Waterstones, the last major independent bookstore chain in the U.K., will begin selling Amazon Kindles and e-books in its nearly 300 stores this fall, the companies announced today.

Although Kindles are sold in a variety of bricks-and-mortar retailers, this is the first time that the e-readers are available in traditional bookstores. The deal is all the more striking because there were long-running rumors that Barnes & Noble was seeking to make a deal with Waterstones to sell its Nook in the company's stores and because James Daunt, who was appointed managing director of Waterstones last July, has been highly critical of Amazon (Shelf Awareness, June 6, 2011).

Daunt told the Bookseller that the deal is a "no brainer" because the Kindle is the e-reader that most British consumers want. He added that Waterstones had waited too long to develop its own device and that negotiations with Amazon started only recently.

Waterstones will share in revenue of sales in its stores, including e-books ordered via store wi-fi, which is being added later this year.

"The future of Waterstones is in its physical stores, selling physical books, but doing other things around it, such as coffee and digital readers," Daunt said to the Bookseller. "This is much more about making Waterstones' a better physical business, enticing those Kindle customers back into bookshops, and improving the Kindle browsing experience for them. In terms of what we can offer, we'll only be limited by our imagination."

Daunt added that the deal is "non-exclusive" and that Waterstones will "continue to operate its own e-book platform separate" from Kindle but is considering adding a link from the Waterstones.com site to the Kindle store. Daunt told the Bookseller that he is "committed" to the Waterstones.com e-book business.

In a release, Daunt said the company is "committed to improving our bookshops quite radically to offer the best possible book buying experience. It is a truly exciting prospect to harness also the respective strengths of Waterstones and Amazon to provide a dramatically better digital reading experience for our customers. The best digital readers, the Kindle family, will be married to the singular pleasures of browsing a curated bookshop. With the combination of our talents we can offer the exceptional customer proposition to which we both aspire."

For his part, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said: "Waterstones is the premier high street bookseller and is passionate about books and readers--a dedication that we share deeply. We could never hope for a better partner to bring together digital reading and the physical bookstore."

Waterstones called "the digital initiatives" part of an ongoing effort to upgrade its stores that includes "major refurbishment" and "dedicated digital areas, free wi-fi access and new coffee shops."

Barnes & Noble is opening in the site of a former Borders in the Bridgeport Village mall in Tigard, Ore., the Oregonian reported. According to the mall, the new B&N will be one of two B&N "stores of the future," with the other one in Princeton, N.J. [Editor's note: We have no other information about possible B&N stores of the future.]

Fred Bruning, CEO of mall owner CenterCal Properties, said that the Bridgeport Village Borders--an upscale mall near Portland--was among the company's 10 highest-grossing stores in the country.  

B&N has three stores in the Portland area--including one about two miles away in the Washington Square mall.

Cape Atlantic Book Company aims to open in Cape May, N.J., by this coming weekend on the second floor of the City Centre Mall on the Washington Street pedestrian mall, Newsworks reported. It will share the floor with a new café.

The new store's owners are Tony Herr, who was manager of the former Atlantic Books shop in Cape May, and Patrick Young. Atlantic Books went out of business late last year and closed its small chain of stores in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Young commented: "The larger chains of bookstores are just dropping all over the place. But a bookstore can work in Cape May. It's a totally different animal. It's a boutique city."

This is the second store replacing departing Atlantic Books shops: last fall Stone Harbor Book Shop opened in the former Atlantic Books site in nearby Stone Harbor, N.J.

Edgartown Books, Edgartown, Mass., is reopening this coming Friday under new ownership, the Martha's Vineyard Times reported. Previous owners David and Ann LeBreton had announced in January that they were closing the store, which they had run for 10 years. When they bought it, they moved it and changed the name from Bickerton & Ripley.

The new owners are Jeffrey and Joyce Sudikoff, who have been summer residents since the 1970s. He was founder and CEO of IDB Communications Group and was a part owner of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team.

The Sudikoffs have hired Susan Mercier, who was manager of Edgartown Books until 2010, as their new manager and are hiring several other former Edgartown Books booksellers.

"I'm just so happy for the town and for the Island," Mercier told the Times, noting that the Sudikoffs "are so in tune with the needs of a small community and what an important role an independent bookstore plays in that."

Mercier added that this week the store is being painted. "We're not changing anything now, but we will be carrying periodicals, and we hope to start a delivery service and other services in the store."

The pace of change in New York City is so whiplash-inducing that even frequent visitors will be excused from not being able to keep up with the latest and greatest things to hit the Big Apple. Anything that happened more than 15 minutes ago is old news to New Yorkers (so locals, look away--or better yet, chime in), but for those that visit New York City only occasionally, here, thanks to Lonely Planet and U.S. editor Robert Reid, we present some of the new sights, tastes and experiences to look out for during BookExpo America.

Seeing More Green
Brooklyn Bridge Park--the biggest new park to be built in Brooklyn since Prospect Park in the 19th century--has staggering views of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge and a restored early 20th-century carousel.

Michelin Fare for a Song
Chef John Fraser has attracted a strong foodie following and a Michelin star status for Dovetail, an unpretentious Upper West Side eatery, which focuses on only the freshest produce. It’s also a deal: on Mondays the restaurant offers a three-course vegetarian menu for only $46.

Eataly
With a name as catchy as it is punny, Eataly is officially the largest Italian grocer and market space in the entire world, commanding over 50,000 square feet of space in the heart of the city’s Flatiron district, at 23rd St. and Fifth Ave. It is, without a doubt, a major game changer in New York’s gourmet market scene. And don't miss the beer garden on the roof.

High Line 2.0
The High Line, New York City’s golden child of urban renewal, recently made its first of two planned expansions, effectively doubling the size of this amazing thin haven of green.

Cutting-Edge Design, Enter Stage Right
The top-notch Signature Theatre--a well-known company that champions contemporary American plays--has moved into its impressive new Frank Gehry-designed premises, the Signature Center on 42nd St. The center includes a bookshop, cafe and performance paces.

Downtown Yarmulke Chic
Check out Kutsher's Tribeca, a hot new contemporary-Jewish restaurant/bar in TriBeCa, opened by Zach Kutscher, a fourth-generation member of Kutsher's Country Club (a legendary Borscht Belt resort in the Catskills).

(S)wine & Cheese
Grilled cheese sandwiches stuffed with kimchi and pork belly. Yum. Earl's Beer & Cheese on the upper edge of the Upper East Side is high-end eating for the budget gastronome, with craft beers to boot.

Old New York with a Twist... of Lime
The guys behind cocktail bar Ward III in TriBeCa have restored the Edison Hotel's old piano bar in Midtown and opened it as The Rum House. A pianist plays each night, well-mixed drinks--a "refreshed" slice of old New York.

The Northern Star
Aloft Harlem is a new boutique hotel in Harlem that offers chic, reasonably priced sleeping quarters at a stone’s throw from many of Manhattan’s major attractions. A deal.

Snails & Market-ing
The New Amsterdam Market is a stronghold of seasonal food where locally sourced edibles are sold to urban foragers. Themed days are not uncommon, and plans are in the works to move into the former Fulton Fish Market.

The Chinese Cottage
These days fusion cuisine may seem a bit old hat, but the city's latest East-meets-West marriage on a plate--RedFarm--plays with a delightful assortment of international flavors, with scrumptious results.

Ship-Shape Museum
BLDG 92, a new (and free) museum, opened late last year at the Brooklyn Naval Yard. It showcases the remarkable history of the sprawling riverfront property that even many Brooklynites have never visited. And if sailing through history makes you hungry, local Cobble Hill foodie fave Ted & Honey has recently opened in the museum’s light-filled café.

On Thursday, Eagle Harbor Book Company, Bainbridge Island, Wash., hosted an event with two Northwest authors: Jim Lynch, author of Truth Like the Sun (Knopf), which is set in part at the beginning of Seattle's 1962 World's Fair, and Knute Berger, whose new book, Space Needle: Spirit of Seattle (Documentary Media), is about the iconic tower that made its debut at the World's Fair. The authors read from their books and then discussed fiction, fact and the Seattle region. Here: booksellers Ellyn Russo, Victoria Irwin and Kathie Steele flank Lynch and Berger.

"Safely locked in a glass case next to a 31-volume, 1930 limited edition of the works of George Bernard Shaw, the store, in Midtown Manhattan, proudly displays its own Tony Award," the New York Times noted in its profile of the the Drama Book Shop, which "was incorporated as a Drama League-backed shop in 1923 and has been owned by the Seelen family since 1958."

Owned by Allen Hubby and his aunt, Rozanne Seelen, the store was honored last year with a Tony for Excellence in the Theatre and is "secure in its reputation as the city's best source for theatrical works--it keeps 8,000 plays in stock," the Times wrote, adding that stars "shop without fear of harassment by the star-struck, and the occasional out-of-work thespian has tried to bunk in the basement."

"Cher used to come in back in the days when Chastity still wore a dress," said Hubby. "I think Kevin Kline has bought every Shakespeare book we've ever stocked."
 

"In preparation for the launch of Michael Cho's Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes (Drawn & Quarterly) on May 23 in Toronto, Type Books staffer Kalpna Patel meticulously transformed the book's cover painting into a 3-D display," Quillblog reported.
 

The First Husband by Laura Dave (Penguin). In one hilarious book trailer for this title, author Jonathan Tropper tries to get Dave to accept creativity in blurb attribution; in the other, Tropper offers a testimonial to booksellers on why he loves the book.

This morning on Imus in the Morning: Ted Williams, author of A Golden Voice: How Faith, Hard Work, and Humility Brought Me from the Streets to Salvation (Gotham, $26, 9781592407149).

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This morning on the Today Show: Adam Perry Lang, author of Charred & Scruffed (Artisan, $24.95, 9781579654658).

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Today on HLN's Prime News with Vinnie Politan: Lisa Bloom, author of Swagger: 10 Urgent Rules for Raising Boys in an Era of Failing Schools, Mass Joblessness, and Thug Culture (Vantage Point, $26.95, 9781936467693).

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Today on NPR's Diane Rehm Show: Fawaz Gerges, author of Obama and the Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, $28, 9780230113817).

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Today on Fox's Neil Cavuto: Edward Conard, author of Unintended Consequences: Why Everything You've Been Told About the Economy Is Wrong (Portfolio, $27.95, 9781591845508).

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Tomorrow morning on Good Morning America: David Westin, author of Exit Interview (Sarah Crichton Books/FSG, $27, 9780374151218).

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Tomorrow morning on CBS's This Morning: Dan Zevin, author of Dan Gets a Minivan: Life at the Intersection of Dude and Dad (Scribner, $24, 9781451606461). He will also appear on NPR's Marketplace.

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Tomorrow on NPR's Diane Rehm Show: Stuart Firestein, author of Ignorance: How It Drives Science (Oxford University Press, $21.95, 9780199828074).

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Tomorrow on Tavis Smiley: Vanessa Williams, co-author of You Have No Idea: A Famous Daughter, Her No-nonsense Mother, and How They Survived Pageants, Hollywood, Love, Loss (and Each Other) (Gotham, $28, 9781592407071). She will also appear on CBS's the Talk.

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Tomorrow on the Mancow Show: Ed Keller and Brad Fay, authors of The Face-to-Face Book: Why Real Relationships Rule in a Digital Marketplace (Free Press, $26, 9781451640069).

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Tomorrow on the View: Colin Powell, author of It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership (Harper, $27.99, 9780062135124).

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Tomorrow night on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Billy Bob Thornton, co-author of The Billy Bob Tapes: A Cave Full of Ghosts (Morrow, $26.99, 9780062101778).

The winners of this year's Nebula Awards, sponsored by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, are:

Novel: Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor)
Novella: "The Man Who Bridged the Mist" by Kij Johnson
Novellette: "What We Found" by Geoff Ryman
Short Story: "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu
Bradbury: Doctor Who--"The Doctor’s Wife" by Neil Gaiman, directed by Richard Clark
Norton YA: The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)

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The Booksellers Association of the U.K. and Ireland announced its adult and children's book shortlists for the Independent Booksellers' Week Book Awards. The winners will be named in early September. You can see the complete IBW Book Award shortlists here.
 

John Lanchester, best known in the U.S. for The Debt to Pleasure, a lithe novel of delectation and dissimulation, has written a much heftier novel of socio-economic reportage in Capital. Set during the financial implosion of 2008, Capital uses an omniscient perspective and very short chapters to dip into the lives of diverse residents and workers along Pepys Road, a fictional street in a comfortable South London neighborhood, with an emphasis on their aspirations and anxieties. Into this multi-racial, multi-class study, Lanchester inserts an Iris Murdochesque plot twist, as each home owner is targeted by postcard photos bearing the typed message, "We Want What You Have."

Capital's assemblage of characters feels very schematic (as if Lanchester had selected one each from the most emblematic of zeitgeist types), but the astute narration, touching on everything from the vodka preferences of Polish house painters to the grassroots politics of detention centers to the clauses in soccer phenom contracts, lends a reassuring air of novel verité. (The significant characters are too numerous to itemize, but they are evidence of Lanchester's ambition and scope.) Less rapacious than Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities, Lanchester's work is more a novel of plight and identity, though those identities tend toward the bloodless when the characters' lifestyles are given more prominence than their hearts and minds, as is sometimes the case with Capital's posh banker and his label-crazed wife.

Lanchester cleverly uses the poison-pen postcards to explore the issues of personal expression and police surveillance in times of resentment and paranoia; the resolution exploits more than one skein of the narrative and contains a credible nod toward a real-world individual.

The chief bonus of reading Capital is gaining Lanchester's insight into the diverse ways in which modern Londoners strive to cope with property value insanity, unpredictable employment and evolving multiculturalism (it's a credible Baedeker of current British society). The novel dramatizes the personal side of the high-finance folly Lanchester explained so well in his nonfiction book I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay (2010). As Capital both shows and tells, life in London in the early 21st century is a far broader and more complex picture than bowler hats, brollies and Burberry macs. --Holloway McCandless

Shelf Talker: A reportage-style novel that captures the economic and racial diversity of waning-boom London through the residents of a single road.