the obama administration and others about bin laden's capture and death. >> host: let's start by talking aboutin