Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium in Vancouver, B.C., the center of a 20-year legal battle against Canada Customs over the border patrol's seizure of books and materials it deemed obscene, has given up the fight after the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a ruling denying advance funding for a suit by the store.

For years, Little Sister's, which caters to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender customers, "had endured mysterious delays--even disappearances--in shipments of its books and magazines," the Globe and Mail reported. After winning a partial victory in 2000, Little Sister co-owner Jim Deva, who has spent more than a half a million dollars on litigation costs, again sued Customs "on how it handled a cross-border shipment of two books and two comics deemed obscene, and thus banned, in 2001 and 2003."

The paper added: "The ruling said the case should not receive advance funding because it does not meet the test of having issues that relate not just to the litigant but to the general public."

On the store's Web site, Deva and co-owner Janine Fuller indicate they cannot afford to continue waging the legal battle. "The outcome of this case means that unless there is a litigant with pockets deep enough to take on Canada Customs," the statement read, "the bureaucracy will continue to determine what Canadians can and cannot read, unscrutinized by public hearings."

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E. Howard Hunt, the CIA operative, author and mastermind of the Watergate and Ellsberg burglaries, had one last caper in the works when he died on Tuesday at 88: publishing his memoir. Written with Greg Aunapu, his  American Spy: My Secret History in the CIA, Watergate & Beyond (Wiley, $25.95, 9780471789826) will be released March 2.

In American Spy, Wiley said, Hunt "reveals details on many dramatic and historical events," which include his orchestration of the 1954 coup in Guatemala, the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba as well as the infamous burglaries. The book also "addresses the conspiracy theories that pin Hunt to JFK's assassination and speaks openly about the rumors surrounding his first wife's death, as well as his unique perspective on the CIA, its influence on modern politics, and how the agency must now reshape itself to regain its edge and help win the war on terrorism."

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new lo n lit

A new Finnish novel consists entirely of text messages to and from an IT executive who resigns his job and travels in Europe and India and keeps in touch with friends and relatives via texting, the AP reported. "The texts are rife with grammatical errors and abbreviations commonly used in regular SMS traffic." :(

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In a story called "Leisure-Class Lit," TheStreet.com tells of one of the main attractions at Caneel Bay, the Rosewood resort in the Virgin Islands founded by Laurance S. Rockefeller: books. Through a program called Hot Type, "patrons can get their hands on books from the biggest authors before they hit the shelves, thanks to an exclusive partnership with top publishing houses Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, Miramax, Doubleday, Simon & Schuster and Knopf. It is quite possibly the world's most exclusive book club." Some 20% of guests use the service.

"We're a very upscale hotel chain and try to provide customers with an experience they won't have anywhere else," Bob Boulogne, COO of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts told TheStreet. "To read Stephen King's novel a month before it comes out gives them bragging rights."

Now Caneel Bay has begun bringing authors to talk with the guests. This weekend Adam Gopnik arrives for three days of talk and sun--and a chance to read some galleys.

 

Perseus Books Group has begun making offers to PGW publishers and hopes to communicate with all the publishers as soon as possible, David Steinberger, president and CEO of Perseus Books Group, told Shelf Awareness. For a company to receive an offer, it must allow PGW to share sales information with Perseus. Earlier this week, all PGW publishers were asked to give permission for the sharing of sales data and a substantial number have agreed to do so already.

The offers are for 70% of what the publishers are owed. The only exception would be the "very special case" of a publisher whose receivables for the last three months of 2006--the period at issue--are "somehow way out of line with the publisher's regular publishing program," Steinberger said. He offered a hypothetical example of a publisher who issued just one book and did not want to publish any others.

For the deal to work, enough publishers to represent 65% of PGW's revenue must agree to Perseus's offer. This does not mean, Steinberger stressed, that Perseus wants to take just 65% of the publishers. "We want to make an offer to every PGW client," he said.

As part of the offer, publishers are being asked to agree to be distributed by Perseus between four and five years, depending on the anniversary of their contract with PGW. Acknowledging that four years is longer than most distribution contracts, Steinberger said the length of the contract reflected Perseus's substantial and unusual investment--paying 70% of "what others owe the publishers"; paying for the publishers' books to be shipped to the Perseus warehouse; and paying for the five-month transition period during which PGW would continue to operate.

The future of PGW itself is unclear, whether or not Perseus's offer is approved by PGW publishers and the bankruptcy court. Steinberger commented: "The more involved I get in this, the more impressed I am by the outstanding reputation of PGW people, the power of the PGW brand and the relations PGW has built with both booksellers and publishers." For the moment, he continued, Perseus is focused on finding "ways to keep PGW and its publishers going by getting this proposal approved by the bankruptcy court. We are not sure exactly what the future will look like for PGW, but we certainly want to hire PGW people and build on what PGW accomplished. We hope to address that soon."--John Mutter

BookExpo America has redesigned its Web site with the aim of more accurately reflecting and enhancing "the actual convention experience" and making the site a place for communicating and networking within the industry.

"My vision for BEA on the Web is to create a platform that extends the reach and relevance of BookExpo America well beyond three days in June," event director Lance Fensterman said in a prepared statement. "Added features such as social networking, dedicated Web pages to key attendee groups and an ever expanding podcasting program are examples of our commitment to serve our industry in new and evolving ways.”

On the redesigned site, Fensterman himself will keep a blog, offering "a unique perspective on the book world from the bookseller who became a BEA leader. With BlackBerry in hand, expect dispatches from around the world!" And expect those dispatches to be as entertaining as they are enlightening.

The site will also feature links to current stories in Shelf Awareness and Publishers Weekly; offer My BEA, an online social networking platform; and soon include BEA Story Project, a text and audio interactive posting board where participants can tell stories from BEA. Well, maybe some stories from BEA. . .

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 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 Web site.

Saturday, January 27

6 p.m. Encore Booknotes. In a previously aired segment, Jon Ronson talked about his book Them: Adventures with Extremists (S&S, $14, 9780743233217/0743233212), in which he recounts his experiences with religious fundamentalists in Great Britain, Cameroon and Texas; white supremacists in Arkansas, Michigan and Idaho; and New World Order conspiracy chasers in Portugal and California.

7 p.m. General Assignment. At a party at the Four Seasons in New York City hosted by former President Bill Clinton, former Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe talked about his new book, What a Party!: My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators and Other Wild Animals (Thomas Dunne Books, $24.95, 9780312357870/0312357877). (Re-airs Sunday at 11 a.m. and 10 p.m.)

9 p.m. After Words. John McCaslin, the Inside the Beltway columnist for the Washington Times and author of Inside the Beltway, interviews Frank Luntz, a political consultant to Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani, among others, an architect of the Republican takeover of the House in 1994 and the author of Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear (Hyperion, $24.95, 9781401302597/1401302599). (Re-airs Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.)

This morning on the Today Show: Jen Schefft, star of the Bachelorette and author of Better Single than Sorry: A No-Regrets Guide to Loving Yourself and Never Settling (Morrow, $21.95, 9780061228070/0061228079).

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Today Good Morning America hears from Eve Ensler--acclaimed playwright, V-Day founder and author of Insecure at Last: Losing It in Our Security-Obsessed World (Villard, $21.95, 9781400063345/1400063345).

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Today on the Early Show: Mark Kreidler, author of Four Days to Glory: Wrestling with the Soul of the American Heartland (HarperCollins, $24.95, 9780060823184/0060823186).

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Today on KCRW's Bookworm: Mary Gordon, whose latest book is The Stories of Mary Gordon (Pantheon, $26, 9780375423161/0375423168). As the show describes the segment: "Mary Gordon makes distinctions. She writes only about characters who interest her, people she would be willing to meet and spend time with. These discriminations provide the structure for her work--stories that are full of careful avoidances and the occasional unexpected embrace."

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Today on the Martha Stewart Show: Rupert Everett shares even more from his memoir, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (Warner, $25.99, 9780446579636/0446579637).

Also on the Martha Stewart Show: John Loring, design director of Tiffany & Co. and author of Tiffany Pearls (Abrams, $50, 9780810954434/0810954435).

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Today on the Rachael Ray Show: LL Cool J keeps going with LL Cool J's Platinum Workout (Rodale, $27.95, 9781594866081/1594866082).

Also on the Rachael Ray Show: advice from Dr. Manny Alvarez, author of The Checklist: What You and Your Family Need to Know to Prevent Disease and Live a Long and Healthy Life (Rayo, $24.95, 9780061188787/ 0061188786).

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Today on the View: CNN anchor and journalist Lou Dobbs, author of War on the Middle Class: How the Government, Big Business, and Special Interest Groups Are Waging War on the American Dream and How to Fight Back (Viking, $24.95, 9780670037926/0670037923).

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Today on WAMU's Diane Rehm Show: Dilip Hiro, author of Blood of the Earth: The Battle for the World's Vanishing Oil Resources (Nation Books, $15.95, 9781560255444/1560255447).

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Today on NPR's Day to Day, Annabelle Gurwitch is fired up about Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed (Touchstone, $13, 9780743294409/0743294408).

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Tonight the Daily Show with Jon Stewart talks with Senator Chuck Schumer, author of Positively American: Winning Back the Middle Class Majority One Family at a Time (Rodale Books, $24.95, 9781594865725/1594865728).

The following were the four book winners of the 2006 Borders Original Voices Awards, with comments from the selection committee:

• Fiction: The Brief History of the Dead (Knopf). "A powerful first novel. The language was poetic and the intertwining stories were the most lyrical accounts of death ever read."
• Nonfiction: The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan (Houghton Mifflin). An "extraordinary story of the 1935 Dust Bowl."
• Children's picture book: Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser (HarperCollins). "A cute, playful story with a lot of colorful vocabulary making it fun to read aloud. It's the perfect book for parents and grandparents to read to the aspiring princess in their lives."
• Young adult: Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock (Houghton Mifflin). A novel about "a young girl learning to be comfortable with herself while juggling caring for her uncommunicative family, boys and sports."

The awards honor "emerging and innovative" authors and musicians. Winners receive $5,000. Borders store employees and corporate office employees made nominations; winners were selected by a panel at the corporate office.

This is the second of several stories about how booksellers are preparing for Valentine's Day:

Kay Thompson's Eloise is a perennial favorite at Booklovers Bookstore in Aiken, S.C. Two picture books featuring the spirited six-year-old--Love & Kisses, Eloise and Eloise's What I Absolutely Love Love Love--are not just on hand for Valentine's Day, they're among the titles regularly stocked at the store.

"I don't go in so much for specific Valentine's Day titles but ones that can be promoted year round," said the store's owner, Fran Bush. With less than 1,000 square feet of selling space, which includes placement for both new and used books, Bush maximizes shelf space by stocking general titles and selecting some of them to highlight for holiday gifting.

Along with Eloise, two titles Bush is showcasing for Valentine's Day are gift books by Jane Seabrook--Furry Logic: Laugh at Life and Furry Logic: Parenthood, which she noted make great choices for Mother's Day and Father's Day as well. Also on display: Bradley Trevor Greive's Friends to the End: The True Value of Friendship, Friends to the End for Kids and, for those in the doldrums on Valentine's Day, The Blue Day Book: A Lesson in Cheering Yourself Up. The latter "is one of our bestsellers," said Bush. "It's pretty hard to stay blue if you're reading this book."

In keeping with the friendship theme for Valentine's Day, Bush is promoting Friendship Rules: How to Make and Keep Friends by Amadeus, the Traveling Dog. A picture book illustrated with full-color photographs, it's the true story of a canine-feline friendship. The four-legged "author," Amadeus, a Great Pyrenees, paid a visit to the store last year during the Aiken Children's Book Festival. The festival was founded last year by Bush and will be held for the second year in October on the grounds of Aiken Technical College.

Those looking to spice up the holiday with a bit of mayhem will find Valentine's Day Is Killing Me (with an attention-grabbing red cover) face-out in Booklovers' mystery section. The anthology features a trio of tales by Mary Janice Davidson, Leslie Esdaile and Susanna Carr. For the many romance readers among the store's clientele, Debbie Macomber's Be My Valentine, which contains two novellas, is on display.

On February 17, Booklovers Bookstore is hosting a signing with Hawk MacKinney, author of Moccasin Trace. Bush described MacKinney's historical novel as "a Civil War saga and also a love story." The event, which will be held at the Aiken County Public Library, "brings together two themes," said Bush. "Valentine's Day for the love story and a re-enactment of the Battle of Aiken for the Civil War aspect." (The town's annual re-enactment takes place on February 24 and 25.) Moccasin Trace is featured in the February edition of a monthly book column Bush writes for a local newspaper.

From history to mystery, furry logic to friendship, Bush strives to present her customers with a selection of books they're not likely to find in larger retailers. "I stay away from bestsellers because they're going to land in our used books room within a few weeks anyway," she said. On Valentine's Day and the other 364 days of the year, Bush added, "I focus on things that will make good gifts and aren't terribly expensive."--Shannon McKenna

Perhaps we've been watching too many James Bond movies. Our item yesterday about Roger Rapoport's new biography, Citizen Moore, misstated the first name of the maker of Roger & Me: he is, of course, Michael Moore.