Random House will publish more than five million copies of the paperback edition of the Dan Brown's
Da Vinci Code beginning March 28, which the
New York Times
confidently wrote "signals that the publisher is confident that a huge
audience remains for a book that has been near the top of the hardcover
bestseller lists for almost three years." Random will also publish two
versions of the screenplay for the movie when the flick makes its debut
on May 19. The hardcover version of the book has some 12 million copies
in print in North America.
---
Angry about books and reporting that have discussed such charming
practices as the CIA's secret prison network abroad and National
Security Agency spying here without warrants, CIA director Porter Goss
is trying to put a lid on current and retired employees writing about
or talking with writers about the agency, according to
Time magazine. He's particularly incensed about
State of War by
New York Times reporter James Risen (see Media Heat, below) and
Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander by Gary Berntsen.
---
Thunderbird Bookshop, Carmel, Calif., is closing at the end of
February, owner May Waldroup announced in a letter to reps. She said
the decision was taken "with a great deal of sadness. . . perhaps the
saddest part is that we will be losing contact with the community we
have served since 1961 and with YOU! You have been our mentors, our
go-betweens with the publishers, our advisors and our best of friends.
We treasure you and the friendships we have forged."
---
Check out the bestselling titles of 2005 as measured by Nielsen BookScan and reported by the
Book Standard. Among highlights:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sold 4.1 million copies its first day of issue; Oprah's recommendation more than resuscitated James Frey's
A Million Little Pieces, which has had sales of nearly 1.8 million since September.
---
Paula Fox, owner of two Annie's Book Swaps in Northboro and Marlboro,
Mass., is buying an Annie's Book Stop in West Boylston. (Once a
franchise operation, Annie's stores are now owned by their owners who
have an association with which all Annie's owners must sign a license
agreement.)
Sales at many of the used bookstores have gone down from "what they
were seven or eight years ago," Fox reported. But the used and exchange
niche is still strong and makes the stores viable. Although most
Annie's sell some new titles and sidelines, the holiday season is not
"our biggest time of the year," Fox added. "It's actually rather nice
not to have to depend so much on one month and not to have to work
those many hours per week at a time of year when there are so many
other things to do."
---
Yesterday, as it began running several manga strips in its comics pages, the
Charlotte Observer
explored manga mania. It noted that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public
Library, which first began carrying manga and graphic novels a little
over three years ago, now has a total of 4,855 volumes at all 24 sites.
And one manga-loving student home for break has been working at a local Borders
in part for the employee discount, which he is applying to manga.
---
Is this really a surprise? The
Hartford Courant
pondered why most books about relationships are written for women and
read by women. As Alison Lawrence, co-author of
BitterGirl: Getting
Over Getting Dumped, explained: "There's this cultural thing. Women talk
and they share. . . . That's just what we do. For guys, it's more:
suffer in silence, stiff upper lip, and you just get on with it."