this week's book is a blockbuster by jonathan franzen. you may have heard about this novel because they chat started long before anyone could buy a per "the new york times" ran their version of jonathan franzen's freedom in 1834. >> they say it's a masterpiece. what is the main? >> i don't know. i don't reckon anybody knows. franzen has been on the cover of "time" magazine. you realize what a big deal that is? we are talking the cover of "time" magazine here. before the book came out president obama was fighting for freedom so was it at all about? the previous bestseller in 2 million when you will feel like you are in familiar territory for the whole story follows the rise and fall of walter and patty berg linda troubled married couple with two children in st. paul minnesota to its classic franzen a smart take on suburban life. >> we are trying to figure out where readers are coming to kind of the platform and reach them with book criticism or book news. like everybody else. >> host: or you finding success? >> guest: the book people that

. >> guest: i'm a suck are for anybody anne rites and i love jonathan franzen. i am amazed by the number of really fine authors we have in this country and the number we keep producing every year. i have to say, our writing program are really good at producing fine fiction writers. many more books being produced we want to review than we have room for. many more. i won't say every review we run as a recommendation, but more and more we are turning that way because people need direction. they go into the book store and it's overwhelming. so many books and they want to know, basically, what should i read? and it's getting harder and harder, i think to justify using our limited space to tell people here's a book you have never heard of, don't read it. no danger of them finding that book, so i tend to -- i don't want a lot of pans in the paper unless their big-name books and i can save people's time. otherwise i'll point people to brocks they can enjoy want to read. >> host: in washington is it important that you review a lot of the political books. >> guest: it is,