Shelf Awareness for Thursday, April 6, 2023


Workman Publishing:  Atlas Obscura: Wild Life: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Living Wonders by Cara Giaimo and Joshua Foer

Berkley Books: The Seven O'Clock Club by Amelia Ireland

Simon & Schuster: Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: Nightweaver by RM Gray

News

Lake City Books Coming to Madison, Wis., April 22

Lake City Books, an independent bookstore selling new and used titles for all ages, will open in downtown Madison, Wis., on April 22.

Store owner Molly Fish will carry a little bit of everything, from bestsellers to bilingual children's books, as well as nonbook items like City of Madison flags and literary-themed gifts. Roughly a third of the store's inventory will be children's and YA books, and the bookstore is located near Capitol Square, directly across from the Madison Children's Museum.

Fish has a grand opening celebration planned that will run April 22-23, coinciding with the return of Madison's Dane County Farmers' Market, and she will partner with the Children's Museum to offer 15% off of children's books to anyone who has attended the museum the same day. There will be a social media photo contest, with a $50 gift card going to the winner, and gifts and snacks will be available while supplies last.

"Madison is a smart town with a vibrant literary community, and I'm excited to be able to contribute to that," said Fish, who is a Madison native and has prior experience managing bookstores. "I'm creating a bookstore dedicated to Madison that is also authentically me and I can't wait to share it with the public."


Disruption Books: Our Differences Make Us Stronger: How We Heal Together by La June Montgomery Tabron, illustrated by Temika Grooms


For Sale: Buteo Books

Buteo Books, an online bookstore specializing in birdwatching, ornithology and natural history, is up for sale. The store, which began as a mail-order bookstore in 1971, is based in Virginia and sells new, used and antiquarian titles. It also has a partnership with the American Birding Association.

Jamie Hale, who has owned the business since 2013, reported that the surge in interest in birdwatching during the pandemic led to an increase in sales. The bookstore continues to be successful and profitable, and Hale described the store's customer base as "loyal and constantly growing." Hale explained: "Sadly, life is pulling me in another direction, but I hope to see the store continue to thrive."

Hale noted that the sale could "take many forms," such as separating the new and used inventory. It could include the store's inventory and database as well as its customer list and supplier contacts. Shelving and other fixtures are also available and are located in Virginia. 

Interested parties can reach Hale at jamie@buteobooks.com.


NYU Advanced Publishing Institute: Early bird pricing through Oct. 13


Foggy Pine Books, Boone, N.C., Closing April 15

Foggy Pine Books in Boone, N.C., is closing permanently on April 15.

"Over the last 7 years, I have been incredibly lucky to receive the love, kindness and support of this wonderful community I call home," owner Max Ruthless wrote on the bookstore's website. "I couldn't have found better folks to share space with and I'm truly grateful for the time we've had together.

"However, for the sake of my personal health and financial wellbeing, I have to admit that I'm no longer capable of sharing my joy and love of books with others in this way. I am sorry to go and I am unable to continue."

Until April 15, the bookstore will be open Tuesday through Saturday and all new books will be 30% off, with used books discounted 50%. Ruthless noted that any customer with an open order with Foggy Pine Books will be contacted individually.

In 2021, Stephen Colbert featured Foggy Pine Books in a segment on his special post-Super Bowl edition of The Late Show, saying: "Big companies aren't the ones that need our support the most right now. It's small businesses that have been hurt the most in this pandemic."


BINC: Your donation can help rebuild lives and businesses in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and beyond. Donate Today!


The Shelf Awareness Golden Vik Winner

Congratulations to Sourcebooks and Tiffany Schultz for creating the most clicked-on ad of 2022 with Shelf Awareness. Schultz is shown holding the Golden Vik award for her Extraordinary Women eBlast, which beat out more than 3,800 other ads for top honors. Want to win in 2023? Reach out to sales@shelf-awareness.com to discuss tactics and audiences, and available ad spots.


International Update: LBF Lifetime Achievement Award to Klaus Flugge; Record Year for French Bookshop Openings

Klaus Flugge

Klaus Flugge, founder of Andersen Press, will receive the London Book Fair's Lifetime Achievement Award for being "a leading light in the world of children's publishing and illustration." He will be honored on April 19 at a special reception during LBF. The award recognizes "an individual who has made a truly significant mark in the sphere of global publishing."

After founding Andersen Press in 1976, Flugge went on to publish many notable writers and illustrators, including David McKee, Tony Ross, Satoshi Kitamura, Sir Quentin Blake, and Chris Riddell. In 1999, he became the first publisher to receive the Eleanor Farjeon Award for outstanding contribution to children's books and in 2010 became the first publisher to be awarded Honorary Membership of the Youth Libraries Group. In 2013 he was made an honorary citizen of the City of Bologna in recognition of his commitment to children's books abroad. To celebrate  Andersen Press's 40th anniversary  in 2016, he established the  Klaus Flugge Prize, awarded to the most promising and exciting newcomer to children's picture book illustration.

LBF director Gareth Rapley said: "We are delighted to name Klaus Flugge the recipient of this year's London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award. For nearly five decades, Klaus has been a luminary in children's publishing, bringing incredible stories and phenomenal illustrations to millions of children across the globe. His passion for championing emerging talent is hugely inspiring, as is recognized yearly in the picture book prize established in his name. As a dad to young children myself, I love sharing Andersen Press books with my kids, and I look forward to celebrating Klaus in person at the fair, less than a month from now."

--- 

In France, 2022 was a record-breaking year for bookshop openings, with 142 new stores debuting across the country, particularly in rural and coastal areas, but also on the outskirts of cities, according to the National Book Centre (CNL). 

The European & International Booksellers Federation's Newsflash reported that in addition, "51 bookstore takeovers were registered. Lastly, bookstore closures have remained stable since 2017, with 27 bookshops going out of business in 2022. Thanks to the five-year Action Cœur de ville investment program, the CNL and its partners have been able to support the opening and takeover of bookshops in nearly one out of every two towns involved in this plan."

--- 

Ukraine update: EIBF's Newsflash also reported that much of the book industry in Ukraine has been devastated by the effects of the ongoing Russian invasion, noting that Oleksander Afonin, president of the Ukrainian Publishers and Booksellers Associations, "mentions the skyrocketing price of paper, the flight of employees, the drop in customers, the major lack of electricity supply, but also the total redirection of government aid to the defense sector as a major issues plaguing the country's book industry. The Association is grateful for the foreign aid it has received, including distribution of Ukrainian books in various countries, designated shelves for Ukrainian books in bookshops or important financial aid received from several countries, but it stresses the continuous need for greater support." 

---

Bookseller moment: Aaliya's Books, Beirut, Lebanon--which was nearly destroyed by the tragic Beirut Port explosion in the summer of 2020 but was back in business by the fall--posted on Facebook Sunday: "Aaliya's book bazaar in progress." --Robert Gray


Notes

Image of the Day: If I Betray These Words

Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass., hosted the launch event for Wendy Dean's If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why It's So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First (Steerforth Press). Pictured: (from r.) Dean; health and science journalist Carey Goldberg; Dr. Simon Talbot, co-author of the book; Dr. Stuart Pollack.


Reading Group Choices' Most Popular March Books

The two most popular books in March at Reading Group Choices were The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore (Sourcebooks Casablanca) and The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (Bloomsbury).


Media and Movies

Media Heat: Kara Goucher on Here & Now

Today:
NPR's Here & Now: Kara Goucher, co-author of The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team (Gallery Books, $28, 9781982179144).

Tomorrow:
The View: Sen. Bernie Sanders, co-author of It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism (Crown, $28, 9780593238714).

Tamron Hall: Miroslav Volf, co-author of Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most (The Open Field, $29, 9780593489307).


TV: White House Plumbers

HBO has released a new trailer for White House Plumbers, based in part on the book The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks that Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency by Egil "Bud" Krogh and Matthew Krogh (St. Martin's Griffin). The limited series, which premieres May 1, stars Woody Harrelson, Justin Theroux, Domhnall Gleeson and Lena Headey.

The ensemble cast also includes Kiernan Shipka, Ike Barinholtz, Yul Vazquez, David Krumholtz, Rich Sommer, Judy Greer, Kim Coates, Liam James, Zoe Levin, Tony Plana, Zak Orth, Nelson Ascencio, Tre Ryder, Gary Cole, Toby Huss, John Carroll Lynch, and Kathleen Turner.

White House Plumbers is directed and executive produced by David Mandel, who told IndieWire: "I guess what I like to say is, 'It's a drama, but it's really funny.' We definitely walk a really fine line. This show doesn't have jokes. There's no jokes. However, there's a lot of funny stuff because [that's how it] happened. That's the easiest way I can express it. If I could pick a dream version, I'd say it's a little bit like Boogie Nights, where you can't help but laugh."


This Weekend on Book TV: The Savannah Book Festival

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, April 8
2 p.m. Jeremi Suri, author of Civil War by Other Means: America's Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy (PublicAffairs, $30, 9781541758544). (Re-airs Sunday at 2 a.m.)

6:55 p.m. Matthew F. Delmont, author of Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad (Viking, $30, 9781984880390). (Re-airs Sunday at 6:55 a.m.)

Sunday, April 9
8 a.m. Eric Alterman, author of We Are Not One: A History of America's Fight Over Israel (‎Basic Books, $35, 9780465096312). (Re-airs Sunday 8 p.m.)

9:15 a.m. Craig Seligman, author of Who Does That Bitch Think She Is?: Doris Fish and the Rise of Drag (PublicAffairs, $29, 9781541702165), at Book Soup Bookstore in West Hollywood, Calif. (Re-airs Sunday at 9:15 p.m.)

10 a.m. David McCormick, author of Superpower in Peril: A Battle Plan to Renew America (Center Street, $29, 9781546001959). (Re-airs Sunday at 10 p.m.)

2 to 7:30 p.m. Coverage from the 2023 Savannah Book Festival. Highlights include:

  • 2 p.m. Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, authors of The Last Hill: The Epic Story of a Ranger Battalion and the Battle That Defined WWII (St. Martin's Press, $29.99, 9781250247162).
  • 2:44 p.m. Jim Towey, author of To Love and Be Loved: A Personal Portrait of Mother Teresa (‎Simon & Schuster, $27, 9781982195625).
  • 3:26 p.m. Gayle Jessup White, author of Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant's Search for Her Family's Lasting Legacy (Amistad, $27.99, 9780063028654).
  • 4:09 p.m. Ilyon Woo, author of Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom (‎Simon & Schuster, $29.99, 9781501191053).
  • 4:55 p.m. David Quammen, author of Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus (‎Simon & Schuster, $29.99, 9781982164362).
  • 5:41 p.m. Jon Hilsenrath, author of Yellen: The Trailblazing Economist Who Navigated an Era of Upheaval (Harper Business, $32.50, 9780063162464).
  • 6:34 p.m. Renee Dudley and Daniel Golden, authors of The Ransomware Hunting Team: A Band of Misfits' Improbable Crusade to Save the World from Cybercrime (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $30, 9780374603304).


Books & Authors

Awards: Publishing Triangle Finalists

Finalists have been chosen for the 35th annual Triangle Awards, honoring the best LGBTQ books published in 2022. See the many finalists here. Winners in the eight categories will be announced on Thursday, April 27, at a ceremony at the New School in New York City.

In addition, Patrick Califia will receive the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement. Before his gender transition at age 45, Califia was active in the lesbian S/M community and a grassroots organizer of early leatherdyke organizations like Samois, The Lesbian Sex Mafia, and International Ms. Leather. His early writings, including Sapphistry, Macho Sluts, and Public Sex, were touchstones in the feminist sex wars. He is the author of nearly a dozen works of fiction and nonfiction, and he has addressed a wide spectrum of issues related to the repression and stigmatization of pleasure and variant gender expression.

His work as an author and editor includes 10 years of writing an advice column for gay men in the Advocate and serving as the editor of that corporation's erotic magazines. Today he writes for Drummer magazine and is working on a memoir.

Crisosto Apache will receive the Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award, which goes to an LGBTQ writer who has published at least one book but not more than two. Apache is the author of two books: Ghostword (Gnashing Teeth, 2022) and GENESIS (Lost Alphabet, 2018). Originally from Mescalero, N.Mex., on the Mescalero Apache reservation, they currently live in the Denver metro area, with their spouse. They are an assistant professor of English at the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, and they hold an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.Mex.

The recipients of the Michele Karlsberg Leadership Award, honoring contributions to LGBTQ literature by those who are not primarily writers, such as editors, agents, booksellers, and institutions, is going to Donnie Jochum and Greg Newton. In 2012, the two founded the Bureau of General Services/Queer Division, which is an independent, all-volunteer queer cultural center, bookstore and event space hosted within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in New York City. The Bureau seeks to excite and educate a self-confident, sex-positive, and supportive queer community by offering books, publications, and art, and by hosting readings, performances, film screenings, book discussion groups, and workshops.

And as noted last month, Drag Story Hour NYC will receive the First Publishing Triangle Torchbearer Award.


Attainment: New Titles Out Next Week

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, April 11:

The Trackers: A Novel by Charles Frazier (Ecco, $30, 9780062948083) follows a painter in Depression-era America.

My Heart Will Find You: A Novel by Jude Deveraux (MIRA, $30, 9780778333487) is a time travel romance.

Dark Angel by John Sandford (Putnam, $29.95, 9780593422410) is the second thriller with Letty Davenport.

A Kidnapped West: The Tragedy of Central Europe by Milan Kundera, trans. by Linda Asher (Harper, $24.99, 9780063272958) contains essays from the Czech writer.

On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory by Thomas Hertog (Bantam, $28.99, 9780593128442) explores the theory that universal laws of physics evolve over time.

Faster Cures: Accelerating the Future of Health by Michael Milken (Morrow, $32.50, 9780063260214) is a combination memoir/history of medicine by the convicted "junk bond king."

The Only Survivors: A Novel by Megan Miranda (S&S/ Marysue Rucci, $28, 9781668010419) follows adult survivors of a high school traffic accident.

Truly Simple: 140 Healthy Recipes for Weekday Cooking by Kristin Cavallari (Rodale, $29.99, 9780593578780) gives recipes from a TV host.

A Guide to Midwestern Conversation by Taylor Kay Phillips (Ten Speed Press, $16.99, 9781984861337) is an illustrated guide to Heartland colloquialisms.

Viva Lola Espinoza by Ella Cerón (Penguin/Kokila, $19.99, 9780593405628) features a young woman who learns that magic is real--and she is cursed.

When Impossible Happens by Jane De Suza (Putnam, $17.99, 9780593530122) is a middle-grade novel about a nine-year-old Indian girl in pandemic lockdown.

Paperbacks:
In Our Shoes: On Being a Young Black Woman in Not-So "Post-Racial" America by Brianna Holt (Plume, $18, 9780593186398).

The Nanny by Lana Ferguson (Berkley, $17, 9780593549353).

National Audubon Society Wildflowers of North America by the National Audubon Society (Knopf, $39.95, 9780593319949).


IndieBound: Other Indie Favorites

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

Hardcover
The Farewell Tour: A Novel by Stephanie Clifford (Harper, $29.99, 9780063251137). "A fun, fictional bio of a country superstar, like Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, making her last tour due to health issues. A moving portrait of a woman trying to break through a patriarchal industry and the pratfalls she endured." --Gerard Villegas, Auntie's Bookstore, Spokane, Wash.

What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez: A Novel by Claire Jiménez (Grand Central, $28, 9781538725962). "Jiménez's debut is funny and moving. A Puerto Rican girl living in Staten Island, Ruthy, disappeared on the way home from school. Years later, her sisters think they've found her and plan to bring her home. I loved everything about this." --Rebecca Minnock, Murder By the Book, Houston, Tex.

Paperback
City on Fire: A Novel by Don Winslow (Morrow, $18.99, 9780062851178). "Winslow's latest lights a fuse on what is sure to be a stand out trilogy in modern crime writing. That he goes back to the classics gives it a strong foundation, but this is vintage Winslow through and through. I can't wait for the follow up!" --Jason Hafer, Reads & Company, Phoenixville, Pa.

For Ages 4 to 8
Twenty Questions by Mac Barnett, illus. by Christian Robinson (Candlewick, $17.99, 9781536215137). "Questions open to interpretation are paired with colorful art in this sly and funny picture book. I can't wait to read it with the right kids--those who are perennially inquisitive!" --Robin Stern, Books Inc., San Francisco, Calif.

For Ages 8 to 12
Hanging with Vampires: A Totally Factual Field Guide to the Supernatural by Insha Fitzpatrick, illus. by Lilla Bölecz (Quirk, $14.99, 9781683693413). "Fitzpatrick covers everything from the origins of the vampire myth, to historical context, to the vampire in modern culture. Filled with interesting, bite-sized pieces of information, it's the perfect companion for a middle grader." --R. Aimee Chipman, The Bluestocking Bookshop, Holland, Mich.

For Teen Readers
Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa (First Second, $17.99, 9781250784124). "This is so lovely! A great, inclusive graphic novel! The relationships created by the author are so sweet and wholesome. I can't wait to promote this as much as it deserves!" --Gianna Conidi, Harvey's Tales, Geneva, Ill.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]


Book Review

Review: The Wanderer: An Alaska Wolf's Final Journey

The Wanderer: An Alaska Wolf's Final Journey by Tom Walker (Mountaineers Books, $18.95 paperback, 176p., 9781680516135, May 1, 2023)

Tom Walker (Wild Shots; Alaska Wildlife; The Seventymile Kid), an accomplished photographer, author and longtime Alaskan, turns his naturalist expertise to a single individual animal emblematic of a larger story in The Wanderer: An Alaska Wolf's Final Journey.

"On the northern frontier of Canada and Alaska sprawls a wilderness largely devoid of human imprint." Walker outlines his subjects broadly: the land, its natural and human histories, flora and fauna and variations in land use over centuries. He transports his readers to early November of 2010, to the slopes above Copper Creek, where two gray wolves roam: an older female, already collared as Wolf 227, and her younger male companion. Biologists spot them from a helicopter and descend to tag him as Wolf 258, although Walker will call him the Wanderer (with some protest from scientists, who prefer the impersonal numbering system over names, even the archetypal). Over the following 11 months, GPS tracking shows the Wanderer traveling nearly 3,000 miles, earning his nickname in a lengthy quest for prey, territory, and a mate.

Walker narrates this journey in detail, with lyricism and a clear love for the land and life forms he describes, using his informed imagination to provide specifics where the GPS collar cannot. "The Coleen tumbles through treeless highlands that in summer are resplendent with wildflowers. Between storms, the crystalline waters rush lyrically over the cobblestones.... In summer, lupine and fireweed bloom in willow thickets alive with breeding songbirds and ptarmigan." In Walker's telling, with the benefit of expert biologists' opinions, the Wanderer makes repeated inexplicable decisions: to turn away from abundant prey and to move into areas of greater risk from humans or other wolves--although he will generally be lucky in avoiding threats. Through his choices and movements, readers consider broader questions about habitat, climate change, predator/prey relationships, and the rights of human vs. animal hunters. (Walker relates the history of predator control policies in Alaska and throughout the U.S.)

Stunning photographs and essential maps help readers follow the Wanderer's ramblings. Intermingled with his meticulous account of the wolf's wanderings, Walker handles related subjects: geology and natural history; Alaska politics; remarkable stories of animal and human life in the Arctic; pack dynamics; and the changing habits and habitats of species the wolf interacts with, including caribou, grizzly bears, Dall sheep, Arctic ground squirrels, moose, and muskox. The Wanderer is a deeply enjoyable example of creative nonfiction and nature writing: literary, lovely, meditative in its pacing, informative and clear. --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia

Shelf Talker: This unforgettable portrait and travelogue of an individual Alaska gray wolf gorgeously and thoughtfully illuminates issues for the species and for all Arctic wildlife.


Powered by: Xtenit