Hedge fund manager William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management has increased its stake in Borders to 11.7% and Ackman has spoken with Borders representatives about the makeup of the board, according to an AP report (via cnn.com) based in part on SEC filings.

Ackman, who has successfully agitated for changes at McDonald's, Wendy's and Target, is no longer using an SEC form indicating passive investment. He added that his views were solicited by Borders representatives.

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With the opening last week of Literary Life Bookstore & More, Grand Rapids, Mich., the Grand Rapids Press reported that "another page has turned in the life of the old bank branch at Eastern Avenue SE and Wealthy Street. . . . In an industry dominated by big-box national chains along with regional powerhouse Schuler Books & Music, [owner Dr. Roni] Devlin said Literary Life is an effort to get back to what people love about little bookstores."

"I think there is potential to have a small store make a go of it," Devlin added. "if it has a combination of things--location, offering something the neighborhood needs, being business savvy and offering more than just the things you sell."

Literary Life Bookstore & More is located at 758 Wealthy St. SE, Grand Rapids, Mich. 49503; 616-458-8418; literarylifebookstore.com.

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Canadian bibliophiles are crossing the border for cheaper books. The Boston Globe noted that "books offer visitors from the north some of the best deals found in the United States--even at full price--now that Canadian currency has caught up to the U.S. dollar. . . . While American publishers have slowly been reducing prices of books sold in Canada, they aren't leaning toward eliminating the higher list prices because their distribution costs remain higher outside the United States."

Kevin Hanson, president of Simon & Schuster Canada and of the Canadian Publishers Council, told the Globe that consumers are "expecting instant parity on book prices. That's a challenge for us."

Although Canadian bookstores can discount, there is little incentive to do so. As Steve Budnarchuk, co-owner of Audrey's Books, Edmonton, Alberta, and past president of the Canadian Booksellers Association, said, "If we take the markdown, we take a loss on it."

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Congratulations to Michael Cader of Publishers Lunch, who was quoted yesterday in public remarks by the chairman of the Frankfurt Book Fair, Gottfried Honnefelder. As noted in today's Frankfurter Allgemeine, the chairman lauded Cader's observation that in an era of online bookselling and free, easily accessible electronic content, authors, publishers and booksellers need increasingly to create close connections with readers. Not surprisingly, Honnefelder finds the fair, which is open to the public its last two days, an excellent place to forge and discuss such connections.

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"Follett by the numbers" was the headline for a USA Today sidebar accompanying yesterday's coverage of World Without End, the much-anticipated sequel to Pillars of the Earth. Integers of note included 30 (books Ken Follett has written), 90 million (total copies sold), and 18 (years elapsed between Pillars and its follow-up).     

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Holy debut, Batman! Todd McDevitt, owner of five New Dimension Comics stores in the Pittsburgh area, recently purchased a near-mint condition copy of Detective Comics #27, published in 1939 and featuring the debut of Batman. This is the second most valuable comic (behind Action Comics #1, featuring the debut of Superman), according to the Beaver County Times, which reported that an "excellent-quality copy that falls just short of mint is worth about $250,000."

"I've been toying with the idea of reading it, but I haven't yet," McDevitt said. "I'm going to savor it."

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Congratulations to Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse, named by readers of Southern Voice as the best bookstore in Atlanta in the Best of Gay Atlanta issue. The Voice wrote: "With appearances from serious literary talent like Armistead Maupin and Sarah Waters, as well as celebrity authors including Jim McGreevey, John Amaechi and Lance Bass, gay Atlantans count on Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse to give us not only something to read, but something to talk about. Second place went to feminist/lesbian haven Charis Books & More; Brushstrokes was voted third."

Outwrite has also been voted "Best Gay-Themed Store" in Atlanta by Creative Loafing. 

 

The 2007 edition of CIROBE (Chicago International Remainder and Overstock Book Exposition, October 26-29) will open a bit earlier than in past years, according to co-founder Marshall Smith, who was interviewed in Bargain Book News. "We have opened on Friday at noon for a long time, but we are moving that up to 9 a.m. this year," Smith said. "A lot of people feel like the customers are coming early and then leaving before Sunday. We're just trying to make more hours available for the days that people are there."

Smith also addressed the sometimes contentious CIROBE tradition of vendors offering breakout rooms before the show officially begins. "We sponsor breakout rooms, so I would be disingenuous to say that I think breakout rooms are a bad idea," he said, though he did take issue with those vendors who sell books offsite, but don't participate in the show itself.

The dramatic expansion of Internet bookselling has had a big impact on the bargain book industry, Smith added. "The thing that always fascinates me is that the Internet has changed the way that people look at books. It used to be that on a Saturday morning, people would go to the local used bookstore and look at books. Now you have people who come in and ask for a single, particular book, and if you don't have it, they leave. "

This morning on Good Morning America: Stephen Colbert, host of the Colbert Report and author of I Am America (And So Can You!) (Grand Central, $26.99, 9780446580502/0446580503). He will also appear tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Also on GMA: Richard Baer, author of Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities (Crown, $24.95, 9780307382665/0307382664).

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This morning on the Today Show: Jessica Seinfeld, author of Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food (Collins, $24.95, 9780061251344/0061251348).

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This morning's Book Report, the weekly AM radio book-related show organized by Windows a bookshop, Monroe, La., features two interviews:

• Ted Kerasote, author of Merle's Door (Harcourt, $25, 9780151012701/0151012709)
• Rosemary Poole-Carter, author of Women of Magdalene (Kunati, $24.95, 9781601640147/1601640145)

The show airs at 8 a.m. Central Time and can be heard live at thebookreport.net; the archived edition will be posted this afternoon.

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Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Devra Davis, author of The Secret History of the War on Cancer (Basic Books, $27.95, 9780465015665/0465015662).

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Today on NPR's On Point: Rakesh Khurana, author of From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession (Princeton University Press, $35, 9780691120201/069112020X).

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Today on the View: Alice Waters, author of The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution (Clarkson Potter, $35, 9780307336798/0307336794).

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Today on Oprah: Sarah J. Symonds, author of Having an Affair?: A Handbook for the 'Other Woman' (Hatherleigh Press, $14.95, 9781578262793/1578262798).

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Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Lynne Cheney, author of Blue Skies, No Fences: A Memoir of Childhood and Family (Pocket Books, $26, 9781416532880/1416532889).

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Tonight on the Colbert Report: Wesley K. Clark, author of A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country (Palgrave Macmillan, $24.95, 9781403984746/1403984743).

Former winners Michael Ondaatje and M.G. Vassanji are among the finalists once again for the Giller Prize, the $40,000 Canadian literary award. The shortlist includes Vassanji for The Assassin's Song, Ondaatje for Divisadero, Elizabeth Hay for Late Nights on Air, Daniel Poliquin for A Secret Between Us (translated by Donald Winkler) and Alissa York for Effigy.

Judges David Bergen, Camilla Gibb and Lorna Goodison "read a record 108 books submitted by 46 publishers before narrowing it down to a final five," according to the Canadian Press, The winner will be announced on November 6 at the annual Giller Prize celebration.

"Fantastic list. Five spectacular books," said Ben McNally, owner of Ben McNally Books, Toronto, who attended the press conference. "This is a diverse and representative list and from a bookseller's standpoint, it couldn't be better."

 

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, October 16:

Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning (Delacorte Press, $22, 9780385339162/038533916X) is the second entry in the Fever series, in which MacKayla Lane must slay magical creatures known as fae.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Knopf, $37, 9780307266934/0307266931) appears in an updated translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.

The Almost Moon: A Novel by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown, $24.99, 9780316677462/0316677469) follows a woman who kills her elderly mother and tries to escape a lifetime of emotional abuse.

The Christmas Promise by Donna VanLiere (St. Martin's, $14.95, 9780312367763/0312367767) tells the story of a merciful old widow and a kind but impoverished drifter. This is the fourth novel in the Christmas Hope series.

The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta (St. Martin's, $24.95, 9780312358334/0312358334) explores the conflict between liberals and religious conservatives in a small suburb.

Just Say Nu: Yiddish for Every Occasion (When English Just Won't Do) by Michael Wex (St. Martin's, $23.95, 9780312364625/0312364628) provides a comprehensive guide to uncommon Yiddish phrases.

Batista Unleashed by Dave Batista and Jeremy Roberts (World Wrestling Entertainment, $26, 9781416544104/1416544100) chronicles the life and career of wrestling's "Animal."

What's So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D'Souza (Regnery, $27.95, 9781596985179/1596985178) claims atheism is the source of evil in the world and that the deadly consequences of the Crusades and the Inquisition are "vastly overblown."

The Intellectual Devotional: American History: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently about Our Nation's Past by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim (Modern Times, $24, 9781594867446/1594867445) explores the legacy of important events in American history.

A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted by Will Bowen (Doubleday, $16.95, 9780385524582/0385524587) encourages people to stop whining--for their own benefit.

On God: An Uncommon Conversation by Norman Mailer and Michael Lennon (Random House, $26.95, 9781400067329/1400067324) presents the spiritual views of Mailer through a series of conversations.

Kids Are Americans Too by Bill O'Reilly and Charles Flowers (Morrow, $24.95, 9780060846763/0060846763) gives the Fox News take on issues relevant to children including school and family relationships.


Appearing next week in paperback:

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (Three Rivers Press, $14.95, 9780307346612/0307346617).

Joshua Henkin's first novel, Swimming Across the Hudson, was a Los Angeles Times notable book of the year. His new novel, Matrimony (Pantheon, $23.95, 9780375424359/0375424350), has just been published. Henkin teaches creative writing in the MFA programs at Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn College. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two young daughters, though this year they're spending in Philadelphia.

On your nightstand now:  

The Journals of John Cheever, Twilight of the Superheroes by Deborah Eisenberg and Leonard Michaels's The Collected Stories

Favorite book when you were a child:  

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Top five authors:  

John Cheever, Virginia Woolf, Saul Bellow, Alice Munro, William Trevor

Book you've "faked" reading: 

Ulysses by James Joyce

Books you are an "evangelist" for:  

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and Preston Falls by David Gates

Book you've bought for the cover:  

Theft by Peter Carey

Book that changed your life:  

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Favorite line from a book:  

The opening line of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:  "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."

Book you most want to read again for the first time:  

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

Books you admire that not enough people know about:  

Inspired Sleep by Robert Cohen and Snakebite Sonnet by Max Phillips

Book you fell in love to:  

Mystery Ride by Robert Boswell

 
In 2005, after a six-year stint as a network war correspondent, Kevin Sites (who already had an active blog) made a deal with Yahoo! to spend one year traveling to all the world's conflict zones, posting what he saw and heard as he went. Aside from local "fixers" at each point who would secure interviews, translate, drive, etc., Sites worked alone, spending no more than a few weeks at each hot zone location, sending daily transmissions via his satellite modem-equipped laptop.
 
Before he even left his Southern California base, Sites realized the difficulty of providing the full context and geopolitical impact of each conflict zone within such a limited time. He therefore narrowed his focus to telling personal stories in order to put "a human face" on conflict. The multimedia approach was helpful in this goal, as Sites provided short video clips and still photographs along with his text as well as links to other websites that would provide additional information about each area.
 
To his credit, Sites provides readers with a vivid narrative despite the absence of visual aids in book format. With prose that has the jittery immediacy of a handheld video camera, he manages to create indelible portraits of suffering and survival against extremely long odds. In Somalia, for example, he describes a scarred woman whose three-year-old daughter was crushed by the falling wreckage of a Black Hawk helicopter. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, he finds women who hide in banana trees to escape being raped by rebels who come looking for them every night. In Uganda, he discovers the legacy of war in an army of kidnapped children turned into soldiers and an entire population of people who walk for miles every night to urban areas so that they won't be captured and killed in their villages. In Iran, Sites profiles one of the country's two million heroin addicts, a man who injected "brown sugar" for two decades before cleaning up in a methadone clinic. In Chechnya, he describes a population suffering from collective post traumatic stress disorder and in Vietnam, three generations suffering the effects of Agent Orange. Any one of these stories could fill a book, but together they represent only a fraction of those Sites includes here.
 
Despite the strength of spirit and hope that accompanies many of these portraits, the cumulative effect of so much misery takes its toll on Sites. This is not and was never intended to be a feel-good book, but the relentlessness of war and human cruelty risks creating a feeling of numb helplessness. Sites himself admits as much. He becomes noticeably dispirited, if not entirely without optimism, by the end of his journey when he covers the 2006 Israel/Lebanon battle. Of course, it was to increase awareness that Sites took on the project in the first place and why he has documented that journey on the page. In this respect, In the Hot Zone is indeed a success.--Debra Ginsberg