Shelf Awareness for Friday, June 9, 2006


Dell: Coming SWOON from Dell Romance: Start reading!

Andrews McMeel Publishing:  Sleep Groove: Why Your Body's Clock Is So Messed Up and What to Do about It by Olivia Walch

Granta Magazine: Granta 169: China edited by Thomas Meaney

Berkley Books: A Map to Paradise by Susan Meissner

Belknap Press: A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America by Richard Slotkin

W by Wattpad Books: The Reunion by Beth Reekles

News

Powell's to Move, Expand Beaverton Store

In November, Powell's Books will move its Beaverton, Ore., store to a 32,500-sq.-ft. site--double the size of its current store--in the Cedar Hills Crossing shopper center, the company said yesterday.

"Relocating and building a new store at Cedar Hills Crossing gives us a chance to better serve our customers by offering a larger selection of used and new books," said Emily Powell, in a statement. She is slowly taking over the reins of Powell's Books from her father, Michael Powell.

This marks Powell's only major location change in more than 20 years and was prompted by redevelopment of the retail space it has occupied since 1984. The Beaverton store has an emphasis on technical and children's books, and the new store will have a large children's section and "a large, comfortable area for author appearances and community events."

Cedar Hills Crossing is in the final stages of a $35-million renovation.

Talking with the Oregonian, Emily Powell called the shopping center "the new downtown, and we like to be in those center urban areas where people can walk."

The store's new location is close to a Borders store that "some credit with starting Beaverton Mall's rebirth in 1996," the paper said. Dan Eichler, Borders's district marketing manager, told the Oregonian that the stores should complement each other, and Powell commented, "The more readers you have in one space, the better."


Amistad Press: The Life of Herod the Great by Zora Neale Hurston and Deborah G Plant


Notes: Nine U.S. Stores IBF Pinups; Changing Hands Looking

The International Booksellers Federation is including pictures of nine ABA member stores in its two-year calendar, "50 Unique Bookshops--2007 & 2008." The calendar will be introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair this fall. Check out Bookselling This Week for a list of the nine.

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Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Ariz., is considering opening an additional store in downtown Phoenix, in part to take advantage of a new light-rail line, according to the Arizona Republic. Changing Hands would want to be near the light rail and have enough room for a Wildflower Bread Co. restaurant, Cindy Dach, the store's marketing and events coordinator told the paper.

Downtown Phoenix has already attracted the Poisoned Pen bookstore, whose main store is in Scottsdale. Poisoned Pen rose in Phoenix in January 2005. Also Arizona State University plans to open a small bookstore as part of its downtown campus, the paper said.

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In another Arizona Republic article about Changing Hands, Cindy Dach notes that bookstores "are all dealing with the rise of the author as a celebrity and we are all dealing with these events getting bigger and bigger." The store has had to find larger spaces for events and, like some other, it has begun charging for a few signings.

"It's fascinating that people will pay for a movie, but they want to hear an author free," Dach said. "We have only charged about half a dozen times, but it is going to increase because more celebrities are writing books, and more authors are getting movies made out of their books."

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In a story with the dispiriting headline, "Pizza, beer will replace books at Kennedy store," the St. Petersburg Times says that the Imperial Book Lodge, a "funky" store that sells used books and host live music, will have to vacate its space on Kennedy Boulevard in St. Petersburg, Fla., when its lease expires August 31. The new owner of the building plans to put in a SoHo pizza shop and new café in the bookstore's space.

Store owner Ryan DeRamus said he is not sure if he can relocate. "It's tough in this area right now,'' he told the paper. "The rent I was paying before was based on my landlord having owned the place for 30 years.''

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Bookselling This Week profiles Tome on the Range Bookstore, in Las Vegas, N.M., which is celebrating its 10th anniversary and just won the Book-in-Hand Award from the New Mexico Book Association. Its sister store, Second Tome Around, is three years old.

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Barnes & Noble has appointed two new board members:

  • Patricia Higgins, a board member of Barnes & Noble.com from 1999 to 2004 and a member of the board of Delta Airlines, Visteon and Internap. She earlier headed several companies, including Switch and Data Facilities and the Research Board.
  • Larry Zilavy, who joined Barnes & Noble College Bookstores last month, where he is involved in strategy, operations and planning. He is also involved in other family investments and interests of Leonard Riggio, Barnes & Noble's chairman. Zilavy was a banker for 25 years and worked at B&N in 2003 and 2004 as CFO and executive v-p of corporate finance and strategic planning.

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M.J. Rose, whose new erotic novel, Lying in Bed (Spice, $13.95, 0373605080), features a woman who writes love letters for clients, reports that in the interest of charity, she is auctioning off her services--writing services. Rose will write a 2,000-word custom erotic love letter for the highest bidder and donate her 90% share of the proceeds to Reading Is Fundamental.

Sage Vivant of Custom Erotic Source, which writes custom erotic stories for customers, is doing the auction on eBay. Sage Vivant commented: "Opportunities like this are rare indeed. You can actually get a tax write-off for getting turned on!"

Bidding has begun and ends on June 16.

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Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing has announced:

  • Lucille Rettino has been named director of marketing, SSE and Simon Pulse. She was formerly executive director of advertising and promotion at Holt and earlier worked in marketing at Random House, Penguin Putnam and FSG.
  • Elena Mechlin has been named marketing assistant, trade. She formerly worked in subsidiary rights.
  • Lila Haber has been named senior publicist. She was formerly a publicist at Scholastic.
  • Bridget McCabe has been promoted to associate managing editor. She has worked for the company since 2001.


Media and Movies

Media Heat: The Sound of Julie Andrews

This morning the Today Show starts cooking with Cheryl Jamison, author of The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining: Spirited Recipes and Expert Tips for Barbecuing, Charcoal and Gas Grilling, Rotisserie Roasting, Smoking, Deep-Frying, and Making Merry (Morrow, $24.95, 0060737840).

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This morning on the Early Show: David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker and author of Reporting: Writing from the New Yorker (Knopf, $27.95, 0307263584).

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Today on WAMU's Diane Rehm Show: Julie Andrews who with her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton has written The Great American Mousical (Julie Andrews Collection/HarperCollins Children's, $15.99, 0060579188).

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Tonight on the Charlie Rose Show, guest host Brian Lehrer, host of WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show, talks with Noam Chomsky, whose most recent book is Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy (Metropolitan, $24, 0805079122).

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On Saturday, the Early Show takes viewers back to work with Dr. Debra Mandel, author of Your Boss Is Not Your Mother: Eight Steps to Eliminating Office Drama and Creating Positive Relationships at Work (Agate, $14, 1932841164).

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On Saturday's Weekend Edition, George Soros discusses The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror (PublicAffairs, $24, 1586483595).

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On Sunday, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, co-author of Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics (Chelsea Green, $25, 1931498997) meets Meet the Press.

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The Spoken Word, which will be aired on many public radio stations on Sunday evening at 8 p.m. (as well as some other times), features two authors:

  • Ron Rash, whose latest novel, The World Made Straight, follows high-school dropout Travis Shelton as he sells dope, gets roughed up, and moves in with a high school teacher with a passion for Civil War ledgers.
  • Patti Callahan Henry, a Maggie Award of Excellence recipient, who will talk about the unique way in which she writes her novels.

For a listing of the radio stations playing the Spoken Word, click here.


The Zeitgeist

How One Library Plans for the Digital Book

In the Boston Globe, Alex Beam taps into the e-book/digital book debate. At the end of his column, he talks with Cambridge's director of libraries, Susan Flanner, who is overseeing the building of a new main branch.

"So what's Flannery up to?" Beam writes. " 'In planning for the new library, the rule of thumb is to plan for what we know and then to plan for being wrong,' she says. 'The building has to be as flexible as possible to anticipate things that none of us know about.' The new library, designed by architects William Rawn and Ann Beha, will have a 'computer commons' and will be rigged with Internet jacks and wireless computer connections.

"Flannery calls herself 'a big fan of the printed book' who now does more 'reading' of audio books on her iPod than between hard covers. 'I am part of a transitional generation,' she says. What about digital books? 'I would think the reference collections would be target number one for being replaced by electronic sources. We are prepared to reduce their shelf space accordingly.'

"But some publishing trends favor print, she notes. 'Graphic novels are a whole new publishing area that is purely print. They're very popular, and the category seems to be growing. I don't think electronics will replace children's books--their visual beauty won't translate to the screen, and parents want the kids sitting on their lap.

" 'And I very much doubt that somebody is going to want to Google a novel.' At least not for the next 20 years."



Deeper Understanding

Filling Community Needs: Harleysville Books Opens

It's been a quick 10 months since Shelly Plumb and her husband, Steve, seriously started talking about opening a bookstore. Tomorrow the idea becomes reality, when Harleysville Books opens in Harleysville, Pa., in the far northwest suburbs of Philadelphia.

With 2,000 square feet of selling space and a meeting room in the back for organizations, businesses, book clubs and events, the store is in an "established shopping plaza" on Harleysville's main street. The surrounding area has grown quickly in the last 10 years as farms have turned into houses, Plumb said, and unusually commercial development has been meager. Through zoning, the town "has pretty much decided to keep a very home town feel," Plumb, who is the mother of three younger children, said.

As a result, there is not much retail choice in Harleysville and nearby. "Wal-Mart's the only game in town, and people have to go 15 miles to the mall," she said. Harleysville Books, which may be the first bookstore ever in the town, is, Plumb said, "part of my vision of what I'd like as a member of the community."

The store, which stocks 7,000 books as well as games, puzzles and journals, has a strong children's section. The games and puzzles tend toward "educational and learning but aren't boring." Plumb is already "doing a lot to connect" with teachers to do reading lists, to become familiar with what schools are asking children to read and to plan book clubs during the summer.

Books are the primary product, and sidelines are "diverse but related to books." The store "will grow sidelines if people are interested," Plumb said. "I know from living here and buying gifts at the last minute that they should be popular."

The store will have free wi-fi--"a small expense and a simple, pleasant thing for customers." The store does not have a café but will serve complimentary coffee and have a few chairs.

Plumb will handle day-to-day management of the store while her husband, Steve, will be the "fixit guy" as well as do bookkeeping, payroll and accounting--although he is keeping his day job.

The rest of the staff consists of seven part-timers, including a professional storyteller. Most of the employees are high school students, some of whom have worked at the local public library. Because there is little in retail in the area, Plumb has gotten many responses for openings--another advantage of the lack of commercial development.

Both Plumbs have backgrounds in finance, and Shelly has worked in business and government and most recently did consulting. "I was always interested in retail," she said. Through her civic work, she learned more about independent bookstores. "What an independent can bring to the community met my personal interest and, combined with my background, made for a perfect fit," she said.

Once the Plumbs decided at the end of last summer to open a store, they moved fast. "Right before Christmas we looked for space, and in January we signed a lease, which started in May," Plumb said. In the interim, Plumb took time to get "acclimated to the industry." She attended several New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association events and BEA in Washington. Because of the Plumbs' background in business and finance, they planned things in detail. (The store uses Book Log and has Franklin Fixtures.) Laughing, she added, "I probably drove some of the vendors crazy."

Harleysville Books is one of a number of independent stores that have opened in the area in the past few years, including Voices & Visions in Philadelphia and Bridge Street Bookshop in Phoenixville. Plumb noted that Harleysville makes an especially "nice spot for an independent," because the nearest Borders and Barnes & Noble stores are about 35-45 minutes away with traffic.

Following tomorrow's soft opening, the store will have an open house at the end of the month for local officials, people in the community and friends. In the fall, Harleysville Books will have a grand opening--mostly likely on the same day as a tentatively planned customer appreciation day sponsored by the shopping plaza.

Harleysville Books is located at 674 Main St., Salford Square, Harleysville, Pa. 19438; 215-256-9311, fax 215-256-9316; harleysvillebooks.com.


The Bestsellers

The Book Sense/MPIBA List

The following are the bestselling titles at Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association bookstores during the week ended Sunday, June 4, as reported to Book Sense:

Hardcover Fiction

1. Telegraph Days by Larry McMurtry (S&S, $25, 0743250788)
2. At Risk by Patricia D. Cornwell (Putnam, $21.95, 0399153624)
3. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin, $23.95, 1565124995)
4. The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig (Harcourt, $25, 0151012377)
5. Digging to America by Anne Tyler (Knopf, $24.95, 0307263940)
6. Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon, $21.95, 0375422722)
7. Everyman by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin, $24, 061873516X)
8. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (Knopf, $25, 1400044731)
9. The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst (Random House, $24.95, 1400060192)
10. Shanks for Nothing by Rick Reilly (Doubleday, $24.95, 0385501110)
11. The Book of the Dead by Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child (Warner, $25.95, 0446576980)
12. Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge (Little, Brown, $27.95, 0316159786)
13. The Hard Way by Lee Child (Delacorte, $25, 0385336691)
14. The Husband by Dean R. Koontz (Bantam, $27, 0553804790)
15. The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver (S&S, $26, 0743260937)

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. Marley & Me by John Grogan (Morrow, $21.95, 0060817089)
2. Wisdom of Our Fathers by Tim Russert (Random House, $22.95, 1400064805)
3. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Morrow, $25.95, 006073132X)
4. Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking, $29.95, 0670037605)
5. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (FSG, $30, 0374292795)
6. Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee (FSG, $24, 0374280398)
7. Cesar's Way by Cesar Millan and Melissa Jo Peltier (Harmony, $24.95, 0307337332)
8. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Penguin Press, $26.95, 1594200823)
9. American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips (Viking, $26.95, 067003486X)
10. The Mighty and the Almighty by Madeleine Albright (HarperCollins, $25.95, 0060892579)
11. Dispatches From the Edge by Anderson Cooper (HarperCollins, $24.95, 0061132381)
12. Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado (Crown, $25, 1400097673)
13. Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert (Knopf, $24.95, 1400042666)
14. Revolutionary Wealth by Alvin Toffler and Heidi Toffler (Knopf, $27.95, 0375401741)
15. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Knopf, $23.95, 140004314X)

Trade Paperback Fiction

1. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Random House, $13.95, 0812968069)
2. March by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin, $14, 0143036661)
3. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $14, 1594480001)
4. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin, $14, 0143036696)
5. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Anchor, $14.95, 0307277674)
6. Saturday by Ian McEwan (Anchor, $14.95, 1400076196)
7. History of Love by Nicole Krauss (Norton, $13.95, 0393328627)
8. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Washington Square, $14, 0743454537)
9. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Vintage, $14, 1400078776)
10. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Picador, $14, 031242440X)
11. Zorro by Isabelle Allende (Harper Perennial, $14.95, 0060779004)
12. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco, $13.95, 0061122416)
13. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin, $15, 0143034901)
14. The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316154520)
15. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin, $14, 0142001740)

Trade Paperback Nonfiction

1. Night by Elie Wiesel (FSG, $9, 0374500010)
2. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage, $14, 0679745580)
3. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage, $14.95, 0375725601)
4. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins (Plume, $15, 0452287081)
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Scribner, $14, 074324754X)
6. Collapse by Jared Diamond (Penguin, $17, 0143036556)
7. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen, $12.95, 1878424319)
8. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316346624)
9. An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore (Rodale, $21.95, 1594865671)
10. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder (Random House, $14.95, 0812973011)
11. Birds of Colorado Field Guide by Stan Tekiela (Adventure Publications, $13.95, 1885061323)
12. American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin (Vintage, $17.95, 0375726268)
13. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (Harper Perennial, $14.95, 0060838582)
14. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (Norton, $16.95, 0393317552)
15. Ask and It Is Given by Esther Hicks and Jerry Hicks (Hay House, $14.95, 1401904599)

Mass Market

1. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Anchor, $7.99, 1400079179)
2. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket, $9.99, 1416524797)
3. Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs (Pocket Star, $9.99, 0743453026)
4. Deception Point by Dan Brown (Pocket, $9.99, 1416524800)
5. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (Anchor, $7.99, 0307275558)
6. The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr (St. Martin's, $7.99, 0312939132)
7. Skeleton Man by Tony Hillerman (HarperTorch, $7.99, 006056346X)
8. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Tor, $6.99, 0812550706)
9. Blood From a Stone by Donna Leon (Penguin, $7.99, 014303698X)
10. Broken Prey by John Sandford (Berkley, $9.99, 0425204308)

Children's Titles

1. Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss (Random House, $17, 0679805273)
2. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick, $7.99, 0763625299)
3. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (Yearling, $6.50, 0440421705)
4. Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha! by Barbara Park, illustrated by Denise Brunkus (Random House, $11.95, 0375834036)
5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Knopf, $16.95, 0375831002)
6. Pirates by John Matthews (Atheneum, $19.95, 1416927344)
7. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (Delacorte, $6.99, 0553494791)
8. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, $7.99, 0694003611)
9. The Quillan Games (Pendragon) by D.J. MacHale (S&S, $15.95, 1416914234)
10. Eragon by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $9.95, 0375826696)
11. Eldest by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $21, 037582670X)
12. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (children's movie tie-in edition) by C.S. Lewis (HarperCollins, $7.99, 0060765461)
13. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (Chicken House, $7.99, 0439709105)
14. Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots? by Carmela Lavigna Coyle, illustrated by Mike Gordon (Rising Moon, $15.95, 0873588282)
15. The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau (Random House, $15.95, 0375875263)

[Thanks to Book Sense and MPIBA!]


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