Goin' Fishing . . .
In order to have at least one long weekend between February and Memorial Day, we're taking tomorrow off. We'll see you all again on Monday morning, April 30!
In order to have at least one long weekend between February and Memorial Day, we're taking tomorrow off. We'll see you all again on Monday morning, April 30!
Beat the Bookstore, the off-campus college bookstore company, today is
opening its 25th franchised store, in Bowling Green, Ohio, near Bowling
Green State University. The new location is at 902 E. Wooster St.; the franchisees are Angie and Steve Smith and Steve Russell.
Mike Winward and David Monk opened the first two Beat the Bookstore
stores in Utah and then began franchising the idea, which is to "sell
for less, buy back for more, and consistently provide uncommon--and
exceptional--customer service."
Beat the Bookstores sell only textbooks and eschew the staples of most
college stores, including sweatshirts, glassware, pennants, bumper stickers, candy, etc.
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Today's Wall Street Journal
surveys what it calls "the summer of Diana," a royal flush of "at least
14 new Diana titles" that will be published in time for the 10th
anniversary of the princess's death. The story focuses on The Diana Chronicles
by Tina Brown, a kind of double whammy of celebrity. Set to appear on
June 12, the book has a first printing of 200,000 copies. Barnes &
Noble biography buyer Edward Ash-Milby told the paper: "The Diana books
have been trending down from a sales perspective over the last couple
of years because there hasn't been anything new to say. But this is
going to be a summer of celebrating Diana, and that will re-create
interest in her."
Vivien Jennings of Rainy Day Books, Fairway, Kan., has ordered 20 copies of The Diana Chronicles
but remains wary. "Will there be new information and pictures people
haven't seen before?" she asked. "And will there be so much news
coverage that people won't have to read the book?"
For her part, Roberta Rubin of the Book Stall at Chestnut Court,
Winnetka, Ill., has ordered just two copies of Brown's book, saying
that sales of Diana titles in the past have been slow. "Publicity could
save The Diana Chronicles, but there isn't a lot of enthusiasm in the heartland."
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Mike Brennan is joining HarperCollins as senior v-p and director of sales for the Morrow/Avon sales group, where he will oversee sales for William Morrow, Avon, Harper paperbacks, HarperAudio, HarperLuxe and Tokyopop. He was formerly v-p, director of national accounts, at Penguin Group and earlier he worked at Bantam, Doubleday and Dell in various sales positions.
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Bern Marcowitz, book care specialist extraordinaire, will speak on the subject on Tuesday, May 1, at 6:30 p.m. at the Mid-Manhattan Library in New York City. Marcowitz is co-author, with Margot Rosenberg, of The Care and Feeding of Books Old and New, which the pair hopes will motivate people to care for the books they care about, as they so aptly put it.
Last Saturday, at the first book club mixer held by Books & Books
in Coral Gables, Fla., nearly 200 attendees mingled and discussed
books, and some like-minded bibliophiles even created reading groups on
the spot. "At least six book clubs were formed that day," said Debra
Linn, who works in Books & Books’s Bal Harbour location and helped
coordinate the event.
Programming had a travel theme: each attendee received a passport with
an itinerary outlining the afternoon's roster of activities. It also
included various sections such as "wish you were here" with space for
jotting down e-mail addresses of potential book club buddies; a
"packing list" for recording interesting titles; and "excursions,"
which promoted upcoming Book & Books author appearances. (Those who
ordered Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns in advance received a ticket for the store's June event with the author.)
To break the ice and inspire conversation among attendees, some of whom
came to the event solo, passports contained a "boarding pass" with an
author name and title on it. When attendees located four others with
the same information, the group was rewarded with a prize.
Books & Books staff members recommended titles ranging from Nicole Krauss's novel The History of Love to Ben Fountain's story collection Brief Encounters with Che Guevara.
Guest speakers included Diana Abu-Jaber, who lives in Miami and is the author of the memoir The Language of Baklava and the forthcoming novel Origins,
and Lisa Rosen, a book club facilitator, who offered ground rules that
make for a successful club. Also in the line-up were Marty Conroy from
Hachette Book Group, Caitlin Rolfes of HarperCollins and Carol
Fitzgerald, co-founder and president of the Book Report Network. "An
event like this is an innovative way to hand sell titles to avid
readers," said Fitzgerald, whose website ReadingGroupGuides.com features resources for book clubs. "It was extremely well organized and engaging for participants."
The mixer was free, and along with wine, beer and refreshments each person received a complimentary copy of White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway. In addition, the store offered a 20% discount on all paperbacks purchased that day between 4-6 p.m.
The mixer was inspired in part by the success of the retailer's
South
Florida Book Club Registry, which has lured more than 75 book clubs and
400 individuals to sign up. "The number one question we're asked is,
'How do I find a book club?' " noted Linn. Along with pairing
interested
readers with groups in their area, the registry allows the store to
communicate directly with book club members eager for information.
Launched last year, it received a boost in January when it was touted
in the Miami edition of DailyCandy.com, a popular e-mail newsletter targeted toward women in their 20s and 30s.
Originally Books & Books staffers envisioned an annual book club
mixer, but because of the enthusiastic response, they're considering
hosting the event more frequently. "It was like a party," said Linn.
"On a sunny Saturday afternoon, almost 200 people were in our courtyard
talking about books. It was bookstore heaven."--Shannon McKenna
This morning on the Early Show, animal behaviorist Nicholas Dodman talks about Puppy's First Steps: The Whole-Dog Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, Well-Behaved Puppy (Houghton Mifflin, $24.95, 9780618663040/0618663045).
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Today the Rachael Ray Show rolls out the red carpet for former president Bill Clinton, author of My Life (Vintage, $17.95, 9781400030033/140003003X).
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Today is Ask Dr. Oz Day on Oprah, featuring Dr. Mehmet Oz, co-author of You on a Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management (Free Press, $25, 9780743292542/0743292545).
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Today on NPR's Fresh Air: la Repubblica journalist Carlo Bonini, co-author of Collusion: International Espionage and the War on Terror (Melville House, $23.95, 9781933633275/1933633271).
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Today on KCRW's Bookworm: C.K. Williams, author of Collected Poems (FSG, $40, 9780374126520/0374126526). As the show put it: "C.K. Williams' Collected Poems
covers a lifetime's concern with ethics and personal morality. As his
work proceeds, he develops a quality of consciousness and empathy that
some would describe as a soul. In this conversation, this accessible
and plainspoken poet plumbs the depths, as we trace his concerns from
poem to poem."
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Tonight on the Colbert Report: Tom Wolfe.
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Tonight the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson laughs it up with Jenny McCarthy, whose most recent book is Life Laughs: The Naked Truth about Motherhood, Marriage, and Moving On (Plume, $13.95, 9780452288294/0452288290).
The Late Late Show also talks with Frank McCourt, whose most recent memoir is Teacher Man (Scribner, $15, 9780743243780/0743243781).
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Tomorrow on the Rachael Ray Show: Michael J. Fox, author of the memoir Lucky Man (Hyperion, $12.95, 9780786888740/0786888741).
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Tomorrow on NPR's All Things Considered: Lizzie Post, author of How Do You Work This Life Thing: Advice for the Newly Independent on Roommates, Jobs, Sex, and Everything That Counts (Collins, $19.95, 9780060823757/0060823755).
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Tomorrow evening on Bill Moyers's new show, Bill Moyers Journal: la Repubblica journalists Carlo Bonini and Giuseppe D'Avanzo, authors of Collusion: International Espionage and the War on Terror (Melville House, $23.95, 9781933633275/1933633271).
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Tomorrow night on the Charlie Rose Show, Richard Dawkins discusses The God Delusion (Houghton Mifflin, $27, 9780618680009/0618680004).
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On Saturday on NPR's Weekend Edition: Larry Berman, author of Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An, Time Magazine Reporter and Vietnamese Communist Agent (Collins, $25.95, 9780060888381/0060888385).
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On Sunday, 60 Minutes features a segment with former CIA director George Tenet, whose memoir, At the Center of the Storm (HarperCollins, $30, 9780061147784/0061147788), comes out of the cold on Monday.
Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham (Candlewick Press (MA), $16.99 Hardcover, 9780763632076, April 2007)