Happy birthday we say
To the cat we adore,
And his creator, too,
Who gave us him and more.

Pushing right to the edge,
Always funny and wild,
This cat still makes us smile
And feel new, like a child.

Here's to you, boomer dude.
This is going to be hard.
It's to AARP.
It's a membership card.

It's no longer a secret: spurred by the enthusiasm of New Age bookstores, the popularity of the DVD version of the movie it's based on, mainstream publicity and two Oprah spots last month--and perhaps many positive thoughts--The Secret by Rhonda Byrne has been selling so well since its November publication that Simon & Schuster is now ordering a two million copy printing, the publisher's single largest printing ever. After the printing is finished, sometime in the next few weeks, The Secret will have 3.75 million copies in print.

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In a long piece, the Politico explores the importance of Politics & Prose, Washington, D.C., for authors of political books--and the "politics" of getting an appearance there. "Access to politically astute customers and the C-SPAN camera have made Politics and Prose a must-have reading venue for authors," Politico said, "and that creates serious political jockeying for the prime-time gigs. Like everything else in Washington, authors' personal politics, and the people they know, can make the difference in whether they get a billing." 

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Bookselling This Week has stories about three bookstores: BookTowne, which a retired school principal is opening in Manasquan, N.J., in May; 2nd Edition in Dubuque, Iowa, which is being founded by Sue Davis, one of the partners of River Lights Bookstore, which is closing; and our hometown favorite, Watchung Booksellers, Montclair, N.J., owned by Margot Sage-EL since 1996, a delightful store that has "created a venue for local authors of both great and lesser fame."

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The Duxbury Clipper gives a long history of Westwinds Bookshop, Duxbury, Mass., talking with three of the store's owners during the period, one of whom is Bob Hale, former president of the ABA. Another bookseller alumnus is NEIBA president Allan Schmid of Books Etc. in Maine, who worked at Westwinds early in his career.

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BookSense.com is linking to the programs announced during the past week by HarperCollins and Random House to allow consumers to read some material from thousands of their books. Users will be able to access the books through the "Browse Sample Pages" line on BookSense.com Web sites.

In a statement, Len Vlahos, ABA's director of BookSense.com, commented: "We're very pleased that our partners at both HarperCollins and Random House reached out to the independent bookstores to be early adopters of the technology."

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Ingram Publisher Services has added several more publishers to its stable:

• Cleveland Clinic Press, whose educational mission is to increase health literacy and dispel myths and misinformation about medicine, health care and treatment.
• ESRI Press, which produces books on geographic information systems.
• Laughing Elephant, among the premier publishers of books and gift products featuring vintage imagery.
• Cameron & Company, publisher of the Above series, featuring aerial photography of the icons of Western civilization.
• No Nonsense Fly Fishing Guidebooks, guides to fly fishing in particular areas.

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National Book Network has signed Continental Sales as its most recent fulfillment-only client. The change is effective July 1, when Continental moves its warehouse operation from Perseus.

With headquarters in Barrington, Ill., Continental sells to traditional national retailers, mass merchandisers, discount clubs, regional chains, general bookstores and school and library wholesalers.
 

Late Wednesday night Perseus Books Group closed the deal to take on some 124 PGW publishers and is already shipping books and cutting checks to PGW publishers. As if all this activity wasn't enough, David Steinberger, president and CEO of Perseus, noted in a letter to Perseus employees that yesterday was also the day that Consortium publishers' books began shipping from the Perseus warehouse in Jackson, Tenn., and that the deal to buy Avalon Publishing Group closed.

In the letter, he said, "I see [these changes] as furthering our unique mission, which is to enable independent publishers to succeed, whether those publishers are owned by the Perseus Books Group or whether they are joint venture partners or clients who we serve.

"In the coming weeks and months, I am asking that you continue to do your best, as you have in the past, while I have a chance to work through how best to bring together these different organizations and publishing programs as part of the Perseus Books Group. My goal is to be able to lay out a more concrete plan for our entire organization within 60 days."

A French movie based on Harlan Coben's 2001 novel, Tell No One (Dell, $7.99, 9780440236702/0440236703), is opening in at least one theater in New York City today and is expected to open on more screens in the near future. Ne Le Dis à Personne in the original (pardonnez-nous), the film is directed by Guillaume Canet and stars Francois Cluzet and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Ne Le Dis à Personne won the Lumière for best picture and was nominated for nine Cesars, winning four of them--for best director, best actor, best music and best editing.

A New York Sun review said that the movie "meticulously and expertly unravels its murder conspiracy with a wit and rigor that seems extinct in modern mystery movies. The film lovingly embraces genre conventions even as it subverts them. A mid-film foot chase featuring a wrongly accused killer and police delivers one of the best-executed small-scale action sequences you'll ever see while slyly commenting on the downward social trajectory of middle-class people who've run afoul of the law."

Incidentally Coben's new book, The Woods (Dutton, $26.95, 9780525950127/0525950125), comes out April 17.

The finalists for the 2007 Kiriyama Prize, which "recognize outstanding books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia that encourage greater mutual understanding of and among the peoples and nations of this vast and culturally diverse region," are:

Nonfiction

• The Haiku Apprentice by Abigail Friedman (Stone Bridge Press)
• Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir by Ernestine Hayes (University of Arizona Press)
• Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Viking)
• Tigers in Red Weather: A Quest for the Last Wild Tigers by Ruth Padel (Walker & Company)
• Chinese Lessons: An American, His Classmates, and the Story of the New China by John Pomfret (Holt)

Fiction

• The Inheritance of Loss by Kirin Desai (Grove Atlantic)
• Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin (Knopf)
• Stick Out Your Tongue by Ma Jian, translated by Flora Drew (FSG)
• Certainty by Madeleine Thien (Little, Brown)
• Behold the Many by Lois-Ann Yamanaka (FSG/Picador)

Looking back on his wedding day in 1995, David Valdes Greenwood doesn't think about the controversy over gay marriage or the supposed decline of society because of same or even all the wedding swag; instead, he thinks "about how this blessed event reduced very old, very cranky people to tears." In particular, Jason's grandfather, a cowboy-hatted man of decidedly vintage cultural opinions, warned them that he wouldn't take his hat off in church. After the ceremony, he stood with hat in hand and tears in his eyes, explaining that a cowboy can take his hat off for "only the most special occasions." David's family didn't attend, since they are of the "hate the sin but love the sinner" persuasion, but Jason's family was there, and "with so much love around me, it's no wonder I felt so relaxed. Or perhaps it was the second mimosa." This story sets the tone for Homo Domesticus--sweet and funny, with a touch of sorrow, yet filled with hope and love.

It's a fine book about marriage or any committed relationship, with familiar scenes and hard-won wisdom. After the wedding, when the initial glow in the relationship begins to fade, David and Jason moved into the Serious Miscalculations About Temperaments stage. David's idea to book a room at a quaint Victorian inn to cap a Valentine's Day dinner did not result in amorous success. He says it was one of his first introductions to a truth about relationships: "two hearts beating as one" is gooey crap. "Two hearts beat quite independently, thank you . . . In the first years, then, life as a couple is all about discovering just how many things you can approach differently without actually killing each other." Or take grocery shopping: "I'd prefer to limit each sortie to ten or fifteen minutes. My husband, on the other hand, comes from the Market-as-Museum school of thought, in which a person must not risk missing any of the collected treasures," dreamily strolling through the entire store. Or opposing romantic notions: "My longing for a Grand Display often left him paralyzed between a desire not to disappoint me and a reluctance to perform on command like a trained seal of love."

As they approached their five-year anniversary, David was most proud of their harmonious relationship--no fights, no petty emotional sabotage. But they did miff, "a dual action verb in which we simultaneously piss each other off, [followed] by mutual eye-rolling, perhaps a groan . . . short, stupid and easily forgotten." But their miffing masked deeper issues. "If [it was] going to happen somewhere, it was most likely to be in the kitchen, and often the subject was utensils. Before my husband, I'd had no idea that abiding moral outrage can be stirred up, if you will, by one's choice of spoon." Since they entertain a lot, every dinner party caused them to miff like mad, Jason hogging the good cutting board, David arranging the flowers in the sink just when Jason needed to drain the pasta. But once the doorbell rang, it was all smiles and serene couple, hiding the fact that the "we-only-miff" couple had gotten stuck in the realm of compromise. David was the peacekeeper and didn't examine the difference between compromise and capitulation. Neither he nor Jason knew how to hold their ground and deal directly with the conflicts that would arise. They glossed over the tensions with appeasement and congratulated themselves on being mature. But after being married seven years, cracks appeared in the perfect relationship because they "hadn't developed any skills for handling the parts of our interior lives that didn't nicely align."

They broke up, figured a few things out, and reconciled, "a schmaltzball and a pragmatist who had fallen apart, picked up the pieces, and lived to tell the tale." Then, in 2004, they started thinking about parenting, as they had when, and began the adoption process, another roller coaster ride for the couple, ending with baby Lily, when the ride began anew. "Everyone who described the instantaneous love we'd feel for Lily was correct. [But no one mentioned] the most disturbing facet of the experience: wanting, desperately, to give the baby back." After the first manic, deer-in-the-headlights weeks--"Not actually having abandoned my husband and child to join a circus or a cult, I realized I might be able to cope after all."--they settle into fatherhood.

David Valdes Greenwood says, "The sight of two people in love isn't always received simply or with grace." One hopes that the wit, wisdom and tenderness found in his book might change some of those perceptions.--Marilyn Dahl
 

Today Red Fox Books and the Hyde Collection will co-sponsor The Cat in the Hat's 50th birthday party. Why is this news? Because it reminds us that the book business is as much about pleasure and beginnings as it is about the daily grind of independent retailing.

Compared to the mischievous old rhyming feline, Red Fox Books is a newborn. Susan Fox and Naftali Rottenstreich opened their shop last October in Glens Falls, N.Y. According to the ABA, it is one of nearly 100 independent bookstores that made its debut in 2006.

This begs an inescapable question from anyone who has seen so many good indies fade to black (or red to be more precise) in recent years: Why would anyone open a bookstore in these perilous times?

The simple answer is that Susan and Naftali were living in New York City, working in academia, had been booksellers when they were younger and wanted to become bookstore owners.

As is often the case, their quest began with what might be called the Bookstore Cat effect: "We were looking for that little used bookstore with the cat, etc.," Susan admits, citing an idyllic fantasy we've all nurtured.  

Fortunately their romantic vision of bookstore life was backed by solid investigation before they chose downtown Glens Falls, a city of 14,000 with a commitment to revitalization and a clear need. "When we started doing our research, we found that people really wanted a bookstore here," Susan says. "We weren't sure what to expect in a city that hasn't had a bookstore in 40 years, but our customers read a little bit of everything. I think it's the rugged individualism of Adirondack life that creates this sort of independence of mind and spirit."

The day-to-day reality is a juggling act, though one Susan considers invigorating: "I find I get bored easily at work, which is why I like owning a bookstore. There's never a dull moment, and I have to be events planner, marketing expert, ad designer, human resources director, bookkeeper, customer service rep, cashier, all at once. Oh, and bookseller, which is the best part."

Dr. Seuss certainly understood multitasking.   

"Have no fear!" said the cat
"I will not let you fall.
I will hold you up high
As I stand on the ball.
With a book on one hand!
And a cup on my hat.
But that is not ALL I can do!"
Said the cat . . .

Since this is a bookstore Web siteseeing tour, I asked Susan about the store's Web site and how, as a newcomer, she perceived the online book world. Using Booksense.com ("That was just one step we wouldn't have to do ourselves."), they recently added a MySpace page. "You know what's amazing. It really works. Luckily, one of our employees, Brigit Culligan, is enthusiastic about the Web and handles the updates."

Susan believes that the store's immediate goal online is to attract local attention. The Adirondack region offers ample opportunity to develop a larger customer base. E-mail marketing has already played a key role ("The best thing we've been doing from day one is e-mail, using Constant Contact.") and the bookstore is actively involved with North Country Public Radio's Readers and Writers on the Air.

What is on Susan's wish list for future online marketing? "I think I would like a more interactive Web site that would allow customers to access their store accounts to see a list of their previous purchases, the placement and status of special orders, their frequent buyer balances and even to engage in book discussion forums. It would save our staff time in making phone calls and following up with special orders and would encourage customers to return to the Web site frequently. I would also like to have our inventory online (and, ideally, in real time) so that they could search our database. I would also like to start putting our shelf talkers online because they work so well in the store."

The current priority for Red Fox Books, however, is to pay tribute this weekend to The Cat in the Hat, who even in middle age continues to make significant contributions to the hearts, minds and bottom lines of bookstores everywhere.

According to Naftali, "Running an independent bookstore is analogous to The Cat in the Hat in at least one critical sense. While we may all have the desire to dispel a day's boredom through some reckless fun, we must always bear in mind that mother will be home soon."--Robert Gray (column archives available at Fresh Eyes Now)