In admittedly "low-key fashion," as bookseller Robert McDonald put it, Unabridged Books, Chicago, Ill., is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Technically, founder and owner Ed Devereux told Shelf Awareness, "we missed it," since the store was founded on November 1, 1980. Still, as a thank you to customers, Unabridged is offering a 25% discount on all items in the store Friday, December 2, through Sunday, December 4. As for a bigger celebration, Devereux promised, "We'll have a party in the spring. It just seems a little hectic now."

In a sense, Unabridged is celebrating surviving and thriving during a quarter century highlighted by two major changes that Devereux said were unimaginable when he started the store: the development of the Internet and Amazon and the advent of superstores. "They changed the nature of bookselling and retailing in general," he said.

To make it through the past 25 years, the store has followed some basic, solid principles of bookselling. For one, all staff members work fulltime, and all new hires have had bookstore experience. As Robert McDonald put it, "We're career booksellers." Many of the staff have worked at the store for years.

Unabridged also has one of the most extensive shelf talker programs in the country, so much so that the store's bookcases can seem to be covered by a sea of paper. "Shelf talkers still sell books really well," Devereux said. McDonald called them the store's hallmark, adding that "some customers swear by them" and follow the recommendations of their favorite booksellers.

Unabridged is unusual in its mix of titles, and yet this stems from its longtime approach--"to promote and sell great books." It has a gay and lesbian focus and is known, McDonald said, as "the gay bookstore" in Chicago. At the same time, however, it has a strong general interest focus, with strengths in children's, fiction, travel and home design. In fact, Unabridged sells as many children's books as gay books. An announcement about the store's anniversary summed the result up this way: "It's safe to say Unabridged is the only bookstore in Chicago where a shopper can buy the latest issues of gay erotic magazine Honcho, a copy of children's classic Goodnight Moon and pick up literary critic Harold Bloom's new book on the Bible, all in one stop." The store also has a strong remainder selection, which Devereux buys.

Unabridged has expanded from its original storefront into another storefront and into the basement, taking up about 5,000 square feet of space. (It's much larger than it looks at first glance from the street.) The store stocks perhaps 20,000 titles, a number Devereux admitted is "pulled out of a hat."

Unabridged's most recent challenge was more humdrum than the rise of online retailing and chain superstores, but one that many booksellers find particularly perplexing: in the late spring and early summer, the street and sidewalk outside Unabridged Books were rebuilt. "They tore it up and put it back," McDonald said. Business in the last weeks has been "very busy," which, despite being early in the season, "bodes well" for the holiday.

Unabridged Books is located at 3251 N. Broadway, Chicago, Ill. 60657; 773-883-9119.

Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor, Mich., is preparing for the holiday season by scaling back inventory, investing in more promotional advertising and moving back its pre-Thanksgiving sale by a day so the store can replenish inventory for the weekend and get an earlier sense of which books are popular, according to the Michigan Business Review.

The reasons for the changes, Nicola Rooney told the paper: "First, the economy's not that great. Second, the Gulf Coast has taken a significant amount of people's discretionary income. People may not have as much to spend on themselves because they're spending on others."

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Today's New York Times corrects several comments made about Women and Children First, Chicago, Ill., in a Wednesday story about rules for parents and children in stores and other businesses. The story had said that a male employee of the feminist bookstore had asked a customer to stop breast feeding. (Women and Children First noted that this was a strange accusation considering that the store had no male employee and encourages breast feeding.) Concerning the incident, the paper said, "It was not the Women and Children First bookstore but another business in the neighborhood." As for another slap at the store, the Times added, "The article also misstated the bookstore's policy for children who break rules for story time. Parents are asked to take them away from the reading area; the children are not ejected."

For the store's full rebuttal and details that make you wonder if Jayson Blair is working freelance in the Windy City for the paper of record, go to Women and Children First's blog.

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Tonight NBC's Three Wishes highlights the story of Nicole Donant, a 13-year-old Girl Scout suffering from cerebral palsy in Mineral City, Ohio, who had started a book drive that collected more than 6,000 books for a proposed library in the town of 900 people. Donant contacted the producers of Three Wishes with several wishes, the largest of which involved creating the library. The show took her up on her desire, and with help from Brodart, Scholastic, Grolier--as well as Dell, GE, building companies and others--created a 3,200-sq.-ft. building called the Nicole Donant Library. For more on the story and pictures, check out the Times Reporter.

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The Apprentice's sorcerer? The AP has reported that St. Martin's is rushing Scooter Libby's 1996 novel The Apprentice back into press with a printing of 25,000 copies. The thriller by the indicted former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney is set in Japan in 1903.

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On Monday, when we mentioned the Web site taking a straw poll about whether or not Clement Hurd's cigarette should be returned to his photograph on Goodnight Moon, about 20 people had voted, the majority in favor the original, unairbrushed photograph. In the four days since then, the burning issue of smoking has ignited much interest: as of early this morning, the voting was almost tied at 5,321 in favor of the old photo and 5,237 for putting out the butt.

Maybe A. Bitterman should take charge of some of the country's voting machines--except that the default vote is "smoke" and a lot of electioneering occurs close to the polling place. . .

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From Cincinnati.com, in its entirety:

"The Blue Manatee, a children's bookstore in Oakley, has just opened a café called Decafé, and it's not unlike a coffee shop for kids and their parents. Just as parents get their special drinks with funny names at a coffee shop, kids here can order organic fruit smoothies such as the George and Martha, Blueberries for Sal, the Big Orange Splot, and others named for kids'-books. There are pastries from Frieda's Bakery, organic baby food, little bowls of Cheerios, and healthy snacks. Both restrooms are labeled Potty, and the chairs are mostly kid-sized. Decafé will be open longer hours than the bookstore, from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday."

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The East Valley Tribune makes a big nod to the hip younger employees at Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe,
Ariz., who have organized themselves into a club called "Page 23," which has "brewed a mission to bring in their favorite hipster authors for book readings and pair them with booze and live bands."

A recent event: "Monday night the group brought Davy Rothbart, founding editor of Found magazine and This American Life contributor (translation: 200 cool points) to the cozy Phoenix nightclub-cum-art gallery Modified Arts, where, with ironic hip-hop bling shimmering around his neck (100 more irony-tinged cool points), he read from his latest short story collection, The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas, and introduced his brother, Peter Rothbart, who played acoustic folk music."

The group has also convinced Salvador Plascencia, author of The People of Paper (McSweeney's, $22, 1932416218), to come and read, an event discussed in Shelf Awareness on August 25.

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The Martha's Vineyard Gazette sheds light on Sun Porch Books, Oak Bluffs, Mass., which reopened last week. Owned by Holly Mascott Nadler, "an Island writer and conductor of ghost tours," the store has mysteries, chick lit, a "laugh therapy" section, New Age and spiritual titles, books set on the Vineyard and children's titles.

The Today Show is busy this morning. The following authors are scheduled to appear:

• Rick Bayless will create recipes from his Mexican Everyday (Norton, $29.95, 039306154X), the companion volume to his PBS series.
• James Patterson, author of Mary, Mary (Little, Brown, $27.95, 031615976X), which goes on sale on Monday and continues the Alex Cross series.
• The apparently multi-talented Nicole Ritchie, author of the new novel, The Truth About Diamonds (Regan, $23.95, 0060820489).

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Today WAMU's Diane Rehm Show hosts Diane Ackerman, author of An Alchemy of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of the Brain (Scribner, $15, 0743246748).

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Today on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show: Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, author of the memoir Between Worlds: The Making of an American Life (Putnam, $25.95, 0399153241).

Also on the Lopate Show, Margaret Atwood, author of The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus (Canongate, $18, 1841957178), and Karen Armstrong, author of A Short History of Myth (Canongate, $18, 184195716), talk about . . . myths.

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Today Oprah offers a sneak preview of the Broadway production of The Color Purple, based, of course, on the book by Alice Walker (Harvest, $14, 0156028352). The musical, which Oprah is "presenting," is scheduled to open December 1.

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Tonight Charlie Rose has a languid conversation with John Berendt, whose new book is The City of Falling Angels (Penguin Press, $25.95, 1594200580).

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On the 30th anniversary of the sinking of the Great Lakes ore ship Edmund Fitzgerald yesterday, All Things Considered talked with Michael Schumacher, author of Mighty Fitz: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Bloomsbury USA, $24.95, 158234647X).

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Yesterday on Fresh Air:

• Harvey Pekar, whose new graphic novel is The Quitter (DC Comics, $19.99, 140120399X), another autobiographical tome, which details Pekar's upbringing in 1950s Cleveland.
• Moises Naim, editor and publisher of Foreign Policy magazine, whose new books is Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global Economy (Doubleday, $26, 0385513925).

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Yesterday NPR's Morning Edition had a peaceful conversation with B.K.S. Iyengar, author of Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom (Rodale, $24.95, 1594862486).

Pennie Clark Ianniciello, book buyer for Costco, has chosen Runaway by Alice Munro (Vintage Contemporaries, $14.95, 1400077915), last year's winner of Canada's Governor General's Award and just out in paperback, as her pick for the month. In her column in Costco Connection, which goes to the warehouse club's members, she said that "readers will come away from this book feeling they know each [character]. In these stories Munro captures a realness that would take other authors an entire novel to create."

In a related story about Munro, the author said, "People are so complicated, and that's what fascinates me. I'm interested in characters who are unpredictable, who feel conflicted about what they will do next." Asked what she'll do next, Munro answered, "I have no idea. I have ideas, but I don't know if I'll resist them."

The following are the bestselling books at Southern California Booksellers Association stores during the week ended Sunday, November 6, as reported to Book Sense:

Hardcover Fiction

1. The Camel Club by David Baldacci (Warner, $26.95, 0446577383)
2. Christ the Lord by Anne Rice (Knopf, $25.95, 0375412018)
3. Predator by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam, $26.95, 0399152830)
4. Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire (ReganBooks, $26.95, 0060548932)
5. Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan (Putnam, $26.95, 0399153012)
6. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown, $26.95, 0316734934)
7. Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Knopf, $20, 140004460X)
8. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan (Tor, $29.95, 0312873077)
9. Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow (FSG, $25, 0374184216)
10. A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte, $28, 0385324162)
11. The March by E. L. Doctorow (Random House, $25.95, 0375506713)
12. The Sea by John Banville (Knopf, $23, 0307263118)
13. On Beauty by Zadie Smith (Penguin, $25.95, 1594200637)
14. The Trouble With Poetry by Billy Collins (Random House, $22.95, 037550382X)
15. The Scorpion's Gate by Richard A. Clarke (Putnam, $24.95, 0399152946)

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Knopf, $23.95, 140004314X)
2. The Truth (With Jokes) by Al Franken (Dutton, $25.95, 0525949062)
3. Healthy Aging by Andrew Weil (Knopf, $27.95, 0375407553)
4. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (S&S, $35, 0684824906)
5. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (FSG, $27.50, 0374292884)
6. The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt (Penguin, $25.95, 1594200580)
7. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Morrow, $25.95, 006073132X)
8. Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter (S&S, $25, 0743284577)
9. The Elements of Style Illustrated by William Strunk et al. (Penguin Press, $24.95, 1594200696)
10. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown, $25.95, 0316172324)
11. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (Dutton, $24.95, 0525948023)
12. A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Seven Stories, $23.95, 158322713X)
13. 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal (Warner, $21.95, 0446578673)
14. Tab Hunter Confidential by Tab Hunter (Algonquin, $24.95, 1565124669)
15. Dean and Me by Jerry Lewis and James Kaplan (Doubleday, $26.95, 0767920864)

Trade Paperback Fiction

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $14, 1594480001)
2. Wicked by Gregory Maguire (ReganBooks, $15, 0060987103)
3. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (Back Bay, $13.95, 0316010707)
4. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (Vintage, $14.95, 1400079497)
5. The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (Bloomsbury, $14.95, 1582346100)
6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Vintage, $12.95, 1400032717)
7. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Vintage, $14.95, 0679781587)
8. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin, $14, 0142001740)
9. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin, $15, 0143034901)
10. Shopgirl by Steve Martin (Hyperion, $11.95, 1401308279)
11. The Known World by Edward P. Jones (Amistad, $13.95, 0060557559)
12. Night Game by Christine Feehan (Jove, $9.99, 0515139769)
13. Dark Watch by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul (Berkley, $16, 0425205592)
14. The Chronicles of Narnia (movie tie-in adult) by C. S. Lewis (HarperCollins, $19.99, 0060765453)
15. How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers (Vintage, $13, 1400095565)

Trade Paperback Nonfiction

1. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Anchor, $14.95, 0307276902)
2. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage, $14, 0679745580)
3. Chronicles by Bob Dylan (S&S, $14, 0743244583)
4. Bad Dog by R. D. Rosen et al. (Workman, $9.95, 0761139834)
5. Zagat Los Angeles/Southern California Restaurants (Zagat Survey, $13.95, 1570067422)
6. Sudoku Easy, Volume 1 by Will Shortz (St. Martin's, $6.95, 0312355025)
7. Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner et al. (Three Rivers, $12.95, 1400082315)
8. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316346624)
9. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage, $14.95, 0375725601)
10. Bad Cat by Jim Edgar (Workman, $9.95, 0761136193)
11. The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2006 edited by Ken Park (World Almanac, $12.95, 0886879647)
12. Su Doku for Dummies by Andrew Heron and Edmund James (Wiley, $9.99, 0470018925)
13. Why I Write by George Orwell (Penguin, $8.95, 0143036351)
14. Don't Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff (Chelsea Green, $10, 1931498717)
15. Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn (Norton, $13.95, 0393329402)

Mass Market

1. State of Fear by Michael Crichton (Avon, $7.99, 0061015733)
2. The Winds of Change by Martha Grimes (Signet, $7.99, 0451216962)
3. Jarhead by Anthony Swofford (Pocket, $7.99, 141651340X)
4. London Bridges by James Patterson (Warner, $7.99, 0446613355)
5. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket, $7.99, 0671027360)
6. Whiteout by Ken Follett (Signet, $7.99, 0451215710)
7. Hour Game by David Baldacci (Warner, $7.99, 0446616494)
8. Life Expectancy by Dean R. Koontz (Bantam, $7.99, 0553588249)
9. Night Fall by Nelson DeMille (Warner, $7.99, 0446616621)
10. The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (Hard Case Crime, $5.99, 0843955848)

Children's (Fiction and Illustrated)

1. The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events #12) by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist (HarperCollins, $11.99, 0064410153)
2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (movie tie-in, children's) by C. S. Lewis (HarperCollins, $7.99, 0060765461)
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $29.99, 0439784549)
4. Eragon by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $9.95, 0375826696)
5. Eldest by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $21, 037582670X)
6. Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black (S&S, $24.95, 0689859414)
7. 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)
8. Napoleon Dynamite: The Complete Quote Book (Simon Spotlight, $7.95, 1416913912)
9. Dragonology by Ernest Drake, illustrated by Helen Ward and Douglas Carrel (Candlewick, $19.99, 0763623296)
10. Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (Chicken House, $19.99, 0439554004)
11. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, $8.95, 0375829164)
12. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, $7.99, 0694003611)
13. Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth (Scholastic, $16.95, 0439339111)
14. Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston (Laurel-Leaf, $6.50, 0553272586)
15. The Chronicles of Narnia (Boxed set) by C. S. Lewis (HarperCollins, $19.99, 0066238501)

[Many thanks to Book Sense and the SCBA!]