Shelf Awareness for Monday, March 23, 2009


William Morrow & Company: Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

Del Rey Books: Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

Peachtree Teen: Romantic YA Novels Coming Soon From Peachtree Teen!

Watkins Publishing: She Fights Back: Using Self-Defence Psychology to Reclaim Your Power by Joanna Ziobronowicz

Dial Press: Whoever You Are, Honey by Olivia Gatwood

Pantheon Books: The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera

Peachtree Publishers: Leo and the Pink Marker by Mariyka Foster

Wednesday Books: Castle of the Cursed by Romina Garber

News

Notes: BAM Stock Boom; New Store Near Atlantic City Bucks Odds

Wall Street apparently liked Books-A-Million's news last Thursday about "an improvement in the negative sales trend" (Shelf Awareness, March 20, 2009). On Friday, a down day for the Dow Jones, BAM shares rose 34.2% to close at $4.43 on five times the usual trading volume. Another BAM attraction: with a dividend of 20 cents a share, the stock's yield is currently a healthy 4.5%.

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The Press of Atlantic City profiled Sherlock's Books and Cafe, Galloway Township, N.J., which Ron and Susan O'Toole opened last November. The store offers plenty of events, including music nights, and many customers play board games that are on hand. "I feel like the Cheers of bookstores," said Susan O'Toole, a former Borders manager, who reported that business is 40% above projections.

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In April, Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing is launching its first book club. Members initially receive three books and sign up to buy eight more within 18 months. Members will be able to have books sent to friends or family members as gifts if they want. (The publisher said that many people buy its titles as gifts.)

The publisher of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series is working on the book club in partnership with Traffic Marketplace, which will handle global marketing, and Alta Resources, which will be responsible for back-end services and customer care.

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Last weekend's inaugural two-day Tucson Festival of Books drew about 30,000 people, according to the Arizona Daily Star, one of the sponsors. The festival was held on the campus of the University of Arizona.

The event featured more than 450 authors, panelists and performers and more than 100 exhibitors. One popular author was Barry M. Goldwater Jr., who promoted Pure Goldwater, which he wrote with John W. Dean.

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The Texas Pages of the Dallas Morning News discusses book coverage in newspapers--and exchanges ideas with the "infectiously enthusiastic" Kathy Patrick, bookstore and beauty shop owner and founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club. One possibility: have those club members and others communicate their desire for book coverage to their local newspapers.
 

 


Now Streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME: A Gentleman in Moscow


Sad Ending for Second Story

Second Story Bookshop, Chappaqua, N.Y., is closing, according to the New York Times.

Owner Joan Ripley, who founded the store 37 years ago, told the paper, "Our customer count is so far down, and I attribute that mostly to Amazon, and then you have the double whammy of the economy. . . . Especially for younger people, it's like a game now: You look on the Internet and find where you get something for $10.29 here instead of $10.39 there. We can't compete with that, but there are things you lose in ways that are not numerically measurable when a place like this closes."

The store had come close to shutting its doors in the past, but Ripley, who is 75 and a former ABA president, managed to keep going. She had been helped in part by former President Bill Clinton, a book-buying resident of the town since 2000 who regularly has sung Second Story's praises.

The Times allowed as how indies that are doing well share two attributes:

"Many of the most successful independents, like Bookends in Ridgewood, N.J., or R. J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn., are increasingly in the business of book events and real-world social networking as much as walk-in sales. Despite the aura of predigital charm, they're like any other business: Change and adapt, or die.

"And most of them, whether explicitly or implicitly, have managed to get across the message that we need you, but you need us: A community that wants a vibrant downtown with a local bookstore that's about books, and about something more as well, needs to support it. So, in New Canaan, Conn., for example, Elm Street Books exists because seven local residents put up the money to keep it going, more as a civic gesture than an entrepreneurial one."

 


GLOW: Greystone Books: brother. do. you. love. me. by Manni Coe, illustrated by Reuben Coe


Image of the Day: Appreciated Authors

Earlier this month, Harleysville Books, Harleysville, Pa., hosted its second annual authors reception, which drew 17 authors and illustrators from the region--and more than 100 customers. Here owner Shelly Plumb (l.) posed with the honorees.

 


BINC: Apply Now to The Susan Kamil Scholarship for Emerging Writers!


Media and Movies

Media Heat: Mary Tyler Moore on Growing Up Again

This morning on the Early Show: Sunny Schwartz, author of Dreams from the Monster Factory: A Tale of Prison, Redemption, and One Woman's Fight to Restore Justice to All (Scribner, $24, 9781416569817/1416569812).

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This morning on NPR's Morning Edition: Juan Cole, author of Engaging the Muslim World (Palgrave Macmillan, $26.95, 9780230607545/0230607543). He also appears today on the Diane Rehm Show.

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Today on All Things Considered: Joshua Cooper Ramo, author of The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It (Little, Brown, $25.99, 9780316118088/0316118087).

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Tonight on the Charlie Rose Show: a conversation with Doris Kearns Goodwin and Richard Goodwin.

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Tonight on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Chelsea Handler, author of Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea (Simon Spotlight, $24.95, 9781416954125/1416954120).

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Tomorrow morning on Good Morning America: Jodyne L. Speyer, author of Dump 'Em: How to Break Up with Anyone from Your Best Friend to Your Hairdresser (Collins, $15.99, 9780061646621/0061646628).

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Tomorrow morning on the Today Show: Alyssa Milano, author of Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic (Morrow, $22.99, 9780061625107/0061625108).

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Tomorrow on CNN's Glenn Beck Show: E. Benjamin Skinner, author of A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery (Free Press, $16, 9780743290081/0743290089).

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Tomorrow night on Charlie Rose: Jehan Sedat, author of My Hope for Peace (Free Press, $25, 9781416592198/1416592199). She will also appear tomorrow on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show.

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Tomorrow night on the Late Show with David Letterman: Mary Tyler Moore, whose new book is Growing Up Again: Life, Loves, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes (St. Martin's, $24.95, 9780312376314/0312376316).

 


Books & Authors

Awards: Bancroft Prize's Three Winners

The winners of the 2009 Bancroft Prize, awarded by Columbia University to the authors of books of "exceptional merit in the fields of American history, biography and diplomacy," are:

  • Thomas G. Andrews for Killing for Coal: America's Deadliest Labor War (Harvard University Press). Andrews is assistant professor of history at the University of Colorado at Denver, and this is his first book.
  • Drew Gilpin Faust for This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (Knopf). Faust is president of Harvard University and Lincoln Professor of History.
  • Pekka Hämäläinen for The Comanche Empire (Yale University Press). Hämäläinen is associate professor of history at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Each winner receives $10,000.
 


IndieBound: Other Indie Favorites

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next picks:

Hardcover

The Missing by Tim Gautreaux (Knopf, $25.95, 9780307270153/0307270157). "Returning to New Orleans after World War I, Sam Simoneaux wants nothing more than a normal life. But when a child disappears during his shift at work, his life takes an unexpected turn as he sets off on a quest to find her. I have been waiting for a new Tim Gautreaux novel, and he does not disappoint with The Missing."--Teresa Huggins, Blue Elephant Book Shop, Decatur, Ga.

Cooking and Screaming by Adrienne Kane (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $24, 9781416587972/1416587977). "Adrienne Kane's voice comes through clear and strong from the first sentence to the final step of her journey in this memoir (with recipes) of her recovery from a hemorrhagic stroke that left her paralyzed on the right side of her body. I felt as if I was sitting down with a new friend and having a heartfelt talk."--Jaclyn Crawford, Bubba's Book Swap, Kingsport, Tenn.

Paperback

The Only True Genius in the Family by Jennie Nash (Berkley, $14, 9780425225752/0425225755). "Growing up in the shadow of a legendary photographer, Claire has fought doubts about her own artistic ability. At the time of her estranged father's death, Claire's daughter finds her own artistic star rising, providing a complex mix of emotions for Claire. Jennie Nash has a gift for delivering characters with whom the reader can readily connect--they are very human, less than perfect, and believable."--Gayle Wingerter, Inklings Bookshop, Yakima, Wash.

For ages 9-12

Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry (Random House Books for Young Readers, $15.99, 9780375848025/0375848029). "With his father shipped off to Iraq, grandfather getting older, and his older brothers away at college, the fate of the ranch lies heavily on Brother, who is determined to take care of things just as his father would have. A beautifully written, simple book about not-so-simple things like faith and family."--Jennifer Laughran, Books Inc., San Francisco, Calif.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

 



Deeper Understanding

In Celebration: Kate McClelland and Kathy Krasniewicz

Kate and Kathy
Kate and Kathy
Kate and Kathy
 
"The tribe of storytellers," Lot Therrio explained,
As leader of the day's celebration for
Kate McClelland and Kathy Krasniewicz,
"Believes that as long as a person's name is spoken,
They are never forgotten."
 
He made believers of us all,
As together we chanted their names
In a chorus repeatedly on Friday afternoon
At the First Congregational Church
Of Old Greenwich, Connecticut.
It was lightly snowing on this eve of the first day of spring.
The cars lined the streets outside for nearly a mile,
Stretching along Sound Beach Avenue from well past the church
To the Perrot Memorial Library,
Where a reception would follow the service, and
Where Kate and Kathy led the children
For a combined half-century.
Within the church, stories unspooled, both sung and told,
From memory and with book in hand.
 
In perfect three-part harmony,
Erin, MaryLeigh and Hope Krasniewicz
Sang "Four Leaf Clover,"
Their likeness to their beautiful mother unmistakable,
As they shared one of her favorite songs,
A song of hope, faith, love,
And the fourth leaf--luck--
But also bravery and hard work.
 
Storyteller Tom Lee
Told a tale of how Finn McCoul acquired his wisdom,
But it took Finn's teacher to help him discover it,
Just as Kate and Kathy helped so many tap into theirs.
"All teachers can really teach you," Lee said,
"Is how smart you already are."
 
Pat Scales, president of the Association for Library Service to Children,
Who'd planned to hand the baton
To Kate McClelland as president-elect,
Said the loss of Kate and Kathy was "almost too much to bear."
At these times, she suggested, we often turn to others' words:
"Wilbur never forgot Charlotte . . .
[N]one of the new spiders
Ever quite took her place in his heart . . . .
It is not often that someone comes along
Who is a true friend and a good writer.
Charlotte was both."
And Jess, returning to Terabithia without Leslie:
"She wasn't there, so he must go for both of them.
It was up to him to pay back to the world
In beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him
In vision and strength."
 
Mrs. Mac and Mrs. K
Mrs. Mac and Mrs. K
Mrs. Mac and Mrs. K
 
Perrot Memorial Library's
Young Young Critics (Y2C2) and Young Critics Club
Rose from the transept of the church and walked to the altar.
Each group had selected a passage to read aloud.
Y2C2 read from The Black Book of Secrets by F.E. Higgins.
In the passage, young Ludlow Fitch,
Apprentice to pawnbroker Joe Zabbidou,
Realizes that by keeping the townsfolk's secrets in his Black Book,
Joe has acted as a healer.
Joe gives Ludlow a black book of his own:
"Have I chosen well?" Joe asks.
Some of us seated in the pews could not help but think
Of how Mrs. Mac chose Mrs. K. in just such a way,
To keep the book sacred at Perrot Memorial Library.
"I believe I'm able," Ludlow answers.
 
Next, the Young Critics took turns reading
The final paragraphs of Markus Zusak's The Book Thief,
The story of 10-year-old book thief Liesel Meminger,
Set in a small town in Germany during World War II
And narrated by Death:
"I want to tell the book thief many things,
About beauty and brutality.
But what could I tell her about those things
That she didn't already know?
I wanted to explain that I am constantly
overestimating and underestimating the human race--
that rarely do I ever simply estimate it.
I wanted to ask her how the same thing
Could be so ugly and so glorious,
And its words and stories so damning and brilliant.
None of these things, however, came out of my mouth.
All I was able to do was turn to Liesel Meminger
And tell her the only truth I truly know.
I said it to the book thief and I say it now to you.
I am haunted by humans."
 
Brenda Bowen gave voice to their loss
For the publishing community.
"They couldn't let a good story go unnoticed," she said.
She riffed on Virginia Woolf's idea of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates
Greeting Kate and Kathy with their books in hand,
And he would say, "Look these two have no need of reward,
For they have loved reading."
Except, said Bowen, "Kate and Kathy would arrive with galleys."
She imagined Kate and Kathy keeping company
with Bill Steig and Lloyd Alexander,
and making peace between
Anne Carroll Moore and Margaret Wise Brown.
"We made better books because of them."
 
As David Kantor strummed his guitar,
Edward Pleasant, with a deep resonant voice,
Led the congregation in "Simple Gifts,"
One of Kate McClelland's favorite songs . . .
"'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free."
 
Brian Selznick rose from the transept,
Where he was seated among the Young Critics
Who had voted his Hugo Cabret the best book of 2007.
He read the last passage from Pam Conrad's Our House,
Which asks us to savor each moment and to tell our own stories.
On the same day the Denver Post reported
Kate and Kathy's accident, Brian said,
There was another story:
"Baby Born in Denver Library."
Librarians had helped a mother to deliver her baby.
"Librarians can do anything," Brian said.
We are all that little baby, he suggested, born into a world of stories
That "help us make sense of the terrible, beautiful world we live in."
 
Peg O'Sullivan led the congregation in a reading of Goodnight Moon
But the final lines belonged to Gerri Hirshey
From her New York Times piece:
"Goodnight, Mrs. Mac.
Goodnight, Mrs. K.
Goodnight from children everywhere."
 
In a joyful upending of the Pied Piper of Hamelin,
The children rose from the transept
To the strains of David Kantor's guitar,
And led a procession
That wound along Sound Beach Avenue
From the church to their library.
The snow had stopped, and the sun was shining.
 
Kate and Kathy
Kate and Kathy
Kate and Kathy

--Jennifer M. Brown

 


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