Shelf Awareness for Friday, January 20, 2006


Other Press: Allegro by Ariel Dorfman

St. Martin's Press: Austen at Sea by Natalie Jenner

Berkley Books: SOLVE THE CRIME with your new & old favorite sleuths! Enter the Giveaway!

Mira Books: Their Monstrous Hearts by Yigit Turhan

News

Notes: Google vs. Justice; Store Parties; Gift Card Sales

The debate over the extension of the USA Patriot Act, which runs out at the beginning of February, may be influenced by a legal case getting wide press today: Google's resistance to a Justice Department request for records of a week's worth of search requests by all users and a random list of a million Web addresses in its index--all in connection with the Child Online Protection Act. According to the New York Times, Google said the request is "unnecessary, overly broad, would be onerous to comply with, would jeopardize its [own] trade secrets and could expose identifying information about its users." The Justice Department said AOL, Yahoo and MSN had complied with similar subpoenas, trade secrets would be protected and material wouldn't contain "any additional personal identifying information."

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The New York Times today examined the issue of how in an era when more fiction titles have footnotes and symbols and non-word text, audiobook producers and narrators convey such things. The answer appears to be: in a variety of ways. For Jon Stewart's America, for example, the textbook quality was produced by introducing "classroom activities with chimes, reminiscent of educational films. And instead of addressing his audience as 'listener,' Mr. Stewart opens with mock derision: 'Welcome nonreader.' "

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Today's Baltimore Sun profiled Daedalus Books on the occasion of the opening of its first free-standing store, in Baltimore this week. If the store is successful, co-founder Robin Moody told the paper he will consider opening more.

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As many college students return to schools closed last fall by Hurricane Katrina, NACS's CM Bulletin looks at how several college stores are adapting to fewer students and, in some cases, relocations.

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And now we are 11.

Storyopolis Art Gallery, Bookstore & Events (the name itself is worthy of celebration) in Studio City, Calif., celebrates its 11th birthday this weekend. The two days of events include readings, signings and drawings by a range of children's authors and illustrators, particularly "three literary giants" Clive Barker, Cornelia Funke and Megan McDonald. The store, which serves children and adults as well as the film industry, will also have live music. For more on Storyopolis's story, see its Web site.

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Cool idea of the day. As a thank you to customers, RealEyes Bookstore, Charlotte, N.C., is giving 25 movie passes (each valid for two people) for previews next week of Annapolis or Nanny McPhee to the first 25 e-newsletter recipients who mention the promotion.

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The Bookstore on West 25th, Cleveland, Ohio, which is having financial difficulties, is holding a rent party tomorrow that will be followed by a book auction featuring signed and antiquarian books, according to the Gay People's Chronicle.

Founded in 1976 by Mike O'Brien, the used bookstore has emphasized personal liberties and has strong women's studies and gay literature sections. Several other used bookstores in Cleveland, including John T. Zubal Books, the Old Erie Street Bookstore, Mac's Backs and Loganberry Books, are supporting the store. Some lamented that the number of used bookstores in Cleveland has declined and many of those left sell only online and by appointment.

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Musicland, which filed for bankruptcy last week and is in the process of closing its Media Play stores (Shelf Awareness, December 14), continues to be up for sale. One possible suitor Musicland is serenading, the Book Standard reported, is Trans World Entertainment, which owns F.Y.E., retailer of music, games, DVDs, etc.

Bankruptcy court filings show that Ingram, a secured creditor, is owed $10.2 million. Unsecured creditors include Baker & Taylor, which is owed $1.2 million. Musicland listed assets of $371 million and liabilities of $485 million.

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Paralleling the growth in popularity of gift cards generally, sales of Book Sense gift cards rose 38% to more than $3 million in November and December over the same period in 2004, according to Bookselling This Week.

Total Book Sense gift card sales in 2005 were nearly $6.5 million, up 69% over 2004. The program began in late 2003.

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The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association has bid goodbye to Books by the Bay, the book fair in San Francisco that involved some 40 independent bookstores, PW Daily reported. NCIBA will use funds that would go to the fair to develop a grant program for literacy organizations,

Books by the Bay held its 10th annual fair last July 23 in Yerba Buena Gardens.

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High octane in paradise.

Six Borders stores in Hawaii will add Starbucks cafes, following an agreement between Borders and Coffee Partners Hawaii, a joint venture of Starbucks and Café Hawaii Partners. The stores will convert from proprietary cafes by September. A recently opened Borders store already has a Starbucks; another Borders will close its café and create access to an existing, neighboring Starbucks.

Borders stores in the U.K. have Starbucks cafes; Borders stores in the U.S. excluding Hawaii have been converting to Seattle's Best Coffee cafes. Seattle's Best is a subsidiary of Starbucks.

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Out of the frying pan . . . Margaret Sutherland has become acquisitions editor for cookbooks at Storey Publishing, where she had been marketing director. Before joining Storey in 2001, she was the cookbook buyer at Advanced Marketing Services and a buyer at Lauriat's.

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A new digital music model developing?

Worldwide sales of music via the Internet and cell phones tripled to $1.1 billion in 2005 and accounted for 6% of global music company sales, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, as reported by the AP. Listeners downloaded 420 million single tracks during the year, up 169% from 156 million downloaded in 2004.

The IFPI said that in Britain and Germany, Europe's largest digital markets, more music fans are legally downloading music than illegally swapping files.


Harpervia: Counterattacks at Thirty by Won-Pyung Sohn, translated by Sean Lin Halbert


Media and Movies

Media Heat: Left, Right, Left

On this morning's Today Show, Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes talks about his new book, Rebel-in-Chief: How George W. Bush Is Redefining the Conservative Movement and Transforming America (Crown, $23.95, 0307336492).

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Today on the Leonard Lopate Show: Yale law professor Kenji Yoshino, author of Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Rights (Random House, $24.95, 0375508201).

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Today on NPR's All Things Considered, Robert Alexander delves into the last days of Rasputin and the Russian imperial family in his new book, Rasputin's Daughter (Viking, $23.95, 0670034681).

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On Meet the Press on Sunday, Democratic political consultant James Carville meets and greets and talks about his new book, co-written by Paul Begala, Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future (S&S, $24, 074327752X).


GLOW: Bloomsbury YA: They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran


Books & Authors

Borders Original Voices: The Winners

Borders's 2005 Original Voices awards, "for outstanding achievement in crafting creative, original books and music," have been announced:

  • Fiction: The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (Norton). The author was commended for "a masterful job of interweaving many story lines, bringing them all together in a moving and meaningful way, and the ending is pitch-perfect, down to the last line."
  • Nonfiction: Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin (Penguin Press). Larkin's account of traveling around Burma was cited for "an interesting perspective on how intellect survives the worst of humanity while still retaining a high standard of dignity. It is an eloquent and poetic blend of travel narrative, literary criticism and political commentary."
  • Children's picture book: Russell the Sheep written and illustrated by Rob Scotton (HarperCollins). The story about a sheep that can't sleep is "a playful, unique take on traditional bedtime and counting books and Russell is just plain darling."
  • Young adult: Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (FSG). This book about life after death offers "a fascinating concept of the afterlife and is ultimately a novel full of hope."
  • Music: Careless Love by Madeleine Peyroux (Rounder Records Group). Peyroux's voice "first catches your ear, but it is her beautiful, laid back, melodic jazz treatments of everything from Leonard Cohen to Bob Dylan to Hank Williams that keeps you listening."

The six nominees in each category were chosen by Borders store and corporate employees. Winners were selected by a panel of judges at the main office. Each winner receives $5,000 and will be honored at BEA.



Book Review

Mandahla: Speak of the Devil Reviewed

Speak of the Devil by Richard Hawke (Random House (NY), $21.95 Hardcover, 9781400064250, January 2006)



Fritz Malone steps out on Thanksgiving morning to get bagels, and takes a detour to check out the parade. You know of course that this is a colossal mistake. A gunman starts shooting into the crowd, and Malone chases him. Thus begins a tried-and-true formula--Manhattan, a PI with a past, dirty cops and dirtier politicians. We've read it all before, but it never grows old in the hands of a good writer, and Richard Hawke delivers with Speak of the Devil. The prose is terse: his girlfriend Margo "looked like rain on a sunny day," angry that he had almost been killed. He answers, " 'Could have' is the road to unnecessary suffering." The prose is noir-ish: "The actress had pulled out a compact and checked in the little mirror to see if she was still there. She seemed satisfied that she was." The prose, and the plot, are just what you want in thriller, and there are enough hints about Malone's past that give you hope that this is the beginning of a series.--Marilyn Dahl


The Bestsellers

The Book Sense/MPBA List

The following were the bestselling titles at Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association stores during the week ended Sunday, January 15, as reported to Book Sense.

Hardcover Fiction

1. The Hostage by W.E.B. Griffin (Putnam, $26.95, 0399153144)
2. The March by E.L. Doctorow (Random House, $25.95, 0375506713)
3. Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Knopf, $20, 140004460X)
4. The Lighthouse by P.D. James (Knopf, $25.95, 030726291X)
5. Amazing Peace by Maya Angelou (Random House, $9.95, 1400065585)
6. S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton (Putnam, $26.95, 0399152970)
7. The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell by Lilian Jackson Braun (Putnam, $23.95, 0399153071)
8. Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan (Putnam, $26.95, 0399153012)
9. Nothing But Trouble: A Kevin Kerney Novel by Michael McGarrity (Dutton, $24.95, 052594916X)
10. Turning Angel by Greg Iles (Scribner, $25.95, 0743234715)
11. The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone, $24.95, 074327248X)
12. Purity of Blood by Arturo Perez-Reverte (Putnam, $23.95, 0399153209)
13. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday, $24.95, 0385504209)
14. Christ the Lord by Anne Rice (Knopf, $25.95, 0375412018)
15. McSweeney's Issue 18 by Dave Eggers (McSweeney's Books, $22, 1932416382)

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Knopf, $23.95, 140004314X)
2. Marley & Me by John Grogan (Morrow, $21.95, 0060817089)
3. Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter (S&S, $25, 0743284577)
4. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (S&S, $35, 0684824906)
5. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (FSG, $27.50, 0374292884)
6. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown, $25.95, 0316172324)
7. State of War by James Risen (Free Press, $26, 0743270665)
8. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Morrow, $25.95, 006073132X)
9. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (Dutton, $24.95, 0525948023)
10. Healthy Aging by Andrew Weil (Knopf, $27.95, 0375407553)
11. Teacher Man by Frank McCourt (Scribner, $26, 0743243773)
12. A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Seven Stories, $23.95, 158322713X)
13. Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman (HarperSanFrancisco, $24.95, 0060738170)
14. My Friend Leonard by James Frey (Riverhead, $24.95, 1573223158)
15. The River of Doubt by Candice Millard (Doubleday, $26, 0385507968)

Trade Paperback Fiction

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $14, 1594480001)
2. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Picador, $14, 031242440X)
3. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Vintage, $14.95, 0307275167)
4. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin, $15, 0143034901)
5. Wicked by Gregory Maguire (Regan Books, $15, 0060987103)
6. Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx (Scribner, $9.95, 0743271327)
7. Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Vintage, $14.95, 0375706860)
8. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Washington Square, $14, 0743454537)
9. Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos (Grove, $13, 0802142109)
10. Light on Snow by Anita Shreve (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316010677)
11. The Known World by Edward P. Jones (Amistad, $13.95, 0060557559)
12. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone, $16, 0743227441)
13. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (St. Martin's, $14.95, 0312330537)
14. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House, $13.95, 081297235X)
15. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Vintage, $12.95, 1400032717)

Trade Paperback Nonfiction

1. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Anchor, $14.95, 0307276902)
2. Collapse by Jared Diamond (Penguin, $17, 0143036556)
3. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage, $14.95, 0375725601)
4. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen, $12.95, 1878424319)
5. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins (Plume, $15, 0452287081)
6. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316346624)
7. The End of Faith by Sam Harris (Norton, $13.95, 0393327655)
8. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage, $14, 0679745580)
9. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Scribner, $14, 074324754X)
10. Bad Cat by Jim Edgar (Workman, $9.95, 0761136193)
11. 365: No Repeats by Rachael Ray (Clarkson Potter, $19.95, 1400082544)
12. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (Norton, $16.95, 0393317552)
13. Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson (Harvest, $15, 0156031442)
14. The Power of Intention by Wayne W. Dyer (Hay House, $14.95, 1401902162)
15. Emergenetics by Geil Browning (HarperCollins, $15.95, 0060585358)

Mass Market

1. The Broker by John Grisham (Dell, $7.99, 0440241588)
2. Whiteout by Ken Follett (Signet, $7.99, 0451215710)
3. State of Fear by Michael Crichton (Avon, $7.99, 0061015733)
4. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket, $7.99, 0671027360)
5. Red Lily by Nora Roberts (Jove, $7.99, 0515139408)
6. The Cat Who Went Bananas by Lilian Jackson Braun (Jove, $7.99, 0515139785)
7. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Vintage, $7.99, 1400096898)
8. Rain Dogs by Sean Doolittle (Dell, $6.99, 0440242819)
9. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Warner, $6.99, 0446310786)
10. The South Beach Diet by Arthur Agatston, M.D. (St. Martin's, $7.99, 0312991193)

Children's (Fiction and Illustrated)

1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (children's movie tie-in edition) by C.S. Lewis (HarperCollins, $7.99, 0060765461)
2. Eldest by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $21, 037582670X)
3. Small Steps by Louis Sachar (Delacorte, $16.95, 0385733143)
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $8.99, 0439139600)
5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $29.99, 0439784549)
6. Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots? by Carmela Lavigna Coyle, illustrated by Mike Gordon (Rising Moon, $15.95, 0873588282)
7. Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser (HarperCollins, $15.99, 0060542098)
8. The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events #12) by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist (HarperCollins, $11.99, 0064410153)
9. Ptolemy's Gate (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 3) by Jonathan Stroud (Miramax Books, $17.95, 0786818611)
10. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $9.99, 0439358078)
11. Eragon by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $9.95, 0375826696)
12. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, $8.95, 0375829164)
13. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, $7.99, 0694003611)
14. A Family of Poems by Caroline Kennedy, illustrated by Jon J. Muth (Hyperion, $19.95, 0786851112)
15. Fairyopolis by Cicely Mary Barker (Frederick Warne, $19.99, 0723257248)

[Many thanks to MPBA and Book Sense!]


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