The Montague Book Mill, Montague Center, Mass., is being bought by Susan Shilliday, a screenwriter who moved to Northampton, Mass., from Santa Monica, Calif., a year ago and who has enjoyed going to the used bookstore to work on her own writing.

''It was in fact a joke with my daughters that one day I would drive by and see a for-sale sign outside and buy it," she told the Greenfield Recorder. ''When I heard [owner David Lovelace] was selling, I thought 'what else could I do?' ''

The store is in an 1842 gristmill and has couches and a deck overlooking a waterfall.

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Borders Group is "honoring America's teachers" by giving a 25% discount on regularly priced books, CDs, DVDs, gift and stationery and cafe items for classroom or personal use from tomorrow, September 26, through Tuesday, October 2.

Current and retired teachers, librarians, professors, homeschoolers and other educators are eligible for the Educator Savings Week. As part of the event, Borders is donating $50,000 to its literacy partner, First Book, which provides reading material to children whose families can't easily afford books.

Borders is holding receptions for educators at its superstores on Friday, 4-8 p.m. For more information about Educator Savings Week, go to bordersmedia.com/educators.

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Rose Marie Morse has joined Inkwell Management as public relations strategist, where she will oversee publicity and media planning for the agency's clients. Morse formerly was the CEO of Morse Partners, the public relations company that handled promotions and touring for authors, chefs, media talent and photographers. She has closed the company.

Morse earlier worked at Grove Weidenfeld and Morrow.

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John Nee has been promoted to senior v-p of business development at DC Comics, where he will oversee the WildStorm studio, the CMX manga imprint and business development. Part of his responsibility will be to expand business in such areas as international publishing, videograme production and new media initiatives with sister divisions Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. He joined DC Comics in 1998 as v-p and general manager of WildStorm.

 

China Daily surveys what it calls concept bookstores, which "create a nostalgic ambiance, maintaining the atmosphere of old bookstores," and "add new things, like cafes, salons and fashion boutiques, or even have Wi-fi service available."

• Among examples are the new Dukou Bookstore in Shanghai, where books are randomly shelved. The owner, an architect, explained that, as China Daily put it, "there is a bond between the reader and the book, and categorizing the books would jeopardize this relationship."
• Monsoon Bookstores, which are near Starbucks, a strategy that "reflects a change in the way people read. People used to read to obtain knowledge, but now most people read to enjoy a leisurely life."
• The Sculpting in Time Café in Beijing, near Renmin University, which has books "mainly for reading instead of buying."
• Guanghe Zuoyong, which has a small fashion boutique on the second floor.
• And the Bookworm, which we've highlighted here earlier (Shelf Awareness, August 14, 2007).

It's a new chapter for reading groups.

In honor of its 90th birthday, the Women's National Book Association (WNBA) has designated October as National Reading Group Month.

Initially the idea of Martha Burns and Alice Dillon, the authors of Reading Group Journal: Notes in the Margin, National Reading Group Month augments the association's mission to "promote reading and the value of books," said WNBA president Laurie Beckelman. Advisory board members for the new endeavor include Carol Fitzgerald, founder and president of the Book Report Network, and librarian and Book Lust author Nancy Pearl.

"Much like its own beginnings in the social movements of the early 20th century--supporting the value of books and reading--WNBA recognizes reading groups in the U.S. as a major grass-roots phenomenon, bringing together readers in the community of the book, at home gatherings, at schools and businesses, at bookstores and libraries," said Jill Tardiff, WNBA National Reading Group Month Committee chair and WNBA immediate past president

Bookstores and libraries are among the venues hosting National Reading Group Month events, which will take place in cities with WNBA chapters. On Monday, October 29, bibliophiles will convene at the New York Center for Independent Publishing for a read-a-thon with Adriana Trigiani, Wally Lamb, Matthew Sharpe and other book club favorites. The gathering will be hosted by Fitzgerald; Barbara Mead, co-owner of Reading Group Choices, will lead a discussion about book clubs.

Additional events are scheduled for Boston, Washington D.C., Nashville, San Francisco and Los Angeles, where Hillary Carlip, author of Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan, will appear at Dutton's Brentwood Books.

A Detroit soiree will focus on tomes about family farms to tie in with "Farm Market/Farm Family Month" in Michigan, while one at the Monmouth Country Library Headquarters in Manalapan, N.J., will be aimed at librarians and feature fiction scribes Beth Gutcheon, author of Leeway Cottage, and Jamie M. Saul, author of Light of Day.--Shannon McKenna

For more information, visit wnba-books.org.

More about the purchaser of Borders Group stores in the U.K. and Ireland: Luke Johnson, chairman of Channel 4 and head of Risk Capital Partners, the buyer, told the Guardian that he "believes passionately" in the future of books and that Borders has "a great formula." He intends "to bring private-equity-style incentives for store managers and staff."

Johnson is the author of The Maverick: Dispatches from an Unrepentant Capitalist and son of historian and journalist Paul Johnson. He said, "As a published writer from a family of writers, I understand the cultural importance of books and have seen, through Channel 4's Richard & Judy Book Club, how people can be stimulated to buy and read books."

He added that he believes the chain has "suffered from being a small part of the larger U.S. group: 'It had a big parent a long way away, perhaps with other concerns,' he said, and expressed his confidence in bookselling despite growing competition from internet retailers and supermarkets. 'I would not have done the deal if I didn't believe in the future of bookshops,' he said."

Borders has some 8% of the U.K. market.

This morning on the Early Show: Masaharu Morimoto, author of Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking (DK Publishing, $40, 9780756631239/0756631238).

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This morning on the Today Show: John Grisham, author of Playing For Pizza: A Novel (Doubleday, $21.95, 9780385525008/0385525001). He will also appear tonight on the Colbert Report.

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Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Edward Larson, author of A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign (Free Press, $27, 9780743293167/0743293169).

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Today on Oprah: Pepper Schwartz, author of Prime: Adventures and Advice on Sex, Love, and the Sensual Years (Collins, $24.95, 9780061173585/0061173584).

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

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Today on NPR's Here & Now: Ann Patchett, author of Run (Harper, $25.95, 9780061340635/0061340634).

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Today on NPR's Fresh Air: Philip Roth, whose latest book is Exit Ghost (Houghton Mifflin, $26, 9780618915477/0618915478), the last starring Nathan Zuckerman.

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Today on the Howard Stern Show: Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx, author of The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star (Pocket, $32.50, 9780743486286/0743486285).

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Tonight Larry King Live focuses on the late David Halberstam, whose new book is The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War (Hyperion, $35, 9781401300524/1401300529).

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Tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman: Kevin Smith, author of My Boring-Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith (Titan Books, $14.95, 9781845765385/1845765389).

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Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: John Bowe, author of Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy (Random House, $25.95, 9781400062096/1400062098).

 

Miranda July, the filmmaker and author, has won the third annual Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award worth €35,000 (about US$50,000), the Guardian reported.

July won for her story collection, No One Belongs Here More Than You (Scribner, $23, 9780743299398/0743299396). She is also co-author of Learning to Love You More (Prestel, $19.95, 9783791337333/3791337335) and is best known for her film Me and You and Everyone We Know.

The chairman of the judges, Pat Cotter, commented: "The award has been won by a book of original genius, a book which we believe will endure for a long time."

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In cooperation with signandsight.com, the English-language version of the cultural magazine perlentaucher.de, the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels--the German Publishers, Wholesalers and Booksellers Association--is offering sample translations of the six titles shortlisted for the 2007 German Book Prize as well as biographies of the authors, pictures, cover images and short summaries of the books.

Excerpts available now online include the following novels:

• Die Mittagsfrau (Lady Midday) by Julia Franck (S. Fischer)
• Böse Schafe (Angry Sheep) by Katja Lange-Müller (Kiepenheuer & Witsch)
• Wallner beginnt zu fliegen (Wallner Begins to Fly) by Thomas von Steinaecker (FVA)

Excerpts available next week include:

• Das bin doch ich (Isn't that me?) by Thomas Glavinic (Hanser)
• Abendland (Occident) by Michael Köhlmeier (Hanser)
• Der Mond und das Mädchen (The Moon and the Maiden) by Martin Mosebach (Hanser)

 

From last week's Book Sense bestseller lists, available at booksense.com, here are the recommended titles, which are also Book Sense Picks:

Hardcover

The End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson (Doubleday, $16.95, 9780385522557/038552255X). "What would you do if you only had 30 days to live? Ambrose Zephyr takes his wife, Zipper, on a beautifully written alphabetical journey, at the same time taking us on a loving adventure that is both humorous and intense. This is one of the best books I have ever read. I can't get it out of my head."--Mary McHale, Fox Tale Books, New Durham, N.H.

Paperback

Restless by William Boyd (Bloomsbury, $14.95, 9781596912373/1596912375). "This novel has it all--a great mystery, international intrigue and espionage, historical realities, and family relationships--written in wonderful prose. Reading groups will want to discuss war-time duplicities past and present; mother-daughter differences; and the strength of women in any conflict."--Kathleen Dixon, Islandtime Books & More, Big Pine Key, Fla.

For Teens

Before I Die by Jenny Downham (David Fickling, $15.99, 9780385751551/0385751559). "A beautifully crafted, heartbreaking novel. Often, people with a terminal condition are portrayed as noble and wise, as if, because they are going to die, they are without fault. Tessa is real: a normal teenager reacting to an impossible situation, a girl who is beautiful because she is imperfect. I'm telling everyone to put this one at the top of their list."--Lanora Hurley, Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, Mequon, Wis.

[Many thanks to Book Sense and the ABA!]

Selected new titles, appearing new Monday and Tuesday, October 1 and 2:

Exit Ghost by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin, $26, 9780618915477/0618915478) is the last starring Nathan Zuckerman.

The Worst Thing I've Done: A Novel by Ursula Hegi (Touchstone, $25, 9781416543756/1416543759) explores the dynamics of a love triangle and the histories of those involved.

A Christmas Visitor by Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer (Berkley, $23.95, 9780425217252/0425217256) is the eighth Cape Light novel.

Dark of the Moon by John Sandford (Putnam, $26.95, 9780399154775/0399154779) follows a criminal investigator as he attempts to solve a series of murders in a small town.

Down River by John Hart (St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95, 9780312359317/0312359314) takes place five years after Adam Chase was arrested for murder and acquitted. Now he must return to his hometown where his family still believes he is guilty.

Thank You Power: Making the Science of Gratitude Work for You by Deborah Norville (Thomas Nelson, $19.99, 9780785221937/078522193X) gives a spiritual spin to having a grateful attitude.

New Cook Book Celebrating the Promise, Limited Edition by Better Homes and Gardens (Better Homes and Gardens, $29.95, 9780696235115/0696235110) features 1,400 recipes from the pages of Better Homes and Gardens.

Beyond the White House by Jimmy Carter (S&S, $26, 9781416558804/1416558802) is another memoir by the 39th president.

1776: The Illustrated Edition by David McCullough (S&S, $65, 9781416542100/1416542108) presents paintings, newspaper articles and other reproduced media from the period.

Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends by William Guarnere, Edward Heffron and Robyn Post (Berkley, $24.95, 9780425217283/0425217280) includes the personal accounts of two soldiers depicted in the miniseries Band of Brothers.

The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 by Rick Atkinson (Holt, $35, 9780805062892/0805062890) chronicles the American forces operating in Italy during WWII.

Loving Natalee: A Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith by Beth Holloway (HarperOne, $24.95, 9780061452277/0061452270)


Now in paperback:

Dark Hunger by Christine Feehan (Berkley, $10, 9780425217832/0425217833).

What Pets Do While You're at Work by Jason Bergund and Bev West (Scribner, $9.95, 9781416547563/1416547568).

Servant: The Awakening by L.L. Foster (Berkley, $7.99, 9780425218747/0425218740).

The Gods of Newport by John Jakes (Signet, $9.99, 9780451222343/0451222342).