From the American Booksellers Association Facebook page yesterday: "Nicole Sullivan, owner of BookBar in Denver, recently received an e-mail regarding partnering with Amazon Local. Here's her response."

"My store is only part restaurant but mostly we are a local, independent bookstore and proud member of the American Booksellers Association. I must respectfully decline your invitation to chat as we have a firm grasp of local marketing and already do the local thing really well. I understand that Amazon is trying to get in on the local angle because, apparently, doing everything else is not quite enough. In the interest of full disclosure I have participated this week in spreading the message of supporting the passage of e-fairness legislation so working with Amazon would be a bit like a gazelle accepting a lunch date from lions."

Good news from Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor, Mich.: the store is expanding, leasing the second floor of its building. The Espresso Bar, serving espresso and coffee, as well as some pastries, will move in, and, owners Hilary Lowe and Mike Gustafson, wrote, "we will run readings and events upstairs on a floor with air conditioning (!), no creaky wooden floors above (!), beautiful exposed brick walls, and windows that overlook Washington and Fourth Avenues. Expanding to the top floor allows us to expand our inventory on our lower non-fiction level. Hopefully, we will expand science, math, philosophy, and psychology sections, add more books, and more curated book displays. Also, by expanding to the top floor completes what we believe is the final step of our store's vision: to be a place where people gather…"

"Now, we can add inventory and seating on our lower level. We can have a dedicated events space with a bigger capacity. And we can offer some of the best coffee in town, produced by people who are passionate about coffee and know coffee...

"With this partnership, the entire building at 124 E. Washington will be a destination for anyone looking to surprise themselves, browse books, have a cup of coffee, and hear some of the nation's top literary talent. We are so excited to do this, and so excited that we soon won't have to say to people wandering downstairs, 'Sorry, but there's a reading going on…' when all they want to do is browse our psychology, cooking, or history section."

King City Books opened Monday at 104 North Ninth St. in Mt. Vernon, Ill. The Register-News reported that owner Kendra Peterson envisions her new bookstore "as a central meeting place for the community" and "a site where residents can gather to discuss literature, politics or other issues while enjoying a calm, welcoming atmosphere."

"I think every town needs a place that people can come and sit down and talk and have coffee if they want to, (and) talk about books," she said. "It's a third place where it's not home, it's not church, it's someplace in between that you can go and talk about anything--politics, books, whatever--and feel welcome doing it.”

Peterson worked for 21 years as a staff attorney with the State's Attorney's Appellate Prosecutors Office in Jefferson County before retiring in 2010. Eventually, she "began to investigate how to open a bookstore" and attended a week-long bookstore workshop offered by Paz & Associates, the Register-News wrote. "I called it a boot camp because it was intense, and they just told us all kinds of things about running a bookstore and opening a bookstore," Peterson said.

"I know I'm not the only one who really missed the bookstore when B. Dalton closed at the mall," she added. "And I waited for somebody else to do this and it wasn't happening."

On Tuesday, a group of bookstores, newspapers, photographers, publishers and librarians supported by the Media Coalition, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the Freedom to Read Foundation and the ACLU filed suit in federal court challenging an Arizona law that they say criminalizes speech protected by the First Amendment.

The state's "nude photo law" makes "the display, publication or sale of nude or sexual images without the subject's explicit consent a felony punishable by nearly four years in prison" and could be applied to anyone who distributes or displays any kind of image of nudity regardless of its context. The law was intended to stop "revenge porn"--the posting online of naked pictures of an ex-lover.

The plaintiffs argue that the law goes far beyond that, saying that prosecutors don't need to prove harmful intent or harm or any expectation of privacy. The law applies even when the person in the picture is not recognizable. And the law criminalizes publication of nude and sexual images that could not possibly be considered pornography, let alone obscene.

Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands

Gayle Shanks, co-owner of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe and Phoenix and a plaintiff in the case, said, "This law puts us at risk for prosecution. There are books on my shelves right now that might be illegal to sell under this law. How am I supposed to know whether the subjects of these photos gave their permission?" Other bookseller plaintiffs are Antigone Books in Tucson; Bookmans, which has stores in Tucson, Phoenix, Mesa and Flagstaff; Copper News Book Store in Ajo; and Mostly Books in Tucson.

"This law will have an unconstitutional chilling effect on free speech," David Horowitz, executive director of the Media Coalition, added. "To comply with the law, booksellers and librarians will have to spend countless hours looking over books, magazines and newspapers to determine if a nude picture was distributed with consent. Many store owners will simply decline to carry any materials containing nude images to avoid the risk of going to prison."

Authors United, the group of more than 1,000 authors that has protested Amazon's treatment of Hachette authors in its battle with the publisher, plans to ask the Justice Department to investigate Amazon's business practices, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Authors United organizer Douglas Preston told the Journal that likely next week, the group will send a letter to William Baer, the head of the department's antitrust division.

Barry Lynn, a senior fellow at the New American Foundation who is writing the letter, said he will argue that Amazon "had amassed too much power in book sales and was abusing it at the expense of partners," the paper wrote. He said, "There is a case that Amazon is in violation of the law. Their actions to manipulate behavior [by Hachette] are exactly the reason these laws were created."

Authors United has protested the measures Amazon has taken to decrease the sales of Hachette books, such as not allowing preorders of forthcoming titles, reducing discounts, delaying shipments and recommending other titles. Preston commented: "We're not asking Amazon to stop negotiating with Hachette or anyone else, just to start selling their books again."

When Jeff Waxman moved last fall to New York City from Chicago to join Other Press as retail marketing manager, he found a restaurant, Peck's Specialty Foods, that had just opened up the street from his apartment in the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. "I'm no stranger to good food," he said, and, with a good book, he felt right at home in Peck's. As a former promotions manager for University of Chicago Press and bookseller at Seminary Co-Op's 57th Street Books, he is also no stranger to book events. Some two months ago, reading Yannick Grannec's The Goddess of Small Victories (Other Press, of course) at Peck's counter, Waxman struck up a conversation with owner Theo Peck about possible events. Thus was Book/Plate conceived--for a single ticket price, attendees would enjoy dinner with an author and a copy of their book.

Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo of Greenlight, Theo Peck, the proprietor/chef at Peck's, Jeff Waxman and Francisco Goldman.

"Jeff approached me about getting involved after he already had the first author booked," said Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, co-owner of nearby Greenlight Bookstore. "It sounded like a great idea. Books, food, and conversation--what could be better? Plus it's a great neighborhood partnership, which is the kind of thing we love to do." Greenlight already had experience organizing events. "We have a number of partnered literary series: the Brooklyn Voices Series at St. Joseph's College, and the Unbound Series at BAM [the Brooklyn Academy of Music]. Each of the partner venues is conducive to a different kind of event, and bundling a book with an event ticket makes for stronger book sales. But this is the first time we've included food with that ticket!"

The first Book/Plate, featuring author Francisco Goldman, took place on August 28. Some 35 guests enjoyed a custom Mexican menu and drinks in Peck's backyard dining area. The food was designed to complement Goldman's new book, The Interior Circuit (Grove Press), a cross-genre memoir of life in Mexico City. "[It] was wonderful," said Bagnulo. "The micheladas, a sort of beer cocktail with a lot of spice, were especially awesome! Francisco chatted with the friends and fans who attended, and read from the book later in the evening. It was a beautiful night!"

Despite its initial success, the second Book/Plate, which would have featured Saeed Jones and his poetry collection Prelude to Bruise (Coffee House Press) on September 18, was canceled because of low ticket sales. "I think that's attributable almost entirely to the Brooklyn Book Festival Bookends events, which drew a lot of people that week," said Bagnulo. "We'll be more strategic in terms of our timing with future events, and we'll also have longer advance lead time to publicize them."

Their next event, planned for September 30 at 7 p.m., features Matthew Gavin Frank, author of Preparing the Ghost: An Essay Concerning the Giant Squid and Its First Photographer (Liveright). Tickets, which include copies of Frank's book, are $50 and available through Book/Plate's website. Peck's is located at 455A Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn, N.Y. This will be the last chance to attend for a few months: "Since the dining space is outdoors we'll take a hiatus over the winter, but we'll be back with a new lineup starting in April or so," Bagnulo said. --Tobias Mutter

Poet, translator and essayist Alastair Reid, who wrote more than 100 pieces for the New Yorker about "his native Scotland, as well as Spain and Latin America, and the writers Pablo Neruda and Jorge Luis Borges, whose work he had translated," died Sunday, the New Yorker reported. He was 88. His books include Weathering: Poems & Translations, Inside Out: Selected Poetry & Translations and Outside In: Selected Prose.

In a lecture at Bennington College in 2002, he said, "There is no possible theory of translation. It's alchemy.... You are being spoken by the language."

The Herald Scotland noted that in the preface to Weathering, Reid wrote: "Collections of poems, with their parenthetical dates, have something of the aura of tombstones; but for a poet, the main point in publishing them is to set the poems free, like grown children, in order to turn, unencumbered, to the blank page of the present."

The Rain Taxi Reading Series hosted an event Tuesday evening with two Danish authors at the Danish American Center in Minneapolis: Naja Marie Aidt, author of Baboon from Two Lines Press, and Dorthe Nors, author of Karate Chop from Graywolf Press. Each read a story from her collection; then they did a joint q&a about literature in translation moderated by Eric Lorberer. The event was co-sponsored by Rain Taxi Review of Books and Graywolf Press. Magers & Quinn Booksellers handled book sales. Photo: Kelly Everding.

Congratulations to Spellbound Children's Bookshop, Asheville, N.C., which is celebrating its 10th anniversary on Saturday, October 25. Events begin with live music and a special birthday themed storytime in the morning. In the afternoon, a costume party will celebrate both Spellbound's anniversary and Halloween, with free refreshments, a costume contest and door prizes.

In addition, the store is celebrating its anniversary with specials during the month of October, including 10% off purchases of $10 or more; Spellbound T-shirts priced at $10; and a drawing for a gift certificate worth $50 for people who post a "shelfie" on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #Happy10thSpellbound.

Since Leslie Hawkins founded the store in 2004, Spellbound has existed in three Asheville locations, first in West Asheville, then downtown, and finally settling into its current location at the Shops at Reynolds Village in North Asheville in October 2013. The 1,300-square-foot store stocks primarily new books for babies, kids and teens, but also has a section of used books for all ages. Spellbound hosts regular storytimes and book clubs, and its Book of the Month Club is popular. The store has plans to offer book-themed birthday parties for kids in the near future.

Left Bank Books was named "Best Book Store" in this year's Riverfront Times' Best of St. Louis poll. "Local bibliophiles were dismayed when the beautiful downtown location of Left Bank Books closed its doors this year, but never fear--the flagship Central West End location continues to thrive," the Times wrote. "It hosts the busiest reading series in the city, it has a diverse staff (in terms of gender, age, race, sexual preference) who all know what they're selling, and its shelves represent that staff. Iain Banks regularly on the shelf? Come on, that's impressive, especially because he hasn't been on the charts for years. That commitment to great books rather than au courant bestsellers is carried throughout the store, section by section. It is also engaged with their community and the larger St. Louis region; Left Bank's new FergusonReads group is a socially conscious book club that will read and discuss books dealing with race in St. Louis and America. That club will most likely be packed: Left Bank has an active Friends society who are down to buy books, to talk about books and to engage with issues of social justice on a deeply personal level."

Left Bank also has new signage (see photo) that was designed by both co-owner Jarek Steele and STL Style and created by Engraphix Architectural Signage.

The Simpsons Family History by Matt Groening  (Abrams).

Tomorrow on the Talk: Pat O'Brien, author of I'll Be Back Right After This: My Memoir (St. Martin's Press, $26.99, 9780312564377).

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Tomorrow on the View: Tory Johnson, author of The Shift: How I Finally Lost Weight and Discovered a Happier Life (Hyperion, $16, 9780316408905).

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Tomorrow night on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher: Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate (Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781451697384).

Also on Real Time: Charles M. Blow, author of Fire Shut Up in My Bones (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $27, 9780544228047).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend 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, September 27
1 p.m. Live interview with Steve Almond, author of Against Football: One Fan's Reluctant Manifesto (Melville House, $22.95, 9781612194158), and Gregg Easterbrook, author of The King of Sports: Football's Impact on America (St. Martin's Griffin, $15.99, 9781250012609), at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C.

5 p.m. Coverage of the ninth annual Brooklyn Book Festival in Brooklyn, N.Y., held last Sunday. (Re-airs Sunday at 1 p.m.)

10 p.m. Matt Richtel, author of A Deadly Wandering: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention (Morrow, $28.99, 9780062284068). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m. and Monday at 12 a.m. and 3 a.m.)

11 p.m. Eula Biss, author of On Immunity: An Inoculation (Graywolf Press, $24, 9781555976897), at the 2014 Fall for the Book festival in Fairfax, Va.


Sunday, September 28
1 a.m. Michael Golay, author of America 1933: The Great Depression, Lorena Hickok, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Shaping of the New Deal (Free Press, $26.99, 9781439196014), at the 2014 Roosevelt Reading Festival.

10 a.m. Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, authors of HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton (Crown, $26, 9780804136754), at the 2014 National Book Festival.

7:45 p.m. Darrell M. West, author of Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust (Brookings Institution Press, $21, 9780815725961).

10 p.m. Karen Abbott, author of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War (Harper, $27.99, 9780062092892), at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, N.C.

11 p.m. Todd Brewster, author of Lincoln's Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months that Gave America the Emancipation Proclamation and Changed the Course of the Civil War (Scribner, $27, 9781451693867).

Universal Pictures has signed a two-year first-look production agreement with Penguin Random House. Peter Gethers, president of Random House Studio, will oversee the new deal on behalf of the publisher. RHS is serving as a producer on projects adapted from PRH titles for which motion picture rights are available and can be acquired in cooperation with the authors' agents. The deal with Universal augments a nine-year-old RHS co-venture with Universal's specialized division Focus Features, which recently renewed its partnership with RHS through 2016.

Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, Universal co-president of production, said Gethers's "ability to identify books that can be adapted into movies that can attract major talent makes his team a unique and invaluable addition to the Universal family."
 
Gethers added: "This new partnership with Universal is an exciting opportunity for Penguin Random House authors, and it represents a greatly expanded scope of projects that Random House Studio will be able to produce, thanks to the strength and quality of our company's editors and publishers. We're very pleased to continue our outstanding relationship with the Universal team and eager to work with our authors, the agent community and our publishing colleagues to produce great movies and support the wonderful books from which they stem."

This year's shortlist has been unveiled for the of £30,000 (about US$49,020) Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year, which recognizes a book with "the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues, including management, finance and economics." A winner will be named November 11 in London. Each of the runners-up receives £10,000 ($16,340). The shortlisted titles are:

Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
Hack Attack: How the Truth Caught up with Rupert Murdoch by Nick Davies
The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress & Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull
House of Debt: How They (and You) Caused the Great Recession, and How We Can Prevent It From Happening Again by Atif Mian and Amir Sufi
Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance by Julia Angwin

This year, the FT and McKinsey are also sponsoring the inaugural £15,000 ($24,510) Bracken Bower Prize, for the best proposal by an author aged under 35. This will also be awarded November 11.

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, September 30:

A Sudden Light: A Novel by Garth Stein (Simon & Schuster, $26.95, 9781439187036) follows a boy who uncovers family secrets in their ancestral home.

Mr. Bones: Twenty Stories by Paul Theroux (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $27, 9780544324022) is a collection of new short stories.

Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by S.C. Gwynne (Scribner, $35, 9781451673289) explores the career of the Confederate general.

The Wonder of All Things by Jason Mott (Mira, $24.95, 9780778316527) follows a young girl with healing powers.

The Perfect Witness by Iris Johansen (St. Martin's Press, $27.99, 9781250020055) follows a woman who can read people's memories.

Belly Fat Breakthrough: Understand What It Is and Lose It Fast by Dr. Stephen Boutcher (Gallery, $24, 9781476775500) advocates interval training and the Mediterranean diet.


Now in paperback:
In Your Dreams (the Blue Heron Series) by Kristan Higgins (Harlequin HQN, $7.99, 9780373779314).

As Long As You Love Me by Ann Aguirre (Harlequin HQN, $14.95, 9780373779840).

Night of a Thousand Stars by Deanna Raybourn (Harlequin Mira, $14.95, 9780778317753).


Movies:
Gone Girl, based on the bestselling novel by Gillian Flynn, opens October 3. David Fincher (The Social Network) directs Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry. A movie tie-in (Crown, $15, 9780553418361) is available.

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcovers
The Invention of Exile by Vanessa Manko (Penguin Press, $26.95, 9781594205880). "Manko's debut novel is the beautifully written story of Austin Voronkov, a Russian inventor who immigrates to the U.S., but, through a series of unfortunate events, finds himself to be a man without a country. Filled with poignant insights on what it means to belong, The Invention of Exile gives readers a sweeping, masterfully told story spanning continents and years, all expressed through the tender voice of this determined immigrant and engineer, who relentlessly works to reverse his fate and return home." --Anderson McKean, Page & Palette, Fairhope, Ala.

Fives and Twenty-Fives: A Novel by Michael Pitre (Bloomsbury, $27, 9781620407547). "An unforgettable tale of war, Fives and Twenty-Fives tells the story of a Marine Corps engineering platoon assigned to the dangerous and unending task of repairing road damage caused by improvised explosives on Iraqi highways. The unit travels with a bomb disposal team because secondary explosives are nearly always found at every scene. Told through the flashbacks of Marines struggling to find their place back in the States, the incidents coalesce in a devastating story of heroism, sacrifice, and vulnerability. The author served as a captain in the Marines, and his story is both textured and emotionally searing." --Mark LaFramboise, Politics and Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse, Washington, D.C.

Paperbacks
The Thing About December by Donal Ryan (Steerforth Press, $15, 9781586422288). "Pick this book up and what you'll be holding is the quintessential Irish novel. It is both tragic and brilliant, rich with wit and humor, and full of true-to-life, complex characters who will leave indelible marks on your conscience. First and foremost, there is Johnsey Cunliffe, a sweet and simple soul who tolerates town bullies and schemers and strives to understand a cruel world that is beyond his comprehension. This novel is a shining example of literary fiction that resonates long after the last page is turned." --Mary Toni, R.J. Julia Booksellers, Madison, Conn.

For Ages 2 to 6
Flashlight by Lizi Boyd (Chronicle Books, $16.99, 9781452118949). "Kids' faces are sure to light up as they make their own discoveries in this artfully rendered picture book. Harkening back to a simpler time, the striking color palette makes the book truly stand out and promises an incredibly engaging and interactive experience. Thoughtfully created and beautifully crafted, this is the way picture books were meant to be. Give this as a gift, and you'll be the coolest grown-up around. Sit with a child as they turn the pages, and they'll want you to stay forever!" --Beth Reynolds, Norwich Bookstore, Norwich, Vt.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Since he abandoned journalism in 1985 to make up his own world of Southern California cops and robbers, T. Jefferson Parker has socked away three Edgar Awards and watched his novels climb the bestseller lists. From his first, Laguna Heat, to his more recent series featuring Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Charlie Hood (The Jaguar, The Famous and the Dead), Parker has consistently focused on crime--its commission and its resolution. Full Measure, however, is not a crime novel (although it contains plenty of crimes: arson, vehicular homicide, prostitution, robbery, assault). Rather, it is the story of an avocado-farming family in the small San Diego County town of Fallbrook, just up the highway from the Camp Pendleton Marine base.

Over many years, the resolute Archie Norris and his wife, Caroline, built one of the finest farms in this "Avocado Capital of the World," but recent droughts and a devastating wildfire put them on the edge of bankruptcy. Their oldest son, Ted, suffered obscure medical trouble in childhood that left him partially lame and mentally unstable; in his 30s, he drives a cab and still lives in the farm's bunkhouse. When their youngest son, Patrick, returns home a local hero after his deployment in Afghanistan with the acclaimed Marine battalion the Three/Five ("Get Some!"), Archie hopes the can-do Pat will help salvage the trees and take over the farm. Unfortunately, Pat's tour in the Sangin District dodging snipers and IEDs has broken his optimism and hardened him against the naïve thank-yous that come from a United States filled with "children and grown-up children." As one Marine buddy says, "America doesn't go to war. America goes to the mall."

Full Measure a hard look at the effects of war, the bonds of both brothers and brothers-in-arms, the fate of the family farm in modern society, and the economic stress on small American towns after 9/11 and the Great Recession. If that sounds like a lot of weight for one novel to carry, Parker's 30 years of crime writing equip him to pack the load. When it turns out that the wildfire is the result of arson, Full Measure picks up the pace as Homeland Security agents come to Fallbrook to investigate a local white-supremacy gang, as well as Muslim and Mexican immigrants. Ted begins to crumble and buys a gun, Archie and Caroline sell their last retirement funds to save the farm, and Pat must put aside his dream of guiding fishermen in San Diego Bay to try to save his family. A reluctant hero, uncertain what to do, he can only instinctively follow his Marine training "to just put one foot in front of the other and get the mission done." Full Measure may not sound like the T. Jefferson Parker we are used to, but it's still a damn fine novel. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.

Shelf Talker: A departure from Parker's crime fiction oeuvre, this novel offers a hard look at the U.S. today: extremism, post-war nihilism, guns, broken families and recession.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. Black Lies by Alessandra Torre
2. Rule's Property by Lynda Chance
3. Impulse by Deborah Bladon
4. Raced by K. Bromberg
5. Second Chances by H.M. Ward and Stacey Mosteller
6. Hemy (Walk of Shame #2) by Victoria Ashley
7. Alpha Billionaire by Helen Cooper
8. Twice the Growl by Milly Taiden
9. A Dangerous Witch by Debora Geary
10. Alpha Billionaire 2 by Helen Cooper

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]