Shelf Awareness for Monday, August 16, 2010


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

Indie Bookstores and the 'Canned Spaghetti Sauce' Theory

"Saying that bookstores won't be around in the future because Wal-Mart and Amazon sell books is like saying Italian restaurants will go out of business because we have canned spaghetti sauce."--Michael Norris, a senior analyst at Simba Information, in a Houston Chronicle piece headlined "Booksellers buck e-trend: Analysts say there's a place for stores that do their job well."

 


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


News

Bookstore Sales: June Bookstore Sales Off Less Than 1%

June bookstore sales slipped 0.8%, to $1.096 billion, compared to June 2009, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau. For the year to date, total bookstore sales have dropped 0.5%, to $7.457 billion.

Total retail sales in June rose 5.1%, to $368.6 billion, compared to the same period a year ago. For the year, total retail sales were up 6.2%, to $2,119.2 billion.

Note: under Census Bureau definitions, bookstore sales are of new books and do not include "electronic home shopping, mail-order, or direct sale" or used book sales.

 


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


Notes: The Power Push; WWSD?

The Wall Street Journal outlined the sales potential of The Power by Rhonda Byrne, which Atria is publishing tomorrow with a first printing of a million copies. The book, which "assures that people have the power within to create the life of their dreams . . . promises to be a bright spot at a time when the industry is struggling." Already Atria says that advance orders for The Power, by the author of The Secret, total 924,000 copies.

In the four years since the appearance of The Secret, which has sold more than 19 million copies worldwide, "the bookselling landscape [is] markedly different," the Journal noted. Because of the growth of e-books, "many retailers large and small have cut back on their initial orders for new titles, preferring instead to re-order when necessary."

But Barnes & Noble v-p of marketing Patricia Bostelman said, "Books still break out of the pack and sell in big numbers." She added that The Power's "category is strong because people are always looking for ways to improve their lives."

The e-book version of The Power won't affect sales of the printed book at least initially: the e-edition has been delayed for "fine tuning."

Although author Byrne isn't giving interviews, Atria is running ads on radio and TV, "including 15-second and 30-second spots aimed at adults aged 25 to 54," ads on billboards and posters in trains and subways. It also has the obligatory Facebook site.

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Local bookstores "are thriving" in central New York State, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard, which reported that their key to success "is an independent store's ability to provide personalized customer service and cater to niche needs and wants, even if it means higher prices."

Erika Davis, who opened Creekside Books & Coffee, Skaneateles, six years ago, said, "It was not just about opening a bookstore, but creating a community gathering place which had been previously missing."

Bill Reilly, owner of River's End Bookstore, Oswego, observed: "We're not wed to a corporate dictate so we have freedom and flexibility in the books we feature. The big guys' shelf space is spoken for and purchased by publishers who are pushing blockbuster titles."

In Ithaca, Buffalo Street Books has built a strong community base, owner Gary Weissbrot said, adding that "he understands the comfort associated with big names like Barnes & Noble and likens it to an American eating McDonald's fast food in Paris--a city known for its culinary talents. He said serendipitous discovery is what real book lovers prefer," the Post-Standard wrote.

At recently opened Downtown Books and Coffee, Auburn, manager John Colvin said "he's already encountered many customers who seek out independent bookstores as an alternative to online retailers or big-box media sellers. 'People really want this to succeed, so they are willing to pay a couple dollars more.... You can't really put anything over that interaction between two book enthusiasts talking and handing a book to one another.' "

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Frogtown Books, Toledo, Ohio, will close its bricks-and-mortar operation September 30. WTVG-TV reported that owners Cheryl and Pete Baughman "will continue to sell rare books online. The owners have decided to close the store because they weren't getting enough business and it became too expensive."

"I will miss my customers," Cheryl told WTOL-TV. "I love talking to all my customers. They've expanded my understanding and my horizon of people and of different areas of interest. I will also miss the constant stream of books coming in and going out and making customers happy."

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Now forever archived on BookTV: the fall 2010 book preview interview with Shelf Awareness publisher Jenn Risko! See her here.

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Cool idea of the day: at the Bookshop Santa Cruz celebration last month of the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird (Shelf Awareness, July 21, 2010), public defender Larry Biggam was asked if he felt any lawyer could live up to the standards of Atticus Finch. He said he didn't think anyone could be so perfect and said that before starting any important discussion with his teenaged son, he asked himself, "What would Atticus do?"

Struck by this response, the store has created two bumper stickers--one has Biggam's query, the other reads, "What would Scout do?" The bumper stickers are available for $3 each on the store's website.

Owner Casey Coonerty Protti added that Bookshop Santa Cruz is holding a community competition to see which sells the best.

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Book line trailer of the day: Workman's Indestructible line, as promoted by Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, Wash.

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Book trailer of the day (more Workman!): My Blind Date Went Blind! by Virginia Vitzthum (Workman), which features an all-Workman employees cast.

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Happy birthday to Charles Bukowski, who would have been 90 today. To celebrate, Classics Rock!: Books Shelved in Songs is featuring several songs inspired by Bukowski, including "Bukowski" by Modest Mouse and "Dirty Day" by U2.

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Among training sessions that will be held during the Great American Bargain Book Show, Thursday and Friday, August 19-20, at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Mass.:

Remainder Buying: Plain, Simple and Profitable, on August 19, will be moderated by Larry May, co-owner of the show. Panelists include:

Susan Little, owner of Jabberwocky Bookshop at the Tannery, Newburyport, Mass.
Sean Concannon, a principal of Parson Weems Publisher Services.
Alie Hess, books and remainders buyer for Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, Mass.


EESY CHIT: Easy, Effective Strategies You Can Happily Implement Today, will be held August 20, presented by Karin Wilson, owner of Page & Palette, Fairhope, Ala.

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In anticipation of Amazon's launch of the Kindle in the U.K. on August 27, some major retailers are cutting the prices of e-books and e-readers, the Bookseller reported.

W.H. Smith has trimmed the prices of its top 100 fiction e-books by 66% so that now, for example, The Short Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer costs £4.07 (US$6.25) and The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown costs £2.78 (US$4.27). Both Smith and Waterstone's are selling the Sony Pocket e-book reader for £99 (US$152).

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In MacWorld, Jonathan Seff considered how the iPad has changed his reading habits.

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Sony Insider reported that "there is word that two new touchscreen Sony Reader devices (PRS-350 and PRS-650) with E-Ink technology are coming to the market soon.... The two new Sony Reader devices will be very attractively priced, and are definitely much more compact and lighter than previous models with a possible width under 10mm (extremely thin). From what we’re hearing the new models will also have improved contrast and faster page turns."

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The South Korean e-book market "will struggle to reach 50,000 sales by the end of this year, a mark that would be significantly lower than the pre-year expectations," according to the Korea Times.

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Is there a market for a color E Ink e-reader? Dan Nosowitz expressed his doubts in a Fast Company article, observing: "Color and touchscreen e-book readers would require a substantial increase in price, to accommodate the new technology. But that's exactly the wrong way to advance E-ink--the price needs to remain as low as possible. Why is E-Ink pretending that features like color and touch interfaces are important, necessary, or even desirable for its product? E-ink readers like the Kindle offer the best digital reading experience on the market--why muck it up with expensive and useless features?"

 


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


Image of the Day: Fancy Nancy and the Bookstore Party


Towne Center Books, Pleasanton, Calif., late last month held a Fancy Nancy Party, which drew three dozen fans of the series by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser. Here are a few of them.


Media and Movies

Media Heat: My Formerly Hot Life

This morning on Morning Joe: Richard Snow, author of A Measureless Peril: America in the Fight for the Atlantic, the Longest Battle of World War II (Scribner, $27, 9781416591108/1416591109).

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Today on Fresh Air: Susan R. Barry, author of Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist's Journey Into Seeing in Three Dimensions (Basic Books, $15.95, 9780465020737/0465020739).

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Tomorrow morning on Good Morning America: Jennifer Arnold, author of Through a Dog's Eyes (Spiegel & Grau, $25, 9781400068883/1400068886).

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Tomorrow morning on the Today Show: Stephanie Dolgoff, author of My Formerly Hot Life: Dispatches from Just the Other Side of Young (Ballantine, $25, 9780345521453/0345521455).

Also on the Today Show: Adam Perry Lang, author of BBQ 25 (Morrow Cookbooks, $19.99, 9780061990236/006199023X).

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Tomorrow on the Diane Rehm Show: Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus, authors of Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids--and What We Can Do About It (Times Books, $26, 9780805087345/0805087346).

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Tomorrow night on the Daily Show: Dick Armey, co-author of Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto (Morrow, $19.99, 9780062015877/0062015877). He is also on the Today Show tomorrow morning.

 


Movie: Mesrine: Instinct of Death

Mesrine: Instinct of Death stars Vincent Cassel as the French gangster Jacques Mesrine. Based on Mesrine's autobiography, the film opens this coming Friday, August 20.

 


Television: The Lost Valentine

Jennifer Love Hewitt and Betty White will star in The Lost Valentine, a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie based on James Michael Pratt's novel that is "set to air in early 2011 (if the title's any indication, perhaps in February)," Variety reported. Darnell Martin (Their Eyes Were Watching God) is directing.

 



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 Great Reads:

Hardcover

The Typist: A Novel by Michael Knight (Atlantic Monthly Press, $20, 9780802119506/0802119506). "This novel offers up for our consideration the lives of three boys during the American occupation of Japan--two American soldiers with no heroic combat feats to their credit, and a Japanese boy attempting to adapt and better himself in an alien environment--and the lifelong injuries their tours produced. It is a chapter of World War II that has gone largely unnoticed by books, movies and celebrations of remembrance, and yet has produced both casualties as well as stories of hope just the same."--Simone Bratcher, Bookin' It!, Belmont, N.C.

The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson (Harmony, $23.99, 9780307591074/0307591077). "What happens when one man and a rotating roster of faithful companions set off across America, armed with Sharpies and Wite-Out, to hunt down and correct typos wherever they may lurk? TEAL--the Typo Eradication Advancement League, dreamed up by Jeff Deck--did just that, and this quirky, enlightening memoir chronicles their adventures. Language enthusiasts and fans of offbeat heroes everywhere will thoroughly enjoy The Great Typo Hunt!"--Erin Kurup, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.

Paperback

She Bets Her Life: A True Story of Gambling Addiction by Mary Sojourner (Seal Press, $17.95, 9781580052986/1580052983). "Mary Sojourner has long been one of my favorite writers, because of both her fine, incisive writing and her fiery, passionate personality. Few writers out there could have written such a powerful and honest book about such an overlooked issue."--Joe Foster, Maria's Bookshop, Durango, Colo.

For Teen Readers

My Invisible Boyfriend
by Susie Day (Scholastic Press, $16.99, 9780545073547/0545073545). "Heidi feels pressured to date, but when she decides to make up a fake boyfriend she creates a lot of real problems. Her hilarious schemes to keep everyone in the dark are perfect entertainment for any teen."--Darcie Lochinski, Saturn Booksellers, Gaylord, Mich.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

 


Book Review

Book Review: Manazuru

Manazuru by Hiromi Kawakami (Counterpoint LLC, $15.95 Paperback, 9781582436005, August 2010)

 

Kei doesn't plan on going to Manazuru. When she finishes dinner with a friend at Tokyo Station, she impulsively gets on a different train. Once there, on the long ocean beach, Kei finds herself being followed by vague figures. Twelve years earlier, Kei's husband disappeared without warning; she then took her daughter, Momo, to live with her mother. Kei becomes convinced that something unquiet is waiting in Manazuru for her.

This is a ghost story, all right, but it's one with no answers and no explanations. The reader never understands exactly what psychic powers give Kei the ability to see these figures, or why she goes to Manazuru, or if the festival boat she sees overturned by the storm and burning has anything to do with her husband's disappearance.

One of the figures who follows Kei down the Manazuru beach is a female presence, who reveals more and more of herself until she becomes a recognizable woman who seems to have something to show Kei.

When the Manazuru woman haunting her takes Kei by the hand, Kei begins to be assaulted by memories she's forced herself to forget, glimpses into the troubled past of her marriage. Kei tries to pore over the clues that led up to her husband's vanishing, and realizes she may have followed him one night and seen him with another woman, but we're never sure, and neither is she.

She tries to take comfort with Seiji, her editor, with whom she's had a longstanding affair, but he's slowly pulling away from her, convinced she'll never be able to forget her husband. Then the word Manazuru shows up in her missing husband's diary. When Momo disappears just like her husband did, it's the female apparition from Manazuru who leads Kei to her daughter, finding her talking in the shadows with someone who may be her dead father.

Part low-key, realistic psychic thriller, part modern paranormal experience, the unearthly stalkers who won't leave Kei alone add a surrealistic, Haruki Murakami–style touch to the ambiguous narrative. Written in an oblique style in which the little details cast an eerie spell, we only know what we witness--that Kei is determined at all cost to discover what happened to her cherished husband, and the spirit world may finally show her, but perhaps at the expense of her daughter and mother. Maybe.--Nick DiMartino

Shelf Talker: A realistic psychic thriller laced with paranormal elements tells the tale of a woman searching for her missing husband.

 


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