Shelf Awareness for Wednesday, February 8, 2006


Margaret Quinlin Books: Who Owns the Moon?: And Other Conundrums of Exploring and Using Space by Cynthia Levinson and Jennifer Swanson

Frances Lincoln Ltd: Dear Black Boy by Martellus Bennett

Soho Crime: Broken Fields by Marcie R. Rendon

Holiday House: When I Hear Spirituals by Cheryl Willis Hudson, illustrated by London Ladd

Mira Books: Their Monstrous Hearts by Yigit Turhan

News

Cool Idea of the Day: Inkwood's 'Truthiness' Display

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey has become an object lesson at Inkwood Books, Tampa, Fla., where the book is the focus of what co-owner Leslie Reiner calls the "truthiness display." At the center of a table toward the front of the store are copies of the disgraced memoir surrounded by a range of adult and children's titles about lying and the truth. Above the table is a sign with a phrase taken from The Four Agreements: "Speak with integrity."

"Most people have been amused, and no one's been bothered," Reiner told Shelf Awareness. "It was all everyone was talking about."

The books on display include The Honest-to-Goodness Truth by Patricia C. McKissack; a Thomas the Tank Engine title on lying; White Lies and Barefaced Truths by Cathy Hopkins; I Tell a Lie Every So Often by Bruce Clements; Al Franken's The Truth (With Jokes); Secrets, Lies, Betrayals: How the Body Holds the Secrets of a Life, and How to Unlock Them by Maggie Scarf; and The Great Failure: My Unexpected Path to Truth by Natalie Goldberg. In A Million Little Pieces is a Cards with Charm card that has a silver screw charm and the phrase "Screwed."

The store created the display as the truth about Frey's lying began to come out and a shipment of A Million Little Pieces arrived. "We thought we would never sell them," Reiner said. Once the staff began to work on the display, they used books already on the shelves to fill it out.

Truth is this is one creative, humorous way to piece together something constructive from the situation.


NYU Advanced Publishing Institute: Early bird pricing through Oct. 13


Notes: Curious George Co-Editor Dies; Ruling on Bible Tax

HMV, owner of Waterstone's and suitor of Ottakar's, has rejected a takeover offer from venture capital firm Permira as too low, according to Bloomberg. As a result, HMV's share price fell 6.5% in morning trading in London.

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Strangely and sadly Alan J. Shalleck, 76, a Curious George collaborator, was found dead in the driveway of his mobile home in Boynton Beach, Fla., the Palm Beach Post reported. His bloodied body had been covered by plastic garbage bags. The police are treating the case as a possible homicide.

In the 1980s and early '90s, Shalleck co-edited several dozen Curious George books and helped write and direct more than 100 film shorts starring Curious George. The feature film Curious George makes its debut on Friday.

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Publishers continue to experiment with packaging books together with DVDs of movies based on the book and results have been mixed, according to the Chicago Tribune. College campuses may be the most promising market, as more professors link studies of books and movies.

Penguin's Chamberlain Bros.'s imprint is focusing on classics book-and-DVD combinations. For its part, Sourcebooks, which has published a range of successful titles with accompanying CDs, will continue to stick with CDs.

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A federal judge in Atlanta has thrown the book at a Georgia law exempting the Bible and books relating to Scripture from sales tax, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. In recent years, the exemption had been expanded to the Quran.

Thomas Budlong, a retired librarian and former head of the Georgia Library Association, and Candace Apple, owner of the Phoenix & Dragon, Sandy Springs, Ga., a metaphysical, religious and spiritual bookstore, had filed suit against the law, arguing that it discriminated against sellers of other religious, philosophical and spiritual works.

Apple told the AP that she didn't think the Bible should taxed, rather that "it just shouldn't get preferential treatment. Books concerning life and death, good and evil, even if they are not of a specific religious orientation, should qualify as books in the same category of the Scriptures. They are being used for the same purpose--to try and lead a better life."

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A Seattle Weekly review of the Library Bistro at the Alexis Hotel in downtown Seattle focused on food and drink but noted that a few books are for sale. "In the end, the literary theme is mostly for show, though it'd be cool if they had regular poetry readings."

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Following last week's Hamas sweep in Palestinian elections, Yale University Press is moving up publication of Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad by Matthew Levitt ($26, 0300110537). Originally scheduled to be released this fall, the book will now appear in May.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of the Treasury since November, Levitt earlier was a senior fellow and director of terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he wrote the book. He has also worked as an FBI analyst in counterterrorism.

In the book, Levitt takes a dim view of Hamas, arguing that the political leadership, social services and terrorist activities of the organization are fully integrated.

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Ingrid Estell has joined Fulcrum Publishing as western sales manager, covering Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii. She had worked at Mountain Press for nine years. She will work from a home office in Missoula, Mont., and can be reached at Ingrid@fulcrumbooks.com.

Incidentally Fulcrum just broke ground on a new corporate headquarters a half mile from its current building in Golden, Colo. The new facility, housing editorial, administrative and sales staff, should be completed this summer.


GLOW: Graydon House: The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay


Media and Movies

Media Heat: Mmmmm, Carl Reiner's NNNNN

This morning on the Early Show: Gloria Allred, author of Fight Back and Win (Regan, $25.95, 0060739282).

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This morning the Today Show hooks up with Jillian Straus, an Oprah producer and author of Unhooked Generation: The Truth About Why We're Still Single (Hyperion, $21.95, 1401301320).

Also on the Today Show: the one and only Carl Reiner, who talks about his new novel, NNNNN (S&S, $21, 0743286693). Ahhh.

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Today on Oprah!: Michael F. Roizen, co-author of You: The Owner's Manual (Collins, $24.95, 0060765313)

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Today Eric Dinerstein, chief scientist of the World Wildlife Fund and author of Tigerland and Other Unintended Destinations (Island Press, $25.95, 1559635789), arrives on the Diane Rehm Show.

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Yesterday Talk of the Nation spoke sotto voce with Tanya Biank, whose new book, Under the Sabres: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives (St. Martin's, $23.95, 0312333501), examines the roles to play and rules to follow for military wives.


BINC: Your donation can help rebuild lives and businesses in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and beyond. Donate Today!


Books & Authors

Attainment: New Books Out Next Week

The 5th Horseman by James Patterson (Little, Brown, $27.95, 0316159778). The latest in the Women's Murder Club series appears on Monday, February 13.

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Appropriately appearing on Valentine's Day: In the Company of the Courtesans by Sarah Dunant (Random House, $23.95, 1400063817). Set in 16th century Italy from the author of The Birth of Venus.

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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (Candlewick, $18.99, 0763625892), which will be published on Tuesday. The adventures of a china rabbit--for children. A Book Sense pick.


Pennie's Pick: Marley & Me

Pennie Clark Ianniciello, book buyer at Costco, has chosen Marley & Me by John Grogan (Morrow, $21.95, 0060817089), the surprise bestseller of the holiday season, as her pick of the month. The pick is highlighted in Costco Connection, the magazine that goes to some members of the warehouse club.

Ianniciello wrote that Grogan's "stories of 'the world's worst dog' will have readers saying, 'You call that bad? My dog [or cat or parrot or headgehog or . . . ] has done worse. Much worse.

"But no matter how ill-behaved Marley is, Grogan also captures the unconditional love and devotion that only pets can offer. This book is a must for any animal lover. However, consider yourself warned: You will need a tissue or two."


Mandahla: Three Thrillers Reviewed

Gone by Lisa Gardner (Bantam, $25, 0553804316, January 31)
Prior Bad Acts by Tami Hoag (Bantam, $26, 0553801988, March 21)
The Delilah Complex by M. J. Rose (Mira, $6.99 mass market, 0778322157, January)

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Last week I broke an ankle bone in Tunisia. This week I'm wearing "the big black boot," popping pain meds, and am housebound. In between whining for snacks, what's one to do? Read thrillers, of course. I started with Gone by the always-reliable Lisa Gardner. It begins on a rainy night on the Oregon coast with the discovery of an abandoned car with engine running, passenger door open and a purse still on the seat. The owner of the car is Rainie Connor, a woman with a troubled past, who has appeared in previous novels by Gardner. Her recently estranged husband, former FBI profiler Pierce Quincy, is certain his wife has been abducted. The local police are initially skeptical, until a ransom note is received. The novel cuts back and forth between Rainie's struggles to keep herself (and a child later kidnapped) alive and the sometimes contentious team attempting to find her and the boy. Edge-of-your-seat (or sofa) suspense and a claustrophobic atmosphere of constant rain combine to make a compelling read.

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Tami Hoag used to write really good romance novels, then became one of the first romance authors to try suspense, and now writes really good thrillers. Prior Bad Acts is one of her best, and brings back Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska from Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust. When Minneapolis judge Carey Moore is brutally mugged after her controversial ruling on an accused serial killer, they are called on to protect her, and do so reluctantly--they don't agree with her decision, decrying her liberal viewpoint. But the accused escapes from jail, the judge is kidnapped and the plot twists begin. Throw in a cop who believes justice has been thwarted, the troubled stepson of one of the murder victims and the judge's husband who is leading a sleazy double life, and you have the proverbial page-turner, with a little romance to leaven the drama.

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The Delilah Complex is M. J. Rose's sixth novel, and broke through my jet-lagged muzzy brain with a snap. Edgy sex has a way of doing that. Members of a women's very exclusive club, the Scarlet Society, come to sex therapist Dr. Morgan Snow for counseling after one of their male recruits has gone missing and a photograph of his lifeless body turns up in the Times. The club enlists men for the purpose of domination, and needless to say, secrecy is an issue for them, even as the body count and matching photos start to grow in number. Complicating Dr. Snow's therapy sessions and sleuthing is handsome detective Noah Jordain, with whom she has a bit of history. She also has a thirteen-year-old daughter, can't cook, loves to garden on her balcony and is happily more dimensional than most protagonists of this genre. The story is suspenseful, surprising, shivery without being gory and--did I mention this?--sexy.--Marilyn Dahl



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