Shelf Awareness for Monday, November 10, 2008


Del Rey Books: The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Dial Press: Whoever You Are, Honey by Olivia Gatwood

Pantheon Books: The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera

Peachtree Publishers: Leo and the Pink Marker by Mariyka Foster

Wednesday Books: Castle of the Cursed by Romina Garber

Overlook Press: How It Works Out by Myriam LaCroix

Charlesbridge Publishing: If Lin Can: How Jeremy Lin Inspired Asian Americans to Shoot for the Stars by Richard Ho, illustrated by Huynh Kim Liên and Phùng Nguyên Quang

Shadow Mountain: The Orchids of Ashthorne Hall (Proper Romance Victorian) by Rebecca Anderson

Quotation of the Day

'The Library Has Always Been a Window to a Larger World'

"More than a building that houses books and data, the library has always been a window to a larger world--a place where we've always come to discover big ideas and profound concepts that help move the American story forward. . . . .

"Libraries remind us that truth isn't about who yells the loudest, but who has the right information. Because even as we're the most religious of people, America's innovative genius has always been preserved because we also have a deep faith in facts.

"And so the moment we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold into a library, we've changed their lives forever, and for the better. This is an enormous force for good."--President-elect Barack Obama in a speech at the American Library Association annual conference in June 2005.

[Many thanks to Donna Paz Kaufman and Janet W. Loveless of the Nassau County Public Library System, Fernandina Beach, Fla.]

 


HarperOne: Amphibious Soul: Finding the Wild in a Tame World by Craig Foster


News

Notes: Bookstore Birthdays; Telling Tales

Two bookstore birthdays made news over the weekend:

The Seattle Times noted that "Lake Forest Park's Third Place Books, a success story in the world of independent bookstores, is throwing itself a 10th-anniversary birthday party. . . . Ten years ago this month, local developer Ron Sher took a chance--he opened an independent bookstore in an era when independent stores were closing all over America. . . . Ten years later, independents are still struggling, but the owners and staff of Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park are in a celebratory mood--their location in a shopping mall is a magnet for book lovers."

And Accent on Books, Asheville, N.C., "celebrates 25 years in business this year," the Citizen-Times reported. Co-owner Lewis Sorrells said, "Bookstores and libraries tend to complement each other. Book lovers both borrow and buy books. The same with independent book stores: In fact, we refer customers back and forth with Malaprop's all the time."

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The Great Crash of 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith (Mariner, $14, 9780395859995/0395859999) has found a renewed audience in the past month. Just yesterday the New York Times Week in Review wrote on its front page that "few could have exhumed the financial apocalypse with more wit and panache than [Galbraith] . . . The book is perhaps most intriguing for its depiction of the delusion that swept the culture, and the ways financiers and bankers, wishful academics and supine regulators willfully ignored reality and in the process encouraged the epic collapse of the stock market." In the last few weeks, the publisher has gone back to press several times for The Great Crash of 1929, which has been in print since its publication in 1954.

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Subtitle this story the Subtitles You Regret.

Using the example of A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win by Shelby Steele, which was published by the Free Press late last year, the New York Times notes that "many an author has come to incorrect conclusions, but only a few have had the courage to make a prediction in a title that could be directly contradicted."

Steele told the Times, "My feeling is that I stand by every word of the analysis--what is between the covers of the book." He chose the subtitle, he said, when Obama was trailing Hillary Clinton in the polls.

The subtitle will change when the book appears in paperback.

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Noting that the Miami Book Fair International, which is being held this week, is "widely known as one of the biggest and best in the country if not the biggest and best, started out small," the Miami Herald looked back in time for perspective on an event that "speaks volumes about local passion for books."

''As in any car-culture city, people didn't know there were other like-minded people here,'' recalled Books & Books owner Mitch Kaplan, who still serves as the book fair's chairman. "Eduardo Padrón threw the weight of [Miami Dade] college behind this thing, at a time when people thought the only books being read here were nonprescription-drug books. I knew better, but there were few models for what we were doing.''

The book fair's evolution has been dramatic. According to the Herald, "Fair administrators guesstimate that $2 million worth of books are sold during the weeklong event every year."

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Extra! Extra! Last Tuesday's presidential election results made news on many fronts, including the astounding sales figures for copies of Wednesday morning's newspapers. Boing Boing highlighted the world's obsession with a link to a wall of front pages and monumental headline type.

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The Macon Telegraph profiles Christopher Paine, manager of a Barnes & Noble in Macon, Ga., who as a teenager wanted to own a bookstore but became a lawyer. After working in New York City in law for some 15 years, Paine moved to San Diego, Calif., in 2000 and decided to try his old dream. He worked for three B&Ns before transferring in 2005 to Georgia, where he became an assistant manager at a B&N.

He said he's happy he made the career move, commenting: "What we sell has a lot to do with people's hopes, dreams and aspirations, as well as their problems. For everything that people do, there is a book for it. And the other part of it is more pleasure-driven--people are looking for a good read."

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This coming Thursday, November 13, at 7 p.m. in the Celeste Bartos Forum of the New York Public Library, Live from the NYPL commemorates the 15th anniversary of the publication of The Stone Diaries by the late Carol Shields. Among the guests: Sarah Botsford, Anne Giardini, Martin Levin, Sarah McNally, Shelagh Rogers, Don Shields, David Staines, Jane Urquhart and Meg Wolitzer. For more information, click here.

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The Association of Jewish Libraries has a new reading list on Israel for adults and children. The list, called Israel@60, includes more than 30 fiction and nonfiction titles as well as websites and videos.

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Effective January 1, Victoria Davies is joining Nancy Suib & Associates as Rocky Mountains sales rep and will sell in Colorado, northern Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and selected publishers for Arizona and southern Nevada.

Most recently Davies has been sales and marketing manager at the University of Nevada Press and earlier was the buyer and general book manager for the ASUN bookstore at the University of Nevada at Reno.

She may be reached at 775-787-5903 and vldavies25@gmail.com.

[Thanks to the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association newsletter!]

 


Park Street Press: An Autobiography of Trauma: A Healing Journey by Peter A Levine


Media and Movies

Media Heat: Ted Turner Makes the Rounds

This morning on the Today Show:

  • Jamie Oliver, author of Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life (Hyperion, $37.50, 9781401322427/1401322425). Oliver also appears tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman.
  • Frank Gifford, author of The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever (Harper, $25.95, 9780061542558/0061542555).
  • Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything (Wiley, $35, 9780764578656/0764578650).

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This morning on Good Morning America: Ted Turner, author of Call Me Ted (Grand Central, $30, 9780446581899/0446581895). He will also appear tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman and on Larry King Live and tomorrow on Good Morning America.

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Today on CNN American Morning: Vernon E. Jordan, author of Make It Plain: Standing Up and Speaking Out (PublicAffairs, $24.95, 9781586482985/158648298X). He also appears tomorrow on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell.

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Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Jonathan Alter, author of Between the Lines: A View Inside American Politics, People, and Culture (State Street Press, $12.45, 9780681497559/0681497556).

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Today on Charlie Rose: Toni Morrison, author of A Mercy (Knopf, $23.95, 9780307264237/0307264238).

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Tonight on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Martha Stewart, author of Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook (Clarkson Potter, $45, 9780307396440/0307396444).

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Tomorrow morning on Good Morning America: Randy Owen, author of Born Country (HarperOne, $25.95, 9780061673146/0061673145).

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Tomorrow morning on the Today Show: Peter Greenberg, author of Don't Go There!: The Travel Detective's Essential Guide to the Must-Miss Places of the World (Rodale Books, $17.95, 9781605299945/1605299944).

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Tomorrow on Fresh Air: Artie Lange, author of Too Fat to Fish (Spiegel & Grau, $24.95, 9780385526562/0385526563).

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Tomorrow on Dr. Phil: David Foster, author of Hitman: Forty Years Making Music, Topping the Charts, and Winning Grammys (Pocket, $26, 9781439103067/1439103062).

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Tomorrow on NPR's Marketplace: Robert J. Samuelson, author of The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence (Random House, $26, 9780375505485/0375505482).

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Tomorrow on Oprah: Dr. Mehmet Oz, co-author of You: Being Beautiful (Free Press, $26.99, 9781416572343/1416572341).

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Tomorrow night on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Thomas Friedman, author of Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.95, 9780374166854/0374166854).

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Tomorrow night on the Colbert Report: Taras Grescoe, author of Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood (Bloomsbury USA, $24.99, 9781596912250/1596912251).

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Tomorrow night on the Late Show with David Letterman: Don Rickles, author of Rickles' Letters (Simon & Schuster, $25, 9781416596639/1416596631).

Also on the Late Show: Terrell Owens, author of T.O.'s Finding Fitness (Simon & Schuster, $26, 9781416595120/1416595120).

 


G.P. Putnam's Sons: Take Me Home by Melanie Sweeney



Books & Authors

IndieBound: Other Indie Favorites

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

Hardcover

The Wettest County in the World: A Novel Based on a True Story by Matt Bondurant (Scribner, $25, 9781416561392/1416561390). "I loved this book--an effective symbiosis of style, substance, and narrative technique. The novel absorbs the reader into its riveting account of the 1920s and 1930s Virginia moonshine trade and offers a fascinating perspective of American history. I was immersed from beginning to end."--Kristin Kirkham, the University Book Store, Madison, Wis.

Confessions of an Eco-Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff by Fred Pearce (Beacon, $24.95, 9780807085882/080708588X). "It's official: Everyone is going green. Sometimes, though, learning which behaviors really make a difference seems an impossible task. In Confessions of an Eco-Sinner, Fred Pearce is determined to find the truth by following his possessions from the cradle to the grave. What he learns is sometimes disturbing, occasionally rewarding, and always eye-opening."--Rachel Tavares, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, Ariz.

Paperback

How to Be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith (Perigee, $14.95, 9780399534607/0399534601). "Keri Smith has written another book to spark creativity and to help us remember who we are. How to Be an Explorer of the World will make a great gift."--Keri Holmes, the Kaleidoscope: Our Focus Is You, Hampton, Iowa

For Young Adults

Masterpiece by Elise Broach (Holt Books for Young Readers, $16.95, 9780805082708/0805082700). "A marvelous story about a boy who doesn't fit in, a beetle who longs for adventure, and how they find each other. The interaction between the two rings true even as they become involved in an art heist at the Museum of Modern Art."--Trish Brown, Hooray for Books!, Alexandria, Va.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

 


Hudson's Best Books of 2008

Hudson Booksellers, which has 60 bookstores, sells books in more than 400 Hudson News newsstands in airports and transportation terminals and grosses $100 million in book sales, has selected its 2008 Best Books. The titles, which were selected by Hudson booksellers and managers and will be highlighted in Hudson stores starting December 1, are:

Book of the Year: When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

Nonfiction:

The Animal Dialogues
by Craig Childs
Hot, Flat & Crowded by Thomas Friedman
The Ayatollah Begs to Differ by Hooman Majd
Out of Mao's Shadow by Philip P. Pan
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley
Beautiful Boy by David Sheff
The Way of the World by Ron Suskind
The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria

Fiction:

The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine
2666 by Roberto Bolano
All About Lulu by Jonathan Evison
The Lazarus Project by Aleksander Hemon
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
Lush Life by Richard Price
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Best Children's:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Big Words for Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
Bats at the Library by Brian Lies

Business Interest:

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Simplexity by Jeffrey Kluger
Earth: The Sequel by Fred Krupp
The Snowball by Alice Schroeder

 


Mandahla: More Cookbooks

Simon and Schuster has published a facsimile edition of the 1949 classic The Fireside Cook Book by James Beard ($30, 9781416589679/1416589678, October 2008), and what a fine thing! First, there are the retro color illustrations by the Provensens, sweet and sometimes comical; then, the text from almost six decades ago, which often provides a smile: "Green or tossed salad has become increasingly popular in this country." "Many honest wines can be purchased below $2." Aside from the nostalgia factor, this is a first-rate cookbook, beginning with a word of advice: "There is absolutely no substitute for the best. Good food cannot be made of inferior ingredients masked with high flavor. It is true thrift to use the best ingredients available and to waste nothing . . . plan ahead . . . avoid having too many courses. If the food is good, that is all the more reason to limit the number of courses." That is guidance that could grace every cookbook introduction. And Beard wastes nothing. His recipes for leftover chicken alone are myriad ("Cut chicken in large dice . . . for guests, use only the white meat."), and while jellied chicken might not be a winner today, the comfort of creamed chicken on a biscuit is timeless.

Speaking of retro, what could be more retro and yet more in (witness the new passion for pork bellies) than fat? Glorious fat. That fundamental of flavor. Healthy fat.  Jennifer McLagan, author of Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes (Ten Speed Press, $32.50, 9781580089357/0771055773, September), has written an apologia for this much-maligned ingredient. Starting with "Butter: Worth It," she follows with chapters on pork, poultry, beef and lamb fats, with yummy recipes--Homemade Butter, Spicy Buttered Popcorn, Salted Butter Tart (with lots of whipped cream), Pumpkin and Bacon Soup, Bacon Fat Spice Cookies, Potatoes Sardelaise made with duck fat, Risotti Milanese made with marrow, Fruit Cobbler with Suet Biscuits--scared yet? McLagan persuasively makes the case for cooking with fat: "[It] makes everything we eat taste better, and eating fat is satisfying, so we eat less and our desire to snack is reduced. Enjoying our meals makes us happy and lowers our stress . . . [for most people], fat is a necessary part of our diet." The book is larded with bits of literature (Seamus Heaney, Alexander Dumas) and asides about fat (butter was once used to preserve eggs; it was rumored that A. J. Leibling used a piece of bacon for a bookmark) as well as practical advice (save butter wrappers for greasing pans).

Does the world need another appetizer cookbook? If it's 50 Great Appetizers by Pamela Sheldon Johns (Andrews McMeel, $14.99, 9780740776502/0740776509, October 2008), the answer is "yes." With the growing popularity of small plate meals and smaller meals in general, Johns has compiled creative recipes perfect for a party or a fun home dinner. Most of the recipes are simple, even if the ingredients list is long, although anything that calls for a pastry bag (Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms) would never make it at my house. But Lamb Fritters with Curry Sauce would, and B'stilla, where this slightly daunting dish made with phyllo dough, chicken, almonds, cinnamon, coriander and ginger, is made manageable by using muffin cups. Crispy parmigiano shells form an edible dish to hold mixed greens; bite-sized polenta squares are topped with goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes; pesto dip is paired with spicy bread twists--having this appetizer-sized book, especially with themed menus, on your cookbook shelf will add some zest (and ease) to your parties and meals.--Marilyn Dahl

 


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