We write from Frankfurt of all places that Holtzbrinck Publishers is changing its name to Macmillan. The move affects the corporate parts of the company's English-language publishing operations. The German company that owns Macmillan Publishing remains Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck. The change is effective today.

In the U.S., the change affects the executive offices, trade publishing sales, operations, IT, legal, finance, human resources and other centralized functions of what was called Holtzbrinck Publishers. The distribution center in Gordonsville, Va., is now Macmillan Publishing Services. The only imprint to change its name is Audio Renaissance, the audiobook imprint, which is now Macmillan Audio. Otherwise, all divisions, imprints and publishers, including Henry Holt, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, St. Martin's, Tor, Picador, Scientific American and W.H. Freeman, retain their names.

Also as a result of the change, all e-mail addresses for the company that have Holtzbrinck in them are changing their suffixes to @macmillan.com (thus Georg.Holtzbrinck@hbpub.com would become Georg.Holtzbrinck@macmillan.com). The company's new website, including bookseller services, is www.macmillan.com. E-mails for Macmillan Publishing Services should go to @mpsvirginia.com (for example, GHoltzbrinck@mpsvirginia.com).

The company noted that the name Macmillan, which has a long history, is already used in more than 70 countries for Holtzbrinck's English-language publishing operations and thus creates "a unified worldwide presence" for the publisher. The company recently reacquired the Macmillan name. McGraw-Hill sells and will continue to sell some titles under the Macmillan name for the K-12 school market, and several books using Macmillan name in their titles are sold by other publishers.

Oprah has picked Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (she prefers his nickname, Gabo) as her next book club pick. On the show's website, she says, "This is one of the greatest love stories I have ever read. It's a captivating story about a passionate but troubled love affair that takes place over the course of 50 years. . . . It is so beautifully written that it really takes you to another place in time and will make you ask yourself--how long could you, or would you, wait for love?"

By contrast, the timing of the pick is exquisite: in a marketing coup for publisher and film studio, Love in the Time of Cholera, the movie starring Liev Schreiber and John Leguizamo and directed by Mike Newell, opens in theaters November 16. The movie tie-in edition (Vintage, $14.95, 9780307387141/0307387143) was just released. The Oprah edition is also out (Vintage, $14.95, 9780307389732/0307389731).

The book club has already read Gabo's One Hundred Years of Solitude. 

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Eso Won Books, the Los Angeles, Calif., bookstore that just last week indicated it might close next year because of poor sales, got a big boost over the weekend from the 19,000-member First African Methodist Episcopal Church, according to the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets.

On Sunday, pastor John J. Hunter urged parishioners to buy books at the store. "It is essential that we support businesses that educate, enlighten and help perpetuate our culture," he said.

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The Bridge Street Book Shop, Charlevoix, Mich., is closing this month. Jim Berlage, who has owned the 14-year-old store since 2002, attributed the decision to "the downturn of the Michigan economy, several years of losses, a 60% drop in sales this year and the opening of the new Charlevoix Public Library, which is experiencing great success in its new showcase facility."

He added, "I want to thank my loyal customers who have supported me through the years. I will miss them and the many conversations and relationships built, as well as selling books."

Inventory is discounted to sell, and store fixtures are for sale.

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"Personalized service, the thrill of the hunt and a willingness to embrace, not fear, technology" were cited by the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle as reasons for the continued health of Cheyenne-area second-hand stores like Phoenix Books and Music, the Book Rack and Constant Reader Books.

"Half the fun is having people walk in looking for stuff, having what someone's been looking for 10 years to get," said Phoenix Books owner Don McKee. "I'm optimistic for this location, the business, downtown. Books aren't going away. Vinyl hasn't gone away for 20 years. Things will change, but in the second-hand business, they change slowly. I don't have to be cutting edge."

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Used bookstore for sale. The Charlotte Observer reported that Fred and Shirley Gachet, owners of Wonderland Books, Hickory, N.C., are looking to sell their business. "We thought it was definitely time for some young blood to take (the business) over," Fred said. "Somebody with new ideas."

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We love a winner.

Congratulations to I Love a Mystery, Mission, Kan., which has been chosen as Best Mysterious Place by Kansas City Pitch Weekly. The weekly said, in part, "Independent bookstores on the Kansas and Missouri sides have been struggling over the past few years, but I Love a Mystery has done so well that it had to expand a year ago. That's not only because of its exhaustive selection of mysteries, thrillers and the like--it's just a fun place. There's something about a blood-spattered sign, randomly laid daggers and a copious number of skeletons that warms your heart the way Halloween did when you were young enough to trick-or-treat. And the Victorian library setting is just where you'd expect to find a corpse with a caved-in skull and a bloody candlestick on the floor. The atmosphere is put to good use during the store's events, which include book clubs, a weekly game of Clue and regular visits by authors."

 

Borders has begun introducing its partly revised website to customers. This "preview platform" includes content from various of its websites and doesn't allow customers to buy books and other products, a function that the new website will have when it is launched early next year. (The company has been outsourcing its e-commerce site to Amazon.com for many years.) Borders is encouraging customers to comment at BordersBeta.Gather.com.

The beta site includes:

• Magic Shelf, a 3-D, browseable shelf of books displayed as it would be in a store. Over time, the titles on the shelf will reflect customers' interests and purchases
• The BordersRewards.com site
• BordersMedia.com, which includes the Borders Book Club; Borders "Live at 01," with events filmed at Borders flagship store in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Borders Kitchen, with interviews and cooking demonstrations; Borders Romance Reading Room; Borders Guest Shortlist, where authors write about their favorite things to read, watch and listen to; Borders at the Movies, where customers preview movie trailers and listen to interview with authors who discuss their books that have been or are being made into movies.

Borders also announced that Baker & Taylor will handle primary fulfillment of books, music and movies for Borders.com.

October's Pennie's Pick is a different kind of selection for Pennie Clark Ianniciello, book buyer at Costco. As usual, she has picked a title, in this case Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale (Washington Square Press, $15, 9780743298032/0743298039), now out in paperback. In the latest issue of Costco Connection, which goes to many members of the warehouse club, rather than ruminate on the book's merits, however, Ianniciello notes that "as an evangelist for reading," she is encouraging book clubs and book-club members to purchase the title by selling The Thirteenth Tale individually and in six-packs. (This might get more men interested in the book . . . ) She also thanks the member "I met at my local Costco for giving me this idea."

 

An exciting collaborative effort by a group of western Massachusetts bookshops, calling themselves BookStores10, will provide a showcase for books and authors during Books Out Loud Weekend, October 11-14. Featured writers include Diane Ackerman, Michael Korda, Julius Lester, Barry Moser, Richard Russo, Valerie Martin, Andrea Barrett and Francisco Goldman.

According to the Springfield Republican, the event is being held in conjunction with "a program called BookMarks: A Celebration of the Art of the Book, sponsored by Museums10, an organization of museums in Amherst, Northampton and South Hadley."

BookStores10 includes Amherst Books, Jeffery Amherst Bookshop, Food For Thought Books, the Eric Carle Museum Store and National Yiddish Book Center Store in Amherst; A Child's Garden, Booklink Booksellers and Broadside Bookshop in Northampton; Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley; and World Eye Bookshop in Greenfield.

This morning on Good Morning America: Lynne Cheney, author of Blue Skies, No Fences: A Memoir of Childhood and Family (Pocket, $26, 9781416532880/1416532889).

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This morning on the Early Show: Jimmy Carter, author most recently of Beyond the White House (S&S, $26, 9781416558804/1416558802). He will also appear tonight on the Diane Rehm Show and Larry King Live.

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This morning on the Today Show:

• Eric Clapton will also discuss his new book, Clapton: The Autobiography (Broadway, $26, 9780385518512/038551851X)
• Alice Waters, author of The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution (Clarkson Potter, $35, 9780307336798/0307336794)
• Frank Warren, author of A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book (Morrow, $27.95, 9780061238604/0061238600)

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Today on NPR's Fresh Air: Peter Sagal, author of Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them) (HarperEntertainment, $24.95, 9780060843823/0060843829).

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Today on NPR's All Things Considered: Walter Mosley, author of Blonde Faith (Little, Brown, $25.99, 9780316734592/0316734594).

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Also on All Things Considered: Stephen Colbert, author of I Am America (And So Can You!) (Grand Central, $26.99, 9780446580502/0446580503). Colbert is also on NPR's Fresh Air and officially will talk about the book on tonight's Colbert Report.

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Today on the Tavis Smiley Show: Christina Lamb, award-winning foreign correspondent and author of House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe (Lawrence Hill Books, $24.95, 9781556527357/1556527357).

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Tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman: Alan Greenspan, author of The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World (Penguin Press, $35, 9781594201318/1594201315).

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Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Tiki Barber, former NFL player, sportscaster and author of Tiki: My Life and the Game Beyond (Simon Spotlight, $25, 9781416938439/1416938435).

 

Prehistory last weekend at Oblong Books & Music, Rhinebeck, N.Y.: (from l. to r.) Jeannette Gurney; Oblong co-owner Suzanna Hermans; James Gurney, author of Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara; and co-owner Dick Hermans.

 

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

Hardcover

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown, $24.99, 9780316677462/0316677469). "All families live with secrets, and mental illness is particularly hard to face--especially if the illness afflicts your mother. Mother-daughter relationships are fraught with peril, and Sebold conveys this in beautiful, clear writing as she describes how Helen is almost discarded, caught between the illness and her parents' attempts to cope. A brilliant novel."--Annie Philbrick, Bank Square Books, Mystic, Conn.

Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe Damrosch (Morrow, $24.95, 9780061228148/0061228141). "If you love food, if you lust after a meal in a four-star restaurant, if you've wondered how the staff flawlessly serves you in fancy restaurants, read this book. Damrosch is funny, intelligent, and a great writer, and she will have you appreciating waiters, fine dining, and the whole aura of the restaurant business."--Gayle Shanks, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, Ariz.

For Ages 9 to 12

The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous by Suzanne Crowley (Greenwillow, $16.99, 9780061231971/0061231975). "Life in tiny Jumbo, Texas, has complicated feuds and friendships spilling through every screen door, keeping Merilee on edge as she tries to protect the strict routines that get her through each day. Filled with rich language and endearing characters, I haven't loved a book this much since Ida B. and Each Little Bird That Sings."--Ellen Davis, Dragonwings Bookstore, Waupaca, Wis.

[Many thanks to Book Sense and the ABA!]

 
Travel writer, nature lover, reporter, political commentator. James Conaway demonstrates all of these talents in abundance in the sobering essays collected in Vanishing America: In Pursuit of Our Elusive Landscapes. With precise and observant writing and an unsparing eye, Conaway, an editor-at-large of Preservation magazine, takes us on a panoramic trip across the U.S., along the way exposing the daily threats facing this country's natural and historic environment. Hardly a polemicist, Conaway nonetheless concludes, "Americans have come to believe that growth and entitlement matter more than health and happiness in a country that, paradoxically, diminishes in prospect and comity even as it grows richer."
 
Conaway begins his journey in a section entitled "Out West," traveling from glorious Big Sur to the energy-rich Wyoming Range, where agents of the Forest Service pore over color chips supplied by the oil companies to ensure their buildings "could be painted the same hue as surrounding terrain," and back to the endangered salmon fisheries of Idaho's Boise River. His grim assessment, supported by carefully marshaled evidence and arguments, is that "the frontier is a stomping ground for lawyers . . . developers and political appointees to federal agencies that are supposed to protect the public lands but instead arrange for their resources to be given away to friends and supporters."
 
The essays that comprise the middle portion of the book, "Back East," are perhaps the most intriguing of the collection. In them, Conaway reveals that the conflict between development and preservation isn't limited to the remote and rugged landscapes of the western U.S. He tells the story of the Dry Tortugas National Park, 70 miles west of Key West and home to Fort Jefferson, the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere, its environment threatened by the more than 80,000 visitors to the park each year. And in his time on Cumberland Island, the southernmost island off the coast of Georgia, he ponders the question: "Which comes first, history or nature," as he vividly describes the pitched battle between two groups that might appear at first glance to be natural allies--the heirs of Andrew Carnegie who want to turn an ancestral home into a cultural center and preservationists who fear the impact of that decision on the island's ecosystem.
 
The final section of Vanishing America contains an assortment of pieces collected under the heading "Ghosts." Here, Conaway ranges from his country home on Virginia's Rappahannock River, in the "soft, vernal riot that is the Virginia piedmont," to Portland, Ore., where he assesses one city's attempt to grapple with complex urban land-use issues.
 
It's difficult to argue with the proposition that the almost seven years of the Bush administration, with its legacy of what Conaway summarizes as "favoritism, exploitation, incompetence, and worse," have been bleak ones for the cause of natural and historic preservation. The bad news is that the tension between preservation and development won't soon abate, regardless of who assumes the presidency in January 2009. In the ongoing struggle, we should be thankful for clear-eyed observers like James Conaway, who won't shrink from reminding us what's at stake in that battle.--Harvey Freedenberg