"The 18-to-34-year-old is not a mystical, unknowable unicorn. Nor is she a drooling automaton who is looking for the next book-by-formula to buy. By changing the focus to capturing more readers in general, bookstores will find themselves in a much more stable place."--Jessica Crispin, founder and editor of Bookslut.com, in a piece at TheBookStandard.com concerning an NCIBA panel she participated in on reaching the 18-to-34-year-old reader.

British playwright, screenwriter, poet and political activist Harold Pinter has won . . . the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Pause.

The Swedish Academy said that Pinter "in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms."

Awkward pause.

In any case, Pinter deserves the honor for his work, which includes such plays as The Birthday Party, The Homecoming, The Caretaker and Betrayal. But, of course, it's widely assumed that the laureate's sharp criticism of the Iraq War was also a major factor in the judges' decision. Earlier this year, for example, he said, "We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery and degradation to the Iraqi people and call it 'bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East.' "

Yesterday, according to the AP, he told reporters at his London home, "I think the world is going down the drain if we're not very careful."

Pinter has been in poor health since being treated for throat cancer in 2002, and yesterday he was bandaged after suffering a fall. Reportedly he has stopped writing and is devoting his energies to political activities.

Most of Pinter's works here are published by Grove, which in a bit of fortuitous timing, published Death Etc. ($14, 0802142257), "a collection of Harold Pinter's most moving plays, prose, and poetry on war, injustice, and death," this past Monday, Pinter's 75th birthday. Following the Nobel announcement, the publisher has boosted the printing by 25,000 to 31,000.

The first New York Times Bookstore (Shelf Awareness, July 26) opened yesterday at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., and featured a signing by Rita Mae Brown, whose most recent book is The Hunt Ball.

The Paradies Shops, which operates more than 400 stores in airports under its own name and a variety of licensed names, will operate the Times Bookstore. The new shop will offer access to the Times Web site, a plasma screen TV with material from the Discovery Times Channel, Times bestsellers and more.

We have more news relating to Hurricane Katrina:

Susan Daigre, owner of Bookends, the Bay St. Louis, Miss., bookstore that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, has sent a general e-mail outlining her situation.

She and the staff and their families--and even the store's cat, Oscar--are all "fine," but their homes are not. Daigre lost her personal collection of books and wouldn't mind authors signing and replacing the ones now gone.

Although Daigre had said immediately after the Hurricane that she would not rebuild, she is reconsidering. Now she says, "the future of Bookends depends on many things. How soon I can rebuild my home, if there is a viable economy on the Gulf Coast, the support of the publishers and the insurance industry doing the right thing."

Daigre thanked her "book people" friends for their good wishes as well as "the wonderful authors who have graced our shop" and "my wonderful customers who talked books and bought books and became friends." She may be reached at bookendsbsl@bellsouth.net; 228-671-9826; or the store's address, 111 Hwy 90, Bay St. Louis, Miss. 39520.

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Bookselling This Week talked with several affected booksellers who told their stories and discussed reopenings. In New Orleans, the Garden District Bookshop has reopened; Maple Street Books and Maple Street Children's plan to reopen on Monday; and DeVille Books hopes to reopen in November. (Sadly DeVille owner Joanne Sealy's father died during the evacuation.) As noted here on Tuesday, Octavia Books has reopened.

In Pass Christian, Miss., Scott Naugle, whose Pass Christian Bookstore was completely destroyed, plans to rebuild although he expects it to take at least two years.

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The ABA is sending out the first checks from the Bookseller Relief Fund this week. The grants of $500 each are going to 35 booksellers and are meant to provide assistance for temporary housing, food, clothing, transportation, medical expenses and other personal items lost or damaged during the storms. Go to Bookselling This Week for information about eligibility and how to apply.

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Some 10% of profits from this year's annual Warehouse Book Sale at the University of Virginia Press will be donated to the ALA Hurricane Katrina Library Relief Fund. The sale takes place Friday and Saturday, October 21 and 22, at the press warehouse at 500 Edgemont Road in Charlottesville. On sale: thousands of first-quality books in history, literature, Virginiana, African American studies, the Civil War and the founding era at major discounts. (Most prices will be $3-$6.) For more information, go to the press's Web site.

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The Publishers Association of the South's Winter Conclave, scheduled for January 27-29, is being moved from New Orleans to Savannah, Ga. Unfortunately the French Quarter hotel that would have hosted the event, the Maison DuPuy, is having a "huge mold problem" and does not plan to reopen until at least February.

Today the Today Show welcomes a confident Donny Deutsch, author of Often Wrong, Never in Doubt (HarperCollins, $24.95, 006056718X).

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Today on WAMU's Diane Rehm Show: Tony Blankley, author of The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations? (Regnery, $27.95, 0895260158).

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Today on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show:

• Captain James Yee, one of the first Muslim chaplains in the Army, a chaplain at Guantanamo and author of For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire (PublicAffairs, $24, 1586483692).
• Lewis M. Dabney, author of Edmund Wilson: A Life in Literature (FSG, $35, 0374113122).
• Tab Hunter, who with Eddie Muller wrote a memoir, Tab Hunter Confidential (Algonquin, $24.95, 1565124669).

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Yesterday Talk of the Nation debated with Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen, whose The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity (FSG, $26, 0374105839) argues that India has a long tradition of dispute, discussion and debate.

The following are the bestselling books at Southeastern Booksellers Association bookstores during the week ended Sunday, October 9, as reported to Book Sense.

Hardcover Fiction

1. The March by E. L. Doctorow (Random House, $25.95, 0375506713)
2. Sweetwater Creek by Anne Rivers Siddons (HarperCollins, $24.95, 0066213355)
3. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown, $26.95, 0316734934)
4. The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks (Warner, $24.95, 0446500127)
5. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking, $24.95, 0670033944)
6. A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte, $28, 0385324162)
7. School Days by Robert B. Parker (Putnam, $24.95, 0399153233)
8. Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon, $21.95, 0375422994)
9. Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire (ReganBooks, $26.95, 0060548932)
10. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Little, Brown, $25.95, 0316011770)
11. The Divide by Nicholas Evans (Putnam, $26.95, 0399152067)
12. Polar Shift by Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos (Putnam, $26.95, 0399152717)
13. Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts (Putnam, $25.95, 0399153063)
14. Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner (Atria, $26, 0743470117)
15. Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson (Warner, $19.95, 0446524190)

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt (Penguin, $25.95, 1594200580)
2. Being Dead Is No Excuse by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays (Hyperion, $19.95, 1401359345)
3. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Knopf, $23.95, 140004314X)
4. 1776 by David McCullough (S&S, $32, 0743226712)
5. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Morrow, $25.95, 006073132X)
6. Where God Was Born by Bruce Feiler (Morrow, $26.95, 0060574879)
7. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (FSG, $27.50, 0374292884)
8. What Remains by Carole Radziwill (Scribner, $25.95, 0743276949)
9. Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About by Kevin Trudeau (Alliance, $29.95, 0975599518)
10. The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan, $19.99, 0310205719)
11. Unlikely Angel by Ashley Smith (Morrow, $24.95, 0310270677)
12. You: The Owner's Manual by Michael F. Roizen, M.D., and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D. (Collins, $24.95, 0060765313)
13. Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda (Random House, $24.95, 1400064090)
14. Symptoms of Withdrawal by Christopher Kennedy Lawford (Morrow, $25.95, 0060732482)
15. It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broke by Greg Behrendt and Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt (Broadway, $19.95, 0767921852)

Trade Paperback Fiction

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $14, 1594480001)
2. The Known World by Edward P. Jones (Amistad, $13.95, 0060557559)
3. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin, $14, 0142001740)
4. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin, $15, 0143034901)
5. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Washington Square, $14, 0743454537)
6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Vintage, $12.95, 1400032717)
7. The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone, $16, 0743269268)
8. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (Vintage, $14.95, 1400079497)
9. Light on Snow by Anita Shreve (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316010677)
10. Wicked by Gregory Maguire (ReganBooks, $15, 0060987103)
11. Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews (Perennial, $13.95, 0060564652)
12. Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Vintage, $14.95, 0375706860)
13. I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe (Picador, $15, 0312424442)
14. Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen (Warner, $12.95, 0446695564)
15. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone, $16, 0743227441)

Trade Paperback Nonfiction

1. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Anchor, $14.95, 0307276902)
2. Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner, et al. (Three Rivers, $12.95, 1400082315)
3. Bad Dog by R. D. Rosen, et al. (Workman, $9.95, 0761139834)
4. Bad Cat by Jim Edgar (Workman, $9.95, 0761136193)
5. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage, $14.95, 0375725601)
6. Rising Tide by John M. Barry (S&S, $16, 0684840022)
7. Sudoku Easy, Volume 1 by Will Shortz (St. Martin's, $6.95, 0312355025)
8. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder (Random House, $14.95, 0812973011)
9. Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs (Picador, $14, 0312315953)
10. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316346624)
11. Sudoku Easy to Hard edited by Will Shortz (St. Martin's, $6.95, 0312355033)
12. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316010790)
13. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (Broadway, $15.95, 076790818X)
14. Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy B. Tyson (Three Rivers, $14, 1400083117)
15. Su Doku for Dummies by Andrew Heron and Edmund James (Wiley, $9.99, 0470018925)

Mass Market

1. Hour Game by David Baldacci (Warner, $7.99, 0446616494)
2. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket, $7.99, 0671027360)
3. The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason (Dell, $7.99, 0440241359)
4. Deception Point by Dan Brown (Pocket, $7.99, 0671027387)
5. The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry (Fawcett, $6.99, 0345460065)
6. 1984 by George Orwell (Signet, $7.95, 0451524934)
7. Trace by Patricia D. Cornwell (Berkley, $7.99, 0425204200)
8. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Warner, $6.99, 0316769487)
9. The Constant Gardener by John le Carre (Pocket, $7.99, 1416503900)
10. London Bridges by James Patterson (Warner, $7.99, 0446613355)

Children's (Fiction and Illustrated)

1. Junie B., First Grader: Boo . . . and I Mean It! by Barbara Park, illustrated by Denise Brunkus (Random House, $3.99, 0375828079)
2. Eragon by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $9.95, 0375826696)
3. Eldest by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $21, 037582670X)
4. Junie B., First Grader: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May) by Barbara Park, illustrated by Denise Brunkus (Random House, $11.95, 0375828087)
5. Flush by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, $16.95, 0375821821)
6. A Family of Poems by Caroline Kennedy, illustrated by Jon J. Muth (Hyperion, $19.95, 0786851112)
7. Winter's Tale: An Original Pop-Up Journey by Robert Sabuda (Little Simon, $26.95, 0689853637)
8. Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (Chicken House, $19.99, 0439554004)
9. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (Scholastic, $7.99, 0439709105)
10. The O'Reilly Factor for Kids by Bill O'Reilly (HarperCollins, $13.95, 0060544252)
11. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $29.99, 0439784549)
12. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, $7.99, 0694003611)
13. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, $8.95, 0375829164)
14. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick, $5.99, 0763625582)
15. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Movie Tie-in Edition) by Ann Brashares (Delacorte, $6.99, 0553494791)


[Thanks to SEBA and Book Sense!]