Michael N. Rosen of the law firm Bryan Cave has resigned from the board of Barnes & Noble, where he was secretary.
Early this month, Rosen was blamed in part for the misdating and
backdating of B&N stock options, which amounted to $45.5 million
during the past 10 years (Shelf Awareness,
April 4, 2007). In a report by a special committee formed by B&N to
look into the issue, B&N executives said they had received
erroneous, oral advice concerning stock option dating from Rosen. Rosen
told the special committee that he "did not specifically recall giving
such advice," but said that he would have given it if asked.
---
From Saturday's New York Times: several Q&As with Scholastic CEO Richard Robinson:
Q. So where is Scholastic bound after the last Harry Potter book? Can we believe it's the last book?
A. We can believe this is the last book on Harry Potter. . . .
Q. Going back to [the question about the last Harry Potter book], I noticed you emphasized the words
Harry Potter when you said Ms. Rowling's last book on Harry Potter. Do
you have a first option on any other series she might be doing?
A. No, but we refer to ourselves as her U.S. publisher and she's very
loyal to us and we're very loyal to her. We'll keep working together.
It's less likely we won't get it. It's more likely it won't be another
Harry Potter.
---
Business Week surveyed
manhwa, Korean comics, which, long in the shadow of manga, are "poised
to become a household word among fanboys and pop culture mavens alike."
The magazine continued: "According to one manhwa publisher, comics
accounts for about 25% of all book sales in South Korea, while more
than 3 million Korean users access paid online manhwa and 10 million
read free webcomics. And, thanks in part to a comics industry that
tends to cede more control to artists, manhwa allows for a level of
individual expression, in storytelling and style, that is not always
found in manga."
---
With a focus on local house HarperSanFrancisco, the San Francisco Chronicle looked at Christian publishing and the attempt by many major houses not to be left behind as sales of Christian titles rise.
One example: Harper's May launch of Avon Inspire, a line of Christian
inspirational fiction for women. Editor Cynthia DiTiberio called the
line "gentle reading, safe reading. They end with a kiss and a proposal
. . . It's Sex & the City without the sex."
---
Andy Harbison is opening Cornerstone Books & Music, a Christian bookstore, in State College, Pa., in mid May, according to the Centre Daily Times. It will be the area's only Christian bookstore following the closing last year of the Morning Star.
The store will feature books, music, gifts, clothing and greeting
cards. Harbison plans to open a café eventually. The store will have
free wi-fi, an area with tables and chairs and live music on Friday
evening. The goal, the paper said, is "to create a space where people
come to spend time, meet friends or gather for Bible study."
---
Barnes & Noble is planning yet another simultaneous opening and closing, this time in Ridgeland, Miss., near Jackson. In March 2008, the company will open a store in Renaissance at Colony at I-55, Old Agency Road, Highland Colony Parkway and Steed Road. The day before this store opens, B&N will close its outlet at the County Line Plaza Shopping Center in Jackson.
---
Borders has announced three store openings:
---
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has purchased an estate in
Beverly Hills for nearly $30 million, according to wire reports. The
12,000-sq.-ft. house has seven bedrooms and seven baths, a gym, an
office and a media room--presumably with a good Internet connection.
The grounds feature a pool, sunken tennis courts, a veranda and patio.
---
They paved paradise and put up a spa. . .
Most of the Tattered Cover's former space in Cherry Creek North will be
taken over by the upscale Pura Vida Club and Spa, according to the Rocky Mountain News. Tattered Cover moved its flagship store to the former Lowenstein Theatre on East Colfax last year.
An Orange County, Calif., policy that allows shipments of books for
inmates in county jails to come only from publishers or distributors is
upsetting many families who speak Spanish as well as local booksellers,
according to the Los Angeles Times. The policy has been on the books for years, but has been enforced only recently.
A county sheriff spokesperson said that the policy exists for security
reasons. State and federal prisons allow shipments of paperbacks
without such restrictions--although they often sift through the books
or require them to come from a bookseller. One odd tidbit from the
story: Utah apparently accepts shipments of books for prisoners
only from Barnes & Noble.
Books returned recently by the Orange County penal system include Spanish-language religious and motivational
titles that are published in Mexico and Colombia, which makes it
difficult for families to arrange for the books to be sent from
approved sources.
Rueben Martinez, owner of Libreria Martinez Books and Art Gallery in
Santa Ana and Lynwood, told the paper that 25% of his Santa Ana business has
historically stemmed from jail shipments. But in the last six months
that number has dropped to 5%.
"All of a sudden, they sent back the envelopes with a stamp that says
it must come from the publisher," he said. "Our clients won't go to
publishers for these books, most of which are in Spanish. Our business
could grow more if they made it friendly to the inmates."
BINC.0408.T2.SPRINGFUNDRAISER.jpg)
Harlan Coben, whose The Woods (Dutton, $26.95, 9780525950127/0525950125) was released last week, sponsors
five teams in his hometown of Ridgewood, N.J.--and gets a little free
generic publicity ("Harlen Coben's Thrillers"). Last weekend, some of Coben's baseball and
softball players paraded through town, making for a thrilling lineup.
Baseball Haiku: The Best Haiku Ever Written About the Game edited by
Cor van den Heuvel and Nanae Tamura (Norton, $19.95,
9780393062199/0393062198, April 1, 2007)
drooping flag . . .
the visitors' manager
moves a fielder
One of the great pleasures of baseball is listening to it on the radio;
in fact, it's the only way I can iron with any equanimity. Ed Markowski
and Mathew V. Span capture the magic and even poignancy of airwave
baseball:
rainy night
a hole in the radio
where a ballgame should be
radio static
somewhere in the muggy night
a ballgame
A more definite season, mixed with childhood dreams, is evoked by Cor van den Heuvel:
baseball cards
spread out on the bed
April rain
And Edward J. Reilly writes of childhood's dashed hopes:
the boy not chosen
steps over home plate,
picks up his books
Masaoka Shiki is known as the first modern haiku poet, and in 1890
created the first baseball haiku. When he played, his favorite position
was catcher, even though he was left-handed. He was inducted into the
Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002.
spring breeze
this grassy field makes me
want to play catch
Yotsuya Ryu, echoing David Carkeet, speaks of the eternal with a poem that would be a fitting epitaph for a baseball fan:
until raised to Heaven--Marilyn Dahl
I'll go to fields of green
carrying my glove
