Supported by publishers and authors, Waterstones is launching a £1 million (about $1.52 million) campaign to "Buy Books for Syria," the Bookseller reported.

Under the program, which begins on Wednesday, October 1, publishers--including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Faber, Pan Macmillan, Canongate and Profile Books--are donating titles for Waterstones to sell in its 280 stores; the entire the price of the books will go to Oxfam's Syria Crisis Appeal. Authors whose works are part of the program include Hilary Mantel, Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, Lee Child and Salman Rushdie. Titles will be announced on Wednesday.

The money raised will help Oxfam's program to deliver clean water to another 150,000 people in Syria, and provide support to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in Jordan over the next year.

Waterstones managing director James Daunt said, "In desperate times like these, everyone feels the need to do something, to help in some way. We are doing what we do best: bookselling, and it only feels right that every single penny of each book sold will go straight to Oxfam. We are proud to be able transform the generosity of authors and publishers into such a substantial contribution to Oxfam's work."

Daunt acknowledged to the Bookseller that much of the program's sales would substitute for "sales upon which otherwise we would be earning money" in the holiday season, but said the company is "very fortunate to have an owner [Alexander Mamut] and board who have put this to one side and supported the initiative."

Earlier this month, author Patrick Ness launched a fundraising page for Save the Children to help with the Syrian refugee crisis. Within hours, readers had donated £40,000 (about $60,910), which was matched by £10,000 donations from Ness and fellow authors John Green, Derek Landy and Jojo Moyes, Ultimately the campaign raised £600,000 ($913,650).

Italian-born journalist Nicola Orichuia plans to open I Am Books, an Italian American bookstore, in the heavily Italian-American North End neighborhood of Boston, Mass., this fall. The store will carry mostly fiction and nonfiction by both Italian and Italian American authors, along with cookbooks, travel books and history books. Dubbed an "Italian American cultural hub," I Am Books will also offer book signings, concerts and other events.

Co-founders Orichuia and Jim Pinzino have also started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $36,000 in startup funds. So far, the campaign has raised $4,625 with 37 days to go. Backer rewards include a private tour of the bookstore, a place on the store's "Wonderwall of Thanks," I Am Books T-shirts and more.

I Am Books will be located at 189 North Street across the street from the Paul Revere House. While most of the store's inventory will be in English, there will be some titles available in Italian. According to Orichuia, the store could open as early as mid-October.

"Italy and Italian America are infinitely fascinating to Italian Americans and non-Italian Americans alike," said Orichuia in a press release. "I Am Books provide an outlet for that fascination while giving the Boston-area Italian American community a place where it can define and shape its cultural identity."

Founded in 2011 by two former Borders booksellers, the Book Frog, Torrance, Calif., is closing this week. The Book Frog had moved last December from its original location in the Promenade on the Peninsula mall in Rolling Hills Estates--a dying mall--to a center that included a Kohl's, a Party City, a restaurant and other shops. But "when you sandwich an adorable little bookstore among a bunch of destination stores, most people get out of their cars, hit their chosen destination, then leave," said Rebecca Glenn, who owns the store with her husband, Pete Ledesma.

The landlord helped the pair by lowering the rent and letting them go month to month. But the landlord listed the 2,930-square-foot space, and after Glenn and Ledesma made the store look much more appealing, with "beautiful colors and lovely book cover posters and other artwork hanging on the walls," a dentist took a lease on the space.

Glenn indicated that she and Ledesma likely will put "everything in storage for the next few months. And during that time we'll regroup and try to figure out how to get the ball rolling again."

Phil Patton, "a prolific writer on design and technology who saw the deeper cultural messages in subjects as varied as the interstate highway system, Air Jordan sneakers, tire treads and Mountain Dew's Mega Mouth Slam Can," died last Tuesday, the New York Times reported. His books included Dreamland: Travels Inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51, Open Road: A Celebration of the American Highway and Made in U.S.A.: The Secret Histories of the Things That Made America.

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Egyptian writer and playwright Ali Salem, "whose account of a solo drive through Israel became a bestseller in his country but angered many Egyptians," died last Tuesday, the New York Times reported. He was 79. An author of 15 books and 25 plays, Salem's book A Drive to Israel "sold more than 60,000 copies, a bestseller by Egyptian standards."

Alan Cheuse

A memorial service for Alan Cheuse, who died this summer, will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 11, at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue at 600 I St., N.W., Washington, D.C. Immediately following, everyone is invited to visit with family and friends at the synagogue and enjoy light refreshments.

In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations to your local public radio station or any other organization near and dear to you or to Alan, including the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, Writers In Schools Program; the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley; and the Surfrider Foundation.

Astoria Bookshop in Queens, N.Y. posted this photo of its Banned Books Week display, noting that "#‎bannedbooksweek is my favorite holiday."

Last year, Japanese bookstore chain Junkudo invited a small group of book lovers to spend the night in one of its Tokyo stores, but this year the bookseller has upped the ante by bringing its "Try Living in Junkudo" project to "an even bigger three-story shop in Osaka--and on Halloween, no less!" Rocket News 24 reported, adding: "Good luck to those of you who enter. Let's just hope that 'a group of 10 strangers spend Halloween night alone in a bookstore' doesn't turn out to be quite as horror movie-esque as it sounds...."

Michael Goldsmith has been promoted to publicity manager at Doubleday. He joined the company as a publicist two years ago. Before that, he worked in publicity at the Overlook Press and HarperCollins and was a publicity intern at Da Capo Press.

Independent Publishers Group and its subsidiaries have added 23 publishers:

Central Avenue Publishing, Vancouver, B.C., a genre, literary fiction and poetry publisher (IPG, November 1).

At Bay Press, Toronto, many of whose books are handcrafted. (IPG, January 1).

Bedazzled Ink Publishing, Fairfield, Calif., a publisher of literary fiction, nonfiction and children's books by women (IPG, January 1).

Cardinal Rule Press, publisher of work by children's author Maria Dismondy (IPG, January 1).

Doodles Ave, a Texas publisher of educational, activity coloring books (IPG, January 1).

Holland House, a U.K. publisher of literary fiction with a crime fiction imprint, Grey Cells Press (IPG, January 1).

Just World Books, Charlottesville, Va., a publisher of books about building a more just, equitable and peaceable world (IPG, January 1).

Meteoor Publishing, a Belgian publisher of amigurumi patterns, crocheted and knitted stuffed toys (IPG, January 1).

NSTA Kids, the publishing division of the National Science Teachers Association, which specializes in books for children (IPG, January 1).

Oddint Media, Fontana, Wis., which publishes a mix of adult and children's nonfiction and fiction (IPG, January 1).

Phonic Monic, a California publisher of titles for the musical, visual and auditory young learners (IPG, January 1).

PublikumArt, a U.K. publisher of book-oriented sidelines, not previously distributed in North America (IPG, January 1).

Starfish Bay Children's Books, an Australian publisher specializing in picture books and middle grade fiction (IPG, January 1).

Strauss House Productions, a U.K. publisher that began as a radio production house, then expanded into publishing on a range of topics (IPG, January 1).

Peek-A-Boo Publishing, Alexandria, Va., which features early-concept, board and picture books (IPG, January 1).

Filbert Press, which publishes books about plants and gardening (Trafalgar Square, January 1).

Verlag Anton Pustet, Salzburg, Austria, a 400-year-old publisher of some 15-20 new art, design, architecture, history and travel titles in English or English and German every year (Art Stock Books, October 1).

Triplekite Publishing, a U.K. publisher of wildlife photography (Art Stock Books, Fall).

Vaso Roto Ediciones, Mexico and Spain, a publisher of fiction, theater, body, mind & spirit, children's titles and poetry (IPG Spanish Books, September 1).

Del Nuevo Extremo, an Argentinian publisher specializing in self-help, health, fiction, essays, food, photography and children's titles (IPG Spanish Books, October 1).

EDHASA, a leading Hispanic publisher of historical narratives and adventure novels as well as essays and nonfiction (IPG Spanish Books, January 1).

Ediciones LEA, an Argentinian publisher of literature, classics, alternative medicine, self-help, food, crafts as well as children's books (IPG Spanish Books, January 1).

Diabolo Ediciones, which publishes comics in Spain and the U.S. (IPG Spanish Books, January 1).

Other People's Money: The Real Business of Finance by John Kay (PublicAffairs), a trailer that explains how the financial sector works and features a massive golden egg!

Today on Fresh Air: Theresa Brown, author of The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives (Algonquin, $24.95, 9781616203207).

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Today on the Meredith Vieira Show: Neil Patrick Harris, author of Choose Your Own Autobiography (Three Rivers Press, $16, 9780385347013). He will also appear tomorrow morning on the Today Show.

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Today on Tavis Smiley: Ari Berman, author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28, 9780374158279).

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Tonight on Late Night with Stephen Colbert: Mindy Kaling, author of Why Not Me? (Crown Archetype, $25, 9780804138147).

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Tomorrow on NPR's All Things Considered: Grace Jones, co-author of I'll Never Write My Memoirs (Gallery, $26.99, 9781476765075).

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Tomorrow on Diane Rehm: Andrea Wulf, author of The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World (Knopf, $30, 9780385350662).

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Tomorrow night on Late Night with Seth Meyers: John Besh, author of Besh Big Easy: 101 Home Cooked New Orleans Recipes (Andrews McMeel, $25, 9781449469177).

Nick Offerman, who will play Ignatius Reilly in an upcoming stage adaptation of John Kennedy Toole's novel A Confederacy of Dunces by the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, spoke with Metro about the book and the role. Among our favorite exchanges:

What was your connection to the book like prior to this?
For the world of the comedy nerd, as it were, Confederacy of Dunces has always been very emblematic. It represents the feeling of righteous indignation that all of us have, who have felt outcast because we're weird or because our sense of humor wasn't the same as all of the "normal people" Ignatius J. Reilly was a representative and firebrand representing our voice. And it's just incredibly funny writing.

What did you think was important to bring from the book?
Two things come to mind. One is the personality of New Orleans itself. I feel like that's almost the star of the show. Doing the workshop was an incredible ensemble of actors made it quite clear that the ensemble is an incredibly vibrant and rich and detailed depiction of the regular people on the street in New Orleans and the music and the smells and the everyday depravity of human life is really I think the source of a great deal of the humor in the piece. And then the travails of our protagonist, Ignatius, really represent the human condition, set against the titular confederacy of dunces, the way we all feel. It's so easy for any of us to feel that the world is a group of dipshits conspiring against us.

Well, at least Ignatius also calls upon you for strong mustache work, just as Ron [Swanson] did.
The mustache will act as the footbridge by which we can cross the path of my career choices.

Gaia Vince was named the first female solo winner of the £25,000 (about $37,950) Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books for Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made. Chair of judges Professor Ian Stewart described the book as "ambitious and essential," while fellow judge and novelist Sarah Waters called it "an inspiring testament to human ingenuity."

From the Midwest Booksellers Association, three recent Midwest Connections Picks. Under this marketing program, the association and member stores promote booksellers' handselling favorites that have a strong Midwest regional appeal:

Last Night in the OR: A Transplant Surgeon's Odyssey by Bud Shaw (Plume, $16, 9780147515339). "A pioneering surgeon shares memories from a life in one of surgery's most demanding fields." (See the book trailer here.)

North Woods Girl by Aimee Bissonette, illustrated by Claudia McGehee (Minnesota Historical Society Press, $16.95, 9780873519663). "Whether hearing wood frogs peep, choosing the finest skipping stone, observing squirrels gathering nuts, or inhaling crisp, cold air, a hike through Grandma's woods engages all the senses."

Sun and Moon by Lindsey Yankey (Simply Read Books, $16.95, 9781927018606). "Sun and Moon have always held their own places in the sky, but after a lifetime of darkness all Moon wants is to spend just one day as Sun. But will Moon still wish to trade Sun places in the sky after carefully studying his night? Or will he realize the beauty of what he already has?"

Antonia Fraser (Must You Go?) has always adored History with a capital H. From childhood, she reveled in biographies of historical figures and accounts of the British monarchy, with a particular affection for Mary, Queen of Scots (the subject, many years later, of her first full-length biography). In My History, her second memoir, Fraser details her growing-up years and her burgeoning love of the discipline that would become her own.

The eldest child of two politically and intellectually active aristocrats, Fraser grew up in Oxford, its rarefied academic air serving as the backdrop for long bicycle rides and other escapades with her siblings. Despite wartime rationing of food, fuel and other materials, Fraser paints an alluring portrait of the City of Dreaming Spires, from the "sturdy charm" of her family's North Oxford neighborhood to the constant pealing of the city's bells. Fraser later converted to Catholicism and received part of her education at a convent, but she returned to Oxford for university, matriculating at Lady Margaret Hall.

Immersed in the close-knit world of Britain's upper classes, Fraser moved with ease in her parents' social circle (even while dealing with the typically awkward feelings of adolescence). While her anecdotes of the post-World War II London social whirl may be confusing to American readers (Fraser assumes her audience is familiar with the tangled relationships of the English aristocracy), her warm, confidential tone provides a cozy glimpse into a vanished milieu. Though definitely an insider, Fraser escapes snobbery by offering sly, witty commentary on her family and friends, and gently satirizing her own naïveté as a young woman trying to make her own way in postwar London.

Alongside Fraser's vignettes of social exploits and early career (including a job selling hats at Fenwick's department store and a stint in publishing), she recounts her deepening love of history as a field. Her friendship with novelist Anthony Powell, her uncle by marriage, helped Fraser to begin "equating writing, discipline and a good life." Eventually, she realized that "writing History was an art in itself," which could produce "entertainment as well as enlightenment." Her biography of Mary, Queen of Scots, published in 1969, launched Fraser's writing career, which has included more than 20 books, fiction and nonfiction.

A charming portrait of the world in which she grew up and an affectionate chronicle of a young woman finding her calling, My History will delight historians and Anglophiles alike. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Shelf Talker: Biographer Antonia Fraser chronicles her early years and her path to becoming an historian in a witty, beautifully told memoir.