"I do remember a fearsome manager at the W.H. Smith of my childhood, who used to follow you about tidying up the shelves every time you put back a book you had just briefly looked at. But I also remember a small independent bookshop, staffed only by a man who looked far too young to be wearing a cravat, and who only looked up from his own book in order to tie up your purchase in brown parcel paper and string.

"That to me is a more gemütlich experience than the Borders/Waterstone's approach. Nobody used the place as a railway station waiting-room (there was nowhere to sit), and nor were you likely to be sold a Danish pastry with which you could then gum up the pages of the next book you started leafing through.

"The backlash starts here."--Stuart Walton, in his Guardian Books Blog column headlined: "Bring back the traditional bookshop."

Amazon's Kindle e-reader is heading north. The Vancouver Sun reported that "more than a month after Canada was bypassed by Kindle in its release to more than 100 countries, Canadians will be able to buy Amazon's popular digital electronic book reader."

The Sun also noted that "Santa will have to have dig deep" to buy the device because added duties and the exchange rate will drive the retail price as high as $330 (US$311).

"What I can say as an industry observer is that we view this as a beneficial announcement," said Jamie Broadhurst, v-p of marketing for Raincoast Books. "We welcome more formats and we welcome more opportunities for people to read books in whatever format they find convenient and most enjoyable.... It is very, very early days for digital books in Canada and the United States. Canadian book sales continue to increase. We don't feel threatened by this. The more opportunities Canadians have to read in whatever format they choose, the better the industry will be."

---

Walmart.com CEO Raul Vazquez fired the latest salvo in the battle over the book pricing wars. Bloomberg reported that Vazquez "said the world's largest retailer disagrees with the American Booksellers Association's view that its recent price cuts constitute 'illegal predatory' practices."

"Generally the issue is whether or not you are intending to use pricing to drive someone out of business," he observed "That's not our intent. We've been the price leader in books for months before that program was announced.”

---

Congratulations to Watermark Book Company, Anacortes, Wash., which is celebrating its 20th birthday this week with 20% discounts in different sections on different days. The event culminates tomorrow when all books in the store go on sale for the day. There will also be cake, party hats and giveaways.

---

Books-A-Million has opened its first store in the Northeast, in Cherry Hill, N.J., near Philadelphia. The new store is in the Cherry Hill Mall. BAM now has more than 200 stores in 22 states and the District of Columbia.

---

What's going on at your store this holiday season? Shelf Awareness would love to hear about events, promotions, displays, charitable initiatives and other holiday-related happenings. Contact Shannon McKenna Schmidt.

---

In its profile of the Armadillo's Pillow used and rare bookshop, Chicago, Ill., the Loyola Phoenix observed: "It is hard to say what it is about this quaint bookstore that makes it so compelling to walk into. Maybe it's the unique name, or the 'rarified atmosphere' it possesses, but whatever the reason, it is a hot spot that has been around for 15 years. Customers range from Loyola students and professors to community members of Rogers' Park, to tourists coming to visit the Chicago area.

"The armadillo is a symbol for a book; there is a hard cover, but on the inside there is something soft and comforting in the content the book possesses," said co-owner Betsey Boemmel. "A book can take you inside a new world, outside of the 'hard shelled' world you live day in and day out."

---

NPR's What We're Reading list for November 17-23.

---

Congratulations to our former colleague Steve Zeitchik, who is joining the Los Angeles Times as a reporter and blogger covering the movie industry. He has written about the film and book business in an appropriately entertaining way at the Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Publishers Weekly.

Media coverage of Tuesday's release of Sarah Palin's Going Rogue: An American Life was intense and seemed to leave few pages unturned, though independent booksellers expressed less enthusiasm for the sales potential of the book than their competitors.

"Palin book hits stores, divides residents" was the headline for an article on LoHud.com, which noted that, at "bookstores around the region, the story of the 'hockey mom' from Wasilla with grand ambitions seemed endlessly captivating--love it or hate it."

While "copies were moving" at Borders bookstore, Mount Kisco, N.Y. and "a pile of Going Rogue copies was slowly diminishing" at Barnes & Noble, Nanuet, the pace was less intense at Village Bookstore, Pleasantville. Owner Roy Solomon "said there didn’t seem to be a lot of interest in the book, and he only had two pre-orders, not surprising in a part of the world that voted against Palin and Arizona Sen. John McCain by large margins. He also isn't sure her kind of fame translates well into books."

---

Palin's book was "flying off the shelves" at Borders Bookstore, Brighton, Mich., while the Barnes & Noble in Grand Rapids was expecting big sales from Palin's "book tour kickoff" event, the Livingston Daily Press reported. The Detroit Free Press featured live blogging from the Grand Rapids signing.

Some Rogue fans camped out overnight to for a chance to purchase the book and "an orange wristband. The wristband entitles them to line up again this evening to meet Palin," according to the USA Today, which offered an interactive map for anyone interested in details of Palin's upcoming book tour.

Indie bookseller Mary Ellen Aria, owner of Aria Booksellers, Howell, was less enthusiastic, saying that recent book price wars had an impact on potential sales for the book. "Us independent (book sellers) have been taken aback by this. I opted not to even have Palin's book at my store, even though I do have two orders for it."

---

Back home in Alaska, the Homer Tribune reported that River City Books, Soldotna, had a waiting list of 50 people before publication. Owner Peggy Mullen, who ordered 100 copies, said, "I think a lot of people are interested, just to find out what her story is. She still has quite a following in this area, I think. She’s still quite the public figure." Mullen also ordered 50 copies of Going Rouge. "We’ll stack them together and people can read and read and read," she said.

---

Old Harbor Books in Sitka, Alaska, is going rogue by donating the proceeds from tsales of the book to Defenders of Wildlife. The Associated Press (via the Los Angeles Times) reported that owner Don Muller "says he's not a fan of Palin. He tells the Daily Sitka Sentinel that donating proceeds to Defenders of Wildlife is a way to 'carry the book and do something positive.'"

---

Rob Wood, manager of Hastings Books, Norman, Okla.--where Palin will appear next month--told NewsOK.com, "It’s tremendous. It’s moving like crazy. . . . The store has sold a few hundred copies and a shipment of another 1,000 copies was expected today."

But at Full Circle Bookstore, Oklahoma City, event coordinator Chris Mauldin said, "We’re definitely not going to have a mega-demand for it."

---

"We don't have it," Jan­elle Kilmer of Bluestockings bookstore in Manhattan told Metro International. "I believe it isn't a book our readers would be interested in. I imagine some New Yorkers would read it, but probably not our readers."

Dominic Wagner of Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe said the store wasn't stocking the bestseller either. "If anyone wants to read it and asks for it we’ll take it in. She [Sarah Palin] certainly draws interest."

---

At Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Calif., "several copies of Palin's book . . . are stacked on the checkout counter next to a bowl filled with small bags of walnuts . . . Customer's who buy Palin's book, priced at $29 in hardcover, also get a free bag of 'Just Plain Nutz,'" the Sentinel reported.

"We know some customers have to buy it because it's on some uncle's wish list," said Casey Coonerty-Protti. "But it's not a big seller for the Santa Cruz market. We haven't had a lot of interest in selling the book anyway."

In the third quarter ended October 31, revenues at Hastings Entertainment fell 1.7%, to $112.3 million, compared to the third quarter, and the net loss was $3.4 million, a slight improvement from the net loss of $3.7 million in the same period last year.

In a statement, CEO and chairman John Marmaduke said, "The recession continued to negatively impact consumer spending.... Our core customer base remains stable; however, customer purchase behavior has shifted toward value priced merchandise."

During the quarter, sales of books at stores open at least a year rose 0.2%. The company said that "increased sales of used trade paperbacks and hardbacks, and increased sales of value priced books, were offset by lower sales of new hardbacks and trade paperbacks."

The fastest-growing Hastings sections were cafes (16.5%), video games (8.5%), electronics (5.1%) and consumables (3.8%). Sections with losses were movies (-3.1%), trends (-4.1%) and music (-10.4).

This morning on Good Morning America: Peter Walsh, author of It's All Too Much, So Get It Together (S&S Books for Young Readers, $12.99, 9781416995494/1416995498)

---

Today on Talk of the Nation: Ken Auletta, author of Googled: The End of the World as We Know It (Penguin Press, $27.95, 9781594202353/1594202354).

---

Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton, authors of Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies (Little, Brown, $24.99, 9780316040495/0316040495).

---

Tomorrow on the Today Show: Len Berman, author of a new children's book, The Greatest Moments in Sports (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, $16.99, 9781402220999/1402220995).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, November 21

10:15 a.m. Patrick J. Carr, co-author with Maria J. Kefalas of Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What it Means for America (Beacon Press, $26.95, 9780807042380/0807042382), contends that the departure of young people from small towns is leaving behind a largely immigrant, segregated population. (Re-airs Sunday at 12 a.m. and 3 p.m.)

6 p.m. Encore Books. For a segment that first aired in 1995, Norman Mailer discussed his book Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery (Random House, $15.95, 9780345404374/0345404378).

8 p.m. Coverage of the 60th annual National Book Awards from New York City. (Re-airs Sunday at 10 a.m.)

10 p.m. After Words. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders interviews former managing director at Goldman Sachs Nomi Prins, author of It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street (Wiley, $25.95, 9780470529591/0470529598). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m., and Monday at 12 a.m. and 3 a.m.)

Sunday, November 22

9 a.m. The History channel's resident historian, Steven Gillon, talks about his book The Kennedy Assassination--24 Hours After: Lyndon B. Johnson's Pivotal First Day as President (Basic Books, $25.95, 9780465018703/046501870X). (Re-airs Sunday at 8 p.m. and Monday at 4 a.m.)

5:45 p.m. For an event hosted by Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, Ohio, Book TV covers the signing by Sarah Palin, author of Going Rogue: An American Life (HarperCollins, $28.99, 9780061939891/0061939897), and discusses preparations for the event with the store's marketing and event coordinator. (Re-airs Monday at 7:30 a.m.)

6:30 p.m. Matthew Continetti discusses his book, The Persecution of Sarah Palin: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star (Sentinel, $25.95, 9781595230614/1595230610). (Re-airs Monday at 5:30 a.m.)

10 p.m. James Bennett, author of Not Invited to the Party: How the Demopublicans Have Rigged the System and Left Independents Out in the Cold (Springer, $24.50, 9781441903655/1441903658), argues that the two-party system is an artificial creation.

Di Bonaventura Pictures will produce film versions of Michael Scott’s six-part fantasy series, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, with Scott and Barry Krost serving as executive producers. Variety reported that "Flamel was an actual French alchemist who was born in 1330. His character was included in J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and the film adaptation, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

"Michael's fantastic series is a natural evolution from Harry Potter," said Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

Last night, the National Book Awards were presented at a black-tie dinner at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan. The winners:

• Fiction: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Random House)
• Nonfiction: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles (Knopf)
• Young people's literature: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (FSG)
• Poetry: Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy by Keith Waldrop (University of California Press)

"As fiction writers and people who believe in the word, we have to enter the anonymous corners of human experience to make that little corner right," said McCann in his acceptance remarks, the New York Times reported.

Stiles thanked his supporters, "including editorial assistants, copy editors and marketing staffers, at his publishing house," the Times wrote. "The advent of the e-book is fooling people into thinking that none of these people are necessary anymore," he said. "If they cease to exist, the books will only be worth the paper they are not printed on."

Gore Vidal was honored with the award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and Dave Eggers received the 2009 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. 

In The Moon, Come to Earth: Dispatches from Lisbon (University of Chicago Press, $15 trade paper, 9780226305158/0226305155, November 15, 2009), Philip Graham has written a lyrical and seductive memoir about one of the most wonderful places in the world. He and his family lived in Lisbon for a year, in a city that fits in his own emotional baggage. He says that it's a genetic thing that beckons him, even though he seems to be of Scottish stock. Entranced with things Portuguese, he explores soccer, cuisine, fado music, literature and, of course, the language:

"The Portuguese swallow their syllables.

"It's almost a national pastime. They can take a perfectly fine sentence and, when they speak, reduce it to a half or a third of its original length. When it comes to spoken Portuguese, what you don't hear is as important as what you do. Estas certo!--You're right!--becomes Sta Cert! A 50 percent linguistic reduction is impressive, but when Eu estou--I am--can be snipped to something that sounds like tou, we're talking a 75 percent drop in syllabic reality. I imagine that if the Portuguese dictionary were written as the language is truly spoken, the book would be the size of a pamphlet listing the late-blooming flowers of North African mountaintops....

"I sit under this tree in a well-manicured corner of the park and work myself up into a particularly despairing and mean-spirited mood about my linguistic progress, so when I hear the keening of a distant ambulance, I imagine that paramedics are rushing to the hospital some poor gasping Portuguese soul who swallowed too many syllables at one time. There must be, after all, a magic cutoff point where, if you go too far, you choke on one final indigestible syllable."--Marilyn Dahl

The following were the bestselling titles at independent bookstores in and near Chicago during the week ended Sunday, November 15:

Hardcover Fiction

1. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
3. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
4. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
5. The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
2. The Audacity to Win by David Plouffe
3. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
4. You Better Not Cry by Augusten Burroughs
5. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Paperback Fiction

1. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
4. Precious by Sapphire
5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Paperback Nonfiction
   
1. More Information Than You Require by John Hodgman
2. Our Choice by Al Gore
3. Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis
4. My Life in France by Julia Child
5. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

Children's

1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid 4: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
3. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
4. The Giver by Lois Lowry
5. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Reporting bookstores: Anderson's, Naperville and Downers Grove; Read Between the Lynes, Woodstock; the Book Table, Oak Park; the Book Cellar, Lincoln Square; Lake Forest Books, Lake Forest; the Bookstall at Chestnut Court, Winnetka; and 57th St. Books; Seminary Co-op; Women and Children First, Chicago.

[Many thanks to the reporting bookstores and Carl Lennertz!]