Shelf Awareness for Friday, January 27, 2006


Becker & Mayer: The Land Knows Me: A Nature Walk Exploring Indigenous Wisdom by Leigh Joseph, illustrated by Natalie Schnitter

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

Mira Books: Their Monstrous Hearts by Yigit Turhan

St. Martin's Press: The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction by Henry Gee

News

Act II: Tattered Cover Main Store Moves to Theater

The Tattered Cover Book Store is moving its flagship store in the Cherry Creek section of Denver a mile north to space in the Lowenstein Theater, an old stage theater on East Colfax that has been unused for many years and is being renovated. Twist & Shout, a music store, is also moving into the area. Tattered Cover will close the doors on the Cheery Creek store and its Fourth Story Restaurant & Bar on June 25. The new store will reportedly have about the same number of titles as the original store, which has long been considered one of the premier independent stores in the country. The move has been a strong possibility for some time (Shelf Awareness, November 15).

In a statement, owner Joyce Meskis said, "The Tattered Cover will be creating a unique store in this wonderful project. While the Tattered Cover has cherished our remarkable 34 years in the Cherry Creek area, recent years have seen a significant decline in business accompanied by increased costs, necessitating our difficult decision to move the store when the lease expires."

Meskis told the Rocky Mountain News that she would like to keep a satellite store in the Cherry Creek section.


Berkley Books: Swept Away by Beth O'Leary


Notes: New Plans, New Voices

Reece Baswell, owner of the Calistoga Bookstore in Calistoga, Calif., in Napa Valley, intends to retire in the next month or two and will close the store if he can't sell it, according to the St. Helena Star. The paper covered a surprise community party for him and said Baswell "plans to visit Paris in the spring time, and take lots of walks on the beach with his wife, Jeannie."

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This weekend Misty Valley Books in Chester, Vt., holds its 12th annual New Voices series highlighting new writers. The reading, reception and signing will take place tomorrow in two sessions at the First Universalist Church. The event includes snowshoeing and cross country skiing tomorrow morning and dinner Saturday evening. Some B&Bs in the area are offering weekend packages that include a reception and dinner with the authors, an autographed book and discounts at the bookstore. The new voices are:

  • Molly Worthen, author of The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost (Houghton Mifflin)
  • Andrew Beahrs, author of Strange Saint (Toby Press)
  • Deborah Noyes, author of Angel and Apostle (Unbridled Books)
  • Dana Adam Shapiro, author of The Every Boy (Houghton Mifflin)
  • Victoria Vinton, author of The Jungle Law (MacAdam Cage)
  • Kirstin Allio, author of Garner (Coffee House Press)

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Good bad doggy book.

Yesterday's New York Times profiled John Grogan, author of the bestselling Marley & Me, the story of his frustrating but dear (and late) dog, which became a surprise bestseller of the holiday season. Published in November, the book now has 870,000 copies in print. "I was pretty confident the book would be big, but not this big," Marley said.

According to the Times, "Lisa Gallagher, William Morrow's publisher, said she began to suspect the book would do well when she noticed staff members passing it around among themselves." The company printed nearly 6,000 readers editions for booksellers and gave away copies at BEA. "In a nod to the book's tearjerker qualities, the company distributed tissue with Marley's image on it at regional bookseller meetings; it also sent Frisbees with the book's title on them to stores."

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Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Borders stock to buy from hold yesterday. On January 13, shortly after the company reported better-than-expected results and the Financial Times said that four private equity firms may compete to buy Borders and take it private, Prudential upgraded Borders to neutral from underweight.

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Dede Wirth, book buyer of the Mystic Seaport Bookstore, Mystic, Conn., is leaving the store following Event Network's purchase of the Gift Store and Bookstore, which takes effect on Monday.

A member of the New England Booksellers Association for 27 years, Wirth intends to take some time off and then look for a part-time position, hopefully in a bookstore. Wirth may be reached at dedewirth@gmail.com.


BINC: DONATE NOW and Penguin Random House will match donations up to a total of $15,000.


Media and Movies

A Million Little Betrayals; Corrections to Come

Hell hath no fury like a TV star betrayed--and seemingly condoning lies and deceit.

As was widely reported, yesterday Oprah turned on James Frey, telling him on her show, "You betrayed millions of readers. . . I feel duped." Oprah also apologized for her comments defending Frey on Larry King Live. "I gave the impression that the truth does not matter. I made a mistake." Her fans apparently forgave her and booed Frey.

For his part, Frey admitted he had misled Oprah and readers and said of the Smoking Gun report that revealed many of the falsehoods and exaggerations, "Most of what they wrote is pretty accurate."

Frey's editor, Nan Talese of Doubleday, said she learned of the inaccuracies in the book from the Smoking Gun report. Oprah criticized her, noting that after she chose A Million Little Pieces as her book club selection, someone from the Hazelden center warned her about the veracity of the book and her staff contacted Doubleday, which vouched for Frey. Talese called the events "sad." Oprah responded: "It's not sad for me. It's embarrassing."

More than a few observers thought it sad that the only editor Oprah has ever dissed on her show to her face was, of all people, Nan Talese.

New York Times columnist Frank Rich, one of the "leading journalists" invited onto the show, probably had the most pertinent comment, calling yesterday's Oprah "amazing television."

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Within hours of the taping of Oprah's show, Doubleday and Anchor announced that although they feel justified standing by "our authors when accusations are initially leveled against their work," in James Frey's case, after having "questioned him about the allegations," the Random House imprints "have sadly come to the realization that a number of facts have been altered and incidents embellished."

As a result, Doubleday and Anchor said they "apologize to the reading public for any unintentional confusion surrounding the publication of A Million Little Pieces."

In addition, all future printings of the book will contain a publisher's note and an author's note, and the notes will be posted on Random's Web site, sent to retailers for inclusion in current editions of the book and advertised in the general and trade press.

With that, we hope that the unfortunate saga of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces will come to a close.


Media Heat:

Today on the Today Show, cardiologist Mimi Guarneri examines medicine that focuses on stress reduction, diet and exercise and physician's humanity, as prescribed in her new book, The Heart Speaks: A Cardiologist Reveals the Secret Language of Healing (Touchstone, $23, 0743273117).

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Today on the Diane Rehm 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 20/20, Deborah Tannen chats about how mothers interact with teenage and older daughters, as discussed about in her new book, You're Wearing That?: Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation (Random House, $24.95, 1400062586).

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Today on the Charlie Rose Show: French thinker and journalist Bernard-Henri Levy talks about his mosaic portrait of the U.S., as framed in his new book, American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville (Random House, $24.95, 1400064341).


Book Review

Mandahla: My Lucky Star Reviewed

My Lucky Star by Joe Keenan (Little Brown and Company, $24.95 Hardcover, 9780316060196, January 2006)


 
Perfect for the winter blues and blahs, My Lucky Star is madcap, charming and hilarious. Readers of My Blue Heaven and Putting on the Ritz will welcome back Philip Cavanaugh and his friend Claire Simmons, who are lured from N.Y. to L.A. via first-class tickets and promise of a lucrative screenwriting gig from their pal Gilbert. Gilbert's mother is engaged to a big (literally) Hollywood producer ("a man whose body seemed designed for the sole purpose of thwarting stranglers"), so he has an entrée into filmdom that he thinks can't miss. The novel they are given to turn into a screenplay is one of those ruthlessly sentimental books "that make you feel as though your heartstrings are being plucked with a lug wrench. On page after page it strives to achieve uplift and, in the case of my dinner, damn near succeeded."
 
The project will star an imperious screen legend, Diana Malenfant, her impossibly-handsome (and closeted) son, Stephen Donato, and his lovely clueless wife. At the same time, the diva's has-been actress sister Lily, fueled by vodka and lemonade, decides to write her memoirs, spilling the beans about her nephew. Under an assumed name, Philip signs on as Lily's ghostwriter at the urging of Stephen and Diana, who want to know the content of the book.  Nemesis comes in the person of Moira Finch, Gilbert's ex-wife and newly rich spa owner who provides some unusual services along with the usual wraps and scrubs. Throw in Malenfant brother Monty, a dapper former child star who likes male starlets and, as they say, mayhem ensues.
 
Keenan spent seven years as writer/producer for Frasier, and he's in fine form here with both farce and wit. Philip notes, as he enters a trendy restaurant, "It was undeniably stylish . . . the way various sections of the floor were lit from beneath, a sensible feature, I suppose, in a town that spent so much on shoes." And you'll never see a Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis action film again without remembering Keenan's take on extravagantly budgeted action movies: Philip muses on "having passed many a happy hour watching attractive stars outrun fireballs. . . . Their response to mortal danger is sarcasm and they're never more snarky than when they've just been shot, which is always in the shoulder or the thigh, no villain in these films ever possessing the good sense to aim for their hearts or, better still, mouths."--Marilyn Dahl



The Bestsellers

The Book Sense/SCBA List

The following are the bestselling books at Southern California Booksellers Association stores during the week ended Sunday, January 22, as reported to Book Sense:

Hardcover Fiction

1. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday, $24.95, 0385504209)
2. The Lighthouse by P.D. James (Knopf, $25.95, 030726291X)
3. The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell by Lilian Jackson Braun (Putnam, $23.95, 0399153071)
4. S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton (Putnam, $26.95, 0399152970)
5. Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan (Putnam, $26.95, 0399153012)
6. Christ the Lord by Anne Rice (Knopf, $25.95, 0375412018)
7. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (Knopf, $15, 0394404289)
8. Arthur & George by Julian Barnes (Knopf, $24.95, 030726310X)
9. The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell (HarperCollins, $25.95, 0060787120)
10. Sunstroke by Jesse Kellerman (Putnam, $24.95, 0399153306)
11. Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Knopf, $20, 140004460X)
12. The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster (Holt, $24, 0805077146)
13. The Accidental by Ali Smith (Pantheon, $22.95, 0375422250)
14. McSweeney's Issue 18 by Dave Eggers (McSweeney's Books, $22, 1932416382)
15. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Random House, $21.95, 1400060281)

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Knopf, $23.95, 140004314X)
2. State of War by James Risen (Free Press, $26, 0743270665)
3. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (FSG, $27.50, 0374292884)
4. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Morrow, $25.95, 006073132X)
5. Marley & Me by John Grogan (Morrow, $21.95, 0060817089)
6. Bad Childhood--Good Life by Dr. Laura Schlessinger (HarperCollins, $24.95, 006057786X)
7. The Elements of Style Illustrated by William Strunk et al. (Penguin Press, $24.95, 1594200696)
8. The Silver Spoon by (Phaidon, $39.95, 0714845310)
9. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown, $25.95, 0316172324)
10. Sex and the Seasoned Woman by Gail Sheehy (Random House, $25.95, 1400062632)
11. Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman (HarperSanFrancisco, $24.95, 0060738170)
12. For Laci by Sharon Rocha (Crown, $25.95, 0307338282)
13. My Friend Leonard by James Frey (Riverhead, $24.95, 1573223158)
14. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (S&S, $35, 0684824906)
15. Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About by Kevin Trudeau (Alliance, $29.95, 0975599518)

Trade Paperback Fiction

1. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Picador, $14, 031242440X)
2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $14, 1594480001)
3. Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx (Scribner, $9.95, 0743271327)
4. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Vintage, $14.95, 0307275167)
5. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (Vintage, $14.95, 1400079276)
6. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco, $13, 0062502182)
7. Wicked by Gregory Maguire (Regan Books, $15, 0060987103)
8. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House, $13.95, 081297235X)
9. The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman (Back Bay, $13.95, 0316154385)
10. Honeymoon by James Patterson and Howard Roughan (Warner, $13.95, 0446696269)
11. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Washington Square, $14, 0743454537)
12. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin, $15, 0143034901)
13. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte (Plume, $14, 0452287111)
14. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (Back Bay, $13.95, 0316010707)
15. Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot (Avon, $12.95, 0060525118)

Trade Paperback Nonfiction

1. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Anchor, $14.95, 0307276902)
2. Night by Elie Weisel (FSG, $9, 0374500010)
3. Collapse by Jared Diamond (Penguin, $17, 0143036556)
4. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins (Plume, $15, 0452287081)
5. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage, $14, 0679745580)
6. Bad Cat by Jim Edgar (Workman, $9.95, 0761136193)
7. Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson (Harvest, $15, 0156031442)
8. Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg M.D. (Three Rivers, $13.95, 1400082315)
9. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (Norton, $16.95, 0393317552)
10. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316346624)
11. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage, $14.95, 0375725601)
12. Zagat Survey: Los Angeles/Southern California Restaurants (Zagat, $13.95, 1570067422)
13. The End of Faith by Sam Harris (Norton, $13.95, 0393327655)
14. Bad Dog by R.D. Rosen et al. (Workman, $9.95, 0761139834)
15. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316010790   

Mass Market

1. California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker (HarperTorch, $7.99, 0060562374)
2. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket, $7.99, 0671027360)
3. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Vintage, $7.99, 1400096898)
4. The Broker by John Grisham (Dell, $7.99, 0440241588)
5. The Cat Who Went Bananas by Lilian Jackson Braun (Jove, $7.99, 0515139785)
6. State of Fear by Michael Crichton (Avon, $7.99, 0061015733)
7. Night by Elie Wiesel (Bantam, $5.99, 0553272535)
8. Edge of Evil by J.A. Jance (Avon, $7.99, 0060828412)
9. In a Dark House by Deborah Crombie (Avon, $7.50, 0060525266)
10. The Motive by John Lescroart (Signet, $7.99, 0451215729)

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. Ptolemy's Gate (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 3) by Jonathan Stroud (Miramax Books, $17.95, 0786818611)
3. The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events #12) by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist (HarperCollins, $11.99, 0064410153)
4. A Family of Poems by Caroline Kennedy, illustrated by Jon J. Muth (Hyperion, $19.95, 0786851112)
5. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Putnam, $10.99, 0399226907)
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $29.99, 0439784549)
7. Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser (HarperCollins, $15.99, 0060542098)
8. Small Steps by Louis Sachar (Delacorte, $16.95, 0385733143)
9. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (HarperTrophy, $6.99, 0064471101)
10. The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis, illustrated by Pauline Baynes (HarperTrophy, $8.99, 0064409430)
11. The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, $7.99, 0061074292)
12. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (Del Rey, $6.99, 0345413350)
13. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, $7.99, 0694003611)
14. Good Boy, Fergus! by David Shannon (Blue Sky, $15.99, 0439490278)
15. Eldest by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $21, 037582670X

[Many thanks to Book Sense and SCBA!]


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