Now that the Canadian Booksellers Association has scheduled its summer conference in response to the cancellation of BookExpo Canada (Shelf Awareness, April 3, 2009), the next question is whether publishers will support the new event.

Quill & Quire reported that "industry response has been muted. Representatives from both HarperCollins Canada and Random House of Canada told Q&Q Omni that their firms were still reviewing whether or not they would be participating in CBA Summer Conference."

"We certainly want to be supportive of the CBA and any independent booksellers," said Random House director of marketing Tracey Turriff. "We’re just determining what form that support will take."

According to Quill & Quire, "The question on seemingly everyone's mind is whether the CBA will be able to attract enough supporters--at short notice--to make the event viable."

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On the first birthday of Barnes & Noble Studio, B&N.com has introduced Blogging Booksellers, which features B&N booksellers from stores around the country who post video blogs made with Flip cameras about books and authors they recommend as well as events and news about their stores. Their material will be updated weekly. There are currently 11 vloggers; more will be added. The booksellers will give "a friendly face to their local stores," the company said.

In the year since it was founded, B&N Studio has posted more than 2,000 video and audio pieces.

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Majors Books, which has two medical bookstores in Houston and Dallas, Tex., "has managed to survive for a century by offering special services to its customers, opening the store to events and adapting to the online world," the Houston Chronicle wrote.

Many health professionals still prefer to find medical information in books rather than online, and they want advice from store staff about medical texts, the paper added.

The store, which sells medical equipment and scrubs, is subletting part of the 10,000-sq.-ft. space in its Houston store.

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In May 2010, Scott Turow is publishing a sequel to his legal thriller Presumed Innocent and is switching hardcover publishers, according to today's New York Times. Turow, who had long said he would not write a sequel to the 1987 blockbuster, is moving from Farrar, Straus & Giroux to Grand Central Publishing, which has been his paperback publisher. His agent, Gail Hochman, said that having different hardcover and paperback publishers "stretches the boundaries of the business."

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Just turn left at Treacle Mine Road. Asking for directions at the Kingwell Rise housing development in Wincanton took on an added fictional element when the Somerset town unveiled road and street names taken from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.

The Guardian reported that Pratchett was on hand Sunday to celebrate the unveiling, "and was greeted by hundreds of fans--many dressed in costume."

"I think it's a lovely idea, even though it makes my head spin to think of the books becoming a little closer to reality," he said. "And they are nice names, even though I say it myself. Personally, I'd pay good money to live somewhere called Treacle Mine Road."

ReadingGroupGuides.com is surveying book club members about how they get their information, when they make selections, whether they're interested in speaking with authors and how they're using social and book networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, GoodReads.com and LibraryThing.com. "Publishers, booksellers and librarians always ask us about the latest book club trends," said Carol Fitzgerald, president of the Book Report Network and ReadingGroupGuides.com founder. "We did our last survey in 2001, and so much has changed since then."

The survey, which consists of 62 questions, has been promoted on book blogs, industry sites like EarlyWord.com and elsewhere on the Internet. In addition, Fitzgerald is asking booksellers and librarians to tell their customers and patrons about the survey and encourage them to take part. The goal is to have a minimum of 7,500 respondents.

Results will be shared with publishers to aid them in reaching out to reading groups and providing effective resources, as well as with booksellers and librarians to help with book club planning. "In light of the economy, we also are asking if clubs have changed their habits over the past year," said Fitzgerald.

The survey is open until April 30, and participants are eligible to receive free books. Results will be unveiled at BEA in New York.--Shannon McKenna Schmidt

Deb Hunter, the energetic owner of Chicklet Books (and several other bookselling and wholesaling ventures), is organizing the first Author! Author! book festival, which will be held Saturday, September 19, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in the courtyard of the Princeton Shopping Center, Princeton, N.J.

The courtyard will be partitioned into sections that will feature, for example, local authors and children's book areas as well as a signings/readings/demo tent, a food court, entertainment and more.

Participating authors include Keri Conkling and Lauren Lambiase, author and illustrator of A Glove of Their Own, as well as Max Leone, 13, who has been writing and blogging about YA offerings, Meg Cox, Elizabeth Joy Arnold and Lisa Tucker.

Why put on the event? Hunter wrote: "The state of New Jersey is littered with a plethora of talented albeit unknown authors on every subject you can name (and some you can't). Not everyone can be James Patterson. So . . .why not have a gathering of this talent in a centrally located part of the state??"

Contact Hunter at topbanana@chickletbooks.com.

Ask and ye shall receive. Happily Linda Parks recently found that this adage applied to the store that she and her sister, novelist Kay Hooper, own in Forest City, N.C.--the city has shown striking support for Fireside Books and Gifts, which asked for help involving traffic and utility changes, closing an alley and constructing a patio.

Early last year, when Parks and Hooper purchased the store, they bought just the business, not the building--which is located behind a mall along a major highway--and immediately started the hunt for a larger space.

"We began researching our entire county--studying the demographics, looking at traffic patterns and talking to merchants in areas we were interested in," said Parks. Ultimately, the pair settled on downtown Forest City, which is in the midst of being revitalized. When an historic building, a former theater, went on the market, "we knew we'd found our future home," Parks said. It was an ideal location except for one thing--an alleyway that prevented the use of the building's back entrance.

Before committing to buy the building, Parks asked the city for a number of incentives, including closing the alley, redirecting traffic for a drive-through pharmacy and creating a patio with benches and greenery. Along with providing an inviting oasis for pedestrians, the patio would double as an outdoor event space for the store.

City officials voted to approve the property upgrade and much more. "I was hoping for half and got every single item," said Parks. Since changing the alleyway will necessitate digging up concrete, the city has agreed to install an underground power line for the store and upgrade the electrical source to the building. Tax incentives and other utility hook-ups are also part of the package, as is free advertising for several years in the city's quarterly tourism brochures.

Other merchants will also benefit from the beautification project, which is one reason Parks believes the city was willing to agree to such a generous incentive package--that and the economy. "We've been in a very hard-hit area," Parks said, with multiple plant closings and thousands of people losing their jobs. "They know we're going to be putting people to work, and they are as well. I think both of those things combined made them want to give us this incentive."

Fireside's new location has 7,000 square feet of selling space (compared to 1,900 at the current store). The move is scheduled to take place late this year or early next year after renovations on the building's interior are complete. The plan is to preserve original details of the historic theater, such as a stamped tin ceiling and ornate, hand-painted designs on the walls. As part of the incentive package, Forest City's town planner will assist with researching and applying for historic preservation grants. "Our city government has been very receptive and willing every step of the way," said Parks. "It's going to be a great joint venture."--Shannon McKenna Schmidt

This morning on the Today Show: Laura Schlessinger, author of In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms (Harper, $25.99, 9780061690297/0061690295).

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Today on NPR's Tell Me More's Poetry Month series: Hope Anita Smith, author of Mother Poems (Holt Books for Young Readers, $16.95, 9780805082319/080508231X).

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Today on NPR's Fresh Air: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, author of This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President (Harper, $26.99, 9780061353475/0061353477).

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Today on Rachel Ray: Karen Tack, author of Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make (Houghton Mifflin, $15.95, 9780618829255/0618829253).

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Tonight on PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: Quinn Bradlee, author of A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures (PublicAffairs, $24.95, 9781586481896/1586481894). He appears with his parents, Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn.

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Tomorrow morning on the Today Show: Debbie Phelps, author of A Mother for All Seasons: A Memoir (Morrow, $25.99, 9780061780011/0061780014).

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Tomorrow morning on Good Morning America: Cokie Roberts, author of We Are Our Mothers' Daughters (Morrow, $23.99, 9780061741951/0061741957).

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Tomorrow morning on the Early Show: Michael Ruhlman, author of Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking (Scribner, $27, 9781416566113/1416566112).

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Tomorrow on NPR's Talk of the Nation: John Micklethwait, author of God Is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith Is Changing the World (Penguin Press, $27.95, 9781594202131/1594202133).

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Tomorrow on Oprah: Marie Osmond, author of Might As Well Laugh About It Now (NAL, $24.95, 9780451226389/0451226380).

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Tomorrow on the Diane Rehm Show: William Greider, author of Come Home America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country (Rodale, $25.95, 9781594868160/1594868166).

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Tomorrow night on Larry King Live: Michael J. Fox, author of Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (Hyperion, $25.99, 9781401303389/1401303382).

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Tomorrow night on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon: Russell Brand, author of My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up (Collins, $25.99, 9780061730412/0061730416).

The cast has been set for director Joel Schumacher's adaptation of Nick McDonell's novel, Twelve. Variety reported that Chace Crawford, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Ellen Barkin and Kiefer Sutherland will star in the film, which begins production April 20 for a planned release in the winter of 2010. Jordan Melamed wrote the script.

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, April 14:

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline (St. Martin's, $26.95, 9780312380724/0312380720) follows a reporter and single mother who suspects her adopted son may have a twin.

Just When I Thought I'd Dropped My Last Egg: Life and Other Calamities by Kathie Lee Gifford (Ballantine, $22, 9780345512062/0345512065) is the memoir of the TV host.

The Geometry of Sisters by Luanne Rice (Bantam, $25, 9780553805130/0553805134) explores the connections between three sets of sisters attending a New England prep school.

Mommywood by Tori Spelling (Simon Spotlight, $25, 9781416599104/141659910X) expands on the parenting escapade seen on the Oxygen reality show Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood.

Eight Little Faces by Kate Gosselin (Zondervan, $14.99, 9780310318460/0310318467) chronicles the daily life of the family featured on TLC's show Jon & Kate Plus 8.

The Horse Boy: A Father's Quest to Heal His Son by Rupert Isaacson (Little, Brown, $24.99, 9780316008235/0316008230) tells the story of a family's trip through Mongolia to benefit their autistic five-year-old.

I'll Scream Later by Marlee Matlin (Simon Spotlight, $26, 9781439102855/1439102856) recounts the career of an Oscar-winning deaf actress.

Now in paperback:

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller (Washington Square Press, $17, 9780743491488/0743491483).

We think we are so smart. Looking at a model of our three-pound brain, which has the consistency of toothpaste, we brag about the neocortex that enables us to think rationally and analyze our conscious mind. Our ability to make inspired choices may distinguish us from worms and other forms of life, but the record shows that we still put our life savings in a Ponzi scheme, buy a Lamborghini on credit when a Hyundai would do and cast our vote for the worst mayor ever. How can we be so dumb?

In Bozo Sapiens, we find out that we certainly have the equipment and potential to be as smart as we think we are, but there are obstacles. "Our emotions, bred in the distant past of intimate tribal life, offer no clear guide for keeping apart personal from general frustrations, local from global sympathies," Michael and Ellen Kaplan (Adventures in Probability) write in this informative, entertaining and humbling book. They take a gander at how our thought processes get short-circuited when it comes to money, sex or us-versus-them issues and deliver the verdict that we aren't wired to think rationally. As they put it, "We are more likely to draw on the wordless, passionate resources of our old mammalian brain."

Drawing on recent research, the Kaplans present an accessible survey of the way our brains actually work. With its trillion neurons firing electric signals to each other, the brain categorizes information it receives and arranges random fragments of experience into a "meaningful" explanation of a situation. With its need for efficiency, the brain also mixes in-depth and hearsay knowledge; more than a third of our brain is devoted to visual capacity and our visual responses may make a decision for us before our conscious mind is ever engaged. Consider the simple French fry: its combination of caramelized sugars, fat and saltiness is irrationally irresistible to us, but we inherited this taste from our distant ancestors in a village of approximately 100 members. No matter what is good for us, the evidence is everywhere: the desire for speedy decisions and our ancient instincts prevail over rational thinking.

Is there any hope for us? The Kaplans present many examples that show we can learn to slow ourselves down so that our powerful rational mind can kick in to help us solve not only personal problems but global challenges as well. But if an attractive somebody in a Lamborghini offered you an order of fries . . . --John McFarland

Shelf Talker: An informative, entertaining and humbling tour of how our brain works--sometimes against our better interests.