Q&A A bookstore owner takes his own

12 QUESTIONS FOR

Bill Petrocellli

It’s Bill’s turn. At 75, the bookstore owner is now on Twitter (@BillPetrocelli) and has a website and a blog of his own. Surprisingly, he didn’t need to be this digitally connected during his long career as an attorney or even to communicate with his six grandkids. However, now that he’s written his first novel, A Circle of Thirteen, a tale set in future decades focusing on women’s Author shifting status in society, people are telling him he needs to hang a shingle in the World Wide Web. So far, so good. And after 35 years of welcoming more than MILL VALLEY 10,000 authors, politicians and celebrities to Book Passage, one of the country’s most successful independent bookstores (which he owns and runs with wife Elaine), it’s now his turn to take his book on the road. Already it’s gotten many positive reviews: Friend and fellow author Isabel Allende of San Rafael has said it reveals him to be “as much of a radical feminist as Gloria Steinem.” He considers that quite a compliment. We caught up with him last fall, just before he left for a multicity book tour. MIMI TOWLE

1You’ve been on the other end of book tours for so

many years — did this make it easier for you now

that it’s your turn? Sure, but I didn’t anticipate how nice everyone would be and how enjoyable it is to talk to people about my book.

2Obviously, you have faith in the printed book? Absolutely. Print books are here to stay. E-books

have their role in the publishing business, but they will never replace printed books.

3How do you like Twitter? Having written our newsletter for so many years, I have grown accustomed to economizing with words — so it’s not too hard to get my point across in 140 characters.

4Anything unexpected about getting your book published? Well, I do have a newfound respect for

the power of book bloggers.

5Hobbies? I try to play the piano every morning for at least 30 minutes. It gets my head straight.

6Why set the story in the future? I thought it was the best way to get perspective on the changing roles of women in society. It let me explore some themes that I couldn’t really do any other way. 8 Do you have a muse? Elaine. She has been there from the beginning and I trust her judgment.

9Any must-read books this year? Yes, many, but since I tend to gravitate toward history, I would highly recommend Bill Bryson’s One Summer: America, 1927, and The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, by Christopher Clark.

10 All-time favorite book? Again, there are so many options, but at the moment, I’d go with Barbara Tuchman’s Proud Tower: A

Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890–1914. She writes about the nuances of a society on the verge of collapse. It’s really a landmark book.

11 Any movie options yet? Not yet, but if

there are any producers looking for a story that has some intelligent dialogue between women characters this is it. It

can pass the Bechdel test with flying colors.

7Anyone in your book modeled after a real person? I did pattern one character after Madeleine Albright,

whom we’ve had the fortune of meeting through Book Passage. Her image kept popping into my head as I was creating that particular character, so I named her Madeleine. I think of it as a compliment, and I hope she agrees. 12 Favorite drink? A rye Manhattan. I like to

make it myself at home, but if I’m out, Brick & Bottle is my favorite bar. m