Also published on this date: Tuesday, November 22, 2016: Maximum Shelf: In Sunlight or in Shadow:

Shelf Awareness for Tuesday, November 22, 2016


Dey Steet: Celebrating 10 years of Dey St., the industry leader in culture-defining nonfiction.

Henry Holt & Company: The Beasts We Bury by DL Taylor

Peachtree Teen: Among Serpents (Above the Black) by Marc J Gregson

Berkley Books: These new Berkley romances leave quite an impression. Enter the giveaway!

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: How Sweet the Sound by Kwame Alexander and Charly Palmer

Palgrave Macmillan:  Scotus 2023: Major Decisions and Developments of the Us Supreme Court (2024) (1ST ed.) edited by Morgan Marietta and Howard Schweber

Quotation of the Day

Michael Chabon: 'I Need the Bookstore Encounter'

"First of all, my love of independent booksellers and independent bookstores is truly life-long. There is a real homecoming and sense of pleasure and comfort for me in walking into an independent bookstore, particularly one where you sense the presence of the staff, of the owner, of the managers, of the people who work there shaping your experience from the moment you walk in the door.

"For me, there is almost nothing about going on tour that is fun.... The only thing that I can actually look forward to is getting into the bookstores and either meeting booksellers I haven't met before or getting to see old friends like Mitch [Kaplan of Books & Books in Miami] and other booksellers around the country, like Elaine Petrocelli and her staff at Book Passage here in California.

"I've been doing this a long time, and a lot of these places are more than familiar to me by now and so I actually just kind of need it... I need the bookstore encounter; it makes it bearable."

--Michael Chabon, author of December's #1 Indie Next List pick, Moonglow, in a q&a with Bookselling This Week

Highlights Press:  The Highlights Big Book of Activities for Little Kids: The Ultimate Book of Activities to Do with Kids


News

B&N 2nd-Quarter Sales Down 4%; New COO

In the second quarter ended October 29, total sales at Barnes & Noble fell 4%, to $858.5 million, and the consolidated net loss was $20.4 million, compared to a loss from continuing operations of $27.2 million in the same period a year earlier.

Retail sales, which include B&N stores and BN.com, fell 3.5%, to $830.7 million. At stores open at least a year, sales fell 3.2%, an improvement over the first quarter's drop of 6%. The company attributed the same-store sales decline to "lower store traffic, which was partly offset by the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

Nook sales, which include digital content, devices and accessories, declined 19.4%, to $35 million.

Chairman and CEO Len Riggio commented: "While we are pleased to have improved our performance due to expense reductions, we did experience sluggish sales, which we believe are directly related to the election cycle. With the election behind us, we hope and expect sales will improve over the holidays."

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Demos Parneros

In other B&N news, Demos Parneros has been named chief operating officer. He was formerly president, North American stores and online, at Staples, where he started as general manager of the company's first New York City store in 1987. During his nearly 30-year career there, he has held leadership positions in operations, human resources, merchandising, e-commerce, marketing and real estate, including senior v-p, Mid-Atlantic operations; president, U.S. stores; and president, U.S. retail.

B&N's previous chief operating officer was Jaime Carey, who in June was promoted to president of development & restaurant group, a new position.

"We couldn't be happier to have Demos join Barnes & Noble, given his wealth of experience in specialty retail," said Len Riggio. "We believe his enviable track record will lend itself well to our priorities to grow our business and to bring value to our shareholders. Demos has been a strong leader throughout his career, and we believe he will be successful in adapting to the bookselling industry."

Parneros is a graduate of New York University with a Bachelor of Science in Management and Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program. He is a member of Keycorp's board of directors and member of the board of advisers of Modell's Sporting Goods.


New World Library: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle


Ulises Art Bookshop Opens in Philadelphia

Ulises, an arts-dedicated bookstore, has opened at 31 E. Columbia Ave in Philadelphia, Pa. The Inquirer reported that the shop "stocks contemporary artists' books and independent art publications, welcoming patrons to buy or browse local, national and international titles on contemporary art, design, critical studies and visual culture."

Co-founders Nerissa Cooney, Lauren Downing, Kayla Romberger, Gee Wesley, Ricky Yanas and Joel Evey envision the not-for-profit bookstore as a hub space that will host exhibitions, lectures, conversations and other programs organized around quarterly themes. They "got a big boost when the collective was invited to create a pop-up reading room at Reading Terminal Market in September," the Inquirer wrote, adding that the "invitation came with a grant that enabled the members to set up display shelves and start networking with publishers. In addition to revenue from book sales and pending grant applications, the collective is fund-raising via Indiegogo."


GLOW: HarperOne: Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put by Annie B. Jones


Page One Shutters Last Two Hong Kong Branches

Bookstore chain Page One has closed its last two branches in Hong Kong. The Standard reported that the Festival Walk and Harbour City outlets had posted notices saying accounting firm KPMG has taken over the stores. KPMG said it is still "in information-gathering mode" to "assess the current status" of the business, adding that the chain has been "experiencing strained conditions for some time."

Page One, which has headquarters in Singapore and sells primarily English-language books, announced in August "that it was looking for funding and had reached an advanced stage of discussion with a potential investor. But there had been no news since then," the Standard wrote.

Noting that it was a pity that the local market "could no longer sustain a middle-class bookstore," publisher Jimmy Pang Chi-ming of Sub-culture Ltd. said it is extremely difficult for a bookstore to survive in Hong Kong because "the new generation doesn't buy books anymore" and rent is unreasonably high.

Page One opened its first store in Hong Kong in 1997 and at its peak operated 10 locations, but last year closed its Times Square branch, followed by the shuttering of six more stores at Hong Kong International Airport this year.


Inner Traditions: Deck the Stacks with the Best Holiday & Gift Books for Self-Transformation! Claim your samples now!


Obituary Note: William Trevor

Internationally acclaimed author William Trevor, "whose mournful, sometimes darkly funny short stories and novels about the small struggles of unremarkable people placed him in the company of masters like V. S. Pritchett, W. Somerset Maugham and Chekhov," died November 20, the New York Times reported. He was 88. Irish by birth but a longtime resident of Britain, Trevor "placed his fiction squarely in the middle of ordinary life. His plots often unfolded in Irish or English villages whose inhabitants, most of them hanging on to the bottom rung of the lower middle class, waged unequal battle with capricious fate."

His many books include William Trevor: The Collected Stories; Fools of Fortune; Love and Summer; After Rain; Felicia's Journey; Two Lives; and The News from Ireland.

The Guardian noted that Trevor, who published "more than 15 novels and many more short stories, was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize four times, most recently for The Story of Lucy Gault in 2002, the same year he was awarded an honorary knighthood for his services to literature. He also won the Whitbread prize three times."

Irish author Roddy Doyle told the Irish Times: "The man--the work--was brilliant, elegant, surprising, reliable, precise, stark, often sad, sometimes funny, shocking and even frightening. His big houses were great; his small ones were wonderful too. The angst was bang-on, and so were all the other emotions and states. Every word mattered, every sentence was its own big house."

John Banville said: "William Trevor was one of the great short-story writers, at his best the equal of Chekhov and Babel. But we should also celebrate his novels, in particular Mrs. Eckdorf in O'Neill's Hotel, an inexplicably neglected twentieth-century masterpiece. His prose style was so subtle as to seem hardly a style at all, and his sympathy for, an empathy with, life's wounded ones was sincere and affecting. His death is a heavy loss to Irish letters and to world literature."

Kathryn Court, president and publisher, Penguin Books, commented: "William Trevor was a truly brilliant writer, and one of the most compassionate human beings I have worked with. He has left us a wonderful legacy."


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Notes

Image of the Day: Big Welcome for Rejected Princesses

Jason Porath, author of Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions and Heretics (HarperCollins), based on his blog of the same name, did a reading and signing last Friday at Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville, Ky.

Bruce Touring for Born to Run Again

Next week, Bruce Springsteen will be on the road again for a short tour promoting Born to Run (Simon & Schuster), published September 27. The five lucky stores where he'll appear are Books-A-Million in Chicago, Ill., Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, Ohio, BookPeople in Austin, Tex., 2nd & Charles (part of Books-A-Million) in Kennesaw, Ga., and the Tattered Cover, Denver, Colo., which before his first tour made an excellent video seeking to lure him to the store. (See it here.)

Springsteen made nine appearances in late September and early October that included several Barnes & Nobles, Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, Wash., and Powell's Books, Portland, Ore.


Book Industry Group Meeting for Women's March on Washington

On Saturday, January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, the Women's March on Washington will descend on the capital to demonstrate for the protection of women's rights and human rights. Laurie Gillman, owner of East City Bookshop, Washington, D.C., and Donna Paz Kaufman of the Bookstore Training Group of Paz & Associates are organizing a book industry meet-up prior to the march, so that "those who devote their lives to words and the world of ideas can march together."

Book industry colleagues, including booksellers, publishers, editors, agents, authors, librarians, and friends and family, will meet by the Neptune Fountain at the front of the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress at 10 a.m. The book industry meet-up has its own Facebook page, as does the national Women's March organization.


Bookshop Sightings: Clintons at Savoy; Biden at Browseabout

Savoy bookseller Jessica Wick with Hillary Clinton

On Sunday afternoon, Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton (along with Chelsea's husband and daughter) stopped by the Savoy Bookshop & Cafe in Westerly, R.I., to shop for books after the store was checked out by a security detail, the Day reported.

"We had no idea that they were coming in. They were there very low-key," said bookseller Jessica Wick, adding that the family made little fuss in the bookstore and café.

"I wouldn't say we were playing it cool... but nobody approached them. It was like, you're shopping with your family," Wick noted, describing the former secretary of state as "kind, gracious--graceful even," and the former president as "a total courteous gentleman. It seemed like they were just in need of reading.... It was just all of us excited to be brushed by greatness. It was meaningful to see her there." (The Record-Journal featured photos of the Clinton visit.)

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Vice President Joe Biden spent some time during his birthday weekend in Rehoboth Beach, Del., where Sydney Draper, a bookseller at Browsabout Books, said, "the beloved Delaware figure did sit outside of the store for a time, but did not come in Saturday afternoon," the Daily Times reported.

On Facebook, Browsabout posted: "Happy Birthday, Vice President Biden! We look forward to seeing you in Rehoboth again soon!"


Robinsons to Receive PubWest's Rittenhouse Award

Dee & Chuck Robinson

Chuck and Dee Robinson, who are selling Village Books and Paper Dreams, Bellingham and Lynden, Wash., to their senior leadership team--as announced yesterday--and recently were honored by several groups, are receiving yet another honor: they are the recipients of the 2017 Jack D. Rittenhouse Award, sponsored by PubWest. The award is given to "those who have made a real contribution to the western community of the book." The Robinsons will receive the award during PubWest 2017, which will be held February 9-11, 2017, in Portland, Ore.

"This year it is a distinct pleasure to celebrate the contributions Dee and Chuck Robinson have given to the industry as consummate booksellers for more than thirty years," said board president Katie Burke.

PubWest called Chuck and Dee Robinson "active, engaged owners," noting that "customers could often find one or both of them working the sales floor." Both have been deeply involved in the book world. He was president of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association and the American Booksellers Association. She was on the PNBA board and the ABA's Booksellers Advisory Council. And both taught at many ABA booksellers schools.

PubWest continued: "Of the store's 300 events a year, many serve as fundraisers for the Whatcom (County) Literacy Council, North Cascades Institute, local PTSAs, and many other organizations. As part of their mission to build community, the store even records many of their author events for local radio stations KMRE and KAVZ. Village Books has been instrumental in helping to break Western authors onto the national scene, including Jonathan Evison, Stephanie Kallos and Sherman Alexie.

"The Robinsons serve as producers and hosts for the Chuckanut Radio Hour, a variety show-format that has been on the radio since 2007 and they have been instrumental in the success of Whatcom Reads and various literacy programs and efforts throughout their community. They run a summer day camp for kids (Camp Village Books) and Chuckanut Writers Conference with Whatcom Community College. Village Books was named the Washington State Outstanding Philanthropic Business in 2008."



Media and Movies

Media Heat: Daily Show's Trevor Noah on Fresh Air

Today:
Fresh Air: Trevor Noah, author of Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Spiegel & Grau, $28, 9780399588174).

Tomorrow:
CBS This Morning: David Pogue, author of Pogue's Basics: Money: Essential Tips and Shortcuts (That No One Bothers to Tell You) About Beating the System (Flatiron Books, $19.99, 9781250081414).

Daily Show repeat: Wesley Lowery, author of They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement (Little, Brown, $27, 9780316312479).


TV: Swing Time; The Magicians

Zadie Smith will team up with Nick Laird to adapt Swing Time for television. Deadline reported that Baby Cow, the film and TV production company co-founded by Steve Coogan, has acquired the newly released novel, marking the company's first significant buy since former BBC Films head Christine Langan took over as CEO.

Langan said that Smith "is the voice of a generation and Swing Time is a thrillingly ambitious story of friendship, rivalry and fame. We're delighted and honored at Baby Cow to be developing such a unique project and we can't wait to share it with TV audiences everywhere."

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Syfy has released a new trailer for the second season of The Magicians, based on Lev Grossman's trilogy of fantasy novels. Indiewire reported the preview "combines new footage with behind-the-scenes interviews from the main cast." Season two of The Magicians, which stars Jason Ralph, Stella Maeve, Hale Appleman, Arjun Gupta and Summer Bishil, begins on January 25, 2017.


Books & Authors

Awards: National Outdoor Books; Guardian Children's Fiction

The winners of the National Outdoor Book Awards, sponsored by the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation, Idaho State University and the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education, are:

Outdoor Literature:
Winner: Fast Into the Night by Debbie Clarke Moderow
Honorable Mention: Portage by Sue Leaf

Nature History Literature winner: A Sea of Glass by Drew Harvell

History/Biography:
Winner: The Ghosts of K2 by Mick Conefrey
Honorable mention: Continental Divide by Maurice Isserman
Honorable mention: Valley Walls by Glen Denny

Design & Artistic Merit:
Winner: The Living Bird, photography by Gerrit Vyn
Winner: Yosemite in the Fifties, design by Tom Adler and Evan Backes
Honorable mention: Todd and Brad Reed's Michigan, photography by Todd and Brad Reed

Nature and the Environment winner: Victory Gardens for Bees by Lori Weidenhammer

Children's:
Winner: Chasing at the Surface by Sharon Mentyka
Honorable mention: Wake Up, Island by Mary Casanova

Classic winner: Over the Edge by Michael P. Ghiglieri and Thomas M. Myers

Nature Guidebooks:
Winner: Mushrooms of the Northeast by Teresa Marrone and Walt Sturgeon
Honorable mention: Pacific Seaweeds by Louis D. Druehl and Bridgette E. Clarkston

Outdoor Adventure Guidebooks winner: Hiking Acadia National Park by Dolores Kong and Dan Ring

Instructional honorable mention: Winter in the Wilderness by Dave Hall and Jon Ulrich

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Alex Wheatle won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for Crongton Knights. Jury member and last year's winner David Almond said the novel "hums with the beat of real life and the language sings from the page.... I love this book. It's elegant, authentic and humane. This is mature, powerful writing by an author with great talent and great heart." S.F. Said, also on the panel, noted that "Wheatle's writing is poetic, rhythmic and unique, remaking the English language with tremendous verve. Though Crongton is his invention, it resonates with many urban situations, not only in Britain but around the world. Crongton Knights is a major novel from a major voice in British children's literature."


IndieBound: Other Indie Favorites

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
IQ: A Novel by Joe Ide (Mulholland Books, $26, 9780316267724). "IQ is the nickname of Isaiah Quintabe, who, despite being a high-school dropout, is absolutely brilliant and has amazing deductive skills. Living on the rough side of Long Beach, California, he is an underground detective who takes on cases in the city's ghettoes that the LAPD refuses to handle. Beginning with a kidnapping and moving to a case involving the assassination attempt on a famous rapper, IQ represents a positive influence in this tough environment of gang warfare, drugs, murders, and prostitution. A mixture of Michael Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer, the craziness of Don Winslow's Savages, and the classic mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, this debut will spark interest and open up this particular world to new readers." --Gerard Villegas, Warwick's, La Jolla, Calif.

Nicotine: A Novel by Nell Zink (Ecco, $26.99, 9780062441706). "Zink excels at feel-good novels that, far from being sappy, are incredibly smart and laugh-out-loud funny. When recent college graduate Penny Baker inherits her hippie father's childhood house, she expects to find an abandoned ruin. Instead, she finds a house renovated and inhabited by squatters and falls desperately in love with one of them, something that does not go over well with her family. This deceptively simple premise allows Zink to return to some of her favorite themes of family and identity, as well as love, activism, and materialism, through the lives of unforgettable characters and hilarious situations. This book is a riot!" --Pierre Camy, Schuler Books & Music, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Paperback
Cabo de Gata: A Novel by Eugen Ruge, translated by Anthea Bell (Graywolf Press, $14, 9781555977573). "Bored, anchorless, and alone, a man leaves Berlin for a tiny Andalusian fishing village where he plans to write a novel. Instead, he encounters a cranky hotelier, green tomatoes, an Englishman who acts like an American, an American who acts like an Englishman, a very quiet bartender, a mysterious cat, and, possibly, the meaning of everything--or lack thereof. This slim, playful novel will speak to anyone who has ever questioned the path they were on--or whether there is a path at all." --Sam Kaas, Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, Wash.

For Ages 4 to 8
Teacup by Rebecca Young, illustrated by Matt Ottley (Dial, $17.99, 9780735227774). "Teacup is a lyrical tale of a refugee's journey, evoking the loneliness, anxiety, and sadness of leaving everything you know behind to begin anew. Ottley's textured, breathtaking illustrations are both incredibly realistic and beautifully dreamlike, adding gentleness and whimsy to this subtly told story. Young's minimal text allows the reader's imagination to expand and the drama unfolds at a perfect pace. Teacup is a book to linger over, appreciating the beauty to be found in the persistence and strength it takes to make a new life in an unfamiliar place." --Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop, Athens, Ga.

For Ages 9 to 12
The Secret Horses of Briar Hill by Megan Shepherd (Delacorte, $16.99, 9781101939758). "One of Shepherd's gifts as a writer is the ability to transport readers to a very specific time and place and immerse them in its physical and social realities. This is done beautifully in The Secret Horses of Briar Hill, set in a children's hospital in rural England during World War II. Whether the winged horses little Emmaline sees in the mirrors at Briar Hill are real or just her imagination, the hope and solace they provide are very real. A moving and magical story not to be missed." --Leslie Hawkins, Spellbound Children's Bookshop, Asheville, N.C.

Young Adult Nonfiction: An Indies Introduce Title
Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee and Susan McClelland (Amulet Books/Abrams, 9781419721328, $16.95). "This superb biography is a devastating account of survival amidst the dark and famine-stricken towns and cities along the Chinese-North Korean border. I found it to be an illuminating glimpse into this closed-off country--so much so that I have read it cover to cover twice. I believe that this book will have great staying power in the future." --Biddy Kehoe, Hockessin Bookshelf, Hockessin, Del.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]


Pearl Harbor Roundup

One of the most tragic and seminal events in U.S. history--the attack on Pearl Harbor--took place 75 years ago this December 7. The event led the country into World War II and began an exceedingly bitter, bloody series of battles in the Pacific that lasted for four years and claimed millions of lives.

It should come as no surprise that the attack has resulted in many hundreds if not thousands of memoirs, histories, analyses and even historical fiction. Here follows a selective listing of titles released in the last few decades, organized by publication date.


At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor by Gordon W. Prange (Penguin Books, $25, 9780140157345). Gordon W. Prange (1910-1980) was a longtime University of Maryland history professor and Chief Historian in General Douglas MacArthur's staff. In 1963, his article Tora! Tora! Tora! was published in two parts in Reader's Digest. It became the basis for the screenplay of the 1970 film and was expanded, after Prange's death, into At Dawn We Slept, a classic account of the attack from both sides, using interviews Prange conducted during the military occupation of Japan. The book was originally published in 1981. In 2001, Penguin Books released a new edition marking the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

Day of Infamy by Walter Lord (Holt, $17.99 9780805068030). In 2001, Holt republished Walter Lord's classic 1957 account of Pearl Harbor to commemorate the attack's 60th anniversary. In Day of Infamy, Lord, author of the Titanic history A Night to Remember, gives a comprehensive view of the attack from all sides, using personal interviews and some 25,000 pages of other testimony.

Pearl Harbor Child: A Child's View of Pearl Harbor from Attack to Peace by Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson (Woodson House Publishing, $12.95, 9780931503023). This book for young readers recounts the author's experiences as a six-year-old living in Pearl City, a peninsula at the heart of Pearl Harbor, during the attack. The book was originally published in 1993 by the Arizona Memorial Museum Association. Woodson House Publishing released a 60th anniversary edition in 2001, which features 100 photographs and several maps.

Pearl Harbor Warriors: The Bugler, the Pilot, the Friendship by Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson, illustrated by Larry Nicholson (Woodson House Publishing, $15.95, 9780931503054). This book for young readers by the author of Pearl Harbor Child chronicles the unlikely friendship, 50 years after the attack, between Japanese pilot Lt. Zenji Abe and American Marine Richard Fiske.

A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory by Emily S. Rosenberg (Duke University Press, $22.95, 9780822336372). Part of the American Encounters/Global Interactions series, this book by a current University of California, Irvine history professor looks at the legacy of Pearl Harbor in American culture, how the attack's 50th anniversary created a surge of new interest, and what Pearl Harbor can teach us about the 9/11 attacks, which occurred shortly before this book's publication in 2003.

Last Witnesses: Reflections on the Wartime Internment of Japanese Americans edited by Erica Harth (St. Martin's Griffin, $22.99, 9781403962300). Writers, activists, scholars, students and professionals reflect on Japanese internment 60 years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Some 120,000 Japanese-Americans were interned, including several of the contributors to this volume. The rest, descendants of those so wronged by racism and wartime hysteria, ask the same question: can it happen again? The paperback was last published in 2003.

No Sword to Bury: Japanese Americans in Hawai'i During World War II by Franklin S. Odo (Temple University Press, $49.50, 9781592132072). Franklin Odo follows the Japanese-Americans in Hawaii during and after the attack on Pearl Harbor, like those in the ROTC initially called upon to defend the islands from invasion, or those who later enlisted in the segregated 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The book, published in 2003, uses many oral histories, and also looks at non-military roles, like the Varsity Victory Volunteers, who performed public works.

Kimmel, Short, and Pearl Harbor: The Final Report Revealed by Fred Borch and Daniel Martinez (Naval Institute Press, $29.95, 9781591140900). This 2005 book includes a reproduction of the Department of Defense report on whether or not Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short were culpable for the attack on Pearl Harbor. The co-authors, an Army lawyer and a military historian, add context to the report itself.

Lightning Strike: The Secret Mission to Kill Admiral Yamamoto and Avenge Pearl Harbor by Donald A. Davis (St. Martin's Griffin, $26.99, 9780312309077). In April 1943, the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, was killed when American fighters ambushed his transport aircraft. In Lightning Strike, Donald Davis explores Operation Vengeance and the men who partook in it, airmen who would spend the rest of their lives publicly feuding over who actually shot down the admiral's plane.

The Attack on Pearl Harbor by Jane Sutcliffe, illustrated by Bob Lentz (Capstone Press, $9.99, 9780736868723). This 2006 graphic novel for young readers, part of the Disasters in History series, chronicles the attack through various perspectives.

Radioman: An Eyewitness Account of Pearl Harbor and World War II in the Pacific by Carol Edgemon Hipperson (St. Martin's Griffin, $18.99, 9781250040985). Carol Edgemon Hipperson was a U.S. Navy radioman and petty officer during the Pacific War. He survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the USS Yorktown, and spent the rest of the war working with the Russians, and then against the Japanese in Alaska, all of which is recounted in this 2008 memoir.

Battleship Oklahoma BB-37 by Jeff Phister, Thomas Hone and Paul Goodyear (University of Oklahoma Press, $19.95, 9780806139364). The Oklahoma served from 1914 to 1947, but its most fateful moment came in 1941, when the Japanese attack killed 429 crew and left the ship at the bottom of Pearl Harbor. This 2008 book chronicles the battleship's long history, including the lengthy salvage and scrap operation.

Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen (St. Martin's Griffin, $19.99, 9780312366230. With this book, former House Speaker Gingrich and historian Forstchen began a two-part alternate history series concluding with 2009's Days of Infamy, in which Admiral Yamamoto directly leads the Pearl Harbor attack and inflicts far more damage on the U.S. fleet (in real-life, the admiral remained behind in Japan).

I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941 by Lauren Tarshis (Scholastic, $5.99, 9780545206983). This illustrated book for young readers, part of the I Survived series, follows 11-year-old Danny Crane on the morning of the Pearl Harbor attack. Released in 2011, this entry follows other disaster survival tales like I Survived the Attacks of September 11th, 2001 and I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912.

Tora! Tora! Tora!: Pearl Harbor 1941 by Mark Stille, illustrated by Jim Laurier (Osprey Publishing, $18.95, 9781849085090). This illustrated study from a Navy military historian gives a comprehensive view of the origins, execution and results of the attack. It is part of Osprey's Raid series, which focus on single military actions, and was published in 2011.

Day of Lightning, Years of Scorn: Walter C. Short and the Attack on Pearl Harbor by Charles R. Anderson (Naval Institute Press, $19.95, 9781591140054). This 2011 biography reconsiders the actions of Walter C. Short, the U.S. Army General in charge of the defense of Hawaii during the Pearl Harbor attack. He and Admiral Husband E. Kimmel were swiftly and, according to this book, possibly erroneously judged as at fault for the attack's surprise arrival and devastating results.

Descent into Darkness: Pearl Harbor, 1941--A Navy Diver's Memoir by Edward C. Raymer (Naval Institute Press, $19.95, 9781591147244). This memoir, last reprinted in 2012, was written by the head of the Navy salvage divers flown to Oahu after Pearl Harbor. These men dived in extremely dangerous conditions, in pitch-black interiors of sunken battleships, where they had to rely on memorized blueprints instead of sight, and cope with many grizzly discoveries. After salvage efforts at Pearl, Raymer was assigned to other wrecks strewn across the Pacific theater.

Battleship Sailor by Theodore C. Mason (Naval Institute Press, $24.95, 9781557505798). Part of the Bluejacket Books series, this 2013 reprint of a 1983 book is a portrait of an enlisted man's life aboard the battleship USS California before and during Pearl Harbor.

Resurrection: Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor by Daniel Madsen (Naval Institute Press, $26.95, 9781591145400). This book for general readers chronicles the salvage operation after Pearl Harbor, from the raising of the Oklahoma to dismantling the above-water portions of the Arizona. It includes many previously unpublished photographs and was last reprinted in 2013.

What Was Pearl Harbor? by Patricia Brennan Demuth, illustrated by John Mantha (Grosset & Dunlap, $5.99, 9780448464626). This 2013 book for young readers, part of the What Was...? series, gives a simple, illustrated explanation of this pivotal moment in American history.

Trapped at Pearl Harbor: Escape from Battleship Oklahoma by Stephen Young (Naval Institute Press, $19.95, 9781557509925). Stephen Young was a seaman first class on the Oklahoma when Japanese bombs caused his ship to capsize. In this 2013 reprint of an entry in Naval Institute Press's Bluejacket Books series, Young describes the horrors of being trapped in an oily, dark and watery wreck that became a tomb for many fellow sailors. It was originally published in 1991.

Surprise Attack!: Nickolas Flux and the Attack on Pearl Harbor by Terry Collins, illustrated by Amerigo Pinelli (Capstone Press, $7.95, 9781491402580). The Nickolas Flux History Chronicles books are a series of illustrated children's tales about a young history buff who is transported to historic moments. In this entry, Nickolas struggles to survive after he suddenly finds himself in the midst of Pearl Harbor.

Day of Infamy: The Story of the Attack on Pearl Harbor by Steven Otfinoski (Capstone Press, $6.95, 9781491470824). This 2015 entry in the Tangled History series offers young readers a comprehensive account of Pearl Harbor from multiple perspectives on both sides.

No One Avoided Danger: NAS Kaneohe Bay and the Japanese Attack of 7 December 1941 by J. Michael Wenger, Robert J. Cressman and John F. Di Virgilio (Naval Institute Press, $34.95, 9781612519241). The attack on Pearl Harbor itself, of Japanese bombs falling on battleship row, often overshadows the other strikes that occurred on Oahu that infamous morning. In No One Avoided Danger (2015), three military historians chronicle the air raids on the naval air station at Kaneohe Bay from the perspectives of the attackers and defenders.

Battleship Arizona: An Illustrated History by Paul Stillwell (Naval Institute Press, $60, 9781591146780, March 15, 2016). The 25-year service history of the USS Arizona, including its destruction with the loss of 1,177 men during Pearl Harbor, is shown in an illustrated history that draws on thousands of official documents and hundreds of interviews.

Memorializing Pearl Harbor: Unfinished Histories and the Work of Remembrance by Geoffrey M. White (Duke University Press, $26.95, 9780822361022, April 1, 2016). Anthropology professor Geoffrey M. White explores how the attack on Pearl Harbor has been commemorated ever since that day of infamy. He looks at the site itself and the sometimes competing interests surrounding it, from serviceman memorials to the concerns of native Hawaiians and Japanese Americans.

Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment in World War II by Richard Reeves (Picador, $18, 9781250081681, April 12, 2016). In Infamy, journalist Richard Reeves gives a definitive account of the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor. He looks at the primitive camps themselves, their unfortunate inmates, and the wider political and racial storm surrounding the program, including the improbable enlistment of Japanese Americans to fight for a country that had so wronged them.

Pearl Harbor: From Infamy to Greatness by Craig Nelson (Scribner, $32, 9781451660494, Sept. 20, 2016). Craig Nelson, author of Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon, gives a monumental history of the attack itself, its origins and its outcomes in Pearl Harbor. He traces the attack back to late-19th century Japan, to attitudes developed there during the Meiji Restoration, and follows an ever more ominous thread through the early 20th-century until all hell breaks loose on Oahu in 1941. His chronicle of the attack uses thrilling, often heartbreaking and always evocative firsthand accounts from both sides.

Fields of Battle: Pearl Harbor, the Rose Bowl, and the Boys Who Went to War by Brian Curtis (Flatiron Books, $29.99, 9781250059581, Sept. 27, 2016). The 1942 Rose Bowl was moved from Pasadena, California to Durham, North Carolina after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Following that momentous football game, players on both sides enlisted. In Fields of Battle, sports Journalist Brian Curtis tracks the diverging and sometimes converging paths these players took during World War II, from the hills of Italy, to the jungles of the South Pacific and a Japanese American internment camp in Idaho.

Pearl Harbor: 75 Years Later: A Day of Infamy and Its Legacy by The Editors of LIFE (LIFE, $35, 9781618931764, Oct. 25, 2016). This photographic retrospective chronicles the buildup to Pearl Harbor, covering domestic and international political events, and the aftermath of the attack. It includes reproductions of LIFE magazine's actual pages for the 10 weeks after the bombing.

Heroes of Pearl Harbor by Allan Zullo (Scholastic, $5.99, 9780545872768, Oct. 25, 2016). This book for young readers, part of the Ten True Tales series, gives the real stories of 10 sailors during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Countdown to Pearl Harbor: The Twelve Days to the Attack by Steve Twomey (Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781476776460, Nov. 1, 2016). The final days before the attack on Pearl Harbor were a whirlwind of diplomacy, deception and military maneuvering. In Countdown to Pearl Harbor, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Twomey scrutinizes the many warnings, most ignored, of the Japanese arrival at Oahu, and the figures who played important roles in these final days of American peace.

The Other Side of Infamy: My Journey through Pearl Harbor and the World of War by Jim Downing and James Lund (NavPress, $14.99, 9781631466274, Nov. 1, 2016). Jim Downing was a sailor who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. In this religious-themed memoir, he reflects on his experience as a Christian in World War II and how his beliefs contend with the reality of killing in war.

A Matter of Honor: Pearl Harbor: Betrayal, Blame, and a Family's Quest for Justice by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan (Harper, $35, 9780062405517, Nov. 15, 2016). Admiral Husband Kimmel, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, was charged with dereliction of duty following the attack on Pearl Harbor. In A Matter of Honor, two Pulitzer Prize finalists, with the cooperation of the Kimmel family, contend that Admiral Kimmel was baselessly blamed for intelligence failures not of his own making. They also refute the consistent conspiracy theory that FDR had advance knowledge of the attack, claiming instead that fault lies with the ineptitude of other Washington brass.

Dawn of Infamy: A Sunken Ship, a Vanished Crew, and the Final Mystery of Pearl Harbor by Stephen Harding (Da Capo Press, $24.99, 9780306825033, Nov. 22, 2016). On the morning of December 7, 1941, the lumber carrier Cynthia Olson reported coming under attack by a submarine halfway between Seattle and Honolulu. The ship vanished with all her crew. In Dawn of Infamy, Stephen Harding explores the fate of the Cynthia Olson, and tries to determine if she was the first of Japan's victims in the Pacific.

All the Gallant Men: An American Sailor's Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor by Donald Stratton and Ken Gire (William Morrow, $25.99, 9780062645357, Nov. 22, 2016). This is the first and only memoir written by a survivor of the USS Arizona, the Pearl Harbor battleship whose powder magazine exploded, killing 1,177 crew members. Seaman First Class Donald Stratton survived with burns over two-thirds of his body. At age 94, he shares his harrowing story for the first time.

Seven Days of Infamy: Pearl Harbor Across the World by Nicholas Best (Thomas Dunne, $27.99, 9781250078018, Nov. 29, 2016). Like 9/11 and JFK's assassination, Pearl Harbor was one of those paradigm-shattering events where people remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. In Seven Days of Infamy, Nicholas Best looks at what famous figures were doing when they heard what happened at Pearl Harbor (Kurt Vonnegut was taking a bath and Eisenhower was napping). Best includes the days surrounding the attack and worldwide perspectives, like the views of European Jews and of Mao, who was training his forces in China. --Compiled by Tobias Mutter


Book Review

Review: Everything You Want Me to Be

Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia (Emily Bestler/Atria, $26.99 hardcover, 352p., 9781501123429, January 3, 2017)

This sophomore novel from Mindy Mejia (The Dragon Keeper) delves deeper than the average thriller, exploring themes of identity and the different faces people show to those who think they know them best.

Del Goodman, Vietnam War veteran and sheriff of tiny Pine Valley in rural Minnesota, has seen plenty of tragedy in his lifetime, but little compares to the devastation of finding Hattie Hoffman murdered in a barn. Del knew Hattie all 17 years of her too-short life--he liked to tease her by calling her Henrietta (her despised full name)--and thinks highly of her parents, Bud and Mona. Like everyone in Pine Valley, Del cannot imagine who would want to harm a much-loved high school senior, and his job is to find out before the justice-hungry citizens choose their own suspect. His investigations yield few surprises aside from the screen name "LitGeek," a friend Hattie met online and a clue that will lead Del into her darkest secrets.

In alternating chapters, Mejia reveals the story of Hattie's senior year. Hattie has an incredible gift for acting, fully inhabiting any character she plays. However, all the world is Hattie's stage. "Sometimes I think acting is a disease, but I can't say for sure because I don't know what it's like to be healthy," she muses. She analyzes family, friends and teachers to understand how to play the perfect daughter, the perfect girlfriend, the perfect student, living as a series of fictional constructs to hide the truth of the vacant landscape of her emotions. When handsome, literature-loving Peter Lund moves to town, Hattie feels real passion for the first time. Peter is drawn to her as well, but unfortunately, he's older than Hattie, married and her English teacher. As he struggles with a failing marriage, his connection with beautiful, brilliant, determined Hattie explodes into forbidden love, setting them on a collision course that somehow ends in her death.

Mejia's small-town setting makes Hattie's ability to dissemble especially powerful. Despite the claustrophobic closeness of the same friends, neighbors and teachers her entire life, Hattie manages to convince each of them that her roles are her true self. The list of murder suspects is short but filled with enough motives to keep early guessers changing their minds. Still, the mystery of the killer's identity sometimes feels secondary to the fascinating layers of Hattie's identity, pluralistic and unknowable even to herself. Steady, practical Del provides a dependable foil for the many shades of Hattie and conducts an occasionally judgmental postmortem on her choices. Readers will surely find this unsettling, character-driven descent into secret desires and hidden faces everything they wanted to see from a talented writer and then some. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

Shelf Talker: In this character-driven mystery, a small-town sheriff investigates the death of a talented teen actress who had an affair with her married teacher.


The Bestsellers

Top-Selling Self-Published Titles

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

1. Wrong by Jana Aston
2. Trust by Jana Aston
3. Say You Want Me by Corinne Michaels
4. The Elf on the Shelf by Carol V. Aebersold and Chanda B. Bell
5. Dirty Sexy Sinner (A Dirty Sexy Novel Book 4) by Carly Phillips
6. Tru Blue by Melissa Foster
7. Hunter (7 Brides for 7 Brothers Book) by Melody Anne
8. Managed (VIP Series Volume 2) by Kristen Callihan
9. Mr. Perfect by JA Huss
10. Fling by Jana Aston

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]


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