The National Endowment for the Arts will release a new report on American reading habits today that NEA chairman Dana Gioia describes as "simple, consistent and alarming," according to the New York Times.

The study is "based on an analysis of data from about two dozen studies from the federal Education and Labor Departments and the Census Bureau as well as other academic, foundation and business surveys," and expands on the NEA's 2004 report, Reading at Risk.

The NEA found that "although reading scores among elementary school students have been improving, scores are flat among middle school students and slightly declining among high school seniors." In addition, "the percentage of adults who are proficient in reading prose has fallen at the same time that the proportion of people who read regularly for pleasure has declined."

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Book groups are an increasingly important marketing tool for publishers as well as film companies, according to today's NYT.

"We want to get books on that circuit," Barb Burg, a Bantam spokeswoman, said of the reading groups. "There’s not a publisher in town for which this isn’t a top priority."

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David Doyle, owner of Rhythm & Muse, Jamaica Plain, Mass., told the Jamaica Plain Gazette that he is enjoying added security this autumn as the owner of the building in which his bookstore is located.

"At last I have a sense of long-term security," he said. "I am now confident the store can have a long-term presence here. I feel we'll be around as long as I am here. Being a business owner, I am aware of how rare this opportunity is. I feel very privileged to have this opportunity."

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In its profile of the Chatham Bookseller, Madison, N.J., the Daily Record noted that "a shopper could grab a book and go, but so much would be lost."

Co-proprietor Jesse Mann agreed: "People are welcome to stay the whole day. We find people are happy to find a place that gives them a refuge and where they are not pressured to buy."

An "ever-new" inventory is part of the bookshop's secret to success. "We try not to establish a long-term relationship with the books," Mann added. "The key to this business is turnover. Lots of repeat customers, who come in at least weekly, are always looking for something new."

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Annapolis Bookstore, Annapolis, Md., now has two locations, including a new, larger store that was the focus of an interview in the Capital Gazette with co-owners Mary Adams and Janice Holmes. How diminutive is the original bookshop? Adams described it as "the smallest bookstore in the world."

According to Holmes, "One of the best things about being a used bookstore is everybody has a story, and they all come in. It's like being a bartender, except they're all sober."

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Eva Mueller of Fort Collins, Colo., was arrested for the theft of more than 3,000 books "from Fort Collins and Loveland Barnes & Noble stores and a local B. Dalton store, four to eight at a time, during a nine-month period," according to the Coloradan. Mueller allegedly sold the books, valued at $92,000, on eBay for about $35,000.

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Crossroads Market bookstore, Dallas, Tex., may close at the end of the year, according to the Dallas Voice, which reported that "Richard Longstaff, who's owned Crossroads for the last four years, said he's not renewing his lease, which expires Dec. 31, because the owners are asking too much money."

"It's a pity, really, that it's come to this," Longstaff said of the quarter century-old independent bookstore. "It's an institution on the street, and that's one of the reasons I bought it. I just didn't want to see it go."

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Newsweek's cover story, "The Future of Reading," focused on Jeff Bezos and this week's debut of the Amazon Kindle, an electronic reader "that he hopes will leapfrog over previous attempts at e-readers and become the turning point in a transformation toward Book 2.0."

But the Kindle's real competition may be "Internet-friendly laptops, tablet computers and smart phones" rather than traditional books,  according to Forbes.

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Emerging Leaders NYC is holding the next Emerging Leaders Night Out party, its fourth, on Wednesday, November 28, 7-9 p.m., at the Housing Works Bookstore in Manhattan. The organization is inviting young people in bookstores and publishing houses in the New York City area; the mixer will offer informal networking opportunities. In addition, the group will have, it said, "new books and some special guest appearances by NYC authors in our midst."

To RSVP, e-mail jessica@mcnallyrobinsonnyc.com.

For information about the Emerging Leaders Project, click here.

 

This morning on the Today Show: Lauren Thompson, author of Ballerina Dream (Feiwel & Friends, $16.95, 9780312370299/0312370296).

Also on the Today Show: Ernie Anastos, author of Ernie and the Big Newz (NK Publications, $15.95, 9780970510051/0970510055).

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This morning on the Early Show: Susan Spicer, author of Crescent City Cooking: Unforgettable Recipes from Susan Spicer's New Orleans (Knopf, $35, 9781400043897/1400043891).

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This morning on Morning Edition: Nigella Lawson, author of Nigella Express: 130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast (Hyperion, $35, 9781401322434/1401322433).

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Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Jon Lellenberg, author of Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters (Penguin Press, $37.95, 9781594201356/1594201358).

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Today on Fresh Air: Mark Schapiro, author of Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power (Chelsea Green, $22.95, 9781933392158/1933392150).

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Today on the View: Jessica Seinfeld, author of Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food (Collins, $24.95, 9780061251344/0061251348).

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Today on NPR's Here & Now: Judith Jones, author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food (Knopf, $24.95, 9780307264954/0307264955).
 
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Today on the Leonard Lopate Show: Michael J. Gerson, author of Heroic Conservatism: Why Republicans Need to Embrace America's Ideals (And Why They Deserve to Fail If They Don't) (HarperOne, $26.95, 9780061349508/006134950X).

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Tonight on the Charlie Rose Show: Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.

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Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, in a repeat: Nikolas Kozloff, author of Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S. (Palgrave Macmillan, $14.95, 9781403984098/1403984093).

 

From last week's Book Sense bestseller lists, available at BookSense.com, here are the recommended titles, which are also Book Sense Picks:

Hardcover

The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell by Rachel Herz (Morrow, $24.95, 9780060825379/0060825375). "Since reading Scent of Desire I've noticed myself inhaling more deeply, wanting to capture the smells around me (at a restaurant or florist--even on the bus). This clever examination of the physiology and psychology of scent will wake you up to the world around you."--Lori Kauffman, Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, Mass.

The Melancholy Fate of Capt. Lewis by Michael Pritchett (Unbridled, $24.95, 9781932961416/1932961410). "High school history teacher Bill Lewis, in the midst of writing a book about explorer Meriwether Lewis, reveals that he shares the historic Lewis trait of depression and madness. Fascinated by the hellish adventures of Captain Lewis, morbidly drawn to the downward spiral of his biographer, I read to the end, as Bill Lewis glimpses a ray of hope for his sanity, his son, and his marriage."--Gina Webb, Tall Tales Book Shop, Atlanta, Ga.

For Young Adults

Boy Toy by Barry Lyga (Houghton Mifflin, $16.95, 9780618723935/0618723935). " 'Teacher Has Scandalous Affair with Schoolboy!' Sound familiar? If you think you know what's behind those headlines, you're wrong. This novel is shocking, devastating, and brilliant. Barry Lyga is a major new talent."--Jennifer Laughran, Books Inc., San Francisco, Calif.

[Many thanks to Book Sense and the ABA!]

 

The following titles have won the National Outdoor Book Awards:

Outdoor Literature (two winners):

• Blue Horizons: Dispatches from Distant Seas by Beth A. Leonard (International Marine/McGraw-Hill, 9780071479585). "A beautifully written series of vignettes about life and the sea."
• Backcast: Fatherhood, Fly-fishing, and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska by Lou Ureneck (St. Martin's, 9780312371517). "A realistic and heartwarming story of a father and his son."

History/Biography (two winners)

• The Very Hard Way: Bert Loper and the Colorado River by Brad Dimock (Fretwater Press, 9781892327697). "An absorbing portrait of . . . a legendary Colorado River boatman."
• Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters by James M. Tabor (Norton, 9780393061741). "Sheds new light on the tragedy" that led to the deaths of seven climbers on Mt. McKinley in 1967.

Natural History Literature

• Sky Time in Gray's River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place by Robert Michael Pyle (Houghton Mifflin, 978039582812). "A lovely meditation on one's own backyard."

Nature and the Environment (two winners)

• Condors in Canyon Country: The Return of the California Condor to the Grand Canyon Region by Sophie A. H. Osborn (Grand Canyon Association, 9780938216988). "The perfect vehicle to celebrate this environmental success story."
• White Paradise: Journeys to the North Pole by Francis Latreille (Abrams, 9780810930940). "Unveils the Arctic hinterlands like no other."

Design and Artistic Merit (two winners)

• Yosemite in the Sixties, photographs by Glen Denny, essays by Kevin Starr, Steve Roper and Glen Denny (Patagonia and T. Adler Books, 0979064909). "Yosemite in the golden age."
• Arctic Wings: Birds of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge edited by Stephen Brown (The Mountaineers Books, 0898869765). A "stylish, impressively designed book."

Children's

• Peak by Roland Smith (Harcourt, 9780152024178). "A fast-paced story."

Outdoor Adventure Guidebook

• Guide to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon by Tom Martin and Duwain Whitis (Vishnu Temple Press, 9780977674985). "A state-of-the-art river guide."

Instructional

• The Complete Mountain Biking Manual by Tim Brink (Ragged Mountain Press, 9780071493901). "Colorful, comprehensive and competently written."

Nature Guidebook

• Birds of Northern South America: An Identification Guide by Robin Restall, Clemencia Rodner and Miguel Lentino (Yale University Press, 9780300108620). "A tour de force."

Classic

• A Natural History of North American Trees by Donald Culross Peattie (Houghton Mifflin, 9780618799046). "The classical work on trees."

Work of Significance

• Connecticut Walk Book: The Guide to the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails of Western Connecticut edited Ann T. Colson (Connecticut Forest and Park Association, 0961905263). "Among the top tier of long-standing, tried-and-true guidebooks."

If Joseph Conrad had written a novel with Albert Camus, it would have been something like The Lost Sailors. Yes, it's that good.

The freighter Aldebaran is stranded in Marseilles and up for sale. The owner has disappeared. Abdul Aziz, the Lebanese captain, and Diamantes, the Greek first mate, realize that during 10 years of working together as a perfect team they've never really trusted each other enough to reveal their private lives. But when a sailor opens up and confides in someone, he's lost. These two lost sailors and their troubled attempt at friendship serve as the spine for this superbly-written waterfront noir, which plays out like a classic black-and-white French movie, moody and character-driven, romantic and doomed.

Diamantes is a sailor like his father before him, with a passionate love of maps and sea lore, trying to forget the girl he left behind. Abdul Aziz, the tortured captain he serves, desperately needs someone to talk to--his marriage is crumbling, he's losing the woman he adores, and all he can do is sternly cling to the rules of the ship that will be his last command. One other crew member hasn't left the grounded ship--Nedim, the Turkish sailor boy looking for love who always stumbles into trouble. Along with trouble he also finds Amina, the beautiful girl with the mysterious scar under her eye, abandoned by a sailor long ago and jealously guarded by Ricardo, kingpin of the Marseilles underworld. Every character is sympathetic, every character has a past and a point of view, as they battle for what they love and what they think is right in a tragic, headlong collision that spans generations and sweeps innocent and guilty alike toward violence.

Jean-Claude Izzo, who passed away half a dozen years ago, is a master in the classic French tradition. With concise, confident prose filled with silences and understatement, he creates a realistic world of shipyard toughs and bargirls, freighters and sailors that he seems to know intimately. Not only does he effortlessly create the rich, textured feel of a literary crime thriller, Izzo is a philosopher who never misses an opportunity to comment on the stark realities of the plot. "The real questions are the ones you only ask yourself later. When you've already screwed up your life."

Throughout this rich, wonderful novel Marseilles is omnipresent, teeming with life, radiant and complex as a character, the city Izzo passionately loved, the city where he lived and died.--Nick DiMartino

 

Why do they do it? What compels so many Americans to wake up on the day after Thanksgiving and say to one another, "It's the busiest shopping day of the year. The stores will be mobbed; people will be rude and annoying; and traffic will be absolutely unbearable. We sure don't want to miss that!"

Whatever the motivation, booksellers must prepare for the invasion.  

Chuck Robinson of Village Books, Bellingham, Wash., offers some pointers:

• Pre-wrap hot titles so folks can get-and-go. This will not only speed up transactions but will provide a little relief to your gift-wrap folks.
• Make sure you have plenty of copies of your holiday catalog in prominent spots around the store.  Readers love to use these as shopping lists in our store.
• Check out your section signage. There will likely be a lot of new buyers in the store. Don't assume they'll know where to find things.
• Review the shelf-tags and make sure they're current.  
• Get those Thanksgiving books out of the way . . . one way or the other.
• Plan to get out on the floor a lot. This isn't the time to be hovering waiting for folks. Circulate and you'll sell a lot more books.
• And, of course, get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, wear good shoes, and eat well. It's the holiday season. Just remember, all things in moderation . . . including moderation.

"The day after Thanksgiving is just when it starts getting exciting for us here," according to Steve Bercu of BookPeople, Austin, Tex. "Bryan Sansone, our floor manager, advises booksellers to relax; take one customer at a time; and know the strengths and weaknesses of your co-workers (so you know who to get help from and when someone else may need help). We get the gift wrap table ready, make sure our check-out lines are set up well, have all our supplies, and start selling. For this year we will have our 'Leftovers with Leslie' event featuring Leslie, our local iconic cross-dresser, signing his exclusive Leslie Christmas refrigerator magnets. It should be lots of fun."

Thanksgiving is also the official beginning of the dreaded holiday song season, and Kelly Justice of Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, Va., offers a remedy for staff musical torture: "At the beginning of the season, each staffer is required to put their least favorite holiday album or song in writing in our pass down log (our notebook that we use for in-store communication between shifts). No one is allowed to play the hated tune during that bookseller's shift. You'd be surprised what can make a bookseller crack and turn to a worthless pile of jelly in the eleventh hour. Respect and take care of each other first and you can better take care of the customers."

Mary Alice Gorman of Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, Pa., advises booksellers to "keep a good sense of humor as this time of the year." She notes that you "will see old friends and those folks who 'don't have time to read' but want to give someone who reads a book but they don't know anything about them. Then there's my personal fave--the person who wants to punish (my word) a child who doesn't read by giving them a book to make them read. It is the greatest fun to be the detective who finds the perfect book for folks who are buying for a mystery lover based upon the one or two clues that the gift given reveals."

She also urges booksellers to "sell lots of gift certificates. At Mystery Lovers, anyone who redeems their GC on Boxing Day (12/26) gets a free paperback of their choosing and a free coffee. That's a day to make it all worthwhile."

For Diane Van Tassell at Bay Books, Concord and San Ramon, Calif., it's "all about planning ahead and having things ready to go. I don't expect Black Friday to be much busier than the whole week of Thanksgiving because schools are out so people are shopping. People who travel to this area to visit relatives will be in shopping also. So we expect frenzy for this next week. The bottom line is we are going to get lots of sleep, try to be calm and friendly and just have lots of fun and make the customers enjoy whatever time they have to spend standing in line at the register (maybe bribe them with candy)." 

Look for more booksellers' survival tips in Wednesday's issue. Meanwhile, I'll work on my sales floor game face for my 16th consecutive Black Friday.--Robert Gray (column archives available at Fresh Eyes Now)