"I can't say I miss physical books. My shelves are already groaning and can't accommodate any more. I do miss the bookstore I grew up with in the Midwest and the small stores that once dotted my neighborhood. Could B&N's decline pave the way for the return of the independent bookseller? Despite the array of suggestions tailored to my interests (or at least to my recent purchases) that appear when I open the Amazon site, I still yearn for someone intelligent who can recommend a good book. I enjoy the community of other people who love books. I like talking to someone both before buying a book and after reading it. I think independent bookstores may be able to provide these services even while selling over the Internet. Their overhead should be lower, since they don't need to carry huge inventories of physical books and don't need huge retail spaces. Maybe I'm naive, but I'd like to think there are new opportunities for booksellers."

 

--James B. Stewart in the Wall Street Journal

 

Indie resurgence stories seem to be a media trend recently. In a piece headlined "U.S. neighborhood bookstores thrive in digital age," Reuters noted that indies "are discovering how to flourish despite the growth of electronic books with some even looking to form an alliance with a formidable competitor--Google."

"We often say we're like Mark Twain: that the rumors of our death have been greatly exaggerated," said Oren Teicher, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, which has reached a deal with Google Editions that will allow members to sell Google's e-books through their websites. "Getting into the business of being able to provide digital content to consumers is one way in which to evolve," Teicher added.

"We anticipate Google Editions will be a popular channel for independent bookstores with a web presence," said Jeannie Hornung, spokeswoman for Google Books and News.

Rachel Meier, general manager at the Booksmith, San Francisco, Calif., agreed: "What we hear from our customers is a great deal of enthusiasm for price bundling, so you can read the physical book at home when you're in bed at night and when you're on the subway you can read the same book on your e-reader."

Reuters also noted independent bookstores' role in the increasingly popular "buy local" movement.

"People are rediscovering the value of an independent store that's connected to their neighborhood and understands them and their tastes," said Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, co-owner of Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Eileen Dengler, executive director of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, observed that indie bookstores "are still promoting the story, and whether you want to read it on paper or on your iPad, we still want to be able to sell that story to consumers. Everyone wants to do it. It's how they're going to do it."

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Borders has opted for the silent treatment regarding questions about how many people are still employed at its Ann Arbor, Mich., corporate headquarters. AnnArbor.com reported that the bookstore chain, "faced with questions about its long-term viability as an independent company, is slowing external communications to a minimum. After completing its second round of layoffs at its corporate headquarters last week [Shelf Awareness, August 12, 2010], Borders is now refusing to discuss how many employees work at the Phoenix Drive complex." 

"I don't think we're going to talk about it anymore going forward," company spokeswoman Mary Davis said, adding that Borders CEO Bennett LeBow isn't talking either. "Mr. LeBow just doesn't do media interviews. That's his personal choice."

Michael Norris, an industry analyst with Simba Information, "believes that the fate of Borders and Barnes & Noble may be intertwined as Amazon and Apple make an aggressive play for e-book sales," AnnArbor.com wrote.

"Borders, Barnes & Noble and the independent bookseller down the street have something in common--they have to sell books in order to stay alive," Norris said. "It's just going to be bad for publishers and bad for consumers if companies that don't have a stake in the future of books are the ones left selling them."

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Calling the move "a sign of how seriously he is taking a coming proxy battle for three board seats," the Wall Street Journal reported that B&N chairman Leonard Riggio "has exercised options to acquire 990,740 shares in the company at a strike price of $16.96, or $16.8 million. Shares in Barnes & Noble were at $15.35 in 4 p.m. composite trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, up 29 cents. At that price, Mr. Riggio paid a premium of $1.61 per share."

The Journal added that Riggio's buy will enable him "to vote his entire equity stake. Although Barnes & Noble's most recent proxy statement shows that Mr. Riggio owns 17.9 million shares, or 29.9% of the retailer's stock outstanding, his options couldn't be voted. The options represented 1.7% of his 29.9% stake."

In a statement, the company said Riggio "continues to believe B&N's stock is undervalued and this exercise of his options demonstrates his belief in the long-term strategy of the company."

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Escape Again, a new bookstore opened by Eddie Cardenas a few months after the city's only bookshop, a B. Dalton, closed (Shelf Awareness, December 17, 2009), "wants to make an impact in the city by not only having a place to buy books but also trading in used books for store credit," the Laredo Sun reported.

"I think people should have a place so they can go and browse for books," said Cardenas, "Maybe discover the next big thing in their life that they like to read about.... In a couple of years I would like to move into a space where I can also put up a café."

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Jenni Wilke, owner of Books by the Way, Vashon, Wash., will realize a "longtime dream" when her bookstore relocates just a few doors away from a popular local coffee shop. Wilkes told the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber that "she constantly sees customers browsing her shop with lattes or cappuccinos in hand, drinks they purchased at Café Luna."

She plans to move to the new space during the last week of September, "enabling her to create an opening between her bookstore and the bustling café," the Beachcomber wrote. An October 1 opening is planned.

"There have been three different owners (of the bookstore) in the last decade, and they’ve all wanted this," said Wilke. "At least two times a week someone says it’s too bad you’re not connected."

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As part of Barnes & Noble's Nook re-branding across its various eReading platforms, the company "has released a 'next-generation' Nook for iPhone application that incorporates many of the features found in its Nook for iPad app," CNET reported.

Fast Company suggested that B&N's recent overhaul of its iPhone and iPad Nook e-reader apps "shows the bookseller thinks of the Nook app as its future, as much as--or perhaps more than--the Nook device. E-books, as Amazon already knows, are all about the ecosystem."

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The battle of the century. Newsweek created a boxing poster-style graphic announcing the world championship bout between books and e-books, complete with a "tale of the tape" that included relative weights: 2.2 pounds (print edition of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) vs. 8.5 ounces (Kindle edition).

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After 22 years and more than 200 titles, the University of Scranton Press is closing, "a victim of financial pressures and shifting priorities," the Times-Tribune reported.  

"Basically, it was a budgetary decision. We are a tuition-driven institution, and these are tough economic times," said Harold Baillie, University of Scranton's provost and v-p for academic affairs. "Our main priority is the education of our students, and that takes precedence in the distribution of our resources.... It just reached the point where we could not sustain the losses in the face of our other priorities."

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To mark the 110th anniversary of Beatrix Potter's original tale, actress Emma Thomson will write a new Peter Rabbit story, which is scheduled to be published in 2012, BBC News reported.

"They asked me to write a new story, so I'm going to take him to Scotland," she said.

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At The Record: Music News from NPR, Jacob Ganz praised "two great books about music": A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta.
 
"Real critics don't often get to be that vulnerable, and it's a shame," wrote Ganz. "Novelists have the freedom, and the space, to use music as a way to let us get to know their characters, and then use their characters to help us get to know music in a new way."

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Book trailer of the day: Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson (HarperCollins), which will be released September 21.

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Happy but sad news: Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum, our good friends at Unshelved, have begun the Ultimate Pimp My Bookcart contest "to see who can best pimp, trick out, or otherwise improve a standard book cart." But this is the ultimate contest in more ways than one: it will be the last.

Any library, school or bookstore or other organization with a book cart is eligible to enter. The first, second and third prizes are provided by Smith System. Runners up receive gift certificates to the Unshelved store. And for the best cart made just by kids middle-school age and under, each participant receives an Unshelved book and T-shirt.

Deadline for submissions is November 15. Bill and Gene will judge the winners. For more information, go to unshelved.com/pimpmybookcart.

 

Maybe it's a trend. In response to Tin House's altered submission policy designed to encourage writers to support their local indies (Shelf Awareness, August 13, 2010), Dzanc Books has created an Independent Bookstore Program "to promote shopping at independent bookstores, develop better relationships with the stores we'll be working with, promote literary fiction, help writers via our Dzanc Creative Writing Sessions program, and to donate both books to libraries, as well as money to worthwhile non-profits local to the bookstores we are working with."

Dzanc Books plans to work in conjunction with one or two indies each month, beginning with RiverRun Bookstore, Portsmouth, N.H. Under the program, Dzanc Books will donate "a title from our catalog, or one of our imprints. The patron of RiverRun Bookstore will inform us of the library to which the donation will be made. Dzanc Books has created fliers that have a simple form to fill out and send to us with the receipt, showing that the book was purchased during the correct dates, and was for a book of literary fiction from RiverRun Bookstore. The books do not need to have been published by Dzanc or our imprints."

In addition to publicizing the donations, RiverRun will also promote the DCWS: "For every order to the DCWS placed by a writer that notes on their order that they were sent our way by RiverRun, Dzanc will donate $5 to Seacoast Local, a non-profit based near the bookstore that promotes that people think local first when it comes to their money and time spent." Interested bookstores can contact Dzanc Books at info@dzancbooks.org.

Today on Fresh Air: Natasha Trethewey, author of Beyond Katrina: A Mediation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast (University of Georgia Press, $22.95, 9780820333816/0820333816).

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Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Jennifer Arnold, author of Through a Dog's Eyes (Spiegel & Grau, $25, 9781400068883/1400068886).

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Tomorrow morning on NPR's Morning Edition: Melanie Thernstrom, author of The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27, 9780865476813/0865476810).

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Tomorrow morning on Morning Joe: Manal Omar, author of Barefoot in Baghdad: A Story of Identity--My Own and What It Means to Be a Woman in Chaos (Sourcebooks, $14.99, 9781402237218/1402237219).

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Tomorrow on KCRW's Bookworm: Martha McPhee, author of Dear Money (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25, 9780151011650/0151011656). As the show put it: "In Martha McPhee's comic novel, a wizard of Wall Street promises he can change a novelist from a desperate bohemian into a 'Master of the Universe,' in a brief eighteen months. In this conversation, we explore the mis-marriage of aesthetics and greed. Can you make a silk purse out of a sow's ear? And what is a silk purse, anyway? A thing of beauty or a costly accessory?"

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Tomorrow night on the Colbert Report: Jon Krakauer, author of Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman (Anchor, $15.95, 9780307386045/030738604X).

 

Entertainment Weekly showcased nine photos from Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, which is scheduled for a November 19 release.

 

 

 

 

 

The literary rumor mill. Andrew O'Hagan reportedly said that his novel The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe will be adapted into a film starring Angelina Jolie as Monroe and George Clooney as Frank Sinatra, according to the Telegraph. The dog has not yet been cast. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish O'Hagan's novel in the U.S. this December.

But the L.A. Times Ministry of Gossip blog quashed the story by reporting that, "in an e-mail from Jolie's rep, the Ministry was told, 'Angelina is NOT attached to this project.' " MTV.com considered alternative casting.

When Jolie was asked about the possibility, she said, "Where did all these rumors come from? I haven't heard a thing about it! I don't even know if I'd be the best person to play her," the Independent reported, adding that O'Hagan had since issued a statement saying, "Despite what was said in the unchecked stories that appeared in the papers... I made no public statement about Ms. Jolie or Mr. Clooney... Everything about the film has still to be decided."

Stay tuned.

 

Two stunning picture books pay homage to the natural world.

In the Wild by David Elliott, illustrated by Holly Meade (Candlewick, $16.99, 9780763644970/0763644978, 32 pp., ages 4-7, August 2010)

David Elliott and Holly Meade, who teamed up for On the Farm, begin on the African savannah and wind up in the Arctic in In the Wild. They start with the king: "The Lion/ stands alone/ on the grassy plain./ He has his pride;/ he shakes his mane." In confident woodblock and watercolor artwork, Meade pictures the majestic beast as he roars; his mane seems to shake and the grasses to bend under the sound. Next, Elliott brilliantly compares an Elephant to a cloud, celebrating its cumulus and stormy qualities, then points out that the Zebra is "as lovely and as fast" as the Antelope, but, thanks to the alphabet, "Antelope/ is always first/ and Zebra always last." In 14 poems, the duo expresses "affection/ for the Sloth"; admires the "delicate rosettes" of a jaguar's back ("as if she's grown a garden there"); and pays Blakean respects to the Tiger, loved "from afar" ("fire, fire, burning bright--/ the tiger and the star"). In a glorious closing image, a polar bear swims at the top of a spread, as pastel colors of blue and green camouflage its whiteness: "Oh!/ Look! She's/ disappearing…/ [page turn] disappearing/ in the snow." As the bear trots off in a blizzard, readers may be left wondering: Is this an environmental message? Or simply an observation by a nature lover?

Man Gave Names to All the Animals by Bob Dylan, illustrated by Jim Arnosky (Sterling, $17.95 book & CD, 9781402768583/1402768583, 32 pp., ages 3-up, September 2010)

In Man Gave Names to All the Animals, Jim Arnosky--known for his realistic, in-depth portrayals of animal habitats--here imagines a world in which all creatures are at peace, including Man, who remains unseen. Arnosky's spectacular opening spread depicts wildlife that would not usually gather together at the water's edge. A cheetah rests near a pelican; a horse sips from an inlet where an alligator slips into the shallow water, while just yards away, an orca swims to the open seas. Arnosky explains in his opening note, "From the first time I heard [the song "Man Gave Name to All the Animals" from Bob Dylan's 1979 album Slow Train Coming] the lyrics created pictures in my mind of a land of primeval beauty." A CD of the song is attached to the book's back cover; its drum beat seems to carry a message through the mountains and valleys, as Arnosky visually plays with the pacing in inventive, often humorous ways. "Man gave names to all the animals./ In the beginning, long time ago," says the refrain. Children will immediately recognize the picture of "an animal that liked to growl,/ Big furry paws and he liked to howl." But on the next page ("Ah, I think I'll call it a bear"), the ursine fellow looks surprised that his howl has caused an interspecies stampede. The bull ("It looked like there wasn't nothin' that he couldn't pull") gives a group of monkeys a ride. Its white markings and elongated horns, along with those of the "cow" on the previous spread, suggest a time when the animals would have indeed been nameless. The artist's Eden-like expanses celebrate unspoiled vistas and an era of abundance, leading up to the closing image of "an animal as smooth as glass/ Slithering his way through the grass/ Saw him disappear by a tree near a lake…" Readers who realize that creature's significance are left to decide what that incomplete phrase might mean. Arnosky pictures the creature whose name is left unspoken on the grassy shore alone, with head uplifted. Is it the same shoreline pictured in the beginning? Both books leave readers with the best kind of ambiguity.--Jennifer M. Brown

 

 

Helen Grant was born in London. She studied classics at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and then worked in marketing for 10 years so she could travel extensively. Her debut novel, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden (Delacorte Press, August 10, 2010), is set in the historic spa town Bad Munstereifel in Germany, where she and her husband moved in 2001. She now lives near Brussels with her husband, two children and two cats. Delacorte Press will publish her second novel, The Glass Demon, in 2011.

On your nightstand now:

Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre: horror, theology, quantum physics and a strong dose of Scottish humour. Also Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities--I've read it many times and I always cry at the end--and Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist, which is the most intelligent take on the zombie novel I have ever read: chilling, sad and ultimately uplifting.

Favorite book when you were a child:

She by H. Rider Haggard, an old-fashioned adventure story with an improbably gorgeous hero who goes to Africa to discover a lost tribe led by an immortal queen. Haggard included documents in Greek, Latin and Old English. It all felt so authentic, as though I were making the discoveries myself!

Your top five authors:

I'm going to sound like a terrible old reactionary! Charles Dickens--why did I never appreciate his brilliance when I was younger? Anthony Trollope, whose books have made me both howl with laughter and weep. The inimitable M. R. James, the English ghost story writer. Saki, whose short stories are simply perfect. And since I really ought to drag myself into the 21st century: Stephen Baxter, the science fiction author, for the outrageous scope of his novels. He begins one with the destruction of a planet and works up to a climax!

Book you've faked reading:

Plato, a Beginner's Guide by Roy Jackson. I struggled terribly with Plato at Oxford. I never like to admit I'm beat, so I bought this book three years ago with the best of intentions. It actually has dust on it.

Book you’re an evangelist for:

The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook. Whenever I do readings or talks I am asked "How can I get my own book published?" It's all in there, people!

Book you've bought for the cover:

Masterpieces of Medieval Art by James Robinson. I ordered it online because it looked as though it would be beautiful, and it is.

Book that changed your life:

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Like Jo, the heroine, I had a terrible temper when I was a child. The lesson Jo has to learn, that she should never let the sun go down on her anger, really spoke to me. I'll be giving this book to my own daughter.

Favorite line from a book:

"Hors d'oeuvres have always had a pathetic interest for me," said Reginald, "they remind me of one's childhood that one goes through, wondering what the next course is going to be like--and during the rest of the menu one wishes one had eaten more of the hors d'oeuvres."--Reginald at the Carlton by Saki (H.H. Munro).

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. It's like seeing a lifestyle coach march into a D.H. Lawrence novel. The first time I read it was on a train, and I laughed so hard that people began to give me funny looks!