Shelf Awareness for Monday, November 26, 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

Finding the Fun in Reading

"It can be like a drug in a positive way. If you get the book that makes the person fall in love with reading, they want another one."--Daniel Goldin, senior buyer at the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee, Wis., in a story in yesterday's New York Times about the NEA study found that Americans are reading less for fun.

 


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


News

Black Friday: General Retail's High Buzz, Deep Discounts

As reported widely, shoppers flocked to malls and big-box stores on Black Friday, as early as 4 a.m. in many cases, and some stores opened up Thanksgiving evening. Shoppers were lured by deep discounts, and while sales were strong, each consumer spent less money, and more consumers were shopping at discount stores, according to the New York Times.

ShopperTrak RCT estimated sales were $10.3 billion, up 8.3% compared to last year's Black Friday, and Saturday sales rose 5.4% to $6.1 billion.

The Wall Street Journal reported that many retailers, who are nervous about the holiday season, are extending discounts this week in an effort to continue luring shoppers.

And today, Cyber Monday, many online retailers are offering "one-day sales for the first time and offers akin to those in retail stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving," according to the Journal. Last year, online sales the Monday after Thanksgiving were $608 million, up 26% from the same day in 2005. This year some 72% of e-tailers will offer some special today, including specific deals, one-day sales and/or free shipping. ComScore predicts online holiday sales will hit $29.5 billion, up 20% from last year.

 


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


Black Friday: Booksellers Talk to the Press

"We were shoveling and people were coming in. We were ringing (up sales) as we were opening. It’s good when (people) can be downtown shopping. Everybody is really happy and really excited to be down here. And there is a little snow on the ground that gives us the feel we need (for Christmas shopping)."--Karin Beyer, Saturn Booksellers, Gaylord, Mich., in the Herald Times.

"I don't know if Friday will be a big day for us (local businesses). It used to be a bigger day, and it's gone down over the years. I wish people would take the time to come downtown and find out what there is here, and maybe they'll do that Friday if they can't get out of town. It'd be nice to have them try shopping here, then make the decision whether to go somewhere else."--Jim Stalker, the Bookstore, Creston, Iowa, in the News Advertiser.

"I had no expectations whatsoever, because I didn't know what I should expect. I've never been in retail and I've never been in New Bern, but I've seen four times as many customers today as I would on a typical Friday."--Judy Bryan, the Next Chapter bookstore, New Bern, N.C., in the Sun Journal.

"It's mostly sane people who shop at bookstores so we don't see that business. I went to the movies the night before and there were people camped out waiting for stores to open. That's just crazy."--Tom Holbrook, RiverRun bookstore, Portsmouth, N.H. at Seacoastonline.com

"And most importantly, we offer service. You've been here five minutes, and you've watched conversations going on here with customers that I don't think you're going to see at a Big Box Store."--Michael Cirivello, Literary Life Bookstore, Grand Rapids, Mich., at WOODTV.com.

"We want to remind people to support the local economy during the holiday season."--Margi LaPort, the Book Cellar, St. George, Utah, in the Spectrum.

"Historically, the day after Thanksgiving has been only marginally better than a typical weekend for us."--Paveen Madan, the Booksmith, San Francisco, Calif., in the Chronicle.

"A lot of people have been hovering, waiting for us to open. We beat Wal-Mart and Best Buy."--Meghan Kaufman, Reader's Digest outlet store, Hilton Head, S.C., in the Island Packet.

 


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Notes: New Stores; New Store Names; Times Notable Books

Bookselling This Week profiles Book Culture, formerly known as Labyrinth Books, the 6,500-sq.-ft. store with some 50,000 titles  store near Columbia University in New York City. (Two Labyrinth stores continue to operate in New Haven, Conn., and Princeton, N.J.)

Since buying out co-founder Cliff Simms, owner Chris Doeblin has not only changed the store's name but added new flooring, carpeting, comfortable seating, sidelines and children's and travel books. Still, Doeblin told BTW that he remains committed to "being a great academic store." 

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According to Reuters, Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge fund that has been slowly increasing its ownership of Borders Group, took a big step in the last month, reporting that it now owns 17.1% of the company, up from 11.7% in October.

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Boulder Bookstore, Boulder, Colo., will donate 20,000 books to Boulder County teachers, according to the Daily Camera.

"It's just a little bit of everything," said Besse Lynch, the store's community outreach coordinator. "Everyone is dedicated to ensuring all of our children are literate and have books to read."

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Touting the local bookstore as "your new best friend," the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza noted that "walking into an independent bookstore is like walking into a candy store." The paper profiled several area indies, including Village Square Family at Incline Village, Nev.; Bookshelf at Hooligan Rocks, Truckee, Calif.; Bookshelf at the Boatworks, Tahoe City, Calif.; Neighbor's Bookstore, South Lake Tahoe, Claif.; and Truckee Book and Bean, Truckee, Calif.

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Dustjacket Books, Hastings, Minn., has opened, and owner Rick Simonson told the Star-Gazette, "I fell in love with the downtown--the energy and the vibe."

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"Battle over books breaks out in Westhampton Beach" was the Newsday headline for an article on the anti-censorship efforts of Terry Lucas, owner of the Open Book, Westhampton Beach, N.Y.

"Nobody likes the censorship word, but if you're removing books because of content, I think it's censorship, just pure and simple." Lucas was responding "to an effort by several parents to remove two books from Westhampton Beach High School's ninth-grade reading list over what the parents say is inappropriate sexual content."

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BookWoman bookstore, Austin, Tex., must raise a total of $50,000 by Christmas to stay open, according to the American-Statesman. Owner Susan Post "quietly announced that she needed to raise $25,000 by last week if she hoped to pay off debt and keep the store open. The store would need another $25,000 by Christmas to pay for the down payment on a new lease and the installation of new store fixtures."

"I'm optimistic that we'll make our goal," she said. "Little angels have always fallen out of the sky to help me along the way."

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Congratulations to Jessica Prentice, who coined the word "locavore," chosen by Oxford University Press as the 2007 Oxford Word of the Year. The word means roughly someone who likes to eat food with local ingredients--but there's more to it than that, which you can chew over here. By the way, Prentice is also the author of Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection (Chelsea Green, $25, 9781933392004/1933392002).

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Here are the New York Times's 100 Notable Books of the Year, which appear in print in the December 2 issue of the Book Review.




Amazon.com's Kindle: Beyond Notable, Says the Times

In a review in the New York Times's Personal Tech column last week, David Pogue called Amazon.com's Kindle "an e-book reader that just may catch on."

Among negatives, the Kindle has a look with "all the design panache of a Commodore 64"; the huge previous- and next-page clickers are easy to hit by mistake; and there is no forward button.

Among the many more positives: "astonishing e-ink technology" with no backlight, glare or eyestrain; free wireless cellular broadband service allowing easy downloading and a "crude" web browser; 90,000 available titles and aiming for "every printed book on the earth"; automatic backup on amazon.com; and pricing that puts e-books at less than half the cost of printed books.

Pogue imagined a situation in which "someone mentions a great book--any book. You whip out the Kindle, download the book in 60 seconds and start reading it."

His game wrapup: "So if the Kindle isn't a home run, it's at least an exciting triple. It gets the important things right: the reading experience, the ruggedness, the super-simple software setup. And that wireless instant download--wow.

"Even though most people will prefer the feel, the cost and the simplicity of a paper book, the Kindle is by far the most successful stab yet at taking reading material into the digital age.

"No, it's not the last word in book reading. But once its price comes down and its design gets sleeker, the Kindle may be the beginning of a great new chapter."

 


Image of the Day: Girl Scouts Camp in Bookstore

At a workshop hosted by Harleysville Books, Harleysville, Pa., Marie Lamba, author of the new YA novel What I Meant . . . (Random House Books for Young Readers), helped Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts earn Reading Interest Project patches. The workshop, which concluded with each participant receiving a signed copy of the book, drew 36 Scouts and 10 Scout leaders. From l.: Megan Katz, Becky Washel, Jessica Brennan, author Marie Lamba, Rosemary Campellone, Katie Frueh and Harleysville Books owner Shelly Plumb.

 


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

Media Heat: Present at the Future

This morning on Morning Edition, Ira Flatow, author of Present at the Future: From Evolution to Nanotechnology, Candid and Controversial Conversations on Science and Nature (Collins, $24.95, 9780060732646/0060732644).

Also on Morning Edition: Steve Martin, author of Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life (Scribner, $25, 9781416553649/1416553649).

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This morning on Good Morning America: Mehmet C. Oz, M.D., co-author of You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty (Free Press, $26, 9780743292566/0743292561).

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This morning on the Today Show: Marci Alboher, author of One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success (Business Plus, $14.99, 9780446696975/0446696978).

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Today on NPR's Talk of the Nation: Ronald Kessler, author of The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack (Crown Forum, $26.95, 9780307382139/0307382133).

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Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Haifa Zangana, author of City of Widows: An Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance (Seven Stories Press, $20, 9781583227794/1583227792).

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Today on the View: Paula Bernstein, author of Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited (Random House, $25.95, 9781400064960/1400064961).

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Tonight on Larry King Live: Paula White, author of You're All That!: Understand God's Design for Your Life (FaithWords, $21.99, 9780446580236/0446580236).

 



Books & Authors

Book Sense: May We Recommend

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 Indian Clerk by David Leavitt (Bloomsbury, $24.95, 9781596910409/1596910402). "Paul Erdos once asked G.H. Hardy, the noted 20th century British mathematician, to name his greatest contribution to their field. Hardy unhesitatingly replied that it was the 'discovery' of Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of the great mathematical geniuses in recent centuries. Across the chasm created by color, nationality, education, language, and colonialism, they spoke to each other in the language of pure numbers. Their collaboration plays out in this novel of intellectual history against the clubby atmosphere of British academics, homosexuality, food, and, finally, WWI."--Chris Stier, Shaman Drum Bookshop, Ann Arbor, Mich.

The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of al-Qaeda by Yaroslav Trofimov (Doubleday, $26, 9780385519250/0385519257). "As the Iranian Revolution of 1979 unfolded next door, the Saudis were alarmed and embarrassed by an armed takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979. The counter-siege of Islam's holiest shrine dragged on into bloody absurdity, revealing corruption and incompetence in the highest levels of the Saudi government. Trofimov illuminates a highly suppressed, almost-forgotten chapter in radical Muslim terror."--James Tremlett, Schuler Books & Music, Lansing, Mich.

Paperback

Samedi the Deafness by Jesse Ball (Vintage, $12.95, 9780307278852/0307278859). "James Sim is a mnemonist who one day finds himself abducted and taken to a sprawling mansion. The mansion is a psychiatric hospital, a home for chronic liars. Here, James discovers a sinister conspiracy of epic proportions. The problem is, if everyone is a liar, what, if anything, is true? This is modern literary fiction at its experimental best."--Grant Outerbridge, DIESEL, A Bookstore, Oakland, Calif.

For Ages 9 to 12

Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff
by Jennifer L. Holm, illustrated by Elicia Castaldi (Ginee Seo Books, $12.99, 9780689852817/0689852819). "First the title caught my eye, then the format hooked me. I read it through before I did another thing. What a unique way to portray a middle schooler's life--through the variety of stuff she uses, saves, and creates."--Gayle Wingerter, Inklings Bookshop, Yakima, Wash.

Piper Reed: Navy Brat by Kimberly Willis Holt, illustrated by Christine Davenier (Holt, $14.95, 9780805081978/0805081976). "This first book in a new series details the life of Piper Reed, middle child of a Navy Chief. She's lived in San Diego, Texas, Guam, Mississippi, and New Hampshire by the time she's nine. Piper relishes each move, her older sister resents it, and her younger sister goes with the flow. Using experiences from her life as a Navy brat, Holt has created a delightful new character."--Cathy Berner, Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, Tex.

[Many thanks to Book Sense and the ABA!]


Book Review

Mandahla: Last Night at the Lobster Reviewed

Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan (Viking Books, $19.95 Hardcover, 9780670018277, November 2007)

Stewart O'Nan's latest novel opens flawlessly with a description of a mall parking lot in wintery Connecticut: "The turning lane waits for the green arrow above to blink on, and a line of salted cars takes a left into the mall entrance, splitting as they sniff for parking spots." Off in a distant corner is a Red Lobster, with a Buick Regal parked in back, where a man sits for a minute, getting slightly stoned as he contemplates his last night at the Lobster. The last night for manager Manny DeLeon is December 20--the restaurant is being closed by corporate, Manny is being downgraded to assistant manager and moved to an Olive Garden, and he can take only four employees with him. A blizzard has just hit town, customers are few, but Manny is conscientious and loyal, and wants this night to be perfect, as perfect as he has tried to make every night.

As we follow Manny preparing to open--starting the soups, checking the temperature in the walk-in, changing the oil in the Frialators, greeting Ty, the cook, and Eddie, who sweeps and preps--we meet a man who has pride in his work and respect for his employees. Weighing on him as he sets up is his just-ended involvement with Jacquie, a waitress, and his difficult relationship with his pregnant girlfriend, Deena. It's also his first Christmas without his beloved abuelita, his grandmother, another loss that burdens him.

Manhandling the old snowblower in the parking lot--why? who cares? but Manny does. "Following along, blinking and sniffling, shuffling to keep up, he thinks [about] why he fell for Jacquie. Losing his grandmother and the only home he'd known, he needed something to cling to. But then, why not Deena? Why not Deena now? . . . He thinks with a sudden weariness that he doesn't love her enough, and probably never will."

Compact and intense, Last Night at the Lobster is a portrait of a good man on his last nerve, a man we used to call, and still want to, the backbone of the country. Manny takes pride in a job well done; he has compassion for his employees and his customers; he has a broken heart and soul, framed by O'Nan's stark depiction of the dying mall--fluorescent lights shining coldly on desultory shoppers, Zales, Penney, Finest Formals. A bleak portrait, yet one with hope, because we believe in Manny, and in his decency, even while he's in despair.--Marilyn Dahl


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