Tea Party Bookshop, Salem, Ore., which has been struggling with a case of mistaken identity involving a certain national political movement (Shelf Awareness, May 10, 2010), will officially become Tigress Books on July 1. Willamettelive.com reported that owner JoAnne Kohler "has increasingly seen people wander in or call looking for information about the Tea Party, local rallies and events or people involved in the movement. Most leave disappointed without buying anything." To remedy the situation, Kohler chose a name that "stems from a blessing by a Tibetan Buddhist, Lama Karma, in Portland."
"He told me this year... in order to succeed, you need to be a tiger," she said. "I thought he meant in my personal life, which is true." The name change involved filing paperwork but "this wasn’t the most complex issue. Deciding on a name and creating an enticing and memorable logo has proven to be the biggest challenge. Additionally, Kohler said, she has to change advertising, paperwork and a myriad of other business identity requirements," Willamettelive.com wrote.
"I believe in the political process even if I don't agree with the message behind the Tea Party. To be honest, if the name had been adopted by radical eco-terrorists, I would have made the same decision," Kohler said, noting that the name issue has also given her the opportunity to assess and refine her business. "I have a much better feel for what the community wants and what people are looking for. I’m looking at this as an opportunity to make the store better all around and have fun doing it."
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There's publishing gold in those Scandinavian thrillers. Publishers and booksellers are following a trail of bestselling clues in their search for the next Stieg Larsson or Henning Mankell. Possibilities include Jo Nesbo, Kjell Eriksson and Yrsa Sigurdardottir, the New York Times wrote.
"The question is, after everybody reads Hornet's Nest, what are they going to do?" said Stan Hynds, a book buyer at Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, Vt. "I've got this funny feeling that every publisher is going to come out with the next Stieg Larsson."
"I think Larsson readers might turn to some of the other ones," observed Sonny Mehta, chairman of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. "People have talked about Henning Mankell and Larsson almost in one breath. And they're talking about Jo Nesbo in that manner, too."
Indie booksellers are "giddy over the bump in sales" for Larsson's novel, the Times reported, adding that "many customers in their stores are just learning about the Millennium series for the first time. At Powell's in Portland, Mr. Larsson's books are selling so quickly--at least 1,500 a week--that the store's grateful employees have given them a nickname."
"We call them 'The Girl Who's Paying Our Salaries for the Next Few Months,' " said Gerry Donaghy, the new-book purchasing supervisor.
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"It's all a game of what can we do--what on earth can we do--to make books more noticed and stand out from the crowd," said M.J. Rose yesterday on NPR's All Things Considered, which profiled the author of The Hypnotist and 10 other novels who "works tirelessly to promote her books."
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Homer, Alaska, residents asked their City Council to keep big-box retailers out of the community. According to Sue Post, owner of Homer Bookstore, "shoppers from Kenai and Soldotna--where big box stores abound in cheap products--travel to Homer, Post said. 'They tell us they come here to buy their special gifts,' " the Tribune reported.
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Think you know your literary bookstores? To celebrate Independent Booksellers Week, the Guardian asked readers "how much do you know about their fictional counterparts? Take our literary bookshop quiz to find out."
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Mission Local spotted Scott Harrison, owner of the now-closed Abandoned Planet bookstore "unloading boxes of books this afternoon from his van (license plate: Camus) to give to the Treat Avenue donation center. Harrison said he's selling online at eBay and elsewhere, but the books he was dropping off were not moving. He hopes to open again in the Mission District but has no immediate plans."
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Bookish police blotter.
Raymond Scott, a "flashy British book dealer accused of stealing a rare first edition of Shakespeare's plays appeared for trial Wednesday in a silver limousine, sporting a Panama hat and flashing victory signs at reporters, the Associated Press reported. Scott allegedly stole "a 1623 folio from England's Durham University in 1998. The 53-year-old was arrested after a man took the volume to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, claiming he found it in Cuba and asking for verification that it was genuine."
Book thief William Jacques, who used false name to sign in to the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley library in London, "would leave after stuffing valuable volumes of Nouvelle Iconographies des Camellias by Ambroise Verschaffelt under a tweed jacket he would always wear on such visits," according to the Telegraph, which reported on his trial.
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Bloomsday hangover cure. Despite all the celebrating internationally yesterday, the Irish Times managed to find a few Dubliners whose interest in Joyce was, at best, sobering.
Patty Geraghty, who often walks past number 41 without knowing it was a Joyce house, admitted, "I think Ulysses is something you probably should have read, but I haven't. Is it poetry? Maybe I have read it and I've just forgotten it."
"From the very first day I was delivering post, I knew Joyce was born in this house," said postman Gerry Scanlon, who expressed little interest in the novel. "I know what Ulysses is about though. It's about this guy who went around Dublin on June 16th and ended up somewhere else from where he started out."
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O Magazine featured its summer reading list of "lush historical novels, wise contemporary tales and crowd-pleasing beach reads."
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What would you do to survive a vampire apocalypse? Could you react in the form of a rhyming couplet? Our friends at Unshelved have selected 10 contest winners, who will receive a signed copy of The Passage by Justin Cronin, courtesy of Random House's Library department. Read the winning verses here.
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Responding to--and enhancing--the New Yorker magazine's recent "20 Under 40" fiction issue, the Millions featured its "informal, unscientific, alternate-universe '20 Under 40' list."
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Effective next Monday, June 21, Allison Korleski is joining Interweave
as acquisitions editor for the book division, a new position, and will
oversee all book acquisitions. She was formerly a trade book buyer at
Barnes & Noble, where she worked for 12 years. In the past eight
years, she was responsible for categories including art, craft,
photography, antiques and collectibles, general reference, gardening,
weddings and home reference.
Calling Korleski "an intelligent and
engaged business partner" with Interweave, v-p and book publisher Steve
Koenig added: "I can think of nobody in the industry better suited for
this role and I am thrilled to have her on board. And yes, she is a
fantastic knitter and crafter."
Korleski began her book career at
Waterstone's Booksellers in Boston, Mass., and later worked at
Princeton University Press before joining B&N. She will telecommute
from her home in New Jersey.