Shelf Awareness for Thursday, May 4, 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

Notes: AMS President Gone; New Owner at 23rd Avenue Books

Bruce C. Myers, president and CEO of Advanced Marketing Services since late 2004, has resigned, effectively immediately, according to the company. Loren C. Paulsen, executive v-p and a company founder, is assuming the offices on a temporary basis. AMS, which for several years has been dealing with a serious accounting scandal, said it "anticipates being able to announce shortly the appointment of a new chief executive officer, who is well-known and highly regarded in the company's industry."

Myers was named chief financial officer for AMS in early 2004, when previous CFO Ed Leonard and longtime CEO and president Michael Nicita left the company.

Among its main businesses, AMS supplies books to warehouse clubs and owns PGW.

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Congratulations to Stephanie Griffin, who has bought Twenty-Third Avenue Books in Portland, Ore., from Bob Maull, who is moving to Cape Cod with his wife.

"I was a customer and always loved this store," Griffin told Shelf Awareness. "I heard a rumor that they were going to close, so I gathered up my courage and with the support of a lot of friends and my banker, I said, I'm going to do this." She acted quickly: on March 5, she heard that if there were no buyer, the store would close at the end of March. She took over officially on April 15.

An accountant by profession, Griffin said she is learning fast about store operations and has been helped by the "terrific" staff. Maull stayed for several weeks "in the background, helping me out, answering my questions."

Griffin has "no plans to change things. This store is a fixture in the neighborhood. I plan on continuing the readings and hopefully live up to the legacy Bob left with his wonderful selection of books."

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In a letter to customers and friends, Corey and Cheryl Mesler, owners of Burke's Book Store, Memphis, Tenn., since 2000, have said that the 131-year-old store is in "financial trouble," the Memphis Daily reported. "In short, we are not generating enough revenue to pay our bills. . . . We're looking for a way to save our store."

Besides being one of the oldest bookstores in the country, Burke's is well known as a regular book event stop for John Grisham, who was treated well there long before he became famous.

The Meslers are asking for donations and for sales. "Just come to the shop," Cheryl Mesler told the paper. "That's the thing, getting people into the store."

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Cool idea of the day: the 11th Festival of Mystery, held last week and sponsored by the Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, Pa., and NPR station WDUQ, drew some 350 mystery lovers to an occasion at which more than 50 mystery writers casually mixed with customers. "It is a fun event with no awards, banquet or panels, just a relaxed and fun time," co-owner Mary Alice Gorman wrote. For this year's festival, the store rented the Greek Orthodox Church Hall, where "alongside the twinkle lights, flowers and net were sashes of crime scene tape and balloons in the store colors of red, black and white."

The store held raffles and offered some food; the entrance fee was $8. Mystery Lovers co-owner Richard Goldman interviewed some of the authors for readers and book clubs. Sales increased 25% over last year's festival.

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In March and April, Bookworld added as new distribution clients: Manor House Publishing, Creatrix Books, Crown Christian Publications, Executive Excellence Publishing, Tycoon Records, Stern's Travel Guides and Phoenix Press.

The company also has hired Dawn Oftedahl, who had been a sales manager at Lewellyn, as a rep to the Western states. She will be based in California. With Oftedahl's appointment, Bookworld now uses its own sales force to sell to 85% of the market.

Bookworld chairman Ron "Ted" Smith said that March was the best month in the company's history.

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Here's a prompt: on May 20, Laurie B. King, whose new crime thriller, The Art of Detection (Bantam, $24, 0553804537), appears at the end of the month, will do what she calls "writer's improv": in public, she will write a short story based on prompts submitted earlier by the public but given to her only minutes before she begins to write. The story will be "a fantasy-mystery set in south Santa Cruz County, with its main character someone connected to middle school or junior high school (student, staff, or family member of one or the other)."

There are seven very specific prompts to be filled, including 1) the first line of the story; 2) a fictional name for the school; 3) the name and description of a fictional video game; 4) a magical device from the imaginary video game; 5) a school research topic; 6) a favorite snack (no brand name); and 7) the madeup name of a hangout. Contributors need not suggest a prompt for each item.

Suggested prompts are due by 5 p.m. next Monday. Submissions via e-mail should go to improv@scparks.com and should contain the person's name, snail mail address and phone number. Prompts should be numbered.

King is writing the story as part of her Artist of the Year Profile Performance sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Department of Parks, Open Space and Cultural Services. Contributors whose prompts are used will receive a signed copy of a King novel and be thanked in print when the collection containing the story is published.

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Order in the party room!

Last week's launch party for Captured! Inside the World of Celebrity Trials (Santa Monica Press, $24.95, 1595800115), which consists of a selection of 25 years of sketches by courtroom artist Mona Shafer Edwards, drew a who's who of the Los Angeles legal community, including lawyers Gloria Allred, Tom Mesereau (Michael Jackson), Howard Weitzman (O.J. Simpson), Bill Hodgman (an O.J. Simpson prosecutor), Harland Braun (Robert Blake) and Tony Brooklier (Heidi Fleiss) as well as Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, Judge Elden Fox and Judge Eleanor Hunter. Hollywood Madame Heidi Fleiss also showed up at the Koplin Del Rio Gallery in West Hollywood, too--in part to see how she was "captured" in the chapter about her in the book.


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


Raytheon Board Fines CEO for Borrowings

Kaavya Viswanathan lost her contract. William H. Swanson, CEO of Raytheon and last week's "other" plagiarist, has been "fined" $1 million.

According to today's New York Times, the Raytheon board is taking away almost $1 million from Swanson's 2006 compensation package. Swanson admitted to borrowing extensively from a 1944 engineering text for his Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management, which has been distributed for free by Raytheon and promoted on the company Web site. The company has stopped giving away the book.

The board said it "takes this matter very seriously." The board added that it has "full confidence" in Swanson, who has apologized.

As in the case of Opal Mehta, more bad news has trickled out concerning Swanson's book. The Boston Herald reported that the CEO had borrowed four of his rules from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and another rule resembled a life lesson in Dave Barry's Dave Barry Turns 50.

If the "fine" sounds high, it's all relative. Last year, Swanson received a salary of $1.12 million, restricted stock valued at nearly $3 million and a bonus of $2.6 million. In addition, Raytheon allows him personal use of corporate aircraft, a company car and reimburses him for taxes and life insurance payments. Ah, the author's life. . .


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


BEA on the Horizon: Olsson's Welcome

Olsson's Books & Records, founded in 1972 and with five stores in the Washington area, invites BEA attendees to take a break from the show at its two downtown locations, the Landsburgh/Penn Quarter store, a few blocks from the convention center at 418 7th Street between D and E Streets, and the Dupont Circle store.

During the show, the Footnotes Café at the Landsburgh/Penn Quarter store is offering a 10% discount to all BEA attendees (just show a badge) on its sandwiches, soups, salads, coffee, tea, smoothies, beer and wine. Order ahead by calling 202-638-4882; the menu is posted at www.footnotescafe.com.

Olsson's is also encouraging attendees to check out the Shakespeare Theatre Company, two doors from the Landsburgh/Penn Quarter store, which is offering a 20% discount on tickets to Aeschylus's The Persians to BEA people. To receive the discount, contact the box office at 202-547-1122, option 3, and mention code 3063. For more information about the show, go to ShakespeareTheatre.org.

The Washington Nationals are on a home stand during BEA and will host the Baltimore Orioles Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. and Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Tickets are available at Olsson's, a tickets.com retail outlet. RFK Stadium is easily accessible by Metro.

In addition, as noted here Tuesday, Olsson's, Perseus Books and Capital Books are sponsoring a reception with light refreshments and drinks at the Lansburgh/Penn Quarter store on Thursday, May 18, 7-9 p.m. RSVP to Anita Perala at anita.perala@perseusbooks.com or Jean Westcott at Capital Books at jean.westcott@booksintl.com.


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


Media and Movies

Book TV: Annapolis Book Festival; Robert Remini in Depth

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's Web site.

Saturday, May 6

11:30 a.m. Live coverage of the Annapolis Book Festival at the Key School. Speakers include Christopher Hitchens, Don Van Natta, Jr., Ira Winkler, Peter Bergen and Mark Malseed.

6 p.m. Encore Booknotes. In a repeat, Diana Preston talks about the German sinking of the passenger ship Lusitania in 1915 during World War I, which killed 1,200 people. Her book on the subject is Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy (Berkley, $15, 0425189988).

9 p.m. After Words. Richard Cohen, Congressional correspondent for the National Journal, interviews Juliet Eilperin, staff writer for the Washington Post whose new book is Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship Is Poisoning the House of Representatives (Rowman & Littlefield, $19.95, 0742551180), in which she posits that in recent years the "people's house" has become a place where members are mainly focused on maintaining power. (Re-airs Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.)

10 p.m. Public Lives. Kenneth Ackerman discusses his new book, Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York (Carroll & Graf, $15.95, 078671686X).

Sunday, May 7

12 p.m.-3 p.m. In Depth: Robert Remini, the historian who has written biographies of Martin Van Buren, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, Joseph Smith and Andrew Jackson. (His Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845 won the National Book Award.) His latest book, which the Library of Congress appointed him to research and write, is The House: The History of the House of Representatives (Collins, $34.95, 0060884347). Viewers may call with questions during the show or e-mail questions to booktv@c-span.org. (Re-airs Monday at 12 a.m.)


Media Heat: Straight; The Woman I Am; Transgender Memoir

This morning on Good Morning America: Teri Hatcher, the Desperate Housewife whose new memoir is Burnt Toast: And Other Philosophies of Life (Hyperion, $24.95, 1401302629). Hatcher is also on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.

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This morning the Today Show wakes up with a trio of authors:

  • Helen Reddy roars about her new autobiography, The Woman I Am (Tarcher, $26.95, 1585424897).
  • David Burke, chef and co-author of David Burke's New American Classics (Knopf, $35, 037541231X).
  • Shelby Steele, whose new book is White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era (HarperCollins, $24.95, 0060578629). He's also on Dateline tonight.
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Today WAMU's Diane Rehm Show listens to Gilbert Tuhabonye, a Burundian and author with Gary Brozek of This Voice In My Heart: A Genocide Survivor's Story of Escape, Faith, and Forgiveness (Amistad, $23.95, 0060817518).

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Today the View checks out Dhillon Khosla, author of Both Sides Now: One Man's Journey Through Womanhood (Tarcher, $26.95, 1585424722).

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Today on KCRW's Bookworm: Susan Straight, author of A Million Nightingales (Pantheon, $24.95, 0375423648). As the show describes it: "Susan Straight's novel about slavery has a buried theme: the commodification of the body and the fetishizing of mixed-blood children. We explore the way in which the culture of slavery re-emerges in the racial issues of contemporary American life."

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Tonight the Colbert Report tees off with Rick Reilly, author of Shanks For Nothing (Doubleday, $24.95, 0385501110).


Deeper Understanding

No Drinks in Store?: A Customer Service Parable

The following hilarious but serious explanation to staff members of store policy on drinks was written by Tony Miksak, owner of the Gallery Bookshop & Bookwinkle's Children's Books, Mendocino, Calif., as well as president of Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, in response to a customer query. As Miksak noted, "this kind of thing goes to the center of figuring out what is real customer service. It's an issue that is never finished. Just when you think you've got it all down, it bites you."


To clarify our NO Drinks in the Store Rule.

Well, actually, it's no UNCOVERED drinks in the store.

All day long we see a stream of potential customers entering the store. If taken literally, our rule means one of us must be near the two doors, and take drinks out of every fourth person's hands as he enters, or, worse, ask customers to leave and come back later (as if they ever would). Or even more worse, once a nice couple has walked the store for a half hour, picked out books, and are standing in our longish check-out line, offer to take the drinks out of their hands. Ouch.

In actual practice, we don't enforce the NO drinks rule very often. People are not confronted when they enter, and customarily left alone as they browse.

In actual practice, we rarely see books ruined by coffee or tea spills.

When DO we suggest a customer give us his drink to hold?

When it is not covered. Or leaking. Or the customer is bending over and tipping her cup. Or he puts it down on a book or on a bookshelf. Or the customer's hands are so full of objects that it is only humane to offer to hold some of the junk so she can shop more effectively.

Otherwise, we leave the person alone. As witnessed by that "funny" letter we received today (posted in the chamber for all to read), there are numerous ways to make a customer Unhappy, and we try to avoid all of them.

At all times we say YES to customers. YES we can get that book for you. YES we're happy to hold your drink or your package. YES the town's toilet is just over there. YES your iguana is delightful, and since you are holding Boikin in your arms, please let us hold that drink for you. You'd rather clutch the drink, and you will be careful? OK.

YES we are here to serve you and make your experience in the bookstore as cheerful, easy, happy, and remunerative (for you, and, for us) as possible. YES we thank you for shopping here, and NO, we'd never kNOwingly do anything to make you feel uncomfortable. Of course you may hold on to your beloved latté while you walk around, but please, be mindful.

Thank you for spending your time and money with us.

We really appreciate you.

Really, we do.

Are you OK with that drink, or should I hold it for you?



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