"This is an experiment. It may end up like reading a bowl of alphabet spaghetti."--Jeremy Ettinghausen, head of digital publishing at Penguin U.K., speaking with Reuters about the publisher's Web-based, collaborative novel, A Million Penguins, which is being written and edited by a group of people at amillionpenguins.com.

Concerning the death of Sidney Sheldon on Tuesday, Glen Robbe, assistant manager of the trade book department of the Stanford Bookstore, Stanford, Calif., writes:

I managed a Brentano's at Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara, Calif., back in the fall of 1998 when Sidney Sheldon and his wife walked in. I recognized him right away and introduced myself and some of our staff. He could not have been nicer. He gladly signed our stock and chatted up with customers. What an impression he made! If only all authors would realize it's just as easy to be warm and friendly as it is to be surly.

At any rate, he asked for a copy of A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe. It was in our backroom pending a street date of the following Tuesday (this was on a Saturday). Because I could not legally sell it, I just gave him a copy (don't tell FSG). He insisted on paying for it, but I wouldn't take his money--I just told him not to tell anyone where he got it.

I'm sorry to hear of his passing.

Yesterday was the first full day of the ABA's second annual Winter Institute, being held this year in Portland, Ore. Part way through the event, it's safe to say that lightning can strike twice in the same place. Even with a sizable jump in attendees--participation was capped at 500 booksellers--this year's Winter Institute may have, if anything, more excitement, energy and optimism than the wonderful inaugural event last year in Long Beach, Calif.

On Monday, we'll begin coverage of the discussions, presentations and shop talk that marked the Winter Institute. For now, we want to offer congratulations and thanks to the ABA for staging another excellent opportunity for booksellers to gather together to share, teach, learn and have fun.

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Bookselling This Week profiles Fireside Books, Palmer, Alaska, the five-year-old store that will soon expand to 2,000 square feet from 1,500. The store has one of more amusing URLs in the business--goodbooksbadcoffee.com--and sells "Real Alaskan Ugly Coffee by the cup and the pound."

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In yesterday's Boston Globe, Kate Whouley offered what she described to us as "another take" on the Waldenbooks closing in Needham, Mass., which she wrote about in Shelf Awareness on January 16. The focus in the Globe is "my unexpected nostalgia for the place."

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Some professors at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh offer classes without textbooks, assigning articles for students to read instead of texts, according to the Oshkosh Northwestern. One professor commented: "I was concerned that some students could not afford the textbooks. I have two boys in college now in Madison and Milwaukee so I've become sensitive to the cost of textbooks in university."

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In the fourth quarter ended December 31, Amazon.com sales rose 34% to $3.99 billion, but profit fell 50% to $98 million. The loss of a tax break accounted for some of the profit drop. Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, noted that "Amazon Prime members spent more with us across categories as they took advantage of unlimited free two-day shipping."

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The finalists for Barnes & Noble's 2006 Discover Great New (HarperCollins) Writers Awards are:

Fiction

• Brief Encounters with Che Guevara by Ben Fountain (Ecco)
• Bliss by O. Z. Livaneli (St. Martin's Press)
• Firmin by Sam Savage (Coffee House Press)
  

Nonfiction

• The Last Season by Eric Blehm (HarperCollins)
• The Dead Beat by Marilyn Johnson (HarperCollins)
• The Lost by Daniel Mendelsohn (HarperCollins)
  

Winners receive a $10,000 prize and a year of additional promotion at B&N stores. Second-place winners receive $5,000, and third-place authors take $2,500. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, February 28, at a private ceremony. All finalists have been invited to read from their works that evening at B&N's Lincoln Triangle store in New York City.

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The following item is from Galley Cat at Media Bisto.com:

"The folks at Book TV announced yesterday afternoon that they had hired Cleve Corner, the former events coordinator at Washington indie bookstore Politics & Prose, to produce more segments with historians for their weekend programming. Corner will also be working on the shows that form the cornerstone of the Book TV weekend, like In Depth and After Words. Says exec producer Connie Doebele of the hire, 'His experience selecting books and writers that represent multiple viewpoints combined with his contacts and knowledge of the publishing industry complement the Book TV production team.' "

Here's the latest on the last Harry Potter novel.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, July 21 (eight days after the release of the film version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). Besides the $34.99 hardcover, Scholastic will offer a deluxe edition for $65 and a reinforced library edition for $39.99. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is being released under the Arthur A. Levine imprint and will have cover art by Mary GrandPre.

Within minutes of the Scholastic announcement, B&N, Borders and Amazon announced that they had begun accepting pre-publication orders for the book at steep discounts. B&N is offering the book for $20.99--40% off--and B&N Members can receive it for $18.89, 46% off. Borders is offering the book for 46% off. For its part, Amazon is offering the hardcover for 46% and the deluxe edition for 40% off. In case the price bloodbath escalates, Amazon and Borders guarantee all customers will receive the lowest price offered by the sellers between the order and the release date. Yesterday the book was the No. 1 title on all three Web sites.

When the last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released on July 16, 2005, 6.9 million copies were sold the first day. (About 1.5 million of those sales came from Amazon advance orders.) Some 120 million copies of the six Harry Potter titles are in print in the U.S. About 325 million copies have been sold worldwide.

Spellbound Books & Gifts opened last week in the historic downtown district of Homestead, Fla., south of Miami. Owned by Dennise Sleeper, Spellbound stocks new and used books in 3,250 square feet of space, about 1,600 of which is for the bookstore and gift items and the rest for events, tutoring, book clubs, inventory and an employee area. The store has a small vending café (Spellbound is not legally permitted to make food) with a study area for eating, reading or studying. The store offers three computers with Internet access for a fee, and the children's area has a Pooh decoration theme.

Spellbound has a used book exchange program and store memberships (ranging from free up to $50, with a commensurate increase in benefits). Sleeper described Spellbound's gifts mostly as "high end" and handmade.

Sleeper stressed that although the store carries a variety of titles, its emphasis is on "encouraging reading and improving reading in our area." Thus the store is working closely with schools and has weekly reading hours for toddlers, K-3 and 4-7 age groups, is developing reading clubs for older children and has established a literary club and book club. Spellbound is also offering tutoring and recommending titles to parents who want to improve their children's reading abilities. Sleeper said she hopes to add Spanish-language titles in the near future.

Spellbound is working with other stores in the area to promote downtown, stage events and do other joint ventures.

Spellbound's grand opening featured a ribbon cutting and author signing. The author was Leon Hesser whose latest book is The Man Who Fed the World: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug and His Battle to End World Hunger (Durban House, $24.95, 9781930754904/1930754906). Sleeper reported that Hesser "answered many great questions and signed books. His insights, stories and comment were a great asset to our opening and first author signing."

Spellbound Books & Gifts is Sleeper's first foray into bookselling. She has a degree in veterinary technology, is a substitute teacher, and has a variety of retail experiences both in the bricks-and-mortar world and online. Before opening the store, she researched bookselling for eight months and attended the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance show last September. She's also at the ABA's Winter Institute (as we speak) and plans to send some of her staff to SIBA's Spring Show in Atlanta.

Spellbound Books & Gifts is located at 107 N. Krome Ave., Homestead, Fla. 33030; 305-247-5097. The store's Web site, which is not fully operating yet, is www.anthology.com/spellbound.

The beginning of the third season of the series Lost finds its way to TV screens Wednesday, February 7. Already Finding Lost: The Unofficial Guide (ECW Press, $17.95, 9781550227437/1550227432), distributed by IPG, is finding renewed interest from the many Lost fans, and, according to the publisher, regularly ranks higher than the official guide on Amazon.com. Published last September, the book contains all episodes from the second season.

Author Nikki Stafford has appeared regularly in other media to provide analysis of Lost episodes--which, as Lost devotees know, cannot be overanalyzed. She's the author of five other TV-related books, including an unofficial guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

Today on KCRW's Bookworm: Dave Eggers, author of What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng (McSweeney's, $26, 9781932416640/1932416641). As the show describes it: "Autobiography, epic, documentary, novel--Dave Eggers explores the many facets of his protean new work."

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Today the Rachael Ray Show scores an appearance with Jerry Rice, author of Go Long!: My Journey Beyond the Game and the Fame (Ballantine, $24.95, 9780345496119/0345496116).

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Today on the Martha Stewart Show: designer Todd Oldham, author of Handmade Modern: Mid-Century Inspired Projects for Your Home (HC, $19.95, 9780060591250/0060591250.

Also on the Martha Stewart Show: actress Lorraine Bracco, who penned the memoir On the Couch (Putnam, $25.95, 978-0399153563/039915356X).

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Today on the Charlie Rose Show: Norman Mailer, author of The Castle in the Forest (Random House, $27.95, 9780394536491/0394536495).

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Saturday on All Things Considered: Hisham Matar on his debut novel, The Country of Men (Dial, $22, 9780385340427/0385340427).

At least three books are in the running to tell the sad tale of Barbaro, who seemed like a sure-thing Triple Crown winner last year--until he broke his leg during the Preakness Stakes--and received the sympathy of millions of racing and horse fans during the many months after he was operated on and fought laminitis. On Monday, when he declined further, he was euthanized.

Collins has moved up the pub date of Barbaro: A Nation's Love Story by Pamela Brodowsky and Tom Philbin ($19.95, 9780061284854/0061284858) to February 26 from April. Brodowsky grew up on a horse ranch and has more than 30 years of experience with race horses. (She's also the founder of International Literary Arts). Philbin is a book and magazine author. The book is heavily illustrated.

Other titles include:

• Barbaro: The Horse Who Captured America's Heart by Sean Clancy (Eclipse Press, $26.95, 9781581501599/1581501595), whose pub date is May 1.
• Barbaro: America's Horse by Shelley Mickle (Aladdin, $8.99, 9781416948650/1416948651), which will be released April 10.

The following were the bestselling titles during the week ended Sunday, January 28, at member bookstores of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, as reported to Book Sense:

Hardcover Fiction

1. You Suck by Christopher Moore (Morrow, $21.95, 9780060590291)
2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Knopf, $24, 9780307265432)
3. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin, $23.95, 9781565124998)
4. Returning to Earth by Jim Harrison (Grove, $24, 9780802118387)
5. What Is the What by Dave Eggers (McSweeney's, $26, 9781932416640)
6. Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's, $16.95, 9780312306342)
7. Web of Evil by J.A. Jance (Touchstone, $25.95, 9781416537076)
8. For One More Day by Mitch Albom (Hyperion, $21.95, 9781401303273)
9. The Terror by Dan Simmons (Little, Brown, $25.99, 9780316017442)
10. Thirst by Mary Oliver (Beacon, $22, 9780807068960)
11. Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell (HarperCollins, $25.95, 9780060888626)
12. Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende (HarperCollins, $25.95, 9780061161537)
13. Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, $25.95, 9780307262998)
14. Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra (HarperCollins, $27.95, 9780061130359)
15. The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig (Harcourt, $25, 9780151012374)

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama (Crown, $25, 9780307237699)
2. The Best Life Diet by Bob Greene (S&S, $26, 9781416540663)
3. Palestine by Jimmy Carter (S&S, $27, 9780743285025)
4. About Alice by Calvin Trillin (Random House, $14.95, 9781400066155)
5. You: On a Diet by Michael F. Roizen, M.D., and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D. (Free Press, $25, 9780743292542)
6. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Penguin Press, $26.95, 9781594200823)
7. Power, Faith, and Fantasy by Michael B. Oren (Norton, $35, 9780393058260)
8. The Secret edited by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words, $23.95, 9781582701707)
9. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron (Knopf, $19.95, 9780307264558)
10. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (Houghton Mifflin, $27, 9780618680009)
11. Cesar's Way by Cesar Millan and Melissa Jo Peltier (Harmony, $24.95, 9780307337337)
12. Marley & Me by John Grogan (Morrow, $21.95, 9780060817084)
13. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson (Crown, $25.95, 9781400080663)
14. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Morrow, $27.95, 9780061234002)
15. Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Knopf, $25.95, 9781400044870)

Trade Paperback Fiction

1. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin, $14, 9780143037149)
2. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (Grove, $14, 9780802142818)
3. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Random House, $13.95, 9780812968064)
4. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $14, 9781594480003)
5. The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch (Bloomsbury, $13.95, 9781582346298)
6. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (Back Bay, $13.99, 9780316010702)
7. The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier (Vintage, $13.95, 9781400095957)
8. Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos (Grove, $13, 9780802142108)
9. Arthur & George by Julian Barnes (Vintage, $14.95, 9781400097036)
10. Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Vintage, $14.95, 9780375706868)
11. Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris (Harper Perennial, $14.95, 9780060559151)
12. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (Norton, $13.95, 9780393328622)
13. Midnight at the Dragon Cafe by Judy Fong Bates (Counterpoint, $14.95, 9781582431895)
14. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco, $13.95, 9780061122415)
15. A Sudden Country by Karen Fisher (Random House, $13.95, 9780812973433)

Trade Paperback Nonfiction

1. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan (Mariner, $14.95, 9780618773473)
2. Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama (Three Rivers, $14.95, 9781400082773)
3. The Places in Between by Rory Stewart (Harvest, $14, 9780156031561)
4. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder (Random House, $14.95, 9780812973013)
5. The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier (HarperSanFrancisco, $14.95, 9780061357909)
6. The River of Doubt by Candice Millard (Broadway, $14.95, 9780767913737)
7. 1491 by Charles C. Mann (Vintage, $14.95, 9781400032051)
8. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin, $15, 9780143038412)
9. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin, $15, 9780143038252)
10. Vanishing Seattle by Clark Humphrey (Arcadia, $19.99, 9780738548692)
11. The Old Farmer's Almanac (Old Farmer's Almanac, $6.95, 9781571983909)
12. Collapse by Jared Diamond (Penguin, $17, 9780143036555)
13. The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer (Hyperion, $14.95, 9780786888764)
14. What to Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi E. Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg and Sandee Hathaway (Workman, $13.95, 9780761121329)
15. The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner (Amistad, $14.95, 9780060744878)

Mass Market

1. S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton (Berkley, $7.99, 9780425212691)
2. The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, Fourth Edition (Merriam-Webster, $7.50, 9780877799290)
3. The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell by Lilian Jackson Braun (Jove, $7.99, 9780515142419)
4. The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury (Signet, $9.99, 9780451219954)
5. The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais (Pocket, $7.99, 9781416514961)
6. New Comprehensive A-Z Crossword Dictionary edited by Edy Garcia Schaffer (Avon, $7.50, 9780380724253)
7. A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson (Berkley, $7.99, 9780425184233)
8. The South Beach Diet by Arthur Agatston, M.D. (St. Martin's, $7.99, 9780312991197)
9. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan (Tor, $7.99, 9780812577563)
10. False Impression by Jeffrey Archer (St. Martin's, $9.99, 9780312939779)

Children's Titles

1. Forever in Blue (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, #4) by Ann Brashares (Delacorte, $18.99, 9780385729369)
2. Flotsam by David Wiesner (Clarion, $17, 9780618194575)
3. Eragon by Christopher Paolini (Laurel-Leaf, $6.99, 9780440238485)
4. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, $7.99, 9780694003617)
5. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (HarperEntertainment, $6.99, 9780061227288)
6. Sunset (Warriors, The New Prophecy Series #6) by Erin W. Hunter (HarperCollins, $16.99, 9780060827694)
7. Into the Wild (Warriors #1) by Erin W. Hunter (Avon, $6.99, 9780060525507)
8. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (Megan Tingley, $8.99, 9780316015844)
9. Skippyjon Jones by Judith Schachner (Puffin, $5.99, 9780142404034)
10. Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (Delacorte, $15.95, 9780385733137)
11. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (HarperCollins, $16.95, 9780060254926)
12. Pirateology by Captain William Lubber (Candlewick, $19.99, 9780763631437)
13. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (Megan Tingley, $17.99, 9780316160193)
14. Eldest by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $21, 9780375826702)
15. Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt (Golden, $9.99, 9780307120007)

[Many thanks to PNBA and Book Sense!]