Can there be too many quotations of the day? Today we quote striking comments from three people in a Los Angeles Times story exploring whether there are too many good books coming out this fall.

• "There's no downside to a plethora of good books. Not for sellers, for customers, or anyone."--Allison Hill, general manager of Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, Calif.
• "This could be the year when people buy one or two more books than they planned--and one less DVD."--Margaret Maupin, a buyer at the Tattered Cover, Denver, Colo.
  
• "For me the Web is like a teenager's room. It can be very messy, and you don't quite know how to bring order to it. But you can't ignore it. You have to deal with it."--Daniel Menaker, editor-in-chief of the Random House Publishing Group, talking about marketing on the Web.

 

Coliseum Books, the New York City bookstore that had closed its original store on W. 57th St. in January 2002 and reopened in June 2003 on 42nd St. between 5th and 6th Avenues, is closing again. After filing for bankruptcy last week, co-owner George Liebson indicated that the store will wind down business during the month and aims to pay all creditors in full.

Coliseum Books, which opened in 1974 near the old Coliseum on Columbus Circle, left that space--15,000 square feet at its height--after the owner wanted to double the rent. Liebson looked at a variety of locations in Manhattan and chose the 10,500-sq.-ft. spot across from Bryant Park.

While the store was able to reassemble the kind of knowledgeable staff it had been known for, its location in a less residential neighborhood meant that it was more dependent on commuter and tourist traffic. 

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Jim Chiappardi and Linda Durkin Richardson, owners of Sherlock's Tomes Bookstore in Pitman, N.J., which opened late last year, are opening a second store, with the same name, in Bridgeton, N.J., the Bridgeton News reported. The store will, the paper said, "carry thousands of books from most every genre: bestsellers, mysteries, children's, and self-help and more, including Spanish-language works."

The new Sherlock's Tomes is located at 27 East Commerce St., Bridgeton, N.J. 08302; 856-455-2231. The original is at 64 South Broadway, Pitman, N.J. 08071; 856-582-0026.

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Next month Borders will open a 22,000-sq.-ft. store in Muncy Township, Pa., near Williamsport. The store will be in the Lycoming Mall, near the intersection of U.S. Route 200 and Interstate 180. In mid-November, Waldenbooks will close its 3,200-sq.-ft. outlet in the same mall.

Also in November, Borders will open a two-story, 24,000-sq.-ft. sotre in the Shadyside area of Pittsburgh, Pa., at the intersection of Penn Circle South and South Highland Avenue. It will be the fifth Borders to open in the Pittsburgh area.

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Weinstein Books, owned by the Weinstein Co., whose co-chairmen are Bob and Harvey Weinstein, will be distributed by Hachette Book Group, the companies announced over the weekend. Hachette will work with Weinstein Books to distribute up to 15 English-language titles around the world. Rob Weisbach will run Weinstein Books as president and CEO.

The Weinsteins and Weisbach will continue to work on scheduled releases of Miramax Books until the end of September next year. In the meantime, they are acquiring titles for Weinstein Books. Miramax Books was one of the casualties of the "divorce" of Disney and the Weinstein brothers last year. Miramax, an imprint of Hyperion, is distributed by Hachette.

The new imprint plans to publish "titles intended to have general commercial appeal and will be focused on adult and young adult fiction, as well as non-fiction titles, including biographies of prominent individuals."

In a statement, Harvey Weinstein said, "I've always felt that great writing is the common denominator throughout all forms of media, and we are excited to add a book division to our expanding portfolio of companies and projects."  

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Effective October 30, Sourcebooks will ship all its books, audiobooks and calendars to all accounts from Banta Fulfillment Services in Appleton, Wis. In a statement, Sourcebooks publisher Dominique Raccah explained the change, saying that during the past two years "our warehousing and fulfillment services have been strained by a 50% increase in shipments, despite a 23% decline in returns. Banta's state-of-the-art facilities will help us significantly improve the overall performance and efficiency of our supply chain management."

In a kind of 30th anniversary present, the Family Book Shop, Deland, Fla., will be immortalized in the pages of a "comical mystery" book scheduled to be published next year: Murder's in the Family, the fourth in the Daffodils series, by Mary Clay.

The real-life store has what owner Judy Mathys calls "a huge mystery room with the outline of a dead body on the floor complete with 'blood' "--a place Clay decided would make a wonderful spot for a fictional dead body.

As Clay explained about one of her main characters: "Penny Sue's cousin--a noted historian--is in town for a seminar on Nineteenth Century champagne magnate Baron Frederick deBary. The staid discussion becomes nasty and one of the academics turns up dead in the Family Book Shop. Unfortunately clues point to murder and Penny Sue's cousin is the prime suspect. What was the professor doing in the Family Book Shop after hours? Why would anyone want to kill the attractive scholar? Well, the middle-aged divorcees must find out to satisfy Aunt Alice, the self-possessed Queen of Shit (a former sewer department official), who makes flamboyant Penny Sue look tame."

Mathys noted that there really was a Baron deBary, and there is a town near Deland called DeBary.

Today Elizabeth Edwards--wife of former Senator John Edwards and a breast cancer survivor--talks about her new book, Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers (Broadway Books, $24.95, 0767925378) on the Today Show, NBC Nightly News and WAMU's Diane Rehm Show.

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This morning on the Today Show: Bob Woodward, author of State of Denial (S&S, $30, 0743272234). Along with an appearance tonight on NBC Nightly News, Woodward will be back for an encore visit on the Today Show tomorrow.

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Today on Good Morning America: William C. Taylor and Polly LeBarre, authors of Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win (Morrow, $26.95, 0060779616). The pair gave inspiring talks at BEA in May and NEIBA last month.

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Today on Imus in the Morning: Mark Halperin, author of The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008 (Random House, 1400064473).

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Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Senator Trent Lott, former majority leader whose Herding Cats: A Life in Politics (Regan Books, $15.95, 0060599324) is out in paperback.

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Tonight on the Colbert Report: Michael Lewis, the author of Moneyball who turns his statistical eye on football in his new book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (Norton, $24.95, 039306123X).
 

Steerforth Press will publish the paperback edition of James Cannon's Apostle Paul: A Novel of the Man Who Brought Christianity to the Western World ($24.95, 1586420941) on November 14 with the following endorsement on the back cover, reading, in its entirety:

Sept. 13, 2006

Dear Mr. Cannon,

I have just finished Apostle Paul. I enjoyed your book a lot. I read the Bible, and your book helps me better understand the letters and the life of Paul.

I appreciate very much the inscription in the front of the book. These are trying times, and I firmly believe in the decisions I have made. I long for the Peace that freedom can yield. With warm regards,

George Bush

On Friday, after 60 Minutes published excerpts of an interview with the author and the New York Times and New York Daily News had stories about the book's contents, Simon & Schuster bowed to the inevitable and moved up the official pub date of Bob Woodward's State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III ($30, 0743272234) to Saturday from tomorrow.

The Times and Daily News both said they bought copies of the book from bookstores.

Expressing some disappointment that S&S's carefully orchestrated publicity efforts had been upset, publisher David Rosenthal told the Times: "You want your sales to start happening at a synchronized time, in a concentrated period at first, to drive the book" onto bestseller lists. "And its list position affects the discounting of a book."

Barbara Meade, co-owner of Politics & Prose, Washington, D.C., told the Times that intended or not, the publicity blitz had resulted in a "frenzy" of calls on Friday from customers wanting the book. The store would have been tempted to break the embargo, she said, to satisfy that demand. "It would be a bad business decision not to put it out," she said.

From last week's Book Sense bestseller lists, available at booksense.com, here are the recommended titles, which are also Book Sense Picks:

Hardcover

Billy Boyle by James R. Benn (Soho, $23, 1569474338). "It's 1942 and America is just entering the war in Europe. Billy Boyle goes from Boston cop to special investigator for his Uncle Ike, that is, General 'Ike' Eisenhower. Within 48 hours of his arrival in England, Boyle has a death to investigate and his attempts to avoid the horrors of war are lost. This is an engaging World War II novel with murders, thrills, spies, and, every so often, a little humor. A winner."--Mary Jane Weber, The Town Book Store, Westfield, N.J.

Perfect, Once Removed: When Baseball Was All the World to Me by Phillip Hoose (Walker, $19.95, 0802715370). "Disguised as a nostalgic, coming-of-age baseball memoir, this is a sly, spare meditation on the perils of childhood, the power of celebrity, the vagaries of human kindness, and how even tenuous family bonds can have a surprisingly steely impact."--Joe Pilla, Paperbacks Plus, Bronx, N.Y.

Paperback

Shadow of the Bomb by Robert Goldsborough (Echelon Press, $12.99, 1590804910). "This long-awaited sequel to Three Strikes You're Dead continues the story of Chicago Tribune crime reporter Steve Malek. Featuring great characters and wonderful dialogue, the story is set in 1942 on the campus of the University of Chicago, where scientists are at work on a secret weapon. Goldsborough's description of Chicago has the quality of Max Allan Collins' fiction and Erik Larson's factual The Devil in the White City."--August P. Aleksy, Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore, Forest Park, Ill.

For Children Up to Age 8

Adventures of Riley: Survival of the Salmon by Amanda Lumry and Laura Hurwitz (Eaglemont Press, $15.95, 0974841137). "This informative and fun book presents the ecosystem of Alaska's salmon run through bursts of colorful cartoons superimposed over photographs. Through the eyes of young Riley, we learn many things about salmon and their fellow wilderness creatures: moose, orca, sea lion, sea otter, bald eagles, and, of course, grizzly bear."--Amy Carlson, A Book For All Seasons, Leavenworth, Wash.

Brothers by Yin, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet (Philomel, $16.99, 0399234063). "This is a wonderful historical tale of immigration and friendship between the Chinese and the Irish. It couldn't come at a better time."-Leslie Reiner, Inkwood Books, Tampa, Fla.

[Many thanks to Book Sense and the ABA!]

The following is the second of several excerpts Shelf Awareness will run in the next few weeks from An Alphabetical Life: Living It Up in the Business of Books by Wendy Werris (Carroll & Graf, $15.95, 078671817X), which will be published November 5. The first excerpt ran a week ago, on September 25. A former bookseller and longtime sales rep, Werris also works as a freelance author escort and photographer in the Los Angeles area. For more information about the book and author, go to her Web site.

 

Werris's friend Penny Rose, in charge of special orders at Pickwick, where Werris began her career in the book world in 1970, worked for a time for Alan Kahn, "boy wonder of the industry" and the head buyer for Pickwick--who is now head of Barnes & Noble Publishing. She had remarkable translation skills. (Note: expletives altered to deter spam filters, not for any other reason.)


Penny had a small office directly next to Alan's with a window in one of the walls looking into his domain. He was demanding, and did not suffer fools easily. Hiring Penny Rose to be his secretary was a stroke of genius, because she was the only person at Pickwick with enough patience, good humor and civility to not only stand up to Alan's scrutiny but also calm and placate him. Penny was utterly without pride. They were a perfect match, and called one another Boris and Natasha. Alan grew to depend on her to bring order to his chaos, and with time she came to anticipate all his needs.

A perfect example of this involved Penny's transcriptions of the letters he dictated to her. These typically came in response to a publisher who'd given the wrong discount on a large order, or a customer with a house charge who was delinquent in paying a substantial bill for books they'd purchased.

Alan would call Penny into his office to take dictation. As she sat facing him with a steno pad in her lap, Alan would recite the contents of the letters off the top of his head.

"Now, you tell that f*cking idiot that if he doesn't change that goddamned discount back to 46% like he was supposed to three f*cking months ago, I'm going to shove his discount up his ass.  Did you get that?"

"Yes, Alan", Penny would answer coolly, unsmiling, one eyebrow raised. "Anything else?"

"F*ck, yes!" Alan would bark. "Let those morons in Mae West's office know that they're sixty days behind on their f*cking bill! If they don't send us a f*cking check for twelve hundred dollars by Monday, I'll rip their throats out!"

At that point, Penny would silently return to her cubicle to type the letters. The first would begin:

My dear Harvey,

It's been far too long since we've met for drinks, and I hope you and your family are doing well. As I'm sure you can empathize, I've been terribly busy here at the bookstore. Please forgive me for not writing sooner!

No doubt this was an oversight on your secretary's part, and I hate to even bother you with this, but when you have a moment can you please look into the increased discount we discussed a few weeks ago?  I'd appreciate this a great deal.

With warmest regards to you and Sylvia,

Alan

So it was that Penny tamed the young, impetuous Alan Kahn, saving him from the consequences of his unequaled command of all elements of the English language.