"The average buyer is a 30- to 60-year-old female. They're more into these ideas, into improving themselves and into the spirit and the soul."--Scott Sutphen, owner of the Malibu Shaman, the Malibu, Calif., metaphysical bookstore, quoted in a profile in the Pepperdine University Graphic.

Congratulations to Carole Horne, who has been promoted to the new position of general manager at the Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass., where she will be in charge of all parts of the company, including buying and merchandising, operations, finance and marketing.

In an announcement, owner Frank Kramer said, "I am not planning to disappear, but, while I am in excellent health, after 45 years in this job I think it's time to pull back a little. For the time being, we each will keep our current offices. I will be working on outside marketing, furthering our community connections and positioning the company for the future."

During the new few weeks, Horne will work on making a transition from the buying department and during the summer will train with Kramer. She'll take over fully as general manager on September 1.

Discovery Communications is closing its 103 Discovery Channel stores, some of which are in malls and some free-standing, according to various news reports. The company is firing more than 1,000 employees, about 25% of its workforce, and will focus on selling books, toys, games and DVDs online as well as on its TV and cable programs and on licensing. Discovery Communications recently fired about 200 corporate employees. Some analysts speculated that the company is preparing to go public.

The Discovery Channel stores include Nature Company outlets that were converted to Discovery stores after Discovery bought Nature Company. Like many nontraditional book retailers, Discovery carried only a few hundred book titles but often sold many copies of them.

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The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association is holding its third annual summer trunk show in upstate New York. The event will take place Wednesday, June 20, at the Holiday Inn Carrier Center in Syracuse, starting with breakfast at 8:30 and lasting the day. Some 22 publishers are expected. To RSVP (and reserve sessions and receive ARCs), contact NAIBA's Eileen Dengler at info@naiba.com or 516-333-0681. Much of the organizing is being done by Rob Stahl, general book manager at the Colgate Bookstore.

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"I've never been daunted by a bookstore before," wrote Samanth Subramanian in the Hindu of her recent encounter with the legendary Strand bookstore in New York. "But every towering shelf on every floor involves identical processes of contemplation--of squatting uncomfortably to examine the lowest row, of straightening slowly, of craning the neck for the row just out of eyeshot, of dragging over stepladders to reach up to the highest level, of scratching the head in sheer astonishment at the number of writers you've never heard of, and of morosely re-surveying the contents of your wallet, before moving onto the next shelf."

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Scoop and counter-scoop: In Thursday's edition of Shelf Awareness, we highlighted an LA Weekly article that focused on local indie booksellers and the "bookish set." Friday's LAist featured its "Summer Guide to Bookish LA," along with the story of "behind-the-scenes" editorial planning for the piece. They conceded that "LA Weekly scooped us. Big time. They also used the word "bookish" which is, kind of, our word. Whatever."

The good news for indie bookstores is that those mentioned in the LA Weekly piece received a second nod in LAist, which then expanded the guide to include Acres of Books, Book Alley, Hennessey + Ingalls, Samuel French, Earth 2, Portrait of a Bookstore, Traveler's Bookcase, Every Picture Tells a Story and Bodhi Tree Bookstore.

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"There's an old joke about how to be a millionaire book seller," John Henricks, owner of Recollected Books in Jacksonville, Ala., told the Montgomery Advertiser. "Start with two million." The Advertiser profiled the used book dealer and his strategy for dealing with potential summer doldrums "when students are gone and professors wander away."

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What's better than having a handful of editors throw stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks? At least one publisher wants to open the process to the public, according to today's New York Times. Touchstone is teaming up with Media Predict, a kind of online trading market that will post book ideas that participants with "fantasy cash" will bet on for their potential success. Touchstone will select some 50 semi-finalists and by September five finalists, which it may or may not publish.

It's the second recent effort by Touchstone "to gauge popular tastes," as the Times put it. The S&S imprint and Gather.com are running "an American Idol-style contest" in which participants pick a manuscript for Touchstone to publish.

Call us crazy but we'd bet our fantasy cash on the concept that a lot of good ideas and judges can be found in bookstores and libraries around the country, where the industry has its greatest contact with readers.
 

BookExpo America is in New York City! From now until BEA Frommer's and Shelf Awareness are offering tips on how to make the most of the long weekend in the Big Apple. Today Pauline Frommer, creator of Pauline Frommer's Travel Guides, describes some of New York's sometimes overlooked museums.  

Though it's not a large museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem is one of the most respected in Gotham, known for presenting challenging, intricate shows of African-American and Caribbean-American art. In addition to two floors of galleries that host changing exhibitions, there's a space right off the lobby for the semi-permanent "Postcards from Harlem" wall, on which famous artists share their own memories of the neighborhood through text, photography, paintings and drawings. (144 W. 125th St., between Lenox Ave. and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd.; 212-864-4500; suggested donation $7 adults, $3 students and seniors; open Wed.-Fri. and Sun., Noon-6 p.m., Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m.)

The Skyscraper Museum is more interesting than you'd expect. An architecturally innovative space in and of itself (notice how the shiny metals, ascending ramp and mirrored surfaces gives the smallish room its own skyscraper aspect), the museum explores not only the structural feats behind these soaring structures, but also the economic forces that shaped them and the sociological impact skyscrapers have, through a series of changing exhibits. It's a well-curated gallery that even non-architecture buffs should enjoy. (39 Battery Place; 212-945-6324; $5 adults, $2.50 seniors and students; open Wed.-Sun., Noon–6 p.m.)

Travelers who need a break from the bustle and stresses of New York can escape to the Rubin Museum, a serene, contemplative museum of art from the Himalayas. Many pieces tell the stories of the various Buddhas, portraying meditating men with halos, snarling demons, teachers and commoners in the deepest blues, ruby reds, emerald greens and dazzling golds. For sheer beauty, the 1,500 works housed in this museum are hard to top. (150 W. 17th St., between Sixth and Seventh Aves.; 212-620-5000; $7 adults, $5 students and seniors; open Tues. and Sat., 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Wed., 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Thurs.-Fri., 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun., 11 a.m.-6 p.m.)

A personal favorite is the Louis Armstrong House and Museum, a visitor experience as gracious, warm and intriguing as the man himself, thanks to the marvelous guides (all ex-musicians and jazz historians) who lead visitors through the home. The highlight: recordings of everyday life that Armstrong made on his tape-recorder; your guide will play them as you wander through, allowing you to hear the family and visiting musicians talking, laughing and jamming together. (34-56 107th St. in Corona, Queens; 718-478-8274; $8 adults; $6 seniors, students and children; open Tues.–Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sat.-Sun., Noon-4 p.m.)

For more travel tips, check out your official BEA travel guide, Pauline Frommer's New York City (Wiley). Listen to Pauline and other Frommer's writers share their travel stories and tips online. 

The great bagel discussion continues. Several agitated readers pointed out that Ess-a-Bagel, which we mentioned on Friday, is located on First Avenue between 53rd and 54th Streets, not Third Avenue!

Elinor Lipman showed how important the place is: she included Ess-a-Bagel (Yiddish for Eat-a-Bagel) in her 1995 novel, Isabel's Bed. She added that "an ex-New Yorker friend of mine kept a freezer full of sesame and onion in his Massachusetts home, which was all the market research I needed."

Nancy Pines, a loyal Brooklynite, wondered how we could forget our former bagelry, which was written up in the New York Times this way several years ago: "Terrace Bagels, which sits regally near a corner of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, across from the storied Farrell's bar, is a wonderful example of New York food purveyors at their maddening best: it is lamb dressed as mutton. The bagel bins are small. There is no evidence anywhere that bagels have been boiled, much less baked. Most of the other food on display is Italian, rather than Jewish. But the bagels that miraculously materialize from Louis Thompson's hidden ovens are extremely flavorful; yeasty, with just a hint of sourness. Mr. Thompson's principal bagel roller is Vicharn Tangchitsumran (also known as Boone), who has been hand rolling bagels for more than 30 years. As the Michelin guides put it, he is worth a detour." Terrace Bagels is at 224 Prospect Park West at Windsor Place; 718-768-3943.

Steven Sussman of Learning Express, philosophized: "Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and even possibly Staten Island and all the sub-neighborhoods within these boroughs have their favorite great bagel joints. Fat bagels, skinny bagels, big hole, small hole . . . they're all different and all good . . . and they're bagels, simple bagels. (My grandpa would think an asiago bagel came from Mars. And cinnamon raisin bagels--they're donuts!)
 
"The real NYC bagel is hard and crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside (the part those people scoop out). This texture and consistency makes the perfect place to add a shmear and the real deal bagels are rarely flavored beyond onion, garlic, sesame, salt and poppy."

Today on Good Morning America, Al Gore launches The Assault on Reason (Penguin Press, $25.95, 9781594201226/1594201226).

Also on Good Morning America: historian Douglas Brinkley, editor of The Reagan Diaries by Ronald Reagan (HarperCollins, $35, 9780060876005/006087600X).

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Today the Martha Stewart Show serves up Bill Telepan, author of Inspired by Ingredients: Market Menus and Family Favorites from a Three-Star Chef (S&S, $35, 9780743243872/0743243870).

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Today on Oprah: Dr. Mehmet C. Oz of the You series.

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Today on Fox's O'Reilly Factor: Robert Massi, author of People Get Screwed All the Time: Protecting Yourself From Scams, Fraud, Identity Theft, Fine Print, and More (Collins, $22.95, 9780061145872/0061145874).

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Today on Talk of the Nation, Nassim Nicholas Taleb makes an impact with The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (Random House, $26.95, 9781400063512/1400063515).

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Tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman: presidential hopeful and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, author of Leadership (Miramax Books, $15.95, 9781401359287/1401359280).

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Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Zaki Chehab, a journalist and author of Inside Hamas: The Untold Story of the Militant Islamic Movement (Norton, $25.95, 9781560259688/156025968X).

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Tonight on the Colbert Report: Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies: The New Edition (Norton, $24.95, 9780393061314/0393061310).

 

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

Hardcover

Bluebird, or The Invention of Happiness by Sheila Kohler (Other Press, $24.95, 9781590512623/1590512626). "This is a touching and inspirational novel based on the true story of a French noblewoman who saved her family from the terror following the French Revolution. Flowing fluently from Versailles to a farm in the Hudson River Valley, the heroine never loses her charm or her love of life."--Amanda Thoms, Reading & Rhythm, Bad Axe, Mich.

Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919 by Ann Hagedorn (S&S, $30, 9780743243711/0743243714). "Broadly researched and beautifully written, Savage Peace reminds us of a time in history that is hauntingly reminiscent of our world today."--Sarah Weisner, The Written Word, Ripley, Ohio

Paperback

One Big Damn Puzzler by John Harding (Harper Perennial, $14.95, 9780061132186/0061132187). "Take one copy of The Complete Shakespeare, add one wise and comical patois-speaking sorcerer, a misguided American lawyer with OCD, and a hallucinogenic drug that allows islanders to communicate with departed loved ones. You'll have the beginnings of One Big Damn Puzzler, a story of colliding cultures that manages to poke fun while exposing serious truths about our modern culture."--Sandy Scott, The Galaxy Bookshop, Hardwick, Vt.

For Teen Readers

True Talents by David Lubar (Starscape, $17.95, 978076530977/0765309777). "Quite simply, I loved David Lubar's latest about Eddie 'Trash' Thalmeyer and his friends from Edgeview Alternative School, who all have special 'hidden' talents. Part thriller, part fantasy, the story is fresh and smart, and it does a remarkable job of capturing the many facets of teenage life, while constantly raising the stakes to keep readers on edge."--Sarah Todd, Children's Book World, Haverford, Pa.

[Many thanks to Book Sense and the ABA!]

Howie Traveler is a fifty-something minor league coach who once had a shot at being a player but wasn't quite good enough. He has spent his career managing in the minors and coaching in the majors. Finally given a shot as a big league manager with the Cleveland Indians, he has a few big league problems. First, he has to figure out how to manage his slugger Jay Alcazar, perhaps the best player in baseball. Off the field, he's also a star--a handsome, charismatic man who cuts a swath with ease and has an ego to match his prowess. Howie also thinks he's about to lose his job midway through his second season with the team. Given his background, this would mean the end of his life in baseball, the only life he's ever known. Although Howie still felt the pain of what might have been, "nothing satisfied him so much as to watch the players who did possess the talent he had almost had . . . he loved watching [the game] being played well."

The night he realizes he's getting the axe, as he's walking down the hallway to his hotel room, he sees Alcazar's door open with a bang, a woman run out, and Alcazar grab her, haul her back in and kick the door shut. Howie is stunned, but listens only for a minute, doesn't hear any noise and goes to his room. He rationalizes his behavior, but realizes that he failed: "when he was tested by a moment . . . he had found out who he was."  The next day, the woman files charges. Alcazar says it was a set-up, and Howie denies to the cops that he saw anything.  He doesn't know why he lied--to protect Jay Alcazar? To protect the team? Or because Jay Alcazar had momentarily saved Howie's job by getting himself arrested?

The novel cuts between the present and the past, between Howie's life and Jay's. The minor characters are a treat, like Ty Baggio, the number one pitcher, a southpaw, who labels baseball situations using TV weather report terminology: hot streaks are "heat waves," a bad inning is "a cold front blowing through," the gloomy relief pitcher is "lingering showers," the optimistic first-baseman Wyn'amo Willis is "sunshine, punctuated by rainbows." Harold Moncrief, the Indians exec, is a statistics freak (and therefore "Record Temperature" in Baggio-speak), whose favorite word is "fungible." And Mickey Huey, an old columnist for the Plain Dealer, is someone you'd want to have a drink with.

Frank Deford fills his book with baseball lore, baseball history and baseball knowledge, some of it pleasingly eccentric (as it should be). And Deford, as any sports reader or NPR listener knows, is quite funny: "Christian ballplayers were always so cocksure, which made Howie envious of them. If you were that damn certain of Jesus, you could also be pretty damn confident looking at an oh-two pitch." He is less sure-handed at writing about women--the alleged rape victim is a bank manager, but when she says "cripes" and "I'm not blowin' you any smoke," it brings to mind a tough little secretary from a Spillane novel. Criminy. The denouement is also a bit awkward, but the ending is almost beside the point. The game is central, and Howie is a beautifully realized character, lovingly and honestly drawn. Like a baseball game, The Entitled is well-paced and thoughtful, with just enough action and adrenaline. This story of old school meeting the modern game is, as Howie might say, an altogether good read.--Marilyn Dahl