In honor of Independence Day, this is our last issue of the week. We'll see you again on Monday, July 6.

"I will also miss the regular customers who came in and just LOVED talking about books. Their support & love has kept us going! . . . And most importantly, I will miss the people I worked with. They made working at Shaman Drum one of the best jobs I've ever had. . . . Pour a 40 on the ground for us tonight!"--Some of the last tweets from Shaman Drum Bookshop's Twitter page during the bookshop's final day in business Tuesday.

J.D. Salinger scored a legal victory in his attempt to block publication of 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye by Fredrik Colting under the pseudonym John David California (Shelf Awareness, June 3, 2009). Lawyers for Salinger contended that the novel was derivative of Catcher in the Rye and Holden Caulfield, infringing upon the author's copyright.

The New York Times reported that Judge Deborah A. Batts of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, in a 37-page ruling filed yesterday, "issued a preliminary injunction--indefinitely banning the publication, advertising or distribution of the book in this country--after considering the merits of the case."

The Times added that the case could still go to trial, but the "ruling means that Mr. Colting's book cannot be published in the United States pending the resolution of the litigation, which could drag on for months or years." The book has been published in Britain.

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Cool idea of the day: Tonight is Fireside Books Night at the Forest City Owls baseball game. In its e-mail newsletter, Fireside Books & Gifts, Forest City, N.C., invited readers to "join us as we support the Owls tomorrow night, July 2nd. What an unbelievable season they're having! GO OWLS! Fireside will be giving away books to the first 500 kids through the gate as well as having drawings for great prizes all night long! Join us for an exciting evening of baseball, free books, fireworks and more! SEE YOU AT THE GAME!"

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Bookselling This Week profiled Collected Works Bookstore, Santa Fe, N.M., noting that on June 12, "the same day the 31-year-old business reopened in a new 4,000-square-foot space," co-owners Dorothy Massey and Mary Wolf "were presented with the New Mexico Book Association's Book-in-Hand Honor."

"It's going very, very well," Massey said. "We had a wonderful reception from the community, and we've already had several successful events. . . . We're looking forward to doing more events, as well as starting a series of events, which we couldn't do in the old space. We'll have a regular poetry series, and book clubs in various genres. We're also welcoming community events, which will take place in our expanded cafe area."

The expansion and addition of a cafe are part of a plan to help the area. "Santa Fe needed a downtown gathering place," said Massey. "And I hope very much that we will be that place."

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BTW also showcased Denver's Tattered Cover Book Store and Twist & Shout, an indie record shop. For the two "neighbors in Denver's Lowenstein 'CulturePlex,' cross promotions have become a regular, and successful, way of doing business."

"The theme of all of our promotions is always the importance of independent businesses and why people should shop local," said Heather Duncan, Tattered Cover's director of marketing.

Paul Epstein, owner of Twist & Shout, noted three factors that make the partnership work: "First, we have had the privilege of hitching our wagon to one of the great retailers in the world, and have received the reflected glory of said hitching. Second, we have cemented our place in the independent arts community through our proximity to Tattered Cover. In Denver, when people think about independent business or the arts, we believe that our little 'CulturePlex' is the first place they think of going. Third, and most importantly, we have had the opportunity to create a few events with Tattered Cover that have made a big impact on the community and resulted in sales and good feelings."

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"It was never my dream to own a book store," Anne Laird, owner of the Town Book Store, Westfield, N.J., told the Westfield Patch. Nevertheless, when the previous owner decided to sell, Laird "took the plunge."

Laird "has been using customer service as her main niche to keep business coming into the store when two Barnes & Nobles sit five minutes in either direction in Springfield and Clark. . . .  She said Westfield's location near several book distributors allows her to promise quick turn around in orders," the Patch reported.

"I feel it is a kind of a natural thing that Westfield could support this bookstore since 1934," she said. "It started in the middle of the Great Depression. Our main claim to fame is personal customer service."

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Books ahoy! Although we mention business and book launches routinely here, the word launch is literally appropriate for the Book Barge. The Express & Star reported that the "canal bookstore . . . moored at Barton Marina, Barton-under-Needwood . . . is the brainchild of Sarah Henshaw. She has transformed her 60-foot narrowboat into a haven for book lovers wanting something different from high street chain stores with the help of her trainee carpenter boyfriend."

"Opening my own bookshop was a childhood dream but I began to fear it would never come true," she said. "I didn't have the money to rent a high street shop. Then we came across Barton Marina and loved it, it's so pretty. But when I inquired about units there weren't any available."

The inspired solution to this dilemma was to take to the water. "I very much want this to become the community bookstore, not just a gimmick, and the locals are being very supportive," she added.

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The plot thickens for the James Frey book series that Dreamworks recently acquired the film rights to, with Michael Bay directing (Shelf Awareness, June 29, 2009). Today's New York Times reported that a "week after submitting a young adult novel anonymously to editors, James Frey, the notorious author of A Million Little Pieces, and a writing partner, Jobie Hughes, have sold North American rights to I Am Number Four to HarperCollins Children's Books. . . . Eric Simonoff, a literary agent with William Morris Endeavor who represented Mr. Frey and Mr. Hughes in the deal, said the pair had also sold three subsequent books in a planned series."

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At one time, Richard & Judy's Book Club in the U.K. rivaled Oprah's in its influence upon the reading public and the publishing industry. On the occasion of their final show yesterday, BBC News explored "how Richard and Judy changed what we read."

"There's a certain thread running through a lot of novels that have sold well in the U.K. in the last few years," observed the BBC. "They share nothing so exact as a genre or type, but they have exotic titles, a powerful story and a literary bent. Oh, and a badge. A badge that says 'Richard and Judy.'"

"When it started I was skeptical," said Claire Armitstead, the Guardian's literary editor. "I thought their choices would be trashy and it wouldn't make any difference to anything of any quality. The summer list tended to be more potboilery, but the winter list had some really serious books. The [literary] world is better off."
   
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"Let the debate begin," Newsweek challenged with its meta-list of the top 100 books of all time, which the magazine created by crunching "the numbers from 10 top books lists (Modern Library, the New York Public Library, St. John's College reading list, Oprah's, and more)."

Tomorrow morning on Morning Edition: Adam Perry Lang, author of Serious Barbecue: Smoke, Char, Baste, and Brush Your Way to Great Outdoor Cooking (Hyperion, $35, 9781401323066/1401323065).

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Tomorrow on Oprah, in a repeat: Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile, authors of I'd Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper: Loving Your Marriage after the Baby Carriage (Chronicle, $18.95, 9780811867351/0811867358)

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this week from 8 a.m. Friday 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.

Friday, July 3

3 p.m. Pamela Newkirk, editor of Letters from Black America (FSG, $30, 9780374101091/0374101094), presents a history of African-American men and women through their personal correspondences. (Re-airs Saturday at 3 a.m.)

5 p.m. For an event hosted by Politics and Prose bookstore, Washington, D.C., John Stauffer discusses his book, Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln (Twelve, $30, 9780446580090/0446580090). (Re-airs Saturday at 5 a.m.)

Saturday, July 4

8 a.m. Politics and Prose Bookstore also hosted Ray Raphael, author of Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation (New Press, $35, 9781595583277/1595583270), who examines lesser-known participants in the founding of the U.S. (Re-airs Saturday at 8 p.m.)

6 p.m. Encore Booknotes. For a segment that first aired in 2000, Joyce Appleby, author of Inheriting the Revolution: The First Generation of Americans (Belknap Press, $19.95, 9780674006638/0674006631), talked about the legacy of Americans who lived between 1776 and 1830.
   
7 p.m. For an event hosted by the Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, Colo., Lily Burana, author of I Love a Man in Uniform: A Memoir of Love, War, and Other Battles (Weinstein Books, $23.95, 9781602860834/1602860831), talks about her life as the wife of a military intelligence officer who served in Iraq.

10 p.m. After Words. Nicole Lee interviews 2004 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement and author of The Challenge for Africa (Pantheon, $25, 9780307377401/0307377407). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., and Monday at 3 a.m.)

Sunday, July 5

12 p.m. In Depth. John Ferling, author of The Ascent of George Washington: The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon (Bloomsbury, $30, 9781596914650/1596914653), joins Book TV for a live interview from George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. Viewers can participate in the discussion by calling in during the program or e-mailing questions to booktv@c-span.org. (Re-airs Monday at 12 a.m.)

For the second season of ABC's series Castle, the network "is adopting a decidedly retro medium to excite viewers . . . a book," according to the Hollywood Reporter. "Because the show's protagonist, Richard Castle, is a best-selling author of mysteries, what more appropriate tie-in than to publish an actual mystery novel written by the character?"

Beginning August 10, the first chapter of a novel titled Heat Wave by "Richard Castle" (the name of the real author has not been divulged) will debut on ABC.com. "The network will post the first half of the book, a chapter a week, for 10 weeks. The full novel will be published September 29 by Disney sister company Hyperion. The story apparently is a stand-alone mystery with cross-over elements to the on-screen story," according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Variety reported that "former BBC Films topper David Thompson has secured the film rights to William Boyd's new novel, Ordinary Thunderstorms, ahead of its planned September publication date. Thompson will develop the project through his shingle Origin Pictures. BBC Films has also boarded the adaptation, which Boyd will write the screenplay for."

"It's a hugely exciting proposition and very rare to come across a big London-set thriller that is both sophisticated and unpredictable in equal measure," said Thompson.

Forget walking two moons in someone else's moccasins: Try being trapped inside someone else's body! For 13-year-old Amanda Beeson, it gets even worse. She goes from being "the Queen of Mean" who rules Meadowbrook Middle School ("or at least the eighth grade"), to assuming the identity of Tracey Devon, "the most pathetic creature in the entire class." Amanda has the "gift" or, perhaps more accurately, the "curse" of inhabiting the bodies of people for whom she feels pity. The first time it happened, Amanda was not yet five years old, and she felt sorry for a homeless woman. But it hadn't occurred in nearly three years. So why was this "bizarre bodysnatching" happening again? Kaye (Penelope) uses her trademark mix of clever plotting and edgy humor to skewer the middle-grade mafia. No one is safe. While disguised in Tracey's body, "Amanda-Tracey" learns what her two so-called best friends really think of Amanda. And is it possible that the real Tracey somehow contributed to her "invisibility" by not standing up for herself, as her younger septet siblings took over the household? There's even a classroom at Meadowbrook where "Madame" instructs all the "gifted" students (some with surprising identities, such as Ken the jock) to help them try to control their abilities. The author leaves a few questions hanging. (These include: When "invisible" Amanda-Tracey carries objects, are the objects still visible? Is the principal in cahoots with the student teacher who's trying to co-opt the "gifted" students' talents to her own selfish ends? And who set up the "gifted" classroom anyway?) But perhaps these will be answered in one of the series' next installments. In the meantime, the author's wit keeps readers turning these pages. For each featured teen, there's a logic to the gift: The "Queen of Mean" spews spite as a matter of survival, to save herself from succumbing to her sympathies and literally turning into someone else; Tracey becomes a wallflower alongside the darling "Devon Seven"; and Goth girl Jenna puts on a bad girl persona to keep others at arm's length and hide her broken home life with her alcoholic mother. The fact that Amanda finds in Jenna an unlikely ally will only heighten readers' interest. Fans of this first book will eagerly grab the next installment, Better Late Than Never ($7.99 paper, 9780753463000/0753463008, also June), to see if Amanda will acknowledge the liaisons she made in this entertaining series launch.--Jennifer M. Brown

Apparently we had one of our favorite bookstores on the brain:

Laura Lutz, who is joining HarperCollins on July 27, is the blogger of Pinot and Prose (not Politics and Prose).

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Yesterday's Book Brahmin by Peter Manseau in honor of the trade paperback publication of Songs for the Butcher's Daughter included an image of the cover of the hardcover edition. Since we like the new version better, we're showing it here.

Like good books, good bookseller blogs are irresistible and, with hard work and a little luck, find their audience. Bad or mediocre blogs tend to stack up like digital bones. You can even carbon date them. If the last post was in 2007, for example, the blog is probably . . . extinct.

We're not here to mourn fallen bloggers, but to explore a few that have succeeded. For many reasons, personal and otherwise, I have long been intrigued by how booksellers manage to write their way successfully along that border between the personal and the bookstore blog.

In last week's column, I mentioned that Megan Sullivan's Bookdwarf blog was an early influence on my efforts. Megan is also head buyer at the Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass. She began working there in 1999, and when she launched Bookdwarf in 2004, "it had nothing to do with work. I just created it one day and started talking about books. It was fun. Other bloggers started reading it and I started reading their blogs. I didn't let anyone know at work about it, but they found out anyway eventually. I've been told that customers have come in asking about Bookdwarf, which I find funny."

Megan adds that although she didn't write specifically about the bookstore except in reference to events or galleys, "I also started writing about the plight of independents a little bit. Perhaps that's why they never complain about me blogging at work. They know that I'd never break confidentiality or use the blog to complain about the store. It can occasionally be difficult to know what I can and can't say as more and more people read my blog. I also like that the blog is mine. Other booksellers I know blog for their store, but I would find that limiting. Bookdwarf is my voice, no one else's."

For Daniel Goldin, the borderline has shifted in recent months. A longtime buyer and general manager for Harry W. Schwartz bookshops, he opened the Boswell Book Company at Schwartz's former Downer Avenue location in Milwaukee, Wis., this year. He is also making the transition to considering blogs as an owner rather than as a staff member.

Daniel notes that when he started the Boswell and Books blog last fall, "I went to Schwartz's owner Carol Grossmeyer, and asked permission to set up a blog, with the idea that it would transition to a possible new bookstore. I also set up our bookseller blog, the Boswellians, in the same way. I bought the domain names for both as well. One of my booksellers, Sarah Marine, has been doing the day-to-day postings, which are done on work time. Sarah is leaving, and another bookseller, Greg Bruce, will be taking over posting. In addition, our buyer/manager Jason Kennedy tried his hand at a personal blog, but wasn't posting enough to make it viable, and has now been posting on the Boswellians as well.
 
"Though I don't always agree with everything said in every posting, I haven't had any concern so far with what's been said in the blogs. My big beef early on was suggesting to booksellers to hold their in-depth pieces on galleys they read until the book came out. It was my feeling that this was not going to help anyone sell books except Amazon. It was generally accepted by the staff."

Jessica Stockton Bagnulo is currently leading a blog juggler's life. As the events coordinator for McNally Jackson Books, New York, N.Y., she blogged there as well as on the Written Nerd. Now that she has begun the transition to her own Greenlight Bookstore, she's blogging about that (ad)venture, too.

"When you're doing work you love, the line between the personal and the professional is often extremely flexible," Jessica observes. "Your coworkers and customers and clients and vendors and competitors are also your friends. Your professional development is also what you'd be doing in your free time. And when you talk about your product, it's a conversation packed with emotion. That requires a certain amount of diplomacy, as well as a willingness to let the personal become the professional. Everyone decides where to draw the line of conviviality vs. privacy, but there's always some overlap. In that sense, I think being a bookseller is actually great practice for being a blogger, where that personal/professional balance is always a factor. You want to be honest and have fun, but only to a point--there are reasons for keeping things nice, for maintaining relationships."

The conversation continues next week.--Robert Gray (column archives available at Fresh Eyes Now)

The following were the bestselling titles at independent bookstores in the Chicago area during the week ended Sunday, June 28:

Hardcover Fiction
 
1. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
2. The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafron
3. Finger Lickin's Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
4. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
5. Laura Rider's Masterpiece by Jane Hamilton
 
Hardcover Nonfiction
 
1. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
2. Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton
3. Libation by Deirdre Heekin
4. The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow
5. This Is Water by David Foster Wallace
 
Paperback Fiction
 
1. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
4. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
5. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
 
Paperback Nonfiction
 
1. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
2. Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
3. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
4. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
5. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Chicago White Sox by Mark Gonzales
 
Children's
 
1. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart and Diana Sudyka
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2 by Jeff Kinney
3. Goldilicious by Victoria Kann
4. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
5. L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad

Reporting bookstores: Anderson's, Naperville and Downers Grove; Read Between the Lynes, Woodstock; Book Table, Oak Park; the Book Cellar, Lincoln Square; Lake Forest Books, Lake Forest; the Bookstall at Chestnut Court, Winnetka; and 57th St. Books; Seminary Co-op; Women and Children First, Chicago.

[Many thanks to the reporting bookstores and Carl Lennertz!]