Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Around here at HMH, we love books. Producing them, reading them, and just generally sharing space with them. We also have an affinity, as most Internet users do, for cute animals.

And so this wild idea was born to ask you, followers/fans/friends, please send us your pictures of animals with books, HERE. (Alternatively, the Submit a Bookpets Photo link at the top of our blog.) 

Don’t disappoint us - we know how creative you are!

Looking to learn more about life at HMH? Director of Marketing for Adult Books, Carla Gray, was nice enough to complete this week’s Meet Us Monday staff survey.

What do you do here at HMH?

I like to consider myself a walking Mariner backlist reference, but that only comes into play periodically.  I do think of myself as Defender of Fiction, but that’s more like my super-hero status than it is my actual job.  Sometimes I vigilantly remind others about manners, and often I police fashion choices.  But mostly, I market our books.

What is your favorite HMH book of all time?  

I’d happily follow Larry Cooper with The Visible World, but to mix things up, how about a little love for Forgetfulness by Ward Just?

What is the last non-HMH book that you read?

Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson

What’s your favorite at-work diversion?

I maniacally follow the HMH social media feed- Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.  It is absolutely addictive.

Can you share a little anecdote about the office?

I first started at Houghton in Telephone Sales.  I covered the East Coast, John Mendelson covered the West.  We sat in adjacent cubicles, and across from John sat Kevin Logan.  Each afternoon at around 4-ish, we’d engage in battle.  We all had those ancient, dinosaur-like computer monitors; John kept a small rubber Buddha atop his, and Kevin had a tempting array of tchotchkes such as small, throwable bean bags near his.  We’d line up in Kevin’s cube, and “Bean the Buddha.”  Extra points if you not only knocked the Buddha off his perch, but also shut-off the monitor!

Do you have a favorite poet/poem that has special meaning to you?

Richard Wilbur!  Last August, Liz Anderson and I drove to Western MA and spent a fantastic afternoon with the former Poet Laureate, who is as welcoming, generous, and lovely as is humanly possible.  I’ve always loved his poetry, so meeting him in person (and hearing him recite poems, such as “Galveston 1961”) was an experience I’ll forever cherish.

What was the last book you read that wasn’t set in the U.S.?

George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I by Miranda Carter

What’s your favorite word?

Right?  (Annoyingly true.  I’ve suddenly found myself using “right” as an entire sentence, followed by a question mark.  Offensive stuff, right?)

What’s your biggest food guilty pleasure?

Oysters and kale.  And I don’t feel guilty AT ALL.

If you could jump into an HMH book, which would it be?

Well, I’ll use this Q&A as an excuse to highlight what I’d likely do if I wasn’t happily employed in the HMH marketing department… I’d bet the horses full-time.    A little-known backlist gem, recently resurrected by the digital revolution, is My $50,000 Year at the Races by Andrew Beyer.  (Andy is the author of the three indispensible guides to horserace handicapping; Picking Winners, The Winning Horseplayer, and Beyer on Speed, all published by HMH.)  I’d jump right into that book, and shadow Andy as he takes on the pari-mutuels.

Check out Carla and Liz’s video from their trip to meet former Poet Laureate Richard Wilbur!

Happy Monday tumblrs! Katrina Kruse, Adult Marketing Manager here in Boston, takes you behind the scenes in the world of HMH with another installment of our weekly staff surveys.

What do you do here at HMH?

I am the adult marketing manager for birds, words, curds, and murds.  This translates into a lot of branding initiatives as I cover field guides, the American Heritage® Dictionary and related titles, all of our cookbooks and mysteries as well.  When Harcourt and Houghton Mifflin merged they asked me to work on mysteries and I said I would only do it if I could fit it into my job title, hence murds. 

What is your favorite HMH book of all time?

Growing up my favorite books were the Edith books by Dare Wright, especially A Gift from the Lonely Doll. Edith is a Kathe Kruse Doll (It is rare to see your last name on a product when your name is Kruse) and Mr. Bear was the same Steif bear that I had growing up. As an adult I appreciate that the stories and photography are great in these picture books. I was so happy that Houghton reissued these books right around the time I started working here.

What is the last non-HMH book that you read?

I am constantly reading cookbooks. Right now, Anjum’s New Indian is what I am reading before going to sleep.  For fiction I read The Love Song of Monkey by Michael Graziano a few months back and it has stayed with me. 

What’s your favorite at-work diversion?

It is a tough job, but someone needs to stay aware of all those cooking blogs out there. So reading the blogs and commenting on people’s cupcake photos from the Hello, Cupcake Facebook page are great diversions.

Can you share a little anecdote about the office?

Kind of more an out of office anecdote but I have gotten to do some amazing things in my job.  For the field guides I have gone birding with some of the best knows birders in the US and seen some amazing species of birds that I would never have seen on my own.  I have gone out birding with Don Kroodsma and his parabola with headphones attached listening to the birds in an area instead of using binoculars.  My favorite field trip has been going “bugging” at night and finding Katydids and other insects with Lang Elliott.

Do you have a favorite poet/poem that has special meaning to you?

I love the new Symborzka collection, Here.

What was the last book you read that wasn’t set in the U.S.?

I am currently reading The Hangman’s Daughter a thriller set in seventeenth-century Bavaria.  It is the perfect summer read filled with corruption, suspected witches and the devil, murder, and forbidden love – What more could you want in a book?

What’s your favorite word?

Tintinnabulation, it is not a word I get to drop into conversations much but I love to say it.

What’s your biggest food guilty pleasure?

I think eating should be filled with appetizers and fruity drinks.  You get great variety, can share with friends and have fun.

If you could jump into an HMH cookbook, which would it be?

Perfect Recipes for Having People Over by Pam Anderson.  This book is filled with great recipes for low stress entertaining.  I like having friends over but I tend to freak out over what I cook.  This book calms me down.

If you could jump into an HMH nature book, which would it be?

I would jump into the upcoming Peterson Reference Guide to Behavior of North American Mammals.  This book is filled with such amazing information such as the fact adult porcupines will get together and dance for exercise, US armadillos can’t roll into perfect balls but they can walk underwater for up to four minutes, and possums must fall over on their right side while mating if they want to conceive.

This week’s staff survey has been completed by Ellen Sugg, a National Accounts Manager (and avid tweeter at @bookred!).

What do you do here at HMH?

I’m a sales rep serving educational wholesalers and a few great independent booksellers in the Midwest.

What is your favorite HMH book of all time?

Some of my favorite writers started out at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.  Our HM rep when I was a bookseller, introduced me to Robert Parker with PROMISED LAND.  I read LORDS OF DISCIPLINE in one gulp when HM published it years ago…  I loved COLD SASSY TREE, SLAMMERKIN and THE COLOR PURPLE, but I think my favorite is LIFE OF PI.  I read it in ms on the way to launch and realized at one point that I was holding my breath.  That doesn’t happen very often.

What is the last non-HMH book that you read?

Our book group is composed of folks who are or at one time were involved in the book business in the Twin Cities and we just read SOJOURN by Andrew Krivek. It’s a beautiful little novel set during WWI.

What’s your favorite at-work diversion?

My favorite thing about my job is sitting with folks who sell books to the public and talking about books.  When I am in the office on the lower level of our home, I love watching a tom turkey or the occasional pheasant admire his own reflection in my office window.

Can you share a little anecdote about the office?  

Once when Cara Coggins was helping me with a knotty and persistent problem, she inspired Casey Whalen to design a very silly t-shirt to commemorate it. Maybe one day, I’ll get it printed up – but it’s a shark (rather than a dolphin) swallowing a very harried looking person with red hair.

Do you have a favorite poet/poem that has special meaning to you?  

I like to think I am an optimist, but “AFRAID SO” by Jeanne Marie Beaumont speaks to me.  Google it and you’ll see.

What was the last book you read that wasn’t set in the U.S.?  

THE MAID, by Kimberly Cutter.

What’s your favorite word?

My dad had a thing for antidisestablishmentarianism, so that’s a sentimental favorite – but I don’t often have a reason to use it.  

What’s your biggest food guilty pleasure?  

Ice cream.  Any flavor, any time.

If you could jump into an HMH cookbook, which would it be? 

I would cook with a fraction of Dorie Greenspan’s élan and skill from AROUND MY FRENCH TABLE.