Shelf Awareness for Tuesday, November 20, 2007


Quarry Books: Yes, Boys Can!: Inspiring Stories of Men Who Changed the World - He Can H.E.A.L. by Richard V Reeves and Jonathan Juravich, illustrated by Chris King

Simon & Schuster: Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

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

G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers: The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman

Overlook Press: Hotel Lucky Seven (Assassins) by Kotaro Isaka, translated by Brian Bergstrom

News

Notes: Hastings Profits from Eclipse; Kindle Comes

Net revenues at Hastings Entertainment in the quarter ended October 31 rose 2.2% to $122.3 million and net income was $100,000 compared to a net loss of $2.2 million in the same period last year.

Sales of books at stores open at least a year rose 2.5%, "primarily driven by strong sales" of Stephenie Meyers's vampire love titles, particularly Eclipse, released in August, "as well as increased sales of used book offerings."

During the quarter, the company closed one of its stores in Lubbock, Tex., and now has two in the Lubbock area. The company has 152 multimedia stores, most of which are in medium-sized markets.

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No surprise: yesterday Amazon.com unveiled its Kindle, an e-book reader with wireless access that will sell for $399 and hold 200 titles at a time, according to the New York Times. The Kindle weighs 10 ounces and uses electronic ink to imitate paper. Amazon has 90,000 titles available for download at $10 each or less. Newspaper subscriptions are also available.

Reuters noted that in a research note, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Scott Devitt said the device "has the capacity to recreate the e-book business, as well as several other long-term options. . . . With time, we believe Amazon Kindle could be Amazon.com's Trojan Horse into a complete 'always on' connection to all Amazon offerings." 

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Fawzi Morrar, owner of Discount Books, Oroville, Calif., and his bookselling cat, Calvin, were featured in the Mercury-Register's "Oroville's Own" section.  

"He's been here for nine years," said Morrar. "He's a very popular cat. Probably, the most popular cat in Oroville. People always come in here looking for Calvin."

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Bogey's Books, Davis, Calif., is scheduled to close December 31 after 18 years in business, though owner Mark Nemmers told the California Aggie that the bookstore, which primarily sells used books, "may stay open for a week or two following the projected closing date depending on whether the store has significant stock."

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Interest in the Persian-language edition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel, Memories of My Melancholy Whores, has increased since the Iranian government banned a second printing of the book. According to the AP, after an initial press run of 5,000 copies, "the Ministry of Culture received complaints from conservatives who believed the novel was promoting prostitution."

The ban on the novel, whose Persian title is Memories of My Melancholy Sweethearts, has also led to price inflation. Ahmad Abbasi, who paid $3.70--more than double the list price--for a black market copy, said, "I don't know what the book is about. But when the government bans a book, there is something interesting in it. So, I'm buying the book out of curiosity."

Calling the original permission to publish a "bureaucratic error," culture minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi "blamed the 'negligence' of his subordinates and said the official who authorized the book's publication has been dismissed."

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"If you're a book lover with groaning bookshelves at home, any store that sells books is a dangerous place to step into because it's so difficult to leave without buying an addition to those shelves," the Malaysia Star reported in an article on the expansion of Kinokuniya Bookstore. "Well, fellow book worms, it's with trepidation I report that the Kinokuniya Bookstores in Suria KLCC has become even more dangerous than it used to be: it's bigger! . . . And what's worse--oh, my poor credit card!--the store is making it even easier to get your hands on reading material by making customer service more efficient."

Abby Wong, the store's merchandise manager, said that offering more books and better service are only part of the solution to an increasingly challenging business: "Apart from the potential challenge from e-books, I think the hurdle for the next few years will be promoting books and, thus, encouraging reading, in a more creative way. We have always been told to read to improve ourselves. But books can do even more than that. Books have an uncanny way of transporting readers to different cultures, places, into different situations, different times. How do we better promote this awesome power? That is the question that we should be asking ourselves in the next few years."

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Great story of the day (with thanks to Larry Hughes at HarperCollins):

After a speech at the Society of the Cincinnati in Washington, D.C., last Friday, Thomas Fleming, author of The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle for Survival After Yorktown (Smithsonian) and president of the Society of American Historians, heard the following story from a member of the audience.

The man was finishing The Perils of Peace on a train from Providence. As he got to the final pages, which describe Washington's peaceful resignation as commander in chief of the army, in spite of his anger and disillusion with Congress for letting his soldiers go home unpaid, tears trickled from his eyes. The woman sitting next to him asked: "Are you all right?"
 
He nodded and explained why he was so moved. "I've never heard of that," the woman said. "Could you read it to me?"
 
Across the aisle, a man said: "I'd like to hear it too."

"Me too," said a man in the seat behind him. "Ditto," said the man in the seat in front of him.
 
He wound up reading the three pages to an audience of seven or eight people, all of whom marveled at the story. "Now I know why you cried," said the woman beside him, brushing at her eyes. "That makes me proud of being an American."
 


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Image of the Day: Pajama Party!

Holly Baracchini (left) and Heidi Allwood (right), owners of Little Bookworms, a children's bookstore in Bradenton, Fla., invited kids to wiggle into jammies and fuzzy slippers for a special evening storytime in celebration of Children's Book Week. The store's pajama party event featured Dianne Ochiltree (center) reading and signing her bedtime book, Lull-a-Bye, Little One (G.P. Putnam's Sons).

 

 

 

 


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


Media and Movies

Media Heat: Cooking and In-Laws--Holiday Coming Up?

This morning on Good Morning America: Cheryl Dellasega, author of Forced to Be Family: A Guide for Living with Sinister Sisters, Drama Mamas, and Infuriating In-Laws (Wiley, $24.95, 9780470049990/0470049995).

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Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Silvana Paternostro, author of My Colombian War: A Journey Through the Country I Left Behind (Holt, $26, 9780805076059/0805076050).

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Today on Fresh Air: Thomas Ricks, Washington Post military reporter and author of Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (Penguin, $16, 9780143038917/0143038915).

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Today on the View: Robert Irvine, author of Mission: Cook!: My Life, My Recipes, and Making the Impossible Easy (HarperEntertainment, $24.95, 9780061237898/0061237892).

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Tonight on the Charlie Rose: Lou Dobbs, author of Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit (Viking, $24.95, 9780670018369/0670018368).

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Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, in a repeat: Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us (Thomas Dunne Books, $24.95, 9780312347291/0312347294).

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Tonight on the Late Show with Conan O'Brien: Donald Trump, author of Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life (Collins, $26.95, 9780061547836/0061547832).
 


Books & Authors

Attainment: New Books Out Next Week

Selected titles appearing next Tuesday, November 27:
 
Killer Knots by Nancy J. Cohen (Kensington, $22, 9780758212252/0758212259) follows hairdresser and investigator Marla Shore as she untangles a new mystery.
 
Lord John and the Hand of Devils
by Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte, $25, 9780385311397/0385311397) is a collection of three novellas chronicling the adventures of soldier Lord John between 1756 and 1758.
 
The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz (Bantam, $27, 9780553804829/0553804820) turns the tables on a rescuer of mistreated dogs when she becomes the target of an abusive stalker.
 
New in paperback next week:
 
Blood Brothers (Sign of Seven Trilogy, Book 1) by Nora Roberts (Jove, $7.99, 9780515143805/ 0515143804).

 



Book Review

Book Review: The Bad Girl

The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa (Farrar Straus Giroux, $25.00 Hardcover, 9780374182434, October 2007)



The Bad Girl has it all--delightful, lovable characters, a skillfully woven, satisfying story, swift, literate writing and the audacity of plot twists that go off like a string of firecrackers.

Mario Vargas Llosa, the Peruvian literary master (who also ran for President of Peru in 1990 and who slugged Garcia Marquez in the jaw for getting way too friendly with Mrs. Vargas Llosa) is at the height of his storytelling powers, unraveling a spellbinding love story laced with plenty of comic shocks and unexpected reversals, populated by dozens of colorful supporting characters (the fat cook revolutionary, the adopted Vietnamese boy who won't speak, the old man who communes with the ocean) and featuring two ferociously mismatched, constantly battling, star-crossed lovers to die for.

From an almost folkloric beginning in Miraflores, Peru, when, at the age of 15, the narrator first falls for the pretty, heartless new Chilean girl with the fascinating (fake) accent, each chapter moves forward in time, shifting location, deepening the characters, revealing more and more as the bad girl goes from one deception and betrayal to another.

Ricardo Somocurcio is a "good boy," a translator and interpreter for UNESCO, and he's head-over-heels in love with her. She's a tricky chameleon who never tells the truth, repeatedly deceives him, cheats him and nearly destroys him, but she has a weakness for Ricardo's passionate professions of love, his sentimental talk from the soap operas.

Just like the bad girl herself, the novel is an irresistible seduction, a sexy tease filled with provocative clues and postponed promises. Ambitious in scope, it stretches from Cuba to Japan, with major sequences in France, England, Peru and Spain in a story that spans more than 30 years.

Vargas Llosa loves his characters, loves his readers and delights in yanking the rug out from under them again and again in a crafty plot that never goes quite where you think it will. The casually-revealed surprise that opens the last chapter alone is a head-spinner. And talk about a perfect ending--they don't get any better! This is why we read, for sheer storytelling joy and an intimate emotional connection to the human comedy.--Nick DiMartino

 


Deeper Understanding

Shelf Talk/Graphic Lit: Gift-Worthy Titles

'Tis the season when a bookseller's fancy turns to recommendations for holiday giving, and comics make for great gifts. Fortunately, the fall lists are rife with gorgeous new editions perfect for this generous time of year; below you'll find my recommendations for gift-worthy graphic literature you can stock in your store and handsell for comics enthusiasts of every stripe.

For the Old-School Comics Fan

The Marvel True Believers Retro Collection from Candlewick is a colorful, nostalgic pop-up book trip into the trivia of superhero comics classics. The Amazing Spider-Man Pop-Up ($24.99, 9780763632632/0763632635) and X-Men Pop-Up ($24.99, 9780763634629/076363462X) feature the original stories, villains and gear of some of the most beloved heroes of all time and are sure to get big grins from the comics collector who has it all.

For the New York-ophile

W. W. Norton has collected the work of late comics pioneer Will Eisner in two beautiful hardcover editions that showcase the sepia-toned slice-of-life stories that Eisner perfected and that demonstrate his deep affection for the people and places of New York. Will Eisner's New York: Life in the Big City (Norton, $29.95, 9780393061062/039306106X) brings together the stories of life in Bronx apartment buildings and Manhattan highrises. And Life, in Pictures: Autobiographical Stories (Norton, $29.95, 9780393061079/0393061078) collects tales from Eisner's own life, from his Brooklyn roots to his military service in Vietnam. Eisner's stories are often dark, depicting poverty and tragedy and abuse, but his compassion for his characters is always evident, and his genius for depicting ordinary lives still sets him above most comics artists of his or any era.

For the Feminist and/or the Princess

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley (Fantagraphics/Norton, $29.95, 9781560977476/1560977477) isn't brand new (it was published in hardcover in June 2006), but it's a beautiful edition and some of the best cartoon art and storytelling I've ever seen. Set in a quiet corner of a fairy tale kingdom, Medley's meandering tale celebrates community, family, women's stories and love. And it's hilariously funny! Great for lovers of fairy tales and progressive-minded readers of all sorts.

For the Graphic Novel Hipster

Houghton Mifflin is to be applauded for the care and high production values it has put into its second annual collection, Best American Comics 2007, this year edited by Chris Ware (Houghton Mifflin, $22, 9780618718764/0618718761). The short pieces here represent most of the important and cutting-edge comics artists and writers working today; not necessarily for the newbie, this book will satisfy those looking to read up on the latest developments in comics.

For the Classic Literature Reader

Yes, I too was skeptical: an eight-page pop-up of Herman Melville's classic American novel? But Sam Ita (apprentice to pop-up maven Robert Sabuda) does a masterful job of adaptation with Moby-Dick: A Pop-Up Book (Sterling, $24.95, 9781402745287/1402745281). This hybrid creation uses the panel storytelling of comics and the drama of complex pop-up art to get at all the meat of the story of Ahab, Ishmael, Queequeg and the white whale--a delight for scholars of American literature or high schoolers struggling through Melville, and a beautiful piece of art.

For the Pop Fiction Reader

Stephen King's epic Gunslinger series gets a new storyline in Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (Marvel/Diamond, $24.99, 9780785121442/0785121447), the major release of Marvel's fall season. Adapted by authors Peter David and Robin Furth (with King's input) and illustrated by Jae Lee, this story arc of the Gunslinger's youth adds a new dimension to King's fictional world. Lots of buzz on this one.

For the Movie Lover

The film adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis has brought renewed attention to her two-part memoir of an Iranian girlhood, and Pantheon has risen to the occasion with The Complete Persepolis (Pantheon, $24.95, 9780375714832/0375714839), a one-volume version of the black-and-white comic. No new material here, but a beautiful new package for those discovering Satrapi for the first time.

For the American History Buff

In another collection of a comics genius' previous work, the hardcover edition of James Sturm's America: God, Gold, and Golems (Drawn & Quarterly, $24.95, 9781897299050/1897299052) brings together three previously published works in one handsome volume. In his stories--of a frontier revival meeting, corruption in a 19th century mining town and a Depression-era Jewish baseball team--Sturm illustrates the idealism and the disappointments of American life with powerful, understated prose and two-tone drawings that draw readers back to an earlier age.

For the Holiday-Hating Adolescent

Adrian Tomine made his name with the series Optic Nerve and falls into the category (with Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware) of disaffected young men writing comics about dysfunctional relationships and quirky loners. Tomine's newest complete novel, Shortcomings (Drawn & Quarterly, $19.95, 9781897299166/1897299168), brings new depth to his work with a story about a young Japanese man struggling irritably with romance and race issues. Tomine's clean-line drawings are wonderful even when his characters are insufferable, and this novel is likely to satisfy restless teenage readers while being thought-provoking and subtle enough to justify parents' purchase. (Be advised: there are some sex scenes and numerous discussions of sex.)

For the Completist: The Blow-Out Gift

The DC Comics Absolute Editions are collector's versions of some of DC's most popular and enduring comics series, published in a slipcase with additional bonus materials and archival papers (click here for the Wikipedia summary of all Absolute editions). This fall, the second volume of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series was released in the Absolute edition, Absolute Sandman #2 (Vertigo/Diamond, $99, 9781401210830/140121083X), following the first volume last fall, Absolute Sandman #1 (Vertigo/Diamond, $99, 9781401210823/1401210821). I've been reading old Sandman issues lately, and I'd forgotten how much dark horror and gore they contain--but they're also inspiring, engrossing, unique works of fantasy, with allusions to everything from Greek myth to pop music. These pricey editions would make a phenomenal gift for some deserving lover of graphic literature (hint, hint . . . ).

Here's wishing you joy in reading, giving, and selling books this season--all booksellers are superheroes in my book!--Jessica Stockton Bagnulo

 


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