Shelf Awareness for Friday, December 7, 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

Quotation of the Day

A View from the Sales Floor

"If I walk out onto Zabar's floor and I can see my shoes, it's not busy enough."--Murray Klein, former partner at Zabar's, the New York City deli/emporium and retailer extraordinaire, who died yesterday, quoted in a New York Times obituary. Klein, who also loved offering popular loss leaders, said of the housewares hung above the sales floor, "I do a million dollars a year off the ceiling."

 


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News

Cody's Changes: Ross-san Retires, New GM, Store Revamping

Andy Ross, longtime owner of Cody's Books, Berkeley, Calif., and a fervent, sometimes irascible voice for independent bookselling in the Bay Area and nationally, has retired.

In the past two years, Ross opened and closed a large, expensive store in San Francisco, closed the flagship Cody's store on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley and sold Cody's to Yohan, a Japanese publishing, distribution and bookselling company. Ross bought Cody's in 1977; Pat and Fred Cody founded the store in 1956.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Ross will continue to work for Cody's as a consultant on special projects, and his wife, Leslie Berkler, will continue to oversee school and library sales.

Ross told the Chronicle that his "vision" for the store was rooted in the 1980s, when the Telegraph Ave. store was "a great intellectual bookstore. Anything that was intelligent we could sell. It really worked in the '80s but it doesn't work now. Young people aren't coming in. They aren't reading the way they were. People don't have the patience to sit down with a 300-page novel or a 500-page work of history when they are used to getting information from Wikipedia. Cody's needs to reinvent itself, and I can't seem to get out from under this beautiful vision that isn't working right."

Ross's retirement is part of several major changes taking place at Cody's. For one, Hiroshi Kagawa has become acting president of Cody's and will spend a third of his time at Cody's, which still has a store on Fourth Street in Berkeley. Kagawa was head of Yohan, which has been sold. He has formed his own company and is in the process of buying Cody's from Yohan.

In addition, Cody's has a new general manager, Mindy Galoob, who has a business degree and a background in the nonprofit world, most recently at the Women's Edge Coalition. She joined Cody's in the fall as controller and was recently promoted.

"The new Cody's will have to adapt to the online market and attract new people because our current market is graying," Galoob told the Chronicle. Among options: adding more seating and wi-fi.

Cody's Melissa Mytinger told Shelf Awareness that in the New Year, there were be more management changes and a "revamping" of Cody's store. "We are turning everything on its head," she said, emphasizing that the changes are positive. "We're looking at this as a great adventure."

On January 11, Cody's will have a retirement party for Ross that will likely--and appropriately--resemble a roast.

 


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


Notes: General Retail; Books & Books Opens in the Caymans

More good news, bad news about general retail sales, which in November rose 4%, according to the Thomson Financial Same Store Sales Index, quoted by the Wall Street Journal. The International Council of Shopping Centers said sales at big chain stores rose 3.5% in November. According to Retail Metrics, via the New York Times, 52% of retailers surveyed had sales above analysts' expectations while 45% missed forecasts.

Luxury stores like Saks and Nordstrom continued to do well, but slightly more middle-income consumers--not just low-income people--curbed spending because of rising energy costs and housing and credit woes.

"The high end is shopping, the middle is trading down and everyone continues to buy their paper towels and Fruit Loops," Todd Slater of Lazard Capital Markets wrote.

At Target, the discounter frequented by people with high incomes, sales at stores open at least a year rose 10.8% in November. But the company said that without the extra week of holiday sales because of an early Thanksgiving, comp-store sales would have been up just 1.1%. Target also said that December sales may be below forecasts.

Stores with healthy comp-store sales included Saks, up 25.7%, Macy's, up 13.4%, Kohl's, up 10.2% and Nordstrom, up 8.7%.

Wal-Mart's same-store sales rose 1.5%; the company called early holiday result "solid." Abercrombie & Fitch was up 2%; the Gap was even, and the Limited fell 7%.

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Congratulations to Books & Books, which today at 3 p.m. officially opens its store in Camana Bay in the Cayman Islands. Books & Books is celebrating by inviting the local writing community to be guests of honor at an in-store reception and signing this evening. Authors attending include Shane Aquart, Karie Bergrstrom, Roy Bodden, Fred Burton, Cathy Church, Cleopatra Conolly, Barbara Currie Dailey, Sheree Ebanks, Henry Muttoo, Eme and Hector Paschalides, Courtney Platt, Corine Solomon and Suzy Soto.

On Saturday morning, Books & Books is hosting a reading for young readers and hosting crafts stalls. Saturday afternoon Steven Raichlen, author of the Barbecue Bible books and Miami Spice: The New Florida Cuisine, will conduct a slideshow and grilling presentation.

Later in the afternoon, the store will host an event called South Florida Meets the Caribbean, introduced by Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan and Akashic Books editor-in-chief Johnny Temple. Among the authors who will read: Les Standiford and John Dufresne from Florida, Marlon James from Jamaica, Lisa Allen-Agostini from Trinidad and Ana Menendez, the daughter of Cuban exiles.

Saturday evening's events include a Barbecue Cayman Style, featuring food and music.

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Atonement, which opens today, is sweeping away many movie critics. Consider this from Joe Morgenstern in today's Wall Street Journal: "This screen version [of a great work of contemporary fiction] stands on its own as a singular achievement--romantic, sensuous, intelligent and finally shattering in its sweep and thematic complexity."

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A onetime Barnes & Noble executive, Michael G. Archbold has joined the board of directors of Borders Group. Currently executive v-p, COO and CFO of the Vitamin Shoppe, Archbold earlier was executive v-p, CFO and CAO of Saks Fifth Avenue (Borders CEO George Jones was president and CEO of Saks's department store group); executive v-p and CFO of AutoZone; and from 1996 to 2002 v-p and CFO of the booksellers division of B&N. A CPA, he began his career at Price Waterhouse.

In other Borders news, the board approved a cash dividend of 11 cents a share payable on February 10, maintaining the regular dividend rate.

Also, the company ranked No. 1 for providing an enjoyable customer shopping experience among 112 companies surveyed by Forrester Research for its first Customer Experience Index. Including three customer experience measures, Borders was ranked No. 2 nationally and was among the 10% of the 112 companies to receive an overall rating of "excellent."

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The design commission of the city of La Cañada Flintridge has approved plans for the new Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse, the La Cañada Valley Sun reported.

Store owners Peter and Lenora Wannier bought the property 18 months ago and are planning to move from a rented 4,500-sq.-ft. space nearby into a new 6,400-sq.-ft. building that will include underground parking. The extra space will be used to expand the coffee bar and for a cookware retail store.

The building should be completed in about a year.

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Tor Books, best known for science fiction, and Seven Seas Entertainment, one of the few publishers of original manga in the U.S., have formed an imprint that will "jointly acquire and co-publish some of Japan's bestselling and most exciting manga series, light novels and other fiction." In addition, Tor will distribute new Seven Seas titles every month under the Seven Seas imprint.

In August 2008, Tor/Seven Seas will publish its first collaborative book: the manga Afro Samurai, written and illustrated by Takashi Okazaki, released in the U.S. for the first time. Afro Samurai was the basis for the Spike TV anime series this year that featured the voices of Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Perlman and Kelly Hu. The book's publication here precedes the release in the fall of an Afro Samurai video game from Namco and the launch of Spike TV's second Afro Samurai season.

The first light novels will be published in March and include Ballad of a Shinigami, Pita-Ten and Strawberry Panic.

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El Codigo Da Vinci, the Spanish-language translation of Dan Brown's bestseller, is the single-most important reason for why U.S. publishers and booksellers are paying more attention to the Spanish-language market, according to the Arizona Star. Some 300,000 copies of El Codigo Da Vinci sold, more than 10 times the sales of typical Spanish-language titles. The trend continues, exemplified by El Secreto, the translation of Rhonda Byrne's The Secret, which has more than 245,000 copies in print and is selling well.

Among changes in the past few years: publishers are releasing English- and Spanish-language versions of titles simultaneously; publishers have established Spanish-language divisions; bookstore chains have expanded Spanish-book buying and marketing departments.

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Reminder to ABA members: after only three weeks, more than 60% of the available rooms at the Hotel ABA at BEA in Los Angeles have been reserved. ABA members who want to book space in the hotel, where nearly 1,000 booksellers are expected to stay, should register online at cwp.marriott.com/laxrh/americanbooksellers/.

 


Eureka!: Store Has Found New Owners

Amy Stewart, author of Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers; her husband, Scott Brown, co-founder and editor of Fine Books & Collections magazine; Jack Irvine, a doctor and book collector; and his wife, Peggy Irvine, have bought Eureka Books, an antiquarian bookstore in Eureka, Calif. Previous owners Carlos and Marilyn Benemann have retired and would have closed the store by the end of the year if they hadn't found a buyer.

Stewart wrote that Wednesday was the new owners' first day, "and I am still getting my mind around the fact that all these books belong to me. It's probably not a good idea for me to work behind the desk just yet; I'm not sure I will be able to let anything walk out of the store until I've read it. That could slow sales down considerably."

The store's employees--manager Jere Bob Bowden and booksellers Mark Shikuma and Ann Hunt--are all staying on. The new owners want to expand the store's offerings, including the local history and local author sections, host more events and bring in more rare and hard-to-find books.

Nancy Short and Jennifer McFadden, owners of Booklegger, a general used bookstore several doors from Eureka, provided some "behind-the-scenes help," Stewart wrote, including a window display of books that commented on the quartet's negotiations to buy the store. Titles in the window included Getting to Yes and Great Expectations as well as several that might resonate with independent booksellers, Endangered Species, The Places That Scare You and You Are Not Alone.

 


Media and Movies

Media Heat: Dinomummy Only Game in Town

Sunday on the National Geographic Channel's Dino Autopsy: Philip Manning and Tyler Lyson, authors of Dinomummy: The Life, Death, and Discovery of Dakota, a Dinosaur from Hell Creek (Houghton Mifflin, $18.95, 9780753460474/0753460475).

 



Books & Authors

Grammy Spoken Word Nominees: Democrats Delight

Works by two ex-presidents and a current Senator--Barack Obama--are among the nominees in the spoken word album category for the Grammys, which will be presented February 10 in Los Angeles. For the full list, click here.

Best Spoken Word nominees:
  • The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama (Random House Audio)
  • Celebrations by Maya Angelou (Random House Audio)
  • Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton (Random House Audio)
  • Sunday Mornings in Plains: Bringing Peace to a Changing World by Jimmy Carter (Simon & Schuster Audio)
  • Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself by Alan Alda (Random House Audio)
Best Spoken Word Album For Children
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows read by Jim Dale (Listening Library)
  • Making the Heart Whole Again: Stories for a Wounded World by Milbre Burch (Kind Crone Productions)
  • The One and Only Shrek read by Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci (Audio Renaissance)
  • Who's Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? The Lion or the Mouse? Poppy or the Snake? by Toni Morrison (Simon & Schuster Audio)
  • Wickety Whack--Brer Rabbit Is Back by Diane Ferlatte (Diane Ferlatte)

Book Brahmins: Katherine Matthen

Katherine (Kate) Matthen is assistant sales manager at Indiana University Press. A librarian with degrees in comparative literature, theatre and drama and library science, she enjoys playing violin in orchestras, reading fiction under the Indiana sun, frolicking with her fat black cat and celebrating a year-around fascination with Halloween. Here she answers questions we put to people in the book business:

On your nightstand now:

Tonight I'm starting Thunderstruck by Erik Larson. I never read Devil in the White City, but my friend gave me this book a few weeks ago and I've been instructed to read it. This is the same girl who turned me on to Isabel Allende, Alice Sebold and Jodi Picoult, so I believe her.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

Your top five authors:

C.S. Lewis, William Shakespeare, James Herriot, Jane Austen, Helen Fielding

Books you've faked reading:

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and James Joyce's Ulysses.

Book you are an evangelist for:

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

Book you've bought for the cover:

I shouldn't say this, but it was one of ours. Saving the Big Cats: The Exotic Feline Rescue Center by Stephen D. McCloud

Book that changed your life:

The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain
by John E. Sarno

Favorite line from a book:

"But, good Kate, mock me mercifully, the rather, gentle princess, because I love thee cruelly."--Henry V by William Shakespeare. (Yes, it's a play. I don't care.)

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Most highly underrated book ever read:

The Green Mile by Stephen King

Book that made you permanently disgusted:

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. I've been a vegetarian since.

 


Book Review

Book Review: When Asia Was the World

When Asia Was the World by Stewart Gordon (Da Capo Press, $26.00 Hardcover, 9780306815560, December 2007)



Today we start with a pop quiz: name the time period between 300 C.E. and the Renaissance (approximately 1,300 C.E.). If you, like me, reflexively answered, "The Dark Ages," Stewart Gordon's engaging and compact book arrives in the nick of time to expand our knowledge of world history of that period beyond the boundaries of Western Europe. Europe after the fall of Rome may have sunk into a bleak and brutal morass of ignorance, but the Middle East and Asia were anything but "dark," as Gordon reveals the vibrancy and sophistication seen in the vast territory extending from Morocco to Sumatra.

His inspired choice for examining so much time and space is to discuss eight surviving memoirs (as well as the telling remains of one shipwreck); the first-person accounts provide vivid and distinctive perspectives on each epoch and set of territories without overwhelming us with encyclopedic detail. A chapter on one particular person, in Gordon's hands, becomes a miracle of compression addressing, in turn, such topics as: the importance of courtly behavior, common ceremonies and protocol; the interrelationship between religion and politics in some locales; and the complexities of trading relationships and the diverse populations of the trade centers. Emerging from Gordon's survey is a portrait of the way information and culture spread through the extensive travels of many scholars, pilgrims and traders. The phenomenal growth in trade and travel had the result, Gordon points out, that by the 12th century Asia and the Middle East constituted the first world without borders for educated men, an amazingly "modern" institutional reality.

Gordon also discusses the contribution of Buddhism and Islam to building loyalty beyond ethnicity and language in diverse societies. The sophisticated state of what we would call international relations in the area comes into particularly stark relief with the memoirs of Tomé Pires, a Portuguese trader who led the first diplomatic mission to China. Pires may have butted up against a system that he as an outsider could not fathom, but he also discovered that the Chinese did not need much of what the Portuguese offered for trade, except for one thing: cannons. And so, by the end of this short and fascinating survey, we see both the arrival of the force that initiated an arms race across the Asian maritime world and the shadow of the age of colonialism looming on the horizon.--John McFarland

 


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