In September, hackers stole pin codes and other debit and credit card information about customers at 63 Barnes & Noble stores (about 10% of its total), according to reports in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other media that were confirmed by B&N.

The company hadn't notified affected customers of the problem, which occurred through pin pad devices (where customers punch in their pin codes), because, it said, the FBI asked it to keep the matter secret to help its investigation. It also said the Justice Department indicated it could wait until as late as December 24 to notify customers of the breach. A legal expert quoted by the Times said that under most state laws, B&N wouldn't have to notify customers of problems if all data was encrypted, which was the case. At the same time, security experts said encryption is proving less and less of a defense against hackers.

An unidentified B&N executive told the Times that some unauthorized transactions were made in September but "had declined in recent weeks." He added that "the company had informed credit card companies that certain accounts might have been compromised."

There was no information about how many B&N customers were affected and how they would know if their information had been hacked. The Wall Street Journal said B&N recommended "customers who may have swiped their cards at affected stores should change their PIN numbers on their debit cards and review their accounts, while credit card users should also review their statements." The affected stores were in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The company said online purchases, Nook purchases and B&N College operations were not affected.

Apparently only one pin pad device in each store was hacked. The Times quoted security experts as saying that "a company insider could have inserted malicious code, or criminals could have persuaded an unsuspecting employee to click on a malicious link that installed malware, giving the perpetrators a foothold into Barnes & Noble's point-of-sale systems." One security expert called it "no small undertaking."

The company has removed all 7,000 pin pad devices in its 689 stores.

Barnes & Noble confirmed it is opening a bookstore in Fredericksburg, Va., one of its few new stores in recent years. The 24,000-sq.-ft. store, in an old Borders location at the Central Park shopping center, will open November 7 and a portion of proceeds from the grand opening will go to the Hugh Mercer Elementary School, Fredericksburg's only elementary school.

In connection with the opening, from November 14 to November 23 and only at the new store, B&N will sell the Nook Simple Touch Reader for $59, its lowest price.

Among other features, the store has larger children's and teen departments than typical B&N stores, with 12,000 and 3,000 titles respectively. It also has a B&N@School Department, which features educational tools and resources for teachers, librarians and parents.

Earlier this year, the Fredericksburg City Council approved an incentives package for Barnes & Noble that could be worth a refund of up to $100,000 over 10 years of the $732,000 in tax revenue that the store is expected to generate.

Introduced yesterday, Apple's new iPad Mini, aimed to compete with Google's, Amazon's and Barnes & Noble's small tablets, has a 7.9" screen, weighs 11 ounces, retails for $329-- significantly more than its competitors--and begins shipping November 2. Apple also introduced upgraded versions of the iPad, the MacBook Pro and the Mac Mini.

Last but not least, Apple updated several book-related apps. It introduced a new version of iBooks that, as Quill and Quire wrote, "supports 40 languages, continuous page scrolling, and improved synchronization across devices. Thanks to a feature similar to Kobo's Reading Life, readers can now highlight quotes from an e-book and share them on Facebook and Twitter."

A new version of iBooks Author includes embedded and custom fonts, fixed layouts, mathematical equations, new templates and multi-touch widgets.

Apple said that it has sold more than 100 million iPads and that iBooks customers have downloaded more than 400 million books.

Simon & Schuster has created four adult publishing units aimed at creating "a sharper editorial focus for our imprints even as it takes consideration of the natural affinities among them," as president and CEO Carolyn Reidy wrote. The new groups and their presidents and publishers are:

• The Atria Publishing Group, headed by Judith Curr, which is expanding to include Howard Books, the Christian publishing imprint. Atria also includes Emily Bestler Books, Washington Square Press, Strebor Books, Beyond Words, Cash Money Content and Marble Arch Press.
• The Scribner Publishing Group, led by Susan Moldow, which is expanding to include Touchstone Books.
• The Simon & Schuster Publishing Group, headed by Jonathan Karp, which will now include the Free Press.
• The Gallery Publishing Group, led by Louise Burke, which consists of Gallery Books, Threshold Editions, Pocket Books, Pocket Star, MTV Books and Karen Hunter Publishing.

In addition, at the Children's Publishing Division Jon Anderson has been promoted to president and publisher, and at Simon & Schuster, Chris Lynch has been promoted to president and publisher.

As a result of the reorganization, at Free Press, executive v-p and publisher Martha Levin, v-p and editorial director Dominick Anfuso and several other members of the staff are leaving the company.

Canadian publisher Douglas & McIntyre "is restructuring and has filed for creditor protection under the provisions of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act," the Globe & Mail reported. The publisher, which is based in Vancouver and also publishes imprints Greystone Books and New Society Publishers, "will be working with financial advisory services company the Bowra Group to locate an investor or purchaser for its assets."

Just one day after D&M's announcement, company co-founder Scott MacIntyre was named the recipient of the first Ivy Award, given by the the International Visitors Programme. As Quill & Quire noted, the award recognizes "a person who has made a substantial contribution to Canadian publishing."

Last weekend, Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Calif., hosted Booktopia, a readers retreat put on by Michael Kindness and Ann Kingman, Random House sales reps by day and co-hosts of the Books on the Nightstand podcast by night. Some 75 booklovers from around the country spent a bookish weekend with these eight authors and two audiobook narrators: (back row, l. to r) Cara Black, author of Murder at the Lanterne Rouge; Grover Gardner, audiobook narrator; Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master's Son; Lynne Cox, author of South With the Sun; Tupelo Hassman, author of Girlchild; and Ann Packer, author of Swim Back to Me. (front row, l. to r.) Simon Vance, audiobook narrator; Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow; Michael Kindness; Ann Kingman; Sarah McCoy, author of The Baker's Daughter; and Matthew Dicks, author of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend.

Next Chapter Bookstore & Bistro, Northville, Mich., which achieved cinema notoriety in 2010 as the set for scenes from Wes Craven's movie Scream 4, is now celebrating culinary notoriety with the sale of "its 1,400th crepe since it began serving them earlier this year," the Patch reported.

"We want to be known for crepes in Northville," said owner Dan Comaianni. "You'll find that as we progress, crepes will become more and more of the Next Chapter's emphasis on what we offer. It's not secondary. It's not something where we just have a crepe machine."
 

Unoppressive, Non-Imperialist Bargain Books in Greenwich Village "is struggling--and doing what it takes to stay alive in this unfriendly atmosphere for bookstores and other independent businesses," Jeremiah's Vanishing New York reported, adding that "change is barreling in with the distasteful news of an IHOP coming to Carmine Street."

The owners are teaming up with Lucky Ant to raise funds. A press release noted that "Jim Drougas and his wife Indiana have run Unoppressive, at 34 Carmine Street, for over 20 years. They are a highly curated independent bookstore that has and continues to cater to the west village arts community. Unlike other bookstores, Unoppressive is not going under, but they do sense that times are tough and want to plan for owning a bookstore in the 21st century market place."

Or, as Jeremiah's Vanishing New York put it, "Keep the Village safe from total IHOP-ization."
 

Dancers Among Us by Jordan Matter (Workman), a video of the photographer at work--in the street, in Chicago, in New Orleans, in New York City, in an ER, on the beach, in the subway. Lots of fun!

Tomorrow morning on Good Morning America: Eben Alexander, author of Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife (Simon & Schuster, $15.99, 9781451695199).

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Tomorrow on KCRW's Bookworm: Martin Amis, author of Lionel Asbo: State of England (Knopf, $25.95, 9780307958082). As the show put it: "How does a writer make a good character endearing when readers want to root for the villain? British novelist Martin Amis discusses our sympathy for the devil, the snowballing corruption and evil of the present, and the acrobatics of keeping up with his characters."

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Tomorrow on NPR's Diane Rehm Show: Jessica Pierce, author of The Last Walk: Reflections on Our Pets at the End of Their Lives (University of Chicago Press, $26, 9780226668468).

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Tomorrow night on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight: Chrystia Freeland, author of Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else (Penguin Press, $27.95, 9781594204098).

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Tomorrow night on the Colbert Report: Mitch Daniels, author of Keeping the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans (Sentinel, $16, 9781595230966).

The trailer has been released for Midnight's Children, Deepa Mehta's (Earth, Fire, Water) adaptation of Salman Rushdie's novel. The film opens November 2.
 

Last evening the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation announced the 10 recipients of the Whiting Writers' Awards, given annually since 1985 to writers of exceptional talent and promise in their early careers. Each writer receives $50,000.

The 2012 winners are four playwrights (the most ever in one year), three fiction writers, two poets and a nonfiction writer:

Ciaran Berry, poetry
Danai Gurira, plays
Alan Heathcock, fiction
Samuel D. Hunter, plays
Mona Mansour, plays
Anthony Marra, fiction
Meg Miroshnik, plays
Hanna Pylväinen, fiction
Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, nonfiction
Atsuro Riley, poetry 

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Nominees have been announced for the Children's Book Circle's Eleanor Farjeon Award in the U.K., which honors "distinguished service to the world of children's books, and will be given to a person or an organization whose commitment and contribution is deemed to be outstanding." The winner will be named November 15. This year's nominees are

Quentin Blake
Discover Children's Story Centre
Nicolette Jones
Michael Morpurgo
Tales on Moon Lane Children's Bookshop
 

D.J. Macintosh graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in English, then embarked on a 20-year career as a city planner. She'd always wanted to be a writer, so she joined Sisters in Crime to network with other authors. She submitted her first finished manuscript for the Crime Writers Association (U.K.) Debut Dagger, and was a finalist. Four years later, The Witch of Babylon (Forge, October 16, 2012), was published and sold in 20 countries.

On your nightstand now:

The Quest for Anna Klein by Thomas H. Cook. Most of the book involves a young CIA agent who interviews Thomas Danforth, an elderly World War II spy reminiscing about his obsession with a beautiful double agent. In any other hands, a scenario like this would quickly produce yawns but Cook's superlative writing and plot keep me entranced.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales--the fate of the Little Match Girl and the dancing red shoes left indelible memories. The sublime Wind in the Willows and, when I was a little older, Shardik by Richard Adams (of Watership Down fame), a poignant story about a bear. Impossible to name just one!

Your top five authors:

What a hard choice! I cherish Cormac McCarthy, Cornell Woolrich, Lawrence Durrell, Edgar Allan Poe and Jean Rhys for their lyrical, stunning writing and absorbing stories.

Book you've faked reading:

The Story of O, written under the pen name Pauline Réage. In its day, the equivalent of Fifty Shades of Grey, although much darker. Not to possess a copy hidden in your school locker was tantamount to being a social outcast. On the other hand, teachers were on the lookout and would snap it away from those caught reading it. And for your parents to find it hidden under your pillow didn't bear thinking about. So I never really got the chance to make it to the finish line.

Book you're an evangelist for:

The Ghost by Richard Harris. A superb political thriller made into an equally good movie. Harris deftly demolishes a political icon with a subtle hand. The setting, bleak November Martha's Vineyard, is marvelously portrayed, a place we normally associate with summer pleasures. Harris turns this on end and gives a remarkable plot to boot.

Book you've bought for the cover:

Don't think I've ever bought a book just because of its cover. I always at least flip through the first pages and read the jacket.

Book that changed your life:

Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan. A mind-blowing journey that shows what we view as reality in an entirely new light. It started me on the path to exploring mythology.

Favorite line from a book:

"The sea is high again today, with a thrilling flush of wind. In the midst of winter you can feel the inventions of spring. A sky of hot nude pearl until midday, crickets in sheltered places, and now the wind unpacking the great plains...." --opening lines of Lawrence Durrell's The Alexandria Quartet

I always chuckle a bit when I read well-meant advice for writers suggesting it's a bad idea to start books with the weather. These magnificent lines argue formidably against that idea.

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

There's nothing like discovering a book that is so luscious you want to read it over and over. For me, it would be a tie: The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien and Dune by Frank Herbert.

Most underrated American novelist:

Jeff Long for his book The Wall. A searing, gorgeously written account of two champion mountain climbers, one a widower and the other on the verge of separating from his wife. They reunite for one last daring climb. It has all the elements of the best thrillers, edge of your seat suspense and daring plot twists, but is delivered in memorable prose.

Jacqueline Woodson and E.B. Lewis, who teamed up for the Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon and The Other Side, deliver a doozy of a picture book about the insidious consequences of bullying. With its lack of resolution, the story of how Chloe shuts out Maya's overtures of friendship haunts Chloe--and readers.

Maya shows up at school on a snowy winter morning. Lewis introduces her from a dramatic perspective, as if we are looking up from the floor into Maya's face. She shrinks alongside the principal, who delivers her to narrator Chloe's classroom. "Her coat was open and the clothes beneath it looked old and ragged," observes Chloe. Ms. Albert, their teacher, asks the children to greet Maya, "But most of us were silent." When Maya smiles at Chloe, Chloe moves her chair away. Lewis places readers outside the window looking into the classroom, evoking what Maya must be feeling--the sense of being left out in the cold.

The children can't be older than eight or nine years old, yet they already practice the art of exclusion. Chloe sticks with best friends Kendra and Sophie. They turn down Maya's overtures to play jacks and pickup sticks. On a warm day when Maya wears "a pretty dress and fancy shoes," Kendra calls her "Never New" because even this outfit looks secondhand. The next day, when Maya does not show up at school, Ms. Albert asks each student to think about how kindness ripples out, like dropping a small stone in a bowl of water. "This is what kindness does," the teacher explains. "Each little thing we do goes out, like a ripple, into the world." In Lewis's illustration, the children see themselves in the bowl of water and, as they report the kind things they've done, we can imagine the sense of well-being reflected back to them. All except Chloe, who "couldn't think of anything and passed the stone on." Chloe becomes aware of her ways and wants to make it up to Maya, but it's too late. Lewis depicts Maya's empty desk shrouded in shadow; Maya has moved away.

Woodson perfectly captures that feeling of belonging that comes from turning someone away from the sacred circle--as well as the hollow feeling that follows when you're alone with your conscience. Woodson and Lewis inject a sense of hope through Chloe's self-reflection and sense of remorse. We believe Chloe will do things differently next time. The emotional honesty of Chloe's narrative and Lewis's ability to mirror her mood through her surroundings make this an ideal tool for self-reflection. --Jennifer M. Brown

Shelf Talker: This haunting picture-book tale of bullying demonstrates the subtle erosion of character that cruelty can cause to both victim and tormentor.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com.

1. Down to You by M. Leighton
2. Guinness World Records 2013
3. Wool Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey
4. Love Left Behind by S.H. Kolee
5. His Every Move by Kelly Favor
6. The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan
7. 77 Days in September by Ray Gorham
8. Losing It by Cora Carmack
9. My Favorite Mistake by Chelsea M. Cameron
10. The Secret of Ella & Micha by Jessica Sorensen

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]