Shelf Awareness for Friday, September 21, 2007


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

Quotation of the Day

'Books Are Great Companions'

"A book with printed pages still has a great future, especially literature, because a book is a tangible object, something you can see, pick up and take with you wherever you go. . . . The thing is that books are great companions. They help us pass the test of being able to spend time alone. If we can achieve that, we can escape the anguish and stress surrounding us."--Francisco Puche, owner of Proteo-Prometeo bookshop, Malaga, Spain, in an interview with SUR in English

 


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


News

Notes: Prison Chapel Policy Assailed; New Store in Lansing

A range of religious groups and some members of Congress are pressuring the federal Bureau of Prisons to reverse its decision to rid prison chapels of religious books and other items not on the bureau's list of approved material, the New York Times reported. The Times wrote about the issue, which has led to a class action lawsuit by prisoners, earlier this month (Shelf Awareness, September 9, 2007).

The Republican Study Committee, a conservative Republican caucus in the House, has written to the bureau's director, saying, "We must ensure that in America the federal government is not the undue arbiter of what may or may not be read by our citizens."

Members of Sojourners, a liberal evangelical group, sent 15,000 e-mails to the bureau in two days criticizing the policy.

The bureau has said the policy stemmed from concern that books calling for violence and hatred could show up in the prison chapel libraries. A Lubavitcher rabbi said that the bureau's method for chapels to add titles to the list--involving vetting and certification--wouldn't work in the real world. "No matter to what extent they try to fix this policy, it will never come out right," he said.

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Gene Moutsatson and Debra Hayes have opened Capital City Books and Magazines in downtown Lansing, Mich., the Lansing State Journal reported. The 3,000-sq.-ft. store offers a range of books, magazines, newspapers, calendars and coffee. The manager is Jennifer Kaiser.

Moutsatson and Hayes own Community Newscenter in Lansing as well as three Book Mark stores in towns nearby. Downtown Lansing has not had a bookstore since Way Station Books & Stuff closed its downtown storefront earlier this year. 

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The private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners is still interested in buying Borders Group's Australian and New Zealand operations and has "lodged an indicative offer" worth more than A$100 million (about $US87 million), Reuters reported.

The firm is making the bid through A&R Whitcoulls, which runs the Angus & Robertson and Whitcoulls chains. There are several other bids, sales advisor KPMG said, and a decision may be made in November.

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Bookselling This Week celebrates the fifth anniversary of the purchase by Sally Brewster and Frazer Dobson of a Little Professor in Charlotte, N.C., which they turned into Park Road Books. It's also the 30th anniversary overall of the store, which at 3,800 square feet some days feels "a little too big, and some days, a little too small," Brewster said.

The store has done well by visiting authors. So far it's sold nearly 600 copies of Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, who made an appearance at Park Road Books, and it sold 2,500 copies of Our Endangered Values when Jimmy Carter appeared.

Brewster, president of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, was a bookseller at the Little Professor and Dobson worked at Chapter 11 in Atlanta when they met at a SEBA dinner. Eventually they married--then bought the store.

Congratulations on many accounts! 

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BTW also explored Touchstone Books's live global web event featuring Philippa Gregory who was in London in front of an audience and answered questions from fans who participated via home computers and at events hosted by bookstores.

One participating store, A Likely Story, Sykesville, Md., "projected video of the event as it unfolded on a large screen and served tea and scones," BTW reported. "Owner Debbie Scheller reported that nearly 60 people attended, some in period costume. 'It just went wonderfully,' she said. 'Everyone really enjoyed [Gregory]. I loved that you could communicate with her via the Web. You could ask her questions, and she would answer them right away.' Several of A Likely Story's customers had questions about Gregory's characters and upcoming books that Scheller e-mailed to Gregory, who answered them immediately."

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Susan L. Weis, owner of breathe books, Baltimore, Md., and six other business owners in the Hampden area, have put up some green to be greener. According to the Baltimore Sun, the group is paying 10% extra on their electric bills, an amount that goes to wind power developers. It's the first business collective in the city to pay extra to encourage clean energy.

"Being New Age is about loving the planet, loving Mother Earth, and we want to raise the vibrational energy of the planet and each other," Weis told the paper. "I am looking out for the health of the earth as much as my own health."


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


HarperCollins Creates Book Club Buzz with Blog

Titles published by HarperCollins aren't the only ones promoted on BookClubGirl.com, a blog launched by the company. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and Mademoiselle Victorine by Debra Finerman, published by Scribner and Three Rivers Press respectively, are among the tomes that have been featured on the reading group resource site.

The personality behind the Book Club Girl moniker is Jennifer Hart, v-p and associate publisher of Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks. "We wanted to create a blog where we could promote books that we publish that are great reading group picks, but we knew if that was all the site had it wouldn't gain the trust of consumers," said Hart. Content ranges from bookstore news, such as a reading group event held at the Tattered Cover, Denver, Colo., to the low-down on what members are reading in the two book clubs to which Hart belongs.

BookClubGirl.com features include "What's on Your Nightstand," where Hart's colleagues share their bedtime page-turners and occasional guest bloggers contribute entries. Harper Perennial author Debra Dean reported from Book Group Expo in San Jose, Calif., where she was promoting her novel The Madonnas of Leningrad. Next month the Book Club Girl audience will hear from Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict (Dutton) author Laurie Viera Rigler, who will share her experiences visiting the Pulpwood Queens Book Club in Jefferson, Texas.

Traffic has increased steadily since the blog's launch in April. Mentions on sites such as ReadingGroupGuides.com and Bluestalking Reader increased its visibility, and a spike in visitors occurred after bookmarks promoting Book Club Girl were distributed at the American Library Association annual conference in June.

One of the reasons for creating the blog, said Hart, is to capture the attention of reading group members using the Internet to find discussion questions and other materials but who might not be aware of or inclined to visit the publisher's website. "The blog seemed the natural way to capture the eyeballs out there looking for information and bring them someplace that's fresh and updated every day," Hart said. "The best thing we can offer readers is a comprehensive site that covers all of the resources available."

The blog is one component in the company's continuing efforts to reach out to reading groups. Along with working closely with bookstore reading group coordinators, initiatives include an "Invite the Author" program, which pairs scribes and book clubs via telephone discussions, and a monthly electronic newsletter. In addition, HarperCollins authors will be among those appearing as part of National Reading Group Month, an endeavor started this year by the Women's National Book Association that will be an annual event.

In a sure sign that word of mouth for BookClubGirl.com is building, Hart now receives pitches from publicists at other houses suggesting titles to be featured. The blog "complements our book club efforts nicely," said Harper Perennial marketing director Amy Baker, "and it speaks directly to the consumer."--Shannon McKenna


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Pittsburgh Indies Steel Themselves--and Blossom

The Pittsburgh Quarterly finds that in the Steel City "the independently owned bookstore emerges as the keeper of smaller presses and more intimate transactions, the hero of emerging authors and eclectic (and regional) tastes, and depending on whom you talk to, an endangered species."

Among the stores profiled:
  • Jay's Bookstall in Oakland, owned by Jay Dantry, who said, "This is a great business to be in! You meet a heck of a lot of very nice people--they love books, and you love books."
  • Mystery Lovers' Bookshop, owned by Richard Goldman and Mary Alice Gorman, who have "built a customer base by getting to know their readers' tastes and by bringing numerous mystery authors to the Oakmont shop. In addition to year-round readings, signings and even in-store dinners, each May Mystery Lovers' hosts a one-day Festival of Mystery."
  • The Big Idea, Bloomfield, which acts "like a nonprofit"--some 20 young volunteers run the left-wing store that, among other programs, donates books to local prisoners.
  • Caliban Books, which sells rare and used books and does 40% of sales online, still benefits from Pittsburgh's "retro qualities," as co-owner John Schulman put it. "In Pittsburgh, people actually prefer the communication of across-the-counter buying."
  • Townsend Booksellers, which has sold used books since 1991 and finds a wealth of titles in "these big old homes in Pittsburgh," co-owner Beverly Townsend said.
  • Eljay's, the used bookstore with an emphasis on science fiction, fantasy, history, art, the Beats and "any fiction that's a little outré."
  • Phantom of the Attic on Craig Street, a comics shop whose owner, Jeffrey Yandora, said, "It's a constant balancing act to see if I can pay off the bills and also still buy the new books, the new merchandise that is the backbone of my store."
  • The University of Pittsburgh Book Center, where trade book buyer Russell Kierzkowski has worked since 1966. For him, "no campus event is too big or too small for him to send someone with a table of books to sell, and a professor with a new title gets the royal treatment when having a book party, signing or lecture at the Book Center."
  • Copacetic Comics, a tiny shop owned by Bill Boichel, a "comics artist, writer and former filmmaker with a passion for art, photography, literature and cinema." He said: "I made a choice to edit out all the 'noise' and concentrate on putting my expertise to use in selecting works of higher quality and, in addition, to cater directly to the interest constellations of my customers."
For a full list of area independent bookstores, click here.


G.L.O.W. - Galley Love of the Week
Be the first to have an advance copy!
The Queen of Fives
by Alex Hay
GLOW: Graydon House: The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay

Quinn le Blanc, "the Queen of Fives," is the latest in a dynasty of London con artists. In August 1898, she resolves to pose as a debutante and marry a duke for his fortune. According to the dynasty's century-old Rulebook, reeling in a mark takes just five days. But Quinn hasn't reckoned with the duke's equally shrewd stepmother and sister. Like his Caledonia Novel Award-winning debut, The Housekeepers, Alex Hay's second book is a stylish, cheeky historical romp featuring strong female characters. Graydon House senior editor Melanie Fried says his work bears the "twisty intrigue of a mystery" but is "elevated [by] wickedly clever high-concept premises and explorations of class, social status, gender, and power." The Queen of Fives is a treat for fans of Anthony Horowitz, Sarah Penner, and Downton Abbey. --Rebecca Foster

(Graydon House/HarperCollins, $28.99 hardcover, 9781525809859, January 21, 2025)

CLICK TO ENTER


#ShelfGLOW
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Media and Movies

Movies: The Jane Austen Book Club

The Jane Austen Book Club, directed by Robin Swicord and starring Maria Bello, opens today. Six readers start a club to discuss the works of Jane Austen only to discover that their own lives resemble modern versions of her novels. The movie tie-in edition of The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler is published by Plume ($14, 9780452289000/0452289009).

 


Media Heat: Oprah, Jeffrey Eugenides and Middlesex

This morning on the Today Show: Geoffrey C. Ward, co-author of The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945 (Knopf, $50, 9780307262837/0307262839). The miniseries begins airing on Sunday on PBS.

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Today on Oprah: Jeffrey Eugenides in a one-on-one interview in front of an audience that has read Middlesex, the latest pick of Oprah's book club. Another part of the show will feature "intersex people discussing their lives."

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On the Ellen DeGeneres Show: Steve Spangler, author of Secret Science: 25 Science Experiments Your Teacher Doesn't Know (Silverleaf Press, $9.95, 9781933317755/1933317752).

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Today on NPR's Fresh Air, in a repeat: Daniel Mendelsohn, author of The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million (Harper Perennial, $15.95, 9780060542993/0060542993).

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Tonight on 20/20: Jenny McCarthy, author of Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism (Dutton, $23.95, 9780525950110/0525950117).

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Tonight on Larry King Live: Joy Behar, author of When You Need a Lift: But Don't Want to Eat Chocolate, Pay a Shrink, or Drink a Bottle of Gin (Crown, $19.95, 9780307351715/0307351718).

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Tomorrow on the Today Show: Stephenie Meyer, author of Eclipse (Little, Brown, $18.99, 9780316160209/0316160202).

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Saturday on CNBC-TV's Tim Russert: Thomas Friedman, author of The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (Picador, $16, 9780312425074/0312425074).

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On Sunday on Meet the Press: Alan Greenspan, author of The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World (Penguin Press, $35, 9781594201318/1594201315).



Books & Authors

Image of the Day: Mitford Days in Blowing Rock

Jan Karon and several Viking/Penguin staffers took part in the Mitford Days celebration held September 13-16 in Blowing Rock, N.C., the town on which Karon's Mitford is loosely based. Among the events: Afternoon Tea with Karon, which drew 400 fans. Here at the tea were: (back row, l. to r.) editor Carolyn Carlson, Karon and Karon's sister Brenda; (front row) Miss Sadie and Miss Rose, "characters" from the Mitford series. Other Mitford Days events included staging of the play Jan Karon's Journey to Mitford, trolley tours, inspirational speeches by Karon, a Homecomers Brunch and a parade.

 


Book Brahmins: Gregory Maguire

New York native Gregory Maguire is best known for his novel Wicked, which has sold millions of copies and became a musical that continues to run on Broadway. The author of 19 children's books, five adult novels and many short stories, he has a new novel: What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth-Fairy (Candlewick, $15.99, 9780763629618/0763629618), a fantasy geared to children of every age and background. Maguire worked for eight years as a professor and associate director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature before receiving his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University. "Nothing serves a writer better than getting to teach children's books as literature--as an art form that relies on traditions of narrative shapeliness and verbal pizzazz as well as saucy innovation," he says. Here he answers questions we put to people in the book business:

On your nightstand now:

In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, the James Grieve translation of the second volume of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. It sounds pretentious, but we go to France every summer on holiday and for my sins I am making myself read one volume every August. We just got home last night, and I still have one quarter of the book left.
 
Favorite book when you were a child:

Every book is the favorite when you're in it, even books that are not very good. But the books that you keep through adulthood because you remember the savor of them: they are few and far between. For me, most of my life it has meant The Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton, though A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle and Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh were close runners-up.
 
Your top five authors:

If by that you mean I admire the writing enough even to read the lesser works of favorites, eschewing masterpieces and current IT books, I would say: Jill Paton Walsh, Ron Hansen, Penelope Fitzgerald, Maurice Sendak and Virginia Woolf.
 
Books you've faked reading:

Anything I faked reading I eventually got so guilty about I went back and read it for atonement. I have nodded knowingly when people refer to The Magic Mountain or War and Peace, but I haven't actually said I'd read them, just implied it when (and if) I actually recognize the narrative or character situation being mentioned. I still have never finished War and Peace. I don't expect to either.
 
Book you are an evangelist for:

Unleaving by Jill Paton Walsh and its prequel, Goldengrove. Published originally for teens, they stand up together as a profound meditation on human ambition, consciousness and moral urgency, and are written as limpidly as the Woolf novel, To the Lighthouse, that served partially as inspiration.
 
Books you've bought for the cover:

A number of novels by obscure (to me) Middle Eastern writers. Also James Hawes' Speak for England.
 
Book that changed your life:

The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Showed me a writer could be funny, erudite and passionate all in the same novel.
 
Favorite line from a book:

" 'Life is distracting and uncertain,' she said, and went to draw the curtain."--From one of Edward Gorey's droll little bildungsromans for morally crippled children.
 
Books you most want to read again for the first time:

Hop on Pop, because that would mean that all of my reading life was still magnificently ahead of me.


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