After a major public outcry, Charles T. Munger, the billionaire landlord of Dutton's Brentwood Books, who had wanted to build condos on the site of the store, now intends to build a two-story retail complex "that would retain Dutton's Brentwood Books in a new and improved space" and build the new bookstore first, the Los Angeles Times reported. He also said he would charge "a very low" rent.

"I was wrong," Munger told the paper. "Bookstores are fragile. Jostle them slightly and they never reopen. The best thing is to make sure it never closes."

Owner Doug Dutton called the plans "wonderful for the store" and "wonderful for the neighborhood."

Left up in the air are efforts by the daughter of the architect of the complex to designate it a historical-cultural monument.

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BookExpo America has shuffled its show deck: in 2010, BEA will be held in Washington, D.C., and in 2011 the show will be held in Las Vegas, Nev., reversing its previous order.

The main reason for the move was "scheduling conflicts outside of our control at the Las Vegas Convention Center," event director Lance Fensterman said in a statement. He called the site switcheroo "the least disruptive move BEA could make" and said the show is committed to moving around the country in an "equitable" way.

So now, for future reference, show dates are:

• 2008: Los Angeles, May 29-June 1
• 2009: New York City, May 28-31
• 2010: Washington, D.C., June 3-6
• 2011: Las Vegas, June 9-12
  

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In an especially cheerful story, Bookselling This Week talked with three owners of the 12 new bookstores that joined the ABA during June. The dozen stores, BTW said, reflect "the diversity of which independent booksellers are proud . . .  these newest members include general, children's, and new age booksellers, as well as one store with a focus on revolution."

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Booksellers are invited to apply to the International Booksellers Seminar, sponsored by the Frankfurt Book Fair and the German Foreign Office, which runs October 11-20. During the seminar, participants will attend the fair, visit bookstores, wholesalers and publishing companies, work briefly at a bookstore, see a library and more. The seminar will be conducted in English.

The program is open to 18 booksellers from non-German-speaking countries who have an interest in importing German books. The cost is €290 (about $395), travel to Germany not included. Application forms can be found at book-fair.com/scholarship_programmes/. The deadline for applications is July 15.

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In August 2008, Barnes & Noble plans to open a store in Stuart, Fla., in the Stuart Towne Center at U.S. Highway 1 and S.E. Dominica Terrace.

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"Is Ventura 2007--population 100,916, with a swanky restaurant and wine bar for practically every resident--really a 'Book Town'?" asked the VC Reporter in response to a proposal the city council will consider that would name Ventura, Calif., "an International Book City."

"The meaning would be to recognize the uniqueness of the many different types of bookstores Ventura has," said Clarey Rudd, owner of Bank of Books and Abednego Book Shoppe and the person who brought this possibility to the city's attention. "Too often, one overlooks the very good things in the community, then they lose it and discover their loss. It's a healthy thing for a city to recognize what's here."

The VC Reporter was a bit less enthusiastic, noting that "in comparison to most other Book Towns, the number of local mom-and-pop bookshops is rather paltry."

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Few things get newspaper readers more fired up than Top 10 lists. In early June, the Chicago Tribune featured its 10 favorite bookstores, including Anderson's Bookshop, Bookman's Alley, the Book Stall at Chestnut Court, Centuries & Sleuths, Gemini Fine Books & Arts, Powell's Bookstore, Prairie Avenue Bookshop, Quimby's Bookstore, Seminary Co-op Bookstore and Women & Children First.

Tribune readers were invited to disagree, and they accepted the invitation. This week the Tribune added two dozen readers' suggestions to the list. Was anybody left out?

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Oh-oh, Canada . . .

"This isn't a eulogy for a defunct Canadian book business," Kathleen O'Hara wrote in a cautionary piece about BookExpo Canada, published in the Peterborough (Ontario) Examiner. "That would be much too extreme. But it is a note of concern."

O'Hara expressed reservations about the pressure now being placed on writers to serve as multimedia marketers of their work: "I must confess that I am one of the multitude of hopeful novelists, and I'm beginning to find today's ultra-competitive, multimedia environment very daunting. Facebook and YouTube are not where I want to flog my work and myself. Perhaps, I need to attend the Paris Hilton School of Self-Promotion."

On a more positive note, she was impressed with the bookselling passion of Sarah McNally, owner of McNally Robinson in New York City, who said, "Can you imagine a world without bookstores? . . . I really believe that book professionals are different than most. At all meetings such as this, we can take as a given that we are all here first and foremost because we have been inspired by literature to devote our work to it."

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In Alberta, the Banff Craig & Canyon explored the respective efforts of a Canadian and an American bookseller, both of whom feel they are battling to save their communities' retail souls. The pair are "Gabi Wedin of the Banff Book & Art Den, who launched a campaign to have chain stores banned in favour of community character," and Wendy Hudson, owner of Nantucket Bookworks in Nantucket, Mass.

While their quests have certain similarities, a significant difference is that "while Wedin's campaign has sparked some serious conversations with Banff policy makers and is set to be up for debate once again in the Banff community plan, Hudson has already been successful. Last year, in April, chain stores were banned from Nantucket after she brought up the issue in a town meeting in 2005."

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Granfalloon Books has opened in Chardon, Ohio, the Willoughby News-Herald reported. The new bookshop takes its name from Cat's Cradle, in which Kurt Vonnegut "defined a granfalloon as a group of people who have a shared purpose, but whose association is meaningless." 

Owner Keith Gottschalk suggested that granfalloon "has two meanings. Vonnegut said, 'If you wish to study a granfalloon, just remove the skin of a toy balloon.' Something looks big, but when you pop it, it's just air. . . . I thought it's literary and kind of cute."

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Mary Sheldon, former manager of Tecolote BookShop, Montecito, Calif., is now the owner, having purchased the business from Peggy Dent. According to the Montecito Journal, Sheldon acknowledged the contribution of "three book-loving partners: Montecito residents Herb Simon and Len Freedman, and Austin, Texas-based Marc Winkelman."

"I want people to know that without them [her partners] Montecito might have lost its only bookstore," she said, adding that "anybody investing in an independent book store is really doing it as a labor of love. Book selling is a fairly unique business. I like to think of it as a profession. I don't know of anyone who runs an independent book store that doesn't absolutely love books. We're all willing to take the reward we get from choosing the right book for the right customer as our pay, instead of making tons of money."

 

 

Dog Ears Books, Northport, Mich., north of Traverse City, moved to larger quarters late last year. But because the related Painted Horse Gallery is just now opening and because Northport is a resort town (and the season starts now), Dog Ears will celebrate the grand opening of its new doghouse Friday, July 13, 5-7 p.m. The Painted Horse, which shares entrance, staff and event space with Dog Ears, is celebrating its grand opening at the same time. Classical guitarist Paul Vondiziano will play at the event.

Founded 14 years ago, Dog Ears doubled its space with the move and now has nearly 900 square feet. The store stocks 10% new books and 90% used as well as postcards, notecards, prints and posters. Dog Ears is owned by Pamela Grath.

The Painted Horse Gallery plans to exhibit paintings, giclee (fine reproduction) prints, 3-D art, handcrafted furniture and more by both local and international artists.

Dog Ears Books is located at 106 Waukazoo St., P.O. Box 272, Northport, Mich. 49670; 231-386-7209; dogearsbooks.net.

In changes similar to those being taken by some other regional booksellers associations, the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association is altering the schedule for its next trade show, which will be held September 27-30 in Denver, Colo. The biggest change: Friday is being "devoted to bringing publishers and booksellers together in a variety of venues in order to prepare the entire store staff for the holiday season. In addition to the snapshot of top titles provided by the traditional Pick of the Lists sessions, additional venues will give bookstore staff an opportunity to discuss marketing ideas with publishing staff, problem solve with sales reps, meet authors, and more."

New Friday events include:

• A Publisher/Bookseller Marketing Roundtable Breakfast that will be free for booksellers. One publisher and several booksellers will be assigned to a table to discuss the fall lists in detail and to exchange ideas for maximizing sales. Halfway through breakfast, the publishers will move and speak with a different table of booksellers.
• A Boxed Lunch & Editorial/Marketing Panel, at which editors and marketing directors from three publishing houses talk about how they work together to bring a top fall title to market.
• One-on-One Publisher/Bookseller Meetings. Small tables will be set up throughout the Marriott Conference Center for the use of MPIBA attendees to hold either scheduled or spontaneous meetings.

In addition, the trade show floor will be open only on Saturday, with longer than usual hours: 9:30-Noon and 1:30-8 p.m. The Children's Author & Illustrator Breakfast, traditionally held on Sunday, will become a Saturday Luncheon and take place while the trade show floor is closed.

Thursday will continue to focus on educational seminars for booksellers, followed by an evening author reception.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, directed by David Yates with a screenplay by Michael Goldenberg, opens in theaters Wednesday, July 11. The movie stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson; in this fifth book and movie of the series, Harry and his friends must survive their fifth year at Hogwarts while contending with adolescence and the return of Voldemort. The movie will be released exactly 10 days before the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the grand finale of the series.

 

The Bronx Is Burning, an eight-part weekly miniseries chronicling the summer of 1977 in New York, when the Son of Sam terrorized the city, arsonists seemed to work every night and the New York Yankees won the World Series, will air on ESPN beginning next Monday, July 9. The miniseries is based on Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City by Jonathan Mahler (Picador, $15, 9780312424305/0312424302). The movie tie-in edition is called The Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City (Picador, $15, 9780312427023/0312427026).

 

On Sunday on A Chef's Table: Joe Bageant, author of Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War (Crown, $25, 9780307339362/030733936X).

 

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, July 7

6 p.m. Encore Booknotes. In a segment first aired in 2000, Philip Short discussed his book, Mao: A Life (Owl Books, $25, 9780805066388/0805066381).

7 p.m. History on Book TV. In an event held at Mount Carmel Public Library, Mount Carmel, Pa., Joan Quigley, author of The Day the Earth Caved In: An American Mining Tragedy (Random House, $25.95, 9781400061808/1400061806), documents the Centralia, Pa., mine fire, which began in 1962 and still burns. (Re-airs Sunday, July 8, at 11 p.m.)

8 p.m. Cullen Murphy, author of Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America (Houghton Mifflin, $24, 9780618742226/0618742220), points out the similarities, as well as the differences, between contemporary America and the Roman Empire just before its collapse. (Re-airs Sunday, July 8, at 10 a.m.)

9 p.m. After Words. Roger Wilkins, Professor Emeritus at George Mason University, interviews Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of Can We Talk about Race? and Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation (Beacon Press, $22.95, 9780807032848/0807032840). Tatum, president of Spelman College, argues that negative stereotyping of African-American students compromises their ability to live up to their academic potential. (Re-airs Sunday, July 8, at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.)

10 p.m. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge talks with Ilan Berman, author of Taking on Tehran: Strategies for Confronting the Islamic Republic (Rowman & Littlefield, $24.95, 9780742558076/074255807X), about the options available to the U.S. government in its dealings with Iran. (Re-airs Sunday, July 15, at 11:30 a.m.)

10:30 p.m. History on Book TV. Arnold Rampersad, author of Ralph Ellison: A Biography (Knopf, $35, 9780375408274/0375408274), discusses the intriguing and, at times, controversial life of the author of an American classic, Invisible Man, which won the 1953 National Book Award and critical acclaim.

Sunday, July 8

6 a.m. Brink Lindsey, author of The Age of Abundance: How Prosperity Transformed America's Politics and Culture (Collins, $26.95, 9780060747664/0060747668), contends that post-World War II prosperity in the U.S. transformed the culture, allowing Americans to turn their attention to social matters and engendering a conservative backlash. (Re-airs Sunday, July 8, at 3 p.m.)

11 a.m. History on Book TV. In an event held at the King's English Bookshop, Salt Lake City, Utah, Sally Denton, author of Passion and Principle: John and Jessie Fremont, The Couple Whose Power, Politics, and Love Shaped Nineteenth-Century America (Bloomsbury, $32.50, 9781596910195/1596910194), recounts the lives of a nineteenth-century political power couple.

1:30 p.m. History on Book TV. Elizabeth Brown Pryor, author of Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters (Viking, $29.95, 9780670038299/0670038296), discusses her use of previously unexamined letters to explore Lee's private life and intimate writings.

7 p.m. Public Lives. Günter Grass, author of the controversial memoir, Peeling the Onion (Harcourt, $26, 9780151014774/0151014779), and Norman Mailer, whose most recent novel is The Castle in the Forest (Random House, $27.95, 9780394536491/0394536495), talk about their lives and work with novelist Andrew O'Hagan. (Re-airs Sunday, July 15, at 12 p.m.)

10 p.m. Phil Kent, author of Foundations of Betrayal: How the Liberal Super-Rich Undermine America (Zoe Publications, $24.95, 9780971985117/0971985111), discusses the influence of liberal foundations in changing the culture of America.

Avi's (Crispin at the Edge of the World) tale of the first conflict between two iron-clad ships, which helped decide the fate of the Civil War, is as immediate as they come. Even the most reluctant reader will be swept up in the events as related by 13-year-old Tom Carroll. As the story opens in a cold January 1862 in Brooklyn, N.Y., Tom's family is still reeling from the news of his father's death while serving in Brooklyn's Fourteenth Regiment. Both Tom's mother and his 17-year-old sister take in officers' washing for $2 per week each, but without his father's salary they are struggling. That's how Tom winds up in Rowland's Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, "bolting Ericsson's floating battery together." Through Tom's eyes and his curiosity, readers learn how the Monitor, nicknamed "Iron Thunder," gets built, from its hull, which rises only 18" above the water's surface, to the innovative moving turret that allows the gunmen to shift among targets. They have 100 days to finish her, as they race against the Rebels who are building a "sea monster," also coated in iron, officially called the Virginia, but widely known by its earlier name, the Merrimac. If the skepticism does not raise the stakes enough (onlookers call the Monitor an "iron coffin," and indeed she weighs 120 tons without her guns), a Rebel spy stalks Tom throughout the book, attempting to find out the ship's secrets. Tom introduces readers to a host of colorful characters, from Garrett Falloy, the class bully-turned-hero who helps Tom ward off the Reb spy, to Swedish Captain Ericsson, who engineered the Monitor, to Captain John Worden, who would sail her. The book culminates in the clash between the two iron-clads at Hampton Roads, where the Monitor's mission is to save the Union's naval blockade. Science, history and adventure come together in this tale of suspense and intrigue that illuminates one of the more unusual aspects of the war that helped determine the nation we take for granted today.--Jennifer M. Brown