The Cloud & Leaf Bookstore, Manzanita, Ore., founded two-and-a-half years ago, offers several cool ideas--or, more precisely, one cool and one hot idea.

In part because the store doesn't have enough stock to fill out Christian, Buddhist, New Age, spirituality and related sections, Cloud & Leaf has put all the titles in those categories in one section called simply 'Being Human.' Among titles Shelf Awareness recently saw in 'Being Human': The Viking Portable Emerson, The Development of Personality by Carl Jung, a variety of C.S. Lewis titles, several Erich Fromm works, The Essential Rumi, Ask and It Is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks, Abraham by Bruce Feiler, A History of God by Karen Armstrong, Anna Quindlen's Loud and Clear, The Tarot Handbook and The Astrology Book.

Cloud & Leaf also has an unusual sideline that gives extra meaning to the store's name: cigars, which are displayed on the front counter along with a picture of Che Guevara and several titles by and related to Che. (A selection of berets are nearby.) Owner Jody Frochen noted that it's not easy to find cigars in the area, and the stogies draw people who otherwise might not step into the store. (Judging from air quality and the store's sleek, clean, stylish décor, few have been lit up inside.)

Summer is the busiest season at Cloud & Leaf, which is on the Oregon coast west of Portland. Frochen said that hardcover nonfiction titles, particularly concerning politics, are selling surprisingly well, a different kind of beach read from the usual.

The Cloud & Leaf Bookstore can be reached at P.O. Box 866, Manzanita, Ore. 97130; 503-368-2665.

The Rutland Herald mourns the closing of Tuttle Antiquarian Books, Rutland, Vt., "a Rutland institution for 174 years." John Mayo, who owned the store with Jennifer Shannon, blamed the Internet, saying it was "impossible to compete with someone who can sell their books from their living room." He added that increased demand for used books made it more difficult to find "quality books" to replenish stock.

Mayo, who began working for the late Charles Tuttle in 1957, said he and Shannon had sold the inventory of 40,000 books to bookseller DeWolfe and Wood, Alfred, Me.

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In impressionistic, detailed style, the Orange County Register profiles the Apollo Book Shop, Costa Mesa, Calif., "believed to be Orange County's last used-only bookstore," which was founded 44 years ago by Mary-Alice and James Lin Currie. The 900-sq.-ft. store stocks some 25,000 books. "It's my life. Books and dust," Mary-Alice Currie told the paper.

The couple, who are both 78, will close the store "soon," although the Register was vague about this detail.

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If anyone needed a reminder of the reason to mark Banned Books Week, Sourcebooks offers one:

According to v-p and editorial director Todd Stocke, a parent of a student at a high school in Sequim, Wash., objected recently to the library's carrying of The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip Hop, and the Poetry of a New Generation, writing that the book and its accompanying CD are "vulgar" and "obscene," and "the lives of these artists are known for their violence, antisocial behavior and demeaning treatment of women."

The challenge led to a special meeting of the Sequim School District board of directors, who chose not to ban the book. As Stocke noted, "Apparently they actually read the book. And there are other heroes in this story: local citizens who were willing to fight censorship and spoke on the book's behalf."

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the American Library Association are sponsors of Banned Books Week, which takes place this year September 23-30.

Chelsea Green Publishing Co., White River Junction, Vt., is launching Sciencewriters Books, an imprint that will publish works of science for the general public. The imprint will be directed by Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan, founders of Sciencewriters, an educational partnership aimed at "advancing science through enchantment in the form of the finest possible books, videos, and other media."

Sciencewriters Books will begin to appear this fall. Titles under the imprint include:
 

• Animate Earth: Science, Intuition, and Gaia by Stephan Harding
• Luminous Fish: Tales of Science and Love by Lynn Margulis
• Happiness by Eduardo Punset (a translation of the current bestseller in Spain, El Viaje a la Felicidad)
• Mind, Life, and Universe: Conversations with Great Scientists edited by Lynn Margulis and Eduardo Punset
• Dazzle Gradually: Essays on Ecology and Evolution edited by Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan
• Biospheres: Metamorphosis of Planet Earth (revised edition) by Dorion Sagan
• The Purpose of Life by Dorion Sagan and Eric D. Schneider
• Chimera and Consciousness: Evolution of the Sensory Self edited by Lynn Margulis and Celeste Asikainen

Margulis is distinguished university professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, an author of many books and articles and has been a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences since 1983 and of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences since 1997.

Sagan is the author of many articles and 16 books, including Into the Cool: Energy Flow, Thermodynamics, and Life (with Eric D. Schneider), Up from Dragons: Evolution of Human Intelligence (with John Skoyles) and What Is Life? (with Margulis).

Editors' Note: Because it is so unusual, answers all questions and is so delightfully written, we're running in its entirety this announcement from SIBA and one of our favorite regional directors (although they're all wonderful).


Wanda Jewell is dieting for dollars. The executive director of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) promised herself she would lose 45 pounds in 45 weeks. And because it never hurts to have a little incentive, Ms. Jewell is turning her goal into an opportunity to raise support for SIBA.
 
According to her new blog Fat So? for SIBA, Ms. Jewell is seeking pledges of $10 to SIBA for each pound she loses from publishers and supporters of independent booksellers. Since she began the initiative on July 1, she has already lost 8 pounds.
 
Anyone who wants to support both SIBA and Jewell's effort to get fit can participate by donating $10 to SIBA for every pound that she loses. Pledges can be sent to:
 
FAT SO? For SIBA
3806 Yale Ave.
Columbia, S.C. 29205
 
Checks can be made out to SIBA, and credit cards are accepted. Jewell adds that any publisher, author or bookseller that supports the effort can then send books or other motivational fitness items and she will use them, review them, try them and talk about them in her blog. It will cost $80 to join (for the 8 pounds lost to date plus $10 per pound after that). Jewell is especially hoping to attract the support of publishers who specialize in health and wellness topics. One of the first books she mentions in her blog is Rodale's The Abs Diet: The Six Week Plan to Flatten Your Stomach and Keep You Lean for Life.
 
But her interests go beyond dieting and weight loss. "I'm interested in living a better life," she says.
 
"This is really brave of me. I have struggled with my weight all of my adult life either in my head or in my body," adds Jewell. "I hope to be able to post some pictures [on my blog] but I will wait until there is a call for them."
 
Jewell also plans to have a "Guess My Weight" contest at the upcoming SIBA Fall Trade Show being held in Orlando, Fla., September 8-10. What will you win if you guess Ms. Jewell's weight correctly? "A whole cheesecake!" says Jewell wistfully. And if your guess is off by a few pounds? Well, then it will cost $10 for each pound you miss.
 
In order to keep people apprised of her progress Jewell has created a blog, where she records the ups and downs of her life on a diet, along with discussions of meals and dieting advice that has been particularly beneficial.
 
Jewell's ultimate goal? "A better, healthier me," she says, "and a better, healthier SIBA."

Tomorrow morning on the Early Show: Mary Jane Clark, author of Lights Out Tonight (St. Martin's, $23.95, 0312323174).

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Sunday on Meet the Press, Thomas Ricks discusses his new book, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (Penguin USA, $27.95, 159420103X).

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CBS Sunday Morning will feature A Dress for Diana by David and Elizabeth Emanuel (Collins, $29.95, 006121437X) on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

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The Spoken Word, which will be aired on many public radio stations on Sunday evening at 8 p.m. (as well as some other times), features:

Kris Radish, who talks about her new book, Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral (Bantam, $11, 0553382640); Pearl Cleage, who accepts the Brook Baker Award in Atlanta, Ga.; Tom Bell, who discusses this week's Book Sense picks; and Robin Fisher, who talks about Handselling on the Radio.

For a listing of the radio stations playing the Spoken Word, click here.

The following were the bestselling titles at member stores of the Midwest Booksellers Association and the Great Lakes Booksellers Association during the week ended Sunday, July 16, as reported to Book Sense:

Hardcover Fiction

1. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin, $23.95, 1565124995)
2. Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's, $26.95, 0312349483)
3. Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg (Random House, $25.95, 1400061261)
4. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (Knopf, $25, 1400044731)
5. Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs (Scribner, $25.95, 0743233492)
6. Angels Fall by Nora Roberts (Putnam, $25.95, 0399153721)
7. Terrorist by John Updike (Knopf, $24.95, 0307264653)
8. Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge (Little, Brown, $27.95, 0316159786)
9. Blue Screen by Robert B. Parker (Putnam, $24.95, 0399153519)
10. Dead Watch by John Sandford (Putnam, $26.95, 0399153543)
11. At Risk by Patricia D. Cornwell (Putnam, $21.95, 0399153624)
12. Wives Behaving Badly by Elizabeth Buchan (Viking, $24.95, 0670034886)
13. Digging to America by Anne Tyler (Knopf, $24.95, 0307263940)
14. The Husband by Dean R. Koontz (Bantam, $27, 0553804790)
15. Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon, $21.95, 0375422722)

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. Marley & Me by John Grogan (Morrow, $21.95, 0060817089)
2. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Morrow, $25.95, 006073132X)
3. Conservatives Without Conscience by John Dean (Viking, $25.95, 0670037745)
4. The One Percent Doctrine by Ron Suskind (S&S, $27, 0743271092)
5. Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking, $29.95, 0670037605)
6. Wisdom of Our Fathers by Tim Russert (Random House, $22.95, 1400064805)
7. Cesar's Way by Cesar Millan and Melissa Jo Peltier (Harmony, $24.95, 0307337332)
8. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (FSG, $30, 0374292795)
9. A Heckuva Job by Calvin Trillin (Random House, $12.95, 1400065569)
10. Godless by Ann H. Coulter (Crown Forum, $27.95, 1400054206)
11. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Penguin Press, $26.95, 1594200823)
12. Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity by John Stossel (Hyperion, $24.95, 1401302548)
13. My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme (Knopf, $25.95, 1400043468)
14. Dispatches From the Edge by Anderson Cooper (HarperCollins, $24.95, 0061132381)
15. My Life In and Out of the Rough by John Daly (HarperCollins, $25.95, 0061120626)

Trade Paperback Fiction

1. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin, $14, 0143037145)
2. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Random House, $13.95, 0812968069)
3. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (Broadway, $13.95, 0767925955)
4. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $14, 1594480001)
5. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin, $14, 0143036696)
6. History of Love by Nicole Krauss (Norton, $13.95, 0393328627)
7. March by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin, $14, 0143036661)
8. Wicked by Gregory Maguire (Regan Books, $16, 0060987103)
9. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Vintage, $14, 1400078776)
10. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Picador, $14, 031242440X)
11. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Washington Square, $14, 0743454537)
12. Saturday by Ian McEwan (Anchor, $14.95, 1400076196)
13. A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316154512)
14. Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor, $13.95, 0307275973)
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Mariner, $13.95, 0618711651)

Trade Paperback Nonfiction

1. An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore (Rodale, $21.95, 1594865671)
2. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Scribner, $14, 074324754X)
3. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage, $14.95, 0375725601)
4. 1776 by David McCullough (S&S, $18, 0743226720)
5. Night by Elie Wiesel (FSG, $9, 0374500010)
6. Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (Penguin, $15, 0143036610)
7. Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (Picador, $14, 031242227X)
8. The Places in Between by Rory Stewart (Harvest, $14, 0156031566)
9. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage, $14, 0679745580)
10. Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (Gotham, $11, 1592402038)
11. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Anchor, $14.95, 0307276902)
12. Plan B by Anne Lamott (Riverhead, $14, 1594481571)
13. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316346624)
14. Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter by Allan Borushek (Family Health, $7.99, 1930448112)
15. Big Russ and Me by Tim Russert (Miramax Books, $13.95, 1401359655)

Mass Market

1. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (Anchor, $7.99, 0307275558)
2. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Warner, $7.99, 0446616451)
3. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Anchor, $7.99, 1400079179)
4. Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's, $7.99, 0312985347)
5. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket, $9.99, 1416524797)
6. Fire Sale by Sara Paretsky (Signet, $9.99, 045121899X)
7. Deception Point by Dan Brown (Pocket, $9.99, 1416524800)
8. 4th of July by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Warner, $9.99, 0446613363)
9. Black Wind by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler (Berkley, $9.99, 0425204235)
10. Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts (Jove, $7.99, 0515141399)

Children's Titles

1. Pirateology by William Captain Lubber (Candlewick, $19.99, 0763631434)
2. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, $7.99, 0694003611)
3. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (Yearling, $6.50, 0440421705)
4. Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (Disney, $18.99, 078683787X)
5. Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha! by Barbara Park, illustrated by Denise Brunkus (Random House, $11.95, 0375834036)
6. Gitchi Gumee by Anne Margaret Lewis, illustrated by Kathleen Chaney Fritz (Mackinac Island Press, $18.95, 0974914592)
7. Pirates by John Matthews (Atheneum, $19.95, 1416927344)
8. The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares (Delacorte, $8.95, 0553375938)
9. Olivia Forms a Band by Ian Falconer (Atheneum, $17.95, 141692454X)
10. The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice, Book One) by John Flanagan (Penguin, $6.99, 0142406635)
11. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Knopf, $16.95, 0375831002)
12. The Legend of Michigan by Trinka Hakes Noble, illustrated by Gijsbert Van Frankenhuyzen (Sleeping Bear Press, $17.95, 1585362786)
13. Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (Disney, $7.99, 078684907X)
14. Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett, illustrated by Brett Helquist (Scholastic, $2.99, 0439856221)
15. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick, $18.99, 0763625892)

[Thanks to ABA, the Great Lakes Booksellers Association and the Midwest Booksellers Association!]