Notes: Patriot Act Dud; Bookstore Bequest
The result of the House-Senate conference on extending the USA Patriot
Act is largely a disappointment for people trying to protect civil
liberties in general and the ability of libraries and bookstores to
protect their records from government searches in particular. Among the few changes: the
provisions for searching libraries and bookstores will stay in effect
four years instead of 10, and judges will participate slightly more in the process than in the past.
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Today is movie tie-in trifecta day: The Chronicles of Narnia, Memoirs of a Geisha and Brokeback Mountain all open nationwide. For a list of related books, see Monday's issue.
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Yesterday's seemingly thousands of Grammy nominations included several for audiobooks:
Best Spoken Word Album for Children
Best Spoken Word Album
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Here's a bit of trivia: today both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times examine what the Journal calls books of trivia and what the Times calls "so what" books, as in containing "weird, little-known factoids that are meant to astonish" but leave the reader wondering "so what?" Among the entries: Odds'R: The Odds on Everything Book, Red Herrings and White Elephants: the Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day, Schott's Sporting Gaming & Idling Miscellany, Vitamin Q: A Temple of Trivia Lists and Curious Words, Why Do Men Have Nipples? and more.
Here's another factoid: the Times takes a disdainful approach while the Journal, using an "entertainment" overline, notes that rival authors are taking potshots at each other.
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Talk about payday.
Bob Wayne, a longtime customer and "unofficial worker" at the I Love Books used bookstore in Vista, Calif., became the new owner last month, when Stan Katz deeded over the store to him, according to the North County Times.
Described as "a bar owner and book scout," Wayne spent years helping out in the store and organizing its 40,000 volumes. "Some nights I even slept there," Wayne told the paper. "It became a higher calling."
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The perfect commuter book promotion. Next Tuesday, December 13, Book Sense, the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association and Bay Area Rapid Transit are teaming up on an unusual offer, according to Bookselling This Week. Some 50,000 fliers that feature a list of Book Sense Picks and a $10 off coupon good at 27 participating stores will be handed out to riders at six BART stations.
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Like some other Beat the Bookstore franchisees, Courtney Black and Joseph Bisely, owners of a new Beat the Bookstore in San Jose, Calif., are having difficulties obtaining course text lists from nearby San Jose State University or Spartan Shops, the auxiliary organization that runs the campus bookstores, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Franchisees in Colorado and Utah have ultimately overcome similar hurdles.
The franchise company is three years old, has headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah and has 15 stores in 11 states. The stores' strategy is to pay more than competitors to buy back texts from students, which pleases students and leads to a larger supplier of inventory.
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Books-A-Million will open a 15,000-sq.-ft. store in Providence MarketPlace, a new shopping center in Mount Juliet, Tenn., a Nashville suburb, the Nashville Business Journal reported. The development is "the retail gateway to Providence, a 1,000-acre mixed-use, master-planned community."
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This Saturday, Karibu Books is holding a grand opening celebration for its Baltimore, Md., store that opened just before Thanksgiving (Shelf Awareness, November 21). The celebration, from noon until 3 p.m., includes raffles, performances by poet Sistah Joy and an appearance by Deanna McCray-James, Mrs. Maryland United States 2005.
---
Today is movie tie-in trifecta day: The Chronicles of Narnia, Memoirs of a Geisha and Brokeback Mountain all open nationwide. For a list of related books, see Monday's issue.
---
Yesterday's seemingly thousands of Grammy nominations included several for audiobooks:
Best Spoken Word Album for Children
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale (Listening Library)
- Marlo Thomas & Friends: Thanks & Giving All Year Long, various artists, produced by Christopher Cerf and Marlo Thomas (Warner Strategic Marketing)
- Pooh's Heffalump narrated by Roy Dotrice (Walt Disney Records)
- Raymie, Dickie, and the Bean: Why I Love and Hate My Brothers narrated by Ray Romano (Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers)
- A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning, various artists, produced by David Rapkin (Harper Children's Audio)
Best Spoken Word Album
- The Adventures of Guy Noir by Garrison Keillor (HighBridge Company)
- The Al Franken Show Party Album by Al Franken (Artemis Records)
- Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan, narrated by Sean Penn (Simon & Schuster Audio)
- Dreams From My Father by Senator Barack Obama (Random House Audio)
- When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? by George Carlin (Hyperion Audiobooks)
---
Here's a bit of trivia: today both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times examine what the Journal calls books of trivia and what the Times calls "so what" books, as in containing "weird, little-known factoids that are meant to astonish" but leave the reader wondering "so what?" Among the entries: Odds'R: The Odds on Everything Book, Red Herrings and White Elephants: the Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day, Schott's Sporting Gaming & Idling Miscellany, Vitamin Q: A Temple of Trivia Lists and Curious Words, Why Do Men Have Nipples? and more.
Here's another factoid: the Times takes a disdainful approach while the Journal, using an "entertainment" overline, notes that rival authors are taking potshots at each other.
---
Talk about payday.
Bob Wayne, a longtime customer and "unofficial worker" at the I Love Books used bookstore in Vista, Calif., became the new owner last month, when Stan Katz deeded over the store to him, according to the North County Times.
Described as "a bar owner and book scout," Wayne spent years helping out in the store and organizing its 40,000 volumes. "Some nights I even slept there," Wayne told the paper. "It became a higher calling."
---
The perfect commuter book promotion. Next Tuesday, December 13, Book Sense, the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association and Bay Area Rapid Transit are teaming up on an unusual offer, according to Bookselling This Week. Some 50,000 fliers that feature a list of Book Sense Picks and a $10 off coupon good at 27 participating stores will be handed out to riders at six BART stations.
---
Like some other Beat the Bookstore franchisees, Courtney Black and Joseph Bisely, owners of a new Beat the Bookstore in San Jose, Calif., are having difficulties obtaining course text lists from nearby San Jose State University or Spartan Shops, the auxiliary organization that runs the campus bookstores, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Franchisees in Colorado and Utah have ultimately overcome similar hurdles.
The franchise company is three years old, has headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah and has 15 stores in 11 states. The stores' strategy is to pay more than competitors to buy back texts from students, which pleases students and leads to a larger supplier of inventory.
---
Books-A-Million will open a 15,000-sq.-ft. store in Providence MarketPlace, a new shopping center in Mount Juliet, Tenn., a Nashville suburb, the Nashville Business Journal reported. The development is "the retail gateway to Providence, a 1,000-acre mixed-use, master-planned community."
---
This Saturday, Karibu Books is holding a grand opening celebration for its Baltimore, Md., store that opened just before Thanksgiving (Shelf Awareness, November 21). The celebration, from noon until 3 p.m., includes raffles, performances by poet Sistah Joy and an appearance by Deanna McCray-James, Mrs. Maryland United States 2005.
BINC.1118.T2.2024YEARENDCAMPAIGN.jpg)
I have been an admirer of Rachel Ingalls since reading the remarkable Binstead's Safari and Mrs. Caliban,
but her publications are so infrequent I had despaired of getting a new
Ingalls fix. Fortunately Graywolf has published a collection of eight
short stories that should satisfy her fans as well as introduce this
quirky author to a new audience. Her mysterious and surreal writing
features elaborate plots, sometimes the supernatural ("Somewhere
Else"), sometimes operatic madness ("Last Act: The Madhouse"), and
always unpredictability. A perfect book for a dark winter night.
At the 10-year anniversary of Kenyon's death, all of her published
poetry has been assembled in this volume, and what a treasure it is.
Describing her poetry cannot compare to quoting it, so here is the
luminous and moving "In the Nursing Home":