"We are all flying thumbs and keystrokes and voice activation and touch-pad shortcuts. We are swimming in technologies and applications and cyber-ubiquity. But when it comes to understanding how to really use these shiny new inventions, we rely on a stubborn piece of dead tree, a centuries-old technology that started with papyrus in the Fertile Crescent. Huh."--Monica Hesse in her Washington Post article, "In Walks This Avatar, With a Thick Papery Thing . . . ," about the proliferation of instruction manuals for Second Life, the popular virtual world with a steep learning curve.

 

Community Bookstore, Brooklyn, N.Y., and owner Catherine Bohne have survived a number of challenges since she purchased the store in 2001, just a month before the September 11 attacks. The biggest challenge: last January, the bookshop was on the verge of closing after her bank began foreclosure proceedings.

Bohne emerged from the crisis with a renegotiated loan, a new business plan and the support of a growing community of friends and investors, according to the New York Times.

In April, "an investment offering went out in which Ms. Bohne offered up to 49 percent ownership in the store to a group of friends willing to put up at least $10,000 apiece." Thus far, six people have signed on, though a dozen more are still needed. David Sweeny, a local real estate investor who serves as Bohne's "de facto business manager," said he is "cautiously optimistic."

Actor John Turturro, a neighborhood resident and longtime customer, is one of the investors. "I'd never done this with a store," he said. "But now as I'm getting older, all these great small bookstores and art house movie theaters, so many things I love, are being swallowed up by a supermarket mentality."

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From California's Eureka Reporter, in its entirety:

Pathfinders Bookstore in Eureka will hold its grand opening on Wednesday beginning at 9 p.m. at its location in Henderson Center.

Children and adults of all ages are welcome to the celebration, which will feature refreshments, party games and conversation on topics like magic and witchcraft, movies like The Craft and Harry Potter, and Halloween's origins and meanings. Trick-or-treaters are welcome.

Pathfinders Bookstore is located at 322 Grotto St. in Eureka [95501]. For more information, phone 707-268-8469.

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Next March Borders will open a 22,000-sq.-ft. store in Mira Loma, Calif., east of Los Angeles. The store will be located at the intersection of Limonite Avenue and Hamner Avenue near Interstate 15.

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Books-A-Million has opened three new stores, two of which replace smaller Bookland stores:

• A 15,900-sq.-ft. store in Sebring, Fla., in the center of the state, at 1716 US 27 North, which replaces a Bookland.
• A 14,500-sq.-ft. store in Prattville, Ala., near Montgomery, at the Legends at 2724 Legends Parkway, which replaces a Bookland.
• A 15,500-sq.-ft. store in Bristol, Va., in the Highlands at 16700 Highlands Center Boulevard. The store had its grand opening this past weekend; many events had a Halloween theme.

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Kelly Amabile, who writes the blog lostinplace, has tipped us off to a new European Bookstore Blog. The bookstore blog includes entries on English-language bookstores on the Continent.

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Attention booksellers and librarians.
 
Do you and your dog share secrets?? HarperTeen is publishing a Postsecrets-like book about the things only you and your dog know about each other. Go to publishinginsider.net for details--and the deadline is being stretched to mid November.

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Heather Moore has been promoted to senior publicity manager at Sourcebooks. She was hired as an assistant publicist in 2002.

Whitney Lehman has been promoted to assistant publicity manager and named the publicist for Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, the company's new children's imprint.

In a letter to yesterday's New York Times Magazine, former governor Mario Cuomo lauds part of the article about Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio that ran in the last issue. But then he stated that when the writer "put aside his reporting skills to opine on Len's management style, temperament and motivations, his deprecations were gratuitous, inaccurate and surprisingly insulting. Apparently he did not know Len well. I do. I've known him for more than 30 years: he is universally admired, not just for his brilliance, competence, dogged and dynamic leadership but for his generosity and his sincerity as well. A real mensch."

 

Both attendance and energy were high for the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association's annual Authors' Feast and Trade Show, held on October 20 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. The atmosphere on the floor was both festive and optimistic as perennially intrepid Southern California booksellers (some of whom headed home into fire zones only hours later) mingled with authors and publishers' reps.
 
"Our key word this year is 'growth,' " said Jennifer Bigelow, SCIBA executive director. Attendance, which has been climbing steadily since the addition of the trade show three years ago, was up 17% from last year and included 90 authors. The one-day event, a format that Bigelow says is well-suited to the region, included morning sessions focused on education, an author lunch and an afternoon trade show with several sales reps offering their top picks for fall titles. Despite the ongoing difficulties facing independent booksellers, Bigelow is encouraged by the addition of five new bookstores in the last year: Flintridge Books and Coffeehouse in La Quinata, Metropolis in Los Angeles, Sierra Madre Books, Many Paths in North Hollywood and Laguna Beach Books. For its part, Bigelow said, SCIBA is "seeking to fill the void left by the absence of book review sections" in a variety of ways, including an author event website and links to bookstore websites.
 
At the always-lively authors' feast and book awards, the big news was that the annual mystery award will now be known as the T. Jefferson Parker SCIBA Mystery Award after the author whose 15 novels are set in his native Southern California and who has won the award several times. SCIBA president Terry Gilman praised Parker's prodigious talent as well as his dedication to and support of the region's independent booksellers. Parker assured the cheering audience that he didn't plan to give up writing and that "it doesn't get any better than this" before he presented his eponymous award to Denise Hamilton, editor of L.A. Noir.
 
Doug Dutton accepted for Lisa See who won the fiction award for Peony in Love. Brian Selznick, who began his career as a bookseller at Eeyore's Books in Manahattan, won the children's novel award for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and Robin Preiss Glasser won the children's picture book award for Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy. Wendy Werris won the nonfiction prize for An Alphabetical Life, which has been a particular favorite of regional booksellers.
 
"I had two men standing over my shoulder as I wrote this book," Werris said in her heartfelt acceptance speech. She thanked her father and Pickwick bookseller Lou Epstein as well as all the independent Southern California booksellers she has worked with over her long career as a bookseller, publisher and most of all, sales rep.
 
The evening ended, as it always does, with attendees picking up their boxes of randomly selected books by featured authors. No matter that most already have stacks of books spilling out of every corner of their houses--the thrill of new books is ever fresh for these diehard booklovers, which is a good thing for readers, writers and publishers alike. As Beth Lisick, author of Helping Me Help Myself, summed it up earlier in the day: "Thank God for independent booksellers, who are great people--like chefs, or farmers, or bakers. You know, real people doing cool things."--Debra Ginsberg

[Editor's note: Special thanks to Debra, who filed this story during a week in which, along with hundreds of thousands of other Southern Californians, she was evacuated from her home for several days.]

 

The Phoenix and Dragon Bookstore, the Atlanta, Ga., bookstore that specializes in holistic and spiritual titles, marked a milestone earlier this month: two decades in business.  

As owner Candace Apple greeted the more than 200 revelers who turned out for an anniversary celebration, she said, "I realized all of life's challenges and joys we have shared with our customers over the years: marriages, babies, graduations, divorces, illnesses and recovery." A door prize was awarded to the customer in attendance who had been shopping at the Phoenix and Dragon the longest, a woman who first came into the store nearly 20 years ago for refuge after slipping in a puddle on her way to work. By contrast, the lucky winner of a drawing for a $200 shopping spree was a first-time patron.

Another familiar face at the festivities was featured author Judith Hawkins-Tillirson, with whom Apple worked at New Leaf Distributing Company before opening the Phoenix and Dragon. Along with conducting an herbal blessing ceremony intended to bestow good fortune on party attendees, Hawkins-Tillirson promoted her debut publication, The Weiser Concise Guide to Herbal Magick.

The original Phoenix and Dragon had 1,700 square feet of space. In 1995, Apple moved the store into its own building and increased its space to 5,500 square feet. Apple has strived to create an environment that offers shoppers serenity, and the store showcases tinkling chimes, brilliantly hued stained glass and books and products intended to foster "healing and growth." The store also has a meditation garden designed by Apple's son.

Over time, a shift in merchandise has occurred. While the number of books sold has remained consistent, it has gone from 85% of the store's mix to 25%. "As our niche is new age," Apple explained, "we've expanded more and more into the tools for transformation that go with the books." For example, if a customer purchases a book on meditation there are accompanying classes, guided meditation CDs, meditation cushions, music and other accoutrements meant to enhance the experience such as incense, crystals and candles. The store also sells an array of jewelry and gift items.

The Phoenix and Dragon typically hosts at least one event per day, and in addition to book signings there are workshops, psychic readings and art shows. Apple recently acquired space in a nearby office building to conduct classes on weekends.

One interesting phenomenon in recent years, noted Apple, is how some tomes like The Da Vinci Code and The Secret have inspired people to seek out more knowledge about the religious history and mysticism that are part of the books' premises. "We've been selling the basic core information all along," said Apple, "and it's fun to have people come to us to delve deeper into what's behind the bestsellers."

With two decades of bookselling behind her, Apple--who was a plaintiff in a recent ACLU lawsuit to abolish state sales tax on religious books other than the Bible--has no plans to stop offering customers bestsellers or serenity. "The adventure continues," she said, "maybe another 20 years."--Shannon McKenna Schmidt

 

This morning on Good Morning America: Bill O'Reilly, author of Kids Are Americans Too (Morrow, $24.95, 978006084676/0060846763). O'Reilly also appears today on Live with Regis and Kelly.

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This morning on the Today Show: Newt Gingrich, co-author of A Contract with the Earth (Johns Hopkins University Press, $20, 9780801887802/0801887801).

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Today on the Martha Stewart Show: French chef Stéphane Reynaud, author of Pork & Sons (Phaidon Press, $39.95, 9780714847900/0714847909), an homage to the pig featuring 150 recipes.

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Today on Oprah: Kris Carr, author of Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips (skirt!, $17.95, 9781599212319/1599212315).

Also on Oprah: Mehmet Oz, M.D., co-author of You: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger (Collins, $24.95, 9780060765316/0060765313)

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Today on Inside the Actor's Studio, host James Lipton discusses his new book, Inside Inside (Dutton, $27.95, 9780525950356/0525950354).

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Featured tonight on PBS's American Masters: Charles Schulz, subject of Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography by David Michaelis (Harper, $34.95, 9780066213934/0066213932).

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Tonight on Larry King Live: Senator Christopher Dodd, author and editor of Letters from Nuremberg: My Father's Narrative of a Quest for Justice (Crown, $25.95, 9780307381163/0307381161).

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Tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman: Ronnie Wood, author of Ronnie: The Autobiography (St. Martin's, $25.95, 9780312366520/0312366523).

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Tonight on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Jenna Bush, author of Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope (HarperCollins, $18.99, 9780061379086/0061379085).

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Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Michael Gerson, Washington Post op-ed columnist, former George Bush speechwriter and author of Heroic Conservatism: Why Republicans Need to Embrace America's Ideals (And Why They Deserve to Fail If They Don't) (HarperOne, $26.95, 9780061349508/006134950X). 

 

How to write about a book we haven't read? Such a challenge isn't too out of the ordinary, but this case is special. The book is How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard, translated by Jeffrey Mehlman (Bloomsbury, $19.95, 9781596914698/1596914696), to be published next month.

Accompanying material assures us that the author is a French literary scholar and that this work has been "a sensation and bestseller in his home country." (Not wanting to read much inside the book, we assume his home country is France.) He argues that "the key to appreciating the classics is the quick skim, not deep immersion; cover to cover isn't merely impractical, it's downright passé."

Bayard also quotes Umberto Eco, Graham Greene, Montaigne and others on "the art of being well read without reading well" and Bayard says proudly that "there is no shame in asserting your pseudo-literacy."

Also we do enjoy the opening quotation from Oscar Wilde: "I never read a book I must review; it prejudices you so."

To help the inveterate nonreader, Bayard has developed a code for book classification:

• UB: book unknown to me;
• SB: book I have skimmed;
• HB: book I have heard about;
• FB: book I have forgotten.

For us, How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read went quickly from a UB to an HB to an SB. Sadly because we have followed the author's advice and not read it, the title will likely become an FB soon. But at least it provided LOLs in the meantime.--John Mutter

 

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

Hardcover

A Pigeon and a Boy: A Novel by Meir Shalev (Schocken, $25, 9780805242515/0805242511). "Meir Shalev has written a romantic and lush story of Israel on the eve of independence juxtaposed against the present. More than anything I have read, in the rhythm of the stories, the romantic longing, and the intense love, this beautiful book reminds me of Love in the Time of Cholera."--Carla Cohen, Politics & Prose Books & Coffee, Washington, D.C.

God of Luck by Ruthanne Lum McCunn (Soho, $23, 9781569474662/1569474664). "Like thousands of Chinese men who were kidnapped in the 19th century for the little-known coolie trade to the Americas, Ah Lung is separated from his beloved wife as he is enslaved and sent to toil in the guano mines in offshore Peru. Never giving up hope for his freedom, Ah Lung constantly entrusts his fate to the God of Luck. Author McCunn hones her passionate storytelling skills in a spellbinding story you won't soon forget."--Lillian Kinsey, Bohannons' Books With a Past, Georgetown, Ky.

For Ages 9-12

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko (Harcourt, $17, 9780152057534/0152057536). "Absolute middle school novel perfection! Kirsten and Walker attend the same exclusive private school, but they couldn't be less alike. Kirsten faces backstabbing clique girls and a fractured family; Walker struggles to balance his racial identity as one of the few blacks at school, while keeping his overprotective mother at bay. Choldenko writes with humor and pathos about middle school, where even well-intentioned lies can turn the world upside down."--Sarah Todd, Children's Book World, Haverford, Pa.

For Teen Readers

Deadline by Chris Crutcher (HarperTeen, $16.99, 9780060850890/0060850892). "Crutcher answers the age-old question, 'How would you live if you knew you only had one year left?' When 18-year-old Ben Wolf learns he has terminal leukemia, he decides to go out for football, save the town drunk, and maybe get it on with his longtime crush--all while not telling anyone he's dying. But no man is an island. Crutcher writes with honesty and wit about what makes a life count."--Janet Rhodes, HearthFire Books of Evergreen, Evergreen, Colo.

[Many thanks to Book Sense and the ABA!]