"Bookstores are for browsing, but they should also be showrooms in which the selection on hand is backed up by the vast catalog and data bases of books that can be ordered. No customer should ever leave a store having asked for a book that can be located somewhere without closing the sale. I once saw a relevant sign in a hotel in Egypt of all places that today's booksellers should adopt: 'The answer is yes; there is no other answer.' The best bookstores--as Joyce Meskis [owner of Tattered Cover Book Store and director of the University of Denver's Publishing Institute] has helped to teach us--become community destinations featuring an array of additional attractions such as reading groups and writing classes. The appeal of spending time with other readers is considerable. Bookstores are clubs, open to all with common ideals and interests. (It helps, of course, to have a coffee shop or cozy lounging areas.).... So, the roles of the publisher and the booksellers remain essential to the process."

A campaign to have Jane Austen be featured on a British banknote has succeeded: likely beginning in 2017, a portrait of the author will appear on the £10 note, replacing Charles Darwin, the BBC reported. Austen is the first female author to be featured on British currency. (Shakespeare and Dickens have made cameo appearances.) Her inclusion also means that British notes will have a woman other than Queen Elizabeth on currency once social reformer Elizabeth Fry is replaced on the £5 note by Winston Churchill.

The Austen portrait on the note is adapted from a sketch drawn by her sister Cassandra. Below the portrait is a quotation from Pride and Prejudice: "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!" The note will also feature an illustration of Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice; an image of Godmersham Park in Kent, home of Austen's brother, inspiration for several of her novels; and the writing table the author used at home at Chawton Cottage in Hampshire.

Referring to the Bank of England governor, Chancellor George Osborne tweeted: "Mark Carney's choice of Jane Austen as face of £10 note is great. After understandable row over lack of women, shows sense and sensibility."

But the announcement was not universally acknowledged in a positive way. The Guardian called the quotation about reading a "major blunder" by the Bank since it comes from the mouth of Caroline Bingley, "one of Austen's most deceitful characters, a woman who has no interest in books at all," who values them only for snob appeal and for a way to become closer to Mr. Darcy.

Good news from Washington Heights in northern Manhattan: Word Up, which closed last August because of a rent hike, is opening tomorrow in a new location, the Daily News reported. The store is located at 2113 Amsterdam Ave. at 165th St.

Word Up, which is a nonprofit staffed by volunteers, started in 2011 as a temporary pop-up store, but struck a chord in the community, hosting many readings, workshops, concerts and other cultural events.

In the past year, Word Up organizers, led by Veronica Liu, "kept Word Up in the conversation, holding impromptu events and raising more than $60,000 online," the News noted.

U.K. bookshop chain Foyles will open a seventh branch, at London's Waterloo Station, this fall. The Bookseller reported that the 3,000 square foot location "will have a ground floor and mezzanine and serve the 125 million customers who pass through the station on an annual basis."

On its Facebook page, Foyles shared a photo of the space and noted, "We're delighted to announce that there's another Foyles coming very soon: our new branch at Waterloo Station will open its doors in early November. Here's preview of what we're planning (the design incorporates the original ticket booths)."

Sixty-six managers left U.K. bookstore chain Waterstones last week "as part of its management restructure, with a number declining to go through the chain's assessment process," the Bookseller reported. In May, managing director James Daunt had said that the roles of branch manager, assistant manager, general manager and deputy manager would be abolished, to be replaced by a new position called bookshop manager encompassing those roles. The people affected were to enter a consultation, which meant they would be let go unless another job was found for them.

Daunt told the Bookseller he believed the process has been "fair and transparent,"  emphasizing that "the majority" of people had passed the assessment center process and had been given new bookshop manager roles in the company.

Still, one manager commented: "We feel all those with loyal service have been singled out and morale is at rock bottom."

Beginning next month, Google will sell and rent digital textbooks through the Play store "in a move that could help it compete against Amazon's Kindle textbook business," paidContent reported. The announcement was made during a breakfast in San Francisco yesterday at which the company also introduced a new Nexus 7 tablet and Chromecast, a TV streaming device.

Google is "working with the five largest textbook publishers" for students "to purchase digital textbooks or rent them for up to six months" at prices up to 80% off print list prices, "which is the same claim that Amazon makes on Kindle textbook rentals," paidContent wrote.

Boxer Mike Tyson joined sports reporter George Willis (r.) at Bounce Sporting Club in New York City last week for an event to promote Willis's The Bite Fight: Tyson, Holyfield, and the Night That Changed Boxing Forever (Triumph Books).

Our favorite Facebook post yesterday, from Skylight Books, Los Angeles, Calif., referring to one of the most amusing characters on Arrested Development:

"Now that Jeffrey Tambor has let it be known he's a part-owner, we're hoping to start carrying Dr. Tobias Fünke's classic biography, The Man Inside Me."

Bear Pond staff, with owners Robert Kasow (top row, right) and Claire Benedict (middle row, blue shirt). Photo: Patricia Lyon-Surrey

Congratulations to Bear Pond Books, Montpelier, Vt., which is celebrating its 40th anniversary on Saturday, August 3, with "plenty of prizes, discounts and, of course, cake."

For the party, the store is raffling six bags of at least six books. Each bag has a theme: there are two bestseller bags, a Vermont bag, two children's bags and a cookbook bag. Anyone who buys books between now and August 3 receives raffle tickets and can drop them in the desired bag.

In the same vein, every piece of birthday cake, from Birchgrove Baking, comes with a prize of a 15%-40% discount, a 40th anniversary T-shirt or tote bag, or a $40 Bear Pond gift card. The cake will be cut August 3 at 10 a.m. "and go until we run out."

And everyone who comes to the store on August 3 can choose one free book from a grab bag while supplies last.

During the four decades, Bear Pond Books has experienced "a flood, a move, a change of ownership," all while continuing to provide Montpelier "with a great book experience." The store was bought by Robert Kasow and Claire Benedict in 2006. They also own nearby Rivendell Books, which has a branch in a former Waldenbooks in Montpelier that opened in 2011.

When visiting Grand Cayman, travelers were advised by the Washington Times to seek out Camana Bay, where the "vibe is Menlo Park, California meets Caribbean island" and they "can mingle easily with locals, rather than been relegated to a tourists-only zone." Among the highlights mentioned was Books & Books: "This is a real bookstore, the kind you've been craving in this sterile age of online shopping. It also happens to host one of Camana Bay's most popular family activities: story time."

At Storey Publishing, managing editor Jennifer Travis has taken on the additional title of director of contracts. She has been with the company since 1999.

Emily Spiegelman is joining Storey in the newly created role of digital features editor, where she will manage the company's online presence, social media and web content. She was formerly manager of online content for the Collaborative for Educational Services.

Chronic Resilience: 10 Sanity-Saving Strategies for Women Coping with the Stress of Illness by Danea Horn (Conari Press).

This morning on Imus in the Morning: Linda Fairstein, author of Death Angel (Dutton, $26.95, 9780525953876).

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Tomorrow on Extra!: Shirley Jones, author of Shirley Jones: A Memoir (Gallery, $27, 9781476725956).

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Tomorrow on Business Talk with Jim Campbell: Jonathan Alter, author of The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies (Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781451646078).

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Tomorrow on Tavis Smiley: Paul Anka, co-author of My Way: An Autobiography (St. Martin's Press, $29.99, 9780312381042).

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Tomorrow night on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher: Robert W. Ney, author of Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capital Hill (Changing Lives Press, $27.99, 9780984304776).

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Tomorrow on Moyers & Co.: Congressman John Lewis, co-author of March: Book One (Top Shelf Productions, $14.95, 9781603093002).

Natalie Portman will direct and star in an adaptation of Amos Oz's memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness, the Global Post reported, noting that she also wrote the screenplay and "initially wanted to make the film in Hebrew, but it is still unclear what language will be chosen."

Portman "has been speaking in interviews for years about wanting to direct and act in a film version of this work," the Jerusalem Post wrote, adding that the project is tentatively scheduled to begin filming in January, with Portman playing Oz's mother.

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this week 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 website.

Saturday, July 27
10 a.m. Book TV presents live coverage of the 2013 Roosevelt Reading Festival from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, N.Y. (Re-airs Sunday at 12 a.m.)

5 p.m. Susan Allen, wife of former Virginia governor and U.S. Senator George Allen and author of The Remarkable Ronald Reagan (Regnery Kids, $16.95, 9781621570387).

8 p.m. Oscar Goodman, author of Being Oscar: From Mob Lawyer to Mayor of Las Vegas (Weinstein Books , $26, 9781602861886). (Re-airs Sunday at 1 p.m. and Monday at 1a.m.)

9 p.m. Joseph Ellis, author of Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence (Knopf, $26.95, 9780307701220).

10 p.m. After Words. Scott Snyder, director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, interviews Sheila Miyoshi Jager, author of Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea (Norton, $35, 9780393068498). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m. and Monday at 12 a.m. & 3 a.m.

11 p.m. Keel Hunt, author of Coup: The Day the Democrats Ousted Their Governor, Put Republican Lamar Alexander in Office Early, and Stopped a Pardon Scandal (Vanderbilt University Press , $27.50, 9780826519320).

Sunday, July 28
3:30 p.m. Kevin Maurer and Mitch Weiss, authors of Hunting Che: How a U.S. Special Forces Team Helped Capture the World's Most Famous Revolutionary (Berkley, $26.95, 9780425257463), at an event hosted by Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla. (Re-airs Sunday at 11 p.m.)

6 p.m. Books on American cities. With the recent news that Detroit has filed for bankruptcy, Book TV presents portions of author talks about the operations of U.S. cities from its archives. (Re-airs Monday at 2 a.m.)

10 p.m. Peter Carlson, author of Junius and Albert's Adventures in the Confederacy: A Civil War Odyssey (PublicAffairs, $26.99, 9781610391542).

Finalists have been announced in five categories (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, illustrated nonfiction and Nielsen Booksellers' Choice) for this year's New Zealand Post Book Awards. The winners will be named August 28. In addition, organizers said the Māori Language prize was won by the late Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira for Ngā Waituhi O Rēhua (The Chronicles of Rēhua).

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, July 30:

Death Angel by Linda Fairstein (Dutton, $26.95, 9780525953876) continues the Alex Cooper series.

Thinking in Numbers: On Life, Love, Meaning, and Math by Daniel Tammet (Little, Brown, $26, 9780316187374) applies math to social aspects of life.

Going Deep: How Wide Receivers Became the Most Compelling Figures in Pro Sports by Cris Carter and Jeffri Chadiha (Hyperion, $25.99, 9781401324858) explores the position of wide receiver in football.

The Kennedy Chronicles: The Golden Age of MTV Through Rose-Colored Glasses by Kennedy (Thomas Dunne, $25.99, 9781250017475) is the memoir of an early MTV "VJ."

Love Him or Leave Him, But Don't Get Stuck With the Tab: Hilarious Advice for Real Women by Loni Love and Jeannine Amber (Simon & Schuster, $24, 9781451694765) gives relationship advice.


Now in paperback:

Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love by Thomas Maier (Basic, $16.99, 9780465079995). This is the basis of a Showtime series premiering September 29.

Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews (Ace, $7.99, 9781937007584).

Jamie Ford's Songs of Willow Frost is a tender, deeply felt novel set in Seattle during the 1920s and the subsequent Great Depression. Twelve-year-old William Eng knows he has not always lived at Sacred Heart Orphanage, because he remembers a mother who loved him. Since the orphanage withholds information about the parents of its residents, though, William does not know why his mother gave him up. On their assigned communal birthday, the orphans take a field trip to the movies, and William can't believe his eyes when Willow Frost appears onscreen. He's certain the actress is his long-absent mother, Liu Song, whose name translates to "willow" in English.

When he learns Willow Frost will be performing in Seattle, William longs to go to her, but running away from the orphanage is difficult. His best friend Charlotte, who is blind but sees the reality of their situation, aids him. No white couple wants to adopt a Chinese boy like William, and Charlotte has her own family demons to flee. Together, the children brave the sad and dangerous streets of Depression-era Seattle, but when William comes face-to-face with Willow, he learns her past--and his own--are far more complicated than a simple question of love.

Interwoven with William's story is that of his mother, Liu Song, a beautiful young girl whose mother's death leaves her at the mercy of a cruel stepfather and his coarse wife. The unexpected friendship of a handsome Chinese man who understudied her father in the Peking opera inspires Liu Song to dream of a better future, but the realities of her situation as an unwed Asian mother in the 1920s hinder her progress.

As in his debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Ford explores the effects of separation and the hope for reunion that keeps parted souls struggling on in life. He shows readers a time of poverty and sacrifice in the U.S., when children ended up in orphanages because their parents had to choose between giving them up or watching them starve to death, and a time of prejudice against women and minorities. Despite the harsh historical realities, though, the story ultimately yields redemption, hope and plentiful fodder for book club conversations. Ford's fans will fall in love all over again, and new readers are sure to find much to enjoy. --Jaclyn Fulwood

Shelf Talker: The story of a Chinese boy who believes he has found his long-lost mother is sure to be another book club hit.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. Life Code by Dr. Phil McGraw
2. Pulse (Collide Volume 2) by Gail McHugh
3. Surrender Your Love by J.C. Reed
4. The Billionaire's Obsession: The Complete Collection Boxed Set by J.S. Scott
5. Conquer Your Love by J.C. Reed
6. Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans by Joanne DeMaio
7. Shine Not Burn by Elle Casey
8. The Rocker That Needs Me by Terri Anne Browning
9. Collide by Gail McHugh
10. Fear of Falling by S.L. Jennings

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]