"Lastly, but maybe most importantly, we now have wireless access at Bookworks. Feel free to use our hotspot: the password is simply: 'pleasebuyabook' (Heheh!) We're not sure how we're going to make money in the new economy, but then neither is anybody. : )"--From Nantucket Bookworks' e-mail newsletter (via Booksellers Blog, which titled its post "Bookseller Brilliance").
Touting good books and indie bookshops as pleasures "that not even a bad economy can diminish," the Seattle Times recommended local bookstores Abraxus Books, "the mothership of Seattle's used bookstores," Ophelia's Books, deemed "cozy and mello," and Ravenna Third Place Books, which "has achieved exactly what its name promises--a neighborly 'third place' where the community gathers outside of home and work."
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Tamales and books have found common ground near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, where "Mama's Hot Tamales offered space to Librería Hispanoamérica in hopes that they can help one another survive the economic downturn."
The Los Angeles Times reported that the "bookstore is still open, despite some recent hard times, thanks to an informal network of activists, shoppers, businesspeople and city officials. Together, they believe MacArthur Park can remain a place where good people gather. And they're not going to give up just because there's less cash floating around. They've tossed the old, bottom-line ways of thinking about this neighborhood out the window. And whether you call their philosophy anti-economics or just plain solidarity, we need more of it to get our city out of the hole we're in."
"We don't live from what we make here," said Aura Quezada, co-owner of the bookshop with her husband, Roberto. "It's a kind of hobby for us. We do it for our customers because they depend on us."
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Churches in the Hudson, Ohio, region have been called upon to support local businesses during a "Shop and Dine Hudson" promotion, March 29-April 5, according to the Hudson Hub-Times
"Just imagine what a difference it would make if 5,000 additional customers shopped and ate in Hudson in a single week," said Reverend Peter Wiley, who issued the challenge. "It wouldn't turn around the economy, but it could make a huge difference for our neighbors in need."
"What a wonderful idea for him to come up with," said Liz Murphy, owner of the Learned Owl Book Shop. "I love it. I just love it. Bless him."
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"If you look at my life, it is (about) discovery, choices and inspiration. Bookselling has become my treasure hunting," said Michael Elmer, owner of Michael's Books, Bellingham, Wash., in a Herald profile.
"I enjoy inspiring people by the books I find," Elmer added. "My calling is mercantile. The trade of sales is not just selling to people--it is helping with their needs. It's always had to do with things with books and learning."
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Ed Wilhelm, the longtime CFO of Borders Group, who was let go at the beginning of this year (Shelf Awareness, January 5, 2009), has landed on both feet at shoe retailer Finish Line, Inc., according to the AP. He becomes CFO of the company March 30.
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The Christian Book Expo, "a first ever 'fan event' for evangelical Christian book lovers, drew only about 1,500 people to the Dallas Convention Center" last weekend, the Dallas Morning News reported.
"It's far less than we had hoped for," said Mark Kuyper, president/CEO of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.
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The follow-up book to former Vice President Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth has been scheduled for a fall 2009 release. The Associated Press (via USA Today) reported that Rodale Books will publish Our Choice in November "on 100% recycled paper. The book, which proposes solutions to the global warming crisis documented in Inconvenient Truth, was called The Path to Survival when first announced two years ago."
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Offering play-by-play for a March Madness contest of a different sort, the New Yorker's Book Bench blog reported that authors emerged victorious over agents and editors at Slice magazines "first annual literary-trivia fundraiser [Tuesday] night, pitting three teams--of five authors, five editors, and five agents each--against one another. The competitors included the writer Jonathan Lethem and Lorin Stein, of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, who edited Roberto Bolaño’s 2666."
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FiledBy, Inc., has launched the Beta version of filedbyauthor, a website that offers a "large-scale author-centric promotional platform to provide every author that has been published in the U.S. or Canada a free, hosted, e-commerce enabled web page ready to be claimed and enhanced." The company, based in Nashville, Tenn., was co-founded by Peter Clifton, a
former Ingram executive, and Mike Shatzkin, head of the Idea Logical Co. and publishing industry
strategist extraordinaire.
"All authors, regardless of publishing category are encouraged to visit the site, claim their page, make corrections, and enrich them in a variety of ways," Clifton, president and CEO, said in a statement. "We hope to level the web marketing playing field for all authors, eliminate some of the challenges authors face when designing their online presence, and help every author become more easily discoverable through a highly optimized site."
Berkeley conjures up images from 1960s student protests, but that's only part of the California city's heritage. Just about a mile down College Avenue lies the tree-lined Elmwood section, which features about five blocks of mom-and-pop shops of every variety, a little movie house and no chain stores, all supported by local residents very committed to keeping Elmwood just the way it is.
So four years ago when the owners of Avenue Books announced it was closing after 20 years, the local merchants organization approached Marion Abbott (known to have had a publishing background) about opening a store there. Abbott turned to Ann Leyhe (whom she met years ago at the Radcliff Publishing Course), and the two women (pictured below) decided to open Mrs. Dalloway's, a literary bookstore with a specialty in gardening books and related items. Since opening, business has blossomed, so last year when the independent pharmacy next door announced it was closing, the community turned to Mrs. Dalloway's owners again, who were delighted to accept a chance to expand the bookstore.
The catch: the pharmacy was home to an old-fashioned soda fountain that dated back to 1921, and no one wanted to lose that. (Local resident Ayelet Waldman used both the pharmacy and its beloved fountain in her first literary novel, Daughter's Keeper.) The landlord found a local restaurateur to split the space with Mrs. Dalloway's and keep the historic fountain in business. So now Mrs. Dalloway's is in the process of expanding to 2,800 square feet from 2,000.
Mrs. Dalloway's growth comes at a time when the landscape of bookselling in the East Bay has drastically changed: most notably, Cody's Books and Barnes & Noble have closed in Berkeley. And everyone knows the state of the economy. But sales at the store have risen every year, including an 8% gain last year, Leyhe said. The owners said they believe that they've done well because of the gardening niche--making it a destination place for gardeners even from some distance--combined with the store's neighborhood focus.
Mrs. Dalloway's plans to expand through the literature section housed under an arch bearing Virginia Woolf's opener: "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself." Besides backlist, the owners plan to increase the children's and YA sections, currently housed under another arch. Until recently, Mrs. Dalloway's stacked its YA titles in the kid's section. It wasn't until it hired Anne Whaling, a Cody's Books refugee, who knew about YA, that Mrs. Dalloway's paid that market much attention. (The owners are open to learning more about their trade as they go and credit the five staffers as their secret weapons.)
Still the owners aims to maintain the feel of the store, which features green and airy garden-inspired surroundings. Often Abbott's dog, Marzipan, roams the sea grass floor. Plants that are for sale literally give life to the place and, there's a mannequin dressed like a modern-day Mrs. Dalloway propped up reading Murder in the Latin Quarter by Cara Black (the book featured recently at a signing in the store). Leyhe's husband, a builder, worked on the store's design--which is composed of sustainable material wherever possible.
Mrs. Dalloway's expansion should be complete by September. Just in time for the early harvest and stocking a new fall season of books.--Bridget Kinsella
BookExpo America has named its selections for the Editor & Bookseller Buzz Forum, which returns to its traditional slot on Thursday, May 28, at 4:15 p.m. A first-ever Young Adult Buzz Forum has also been added and will take place Friday, May 29, at 2:30 p.m.
The programs and selections for both Buzz Forums are:
BEA Editors' Buzz
BEA Young Adult Editors' Buzz
The sessions will be recorded and posted as part of BEA's podcast coverage of its main events. All final selected buzz authors will be requested to be available for a live special buzz author panel on BEA's new Author Stages.
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Tomorrow morning on Good Morning America: Bob Greene, author of The Best Life Diet (Simon & Schuster, $15, 9781416590231/1416590234). He will also appear today on a Discovery Health Channel program called What's Making You Fat: A Best Life Special.
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Tomorrow morning on the Today Show: Curtis Stone, author of Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: Recipes to Put You in My Favorite Mood (Clarkson Potter, $32.50, 9780307408747/0307408744).
Also on Today: Julie Chrystyn, author of The Secret to Life Transformation: How to Claim Your Destiny Now! (Dove Books/Phoenix Books & Audio, $25.95, 9781597775816/1597775819).
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Tomorrow on the Diane Rehm Show: Jim Lehrer, author of Oh, Johnny: A Novel (Random House, $25, 9781400067626/1400067626).
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Tomorrow on KCRW's Bookworm: Robin Romm, author of The Mercy Papers: A Memoir of Three Weeks (Scribner, $22, 9781416567882/1416567887). As the show put it: "Fact and fiction. Robin Romm has written a book of short stories and now a memoir arising from one central event: her mother's gradual death by cancer. We explore the differences between fiction and truth, and, in particular, the artist's commitment to her one truth. She doesn't want another subject; she's not ready yet to move on."
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Tomorrow on PBS' Tavis Smiley: Dambisa Moyo, author of Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $24, 9780374139568/0374139563).
The Art of Monsters vs. Aliens (Newmarket Press, $40, 9781557048240/155704824X) features more 400 images from the upcoming DreamWorks Animation 3D film Monsters vs. Aliens, which opens this Friday. The book includes concept art, character design, architectural plans, interviews with the filmmakers and a foreword by Stephen Colbert, who serves as the voice of President Hathaway in the film.
Slumdog Millionaire co-star Freida Pinto has joined the cast of Julian Schnabel's Miral, adapted from Rula Jebreal's book "about Hind Husseini who founded an orphanage in Jerusalem in the wake of the 1948 partition of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel," Variety reported. Schnabel "has written the screenplay and is working on an English language translation of Jebreal's book to coincide with the film's release."
Principal photography begins April 19, with a projected release date for the film of spring 2010.
The Palestinian Tamer Institute for Community Education, which "has spent 20 years working to promote reading on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," won the world's richest children's literature prize, the $619,061 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the Guardian reported. The Tamer Institute will be honored at a ceremony June 2, where it will be given the award by Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria.
The judges praised the Institute's "perseverance, audacity and resourcefulness," which had "stimulated Palestinian children's and young adults' love of reading and their creativity. . . . Under difficult circumstances, the Institute carries out reading promotion of an unusual breadth and versatility. . . . In the spirit of Astrid Lindgren, the Tamer Institute acknowledges the power of words and the strength of books, stories and imagination as important keys to self-esteem, tolerance and the courage to face life."
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Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell and The Forever War by Dexter Filkins have won $5,000 Colby Awards. Named after the late ambassador and former CIA Director William E. Colby, the prize recognizes a first work of fiction or nonfiction that has made a significant contribution to the public's understanding of intelligence operations, military history or international affairs.
The Colbys will be presented by the Tawani Foundation on October 24 at Palmer House Hotel in Chicago in conjunction with the Pritzker Military Library's Liberty Gala. At the same time, the $100,000 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing will be presented. That winner will be announced via live webcast on June 22.
A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart (Bellevue Literary Press, $12.95 Paperback, 9781934137178, April 2009)
A research mathematician who now teaches math at St. Ann's School in Brooklyn, N.Y., Lockhart opens the book with a musician waking from a nightmare, wherein students are taught music beginning with music notation, moving to fixed rules, harmony, scales and of course, competency tests. Not until college will they be able actually to hear or play music. Sounds preposterous, but Lockhart says this is exactly the way math is taught to students, and the only people who know something is wrong are the students, who are right when they complain that math class is stupid and boring. He says mathematics is the purest of the arts and the most misunderstood, and if we are going to teach math well, we need to understand that. "The impression we are giving is of something very cold and highly technical, that no one could possibly understand--a self-fulfilling prophecy if there ever was one."
He concedes that this is a problem that seems impossible to solve. First, statewide curricula and standardized tests eliminate teacher and school autonomy; second, he doubts that most teachers want to have the responsibility and creative work that "math as art" would entail; third, the textbook industry has too much control over what's taught and how. Still, he fights the good fight, and presents ideas on how to get students to think and get excited about math, and he pulls us into his excitement.
Eloquent and passionate, Lockhart is also witty, as when he discusses geometry: "Geometry: Isolated from the rest of the curriculum, this course will raise the hopes of students who wish to engage in meaningful mathematical activity, and then dash them. [The goal] is to eradicate any last remaining vestiges of natural mathematical intuition, in preparation for Algebra II." He further says that the math curriculum doesn't need to be reformed; rather it needs to be scrapped. He'll easily make a convert of you and explains how to proceed. His argument will not only change the way you think about mathematics, but the way you think about thought, creativity, curiosity and "relevant" math. Lockhart says, "Mathematics is not a language, it's an adventure." He makes us want to be a part of that adventure.--Marilyn Dahl
Shelf Talker: A witty and passionate plea for reforming the way we teach and think about mathematics--not a dull subject, but an art and an adventure.
