"It's nice to find a high perch when elephants are dancing."--Michael Powell, owner of Powell's Books, Portland, Ore., in a Q&A in the Oregonian that touched on the Wal-Mart-Amazon-Target-Sears price wars.

Wall Street liked Amazon's third-quarter results: on Friday the e-tailer's stock closed up 25% at $118.49, a record high (accounting for stock splits), on volume of 58.3 million shares compared to a recent daily average of 7.5 million shares.

At least five brokerage houses upgraded the stock, according to the Wall Street Journal. "The bullishness is a turnabout from 2005 and 2006, when Wall Street criticized Amazon for spending heavily on free shipping offers and digital initiatives such as Web services. In mid-2006, the stock traded at about $30, its lowest level since the dot-com bust."

---

In the can't win department, a Credit Suisse analyst downgraded Barnes & Noble, saying that "the shift to digital from physical books will ultimately hurt traditional brick-and-mortar book sellers," the Associated Press said. (Many had earlier criticized the retailer for not offering an e-reader.) Referring to company's new e-reader, introduced this past week, Gary Balter wrote: "As the math currently works, each sale through a Nook is not just unprofitable but potentially replaces a higher-margin sale at stores."

And Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Fassler wrote that the move to digital formats "clearly challenges Barnes & Noble's store-based model."

---

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article about the price wars notes an unusual twist that applies in Wisconsin: "Wal-Mart and Target won't ship the below-cost books to customers here because of the state's law banning retailers from selling merchandise below their cost. Amazon's Web site, however, was accepting orders from Wisconsin."

The paper wrote that local booksellers said "the price war is more troubling for the harm it can do to the publishing industry than it would be for them. They note that people who are likely to take advantage of the deals online probably are not their customers."

For example, Daniel Goldin, owner of Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, said, "I'm not sure how it helps consumers to have people pricing at a loss. In the short term, it's good. In the long term, I'm not sure."

"There's no way I can compete on price, so why should I try?" Norm Bruce, co-owner of Martha Merrell's Bookstore, Waukesha, told the Journal Sentinel.

And Lanora Hurley, owner of Next Chapter Bookshop, Mequon, indicated she was buying some titles from Amazon: "It's a better deal for me to get them from Amazon and sell them here."

---

Thomas Upchurch, co-owner of Capitol Book & News, Montgomery, Ala., "has all but sworn off best-selling books," according to the Montgomery Advertiser, which observed that bestsellers "rarely translate into any profit for an independent bookstore."

"It has been going on for a long time," he said. "We have really had to change our marketing in the last four or five years so we do not depend on best-sellers. . . . It is not something we are going to sell anyway. They could give away books, and it is not going to hurt us more."

The Advertiser noted that as big box retailers keep lowering the price on select bestsellers, "Upchurch may not like it, but he knows that is part of doing business in the modern world. Still, he admits it is a personal blow to see his treasured books reduced to an impersonal level."

"They are not making money on it," he said. "They are taking a product that means everything to us and cheapening it in the eyes of the customer. That convinces the customer that the book may not be worth $20; maybe it is only worth $12."

---

Indies north of the border are facing challenges as well, but the Free Press reported that Patty Reedyk, owner of Polar Peek Books and Treasures, Fernie, B.C., said that "independence has its advantages."

"There is a lot of competition out there because of Fernie's proximity to other places like the United States, Calgary, Cranbrook and Lethbridge," she noted. "People like saving money--it is challenging to keep customers here and to have them understand why shopping locally is important. . . . I believe in books, I believe in literature. . . . I really like being here. I love books and I like people--this is a place where people meet, there are a lot of nice people who come in here."

---

Bad economic times have been good news for the Book Mark Paperback Book Exchange, Escondido, Calif.

"I had a tremendous summer," owner Elaine Fitzgerald told the North Country Times. "We had people coming down from L.A., from out in the desert, up from San Diego, from all over."

---

"If everything goes according to plan," Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, N.C., will open next month and "the big empty space next Foster's Market on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. will be filled to the brim with books and alive with browsers, buyers, children and authors," the Chapel Hill News reported.

Jamie Fiocco, co-owner of Flyleaf with Land Arnold and Sarah Carr--all of whom formerly worked for McIntyre's Fine Books, Pittsboro--recalled that the trio "were looking for something new to do, something that would keep us in the book business and in the area. The owner of this shopping center, Ron Strom, was looking for an independent business to anchor it. He asked whether McIntyre's would be interested in opening a location here. McIntyre's passed, and I said, 'Well, I might be interested.'"

"This is a university community without an independent bookstore," Arnold added. "That's not right."

"We tried everything we could think of not to do it," Fiocco said. "But it became a perfect storm, and everything kept steering us to do this. We think this is the right time, the right place and the right community. There's so much literary history here, and Chapel and Carrboro get the 'buy local, be involved' style we believe in."

---

As part of its Best of NYC feature, the Village Voice asked author Julie Klam to pick a few of her favorite things, including best bookstore: "I feel like the answer to this is any bookstore that is still open and stocking books, but my personal favorite, although it's not even in my borough, is Book Court," she responded. "There is a magical reading space with a skylight, in which REAL ACTUAL SKY is visible. They have phenomenal taste in books and the staff are elfen-like in their friendliness and helpfulness."

---

Book Trailer of the Day: Peep Show: Erotic Tales of Exhibitionism and Voyeurism edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Cleis Press), who whispered in our ear that the trailer "may be a little risque but there's no nudity and it's designed to give a sense of being a voyeur and exhibitionist."

---

Amy Santo has joined Tantor Audio as marketing manager, where she will, among other things, guide the relaunch of the unabridged audio publisher's website.

In a nice symmetry, consider the following two items:

First, from Janet Bollum of the Muse Book Shop, DeLand, Fla., an open letter to "all authors":

Our industry is struggling. Independent bookstores are holding on for dear life. We are going in debt to keep our dream alive with the hope for a better tomorrow. We need your help. Three hours of your time in an independent bookstore can make their day, their week, sometimes their month. Don't leave your entire scheduling in the hands of a publicist. Give some of your time to an independent in your area. Take a 100-mile radius, find all the independents inside that circle and pick one or two you would be willing to spend a few hours with. It is a small measure of your time that could be of great import to them. Going on vacation, make us a part of the package. We will ensure you a good time and many accolades.

Remember when you were promoting that first book? Independents who hand sold your work were your launching pad. Independent bookstores are the heart of our industry because they keep their finger on the pulse of the community. We are your neighborhood bibliophile.
 
We need you, but you also need us. We are intrinsically linked.

Why are we linked? I believe it is because of our love for the written word, our thirst for knowledge. A book is our comfort food, a poem is a masterpiece, a story ignites the imagination and feeds the soul.

Make a date with an independent bookstore. It could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

---

And from Seattle magazine, a story about nine authors who meet regularly and are "working on a slew of initiatives intended to help enrich the local literary community and in particular, to foster a love of reading in youth." This includes a joint appearance at Fremont Place Books in Seattle this Thursday.

This morning on the Today Show: Cami Walker, author of 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life (Da Capo, $19.95, 9780738213569/073821356X).

Also on Today: Peter H. Aykroyd, author of A History of Ghosts: The True Story of Seances, Mediums, Ghosts, and Ghostbusters (Rodale Books, $25.99, 9781605298757/1605298751). He appears tonight on Larry King Live, too.

---

Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, authors of SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (Morrow, $29.99, 9780060889579/0060889578). Levitt will also be on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart tomorrow night.

---

Today on the Laura Ingraham Show: Vince Flynn, author of Pursuit of Honor (Atria, $27.99, 9781416595168/1416595163).

---

Today on CNN's Campbell Brown: Ivanka Trump, author of The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life (Touchstone, $24.99, 9781439140017/1439140014).

---

Today on MSNBC's Keith Olbermann: Susie Essman, author of What Would Susie Say?: Bullsh*t Wisdom About Love, Life and Comedy (Simon & Schuster, $25, 9781439150177/1439150176).

---

Today on Fresh Air: Julie Holland, author of Weekends at Bellevue (Bantam, $25, 9780553807660/0553807668).

---

Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Tracy Morgan, co-author of I Am the New Black (Spiegel & Grau, 9780385527774/0385527772).

---

Tonight on Charlie Rose: Holly George-Warren, author of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The First 25 Years (Collins, $39.99, 9780061794681/0061794686).

---

Tonight on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien: Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, author of Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters (Morrow, $25.99, 9780061924682/0061924687).

---

Tonight on the Colbert Report: Cornel West, author of Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud (Smiley Books, $25.95, 9781401921897/1401921892).

---

Tomorrow morning on the Today Show: Hulk Hogan, author of My Life Outside the Ring (St. Martin's, $25.99, 9780312588892/0312588895).

---

Tomorrow on the Diane Rehm Show: Harriet Reisen, author of Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women (Holt, $26, 9780805082999/0805082999).

---

Tomorrow on Ellen: Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Eating Animals (Little, Brown, $25.99, 9780316069908/0316069906).

---

Tomorrow night on the Colbert Report: Gail Collins, author of When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present (Little, Brown, $27.99, 9780316059541/0316059544).

The latest trailer for The Twilight Saga: New Moon "features the ultra-tense confrontation with the Volturi at the exact moment when they decide that Bella's not worth keeping around anymore. Edward, it appears, gets the worst of this fight, but maybe that's because he's hampered by that red velvet dressing gown," Entertainment Weekly reported.

Winners of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association awards, which "reflect Southern California culture or lifestyle, with authors/illustrators living within the SCIBA region," are:

• Nonfiction: Susan Campoy for Celebrating with Julienne
• Fiction: Lisa See for Shanghai Girls
• T. Jefferson Parker Mystery: Debra Ginsberg for The Grift
• Children's Picture Book: David Shannon for Too Many Toys
• Children's Novel: Michael Grant for Hunger
• Glenn Goldman Art & Architecture Book: Patrick Ecclesine for Faces of Sunset Boulevard and Annie Leibovitz for Annie Leibovitz at Work

The winners were honored at the SCIBA authors feast and trade show on Saturday in Los Angeles.

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

Hardcover

Dreaming in French by Megan McAndrew (Scribner, $25, 9781416599722/141659972X). "Set first in Paris in the late 1970s, Dreaming in French follows the adolescent life of Charlotte Sanders as she experiences the joys of her first romance, followed by the nightmare of her first family betrayal. The setting then shifts to New York, where Charlotte grows to become the young woman she is destined to be. Well written in an honest and likable voice, this is a compelling novel."--Roni K. Devlin, Literary Life Bookstore & More, Grand Rapids, Mich.

A World Without Ice by Henry Pollack (Avery, $26, 9781583333570/1583333576). "In his wonderful and important new book, Henry Pollack, in a clear, engaging narrative, describes the vital role of ice in our world. A World Without Ice could well be the Silent Spring of the 21st Century, marking a major turning point in the public discussion of global climate change."--Gary Colliver, Windows on the World--Books & Art, Mariposa, Calif.

Paperback

The Order of Good Cheer by Bill Gaston (House of Anansi Press, $15.95, 9780887848162/0887848168). "Bill Gaston perfectly parallels an account of Samuel de Champlain's explorations in Canada with a compelling, modern story. I loved this one."--Joe Foster, Maria's Bookshop, Durango, Colo.

For Ages 4 to 8

Homework by Arthur Yorinks, illustrated by Richard Egielski (Walker, $16.99, 9780802795854/0802795854). "When a young boy falls asleep instead of doing his homework, all the writing implements on his desk do an amusing job of writing a story, and the boy then wakes up and makes the story his own. Homework is an imaginative lesson in creativity."--Peter Goodrich, Partners Village Store, Westport, Mass.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]