NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook featured "Summer reads '09," with recommendations from Liesl Schillinger of the New York Times Book Review, Laurie Hertzel of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Jamil Zaidi, manager at the Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, Wash.

Jamil's picks:

• The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larson
• The Way Through Doors by Jesse Ball
• Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell
• The Dark Side of Love by Rafik Schami
• The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
• Wonderful World by Javier Calvo
• The Housekeeper & The Professor by Yoko Ogawa
• The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
• Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
• The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith
• The Dark Volume by Gordon Dahlquist
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• Drood by Dan Simmons
• Wanting by Richard Flanagan
• The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl

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The book editors at the Los Angeles Times selected "60 new books to read this summer."

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Wind City Books, Casper, Wyo., "caters to the unusual book buyers," the Star-Tribune said. When co-owner Hugh Jenkins opened the bookshop two years ago, he "took pleasure in ordering books he was sure no one would ever buy off the shelves, or even notice."

"We have things on the shelf that we figure we're never going to sell. But we have them because we place a value in them," said co-owner Vicki Burger. "We're developing a reputation for having unusual titles. It may take a year or more before it sells, but at least the customer can find it."

Jenkins observed the although there are other indies in the region. "We have a positive relationship," he said. "If we don't have something, we'll call them. We refer people to Ralph's, Book Exchange, Blue Heron . . . We're all part of the bookselling community and the town."

Burger, a former nurse, added, "It's about service. It's about knowing customers and taking joy in being able to surprise them with just the perfect book you know they'll enjoy. It's definitely a form of caring for people."

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Each year, the Celebration of Bookselling Luncheon, which includes comments by winners and honorees of the Indies Choice Book Awards, formerly known as the ABBYs and the Book Sense of the Year Awards, is touching and often funny. This year it was marked by two hilarious and apparently spontaneous announcements of contests.

It started when Neil Gaiman accepted the Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book award for The Graveyard Book. In his remarks, Gaiman announced a contest based on bookstores' Halloween parties with a Graveyard Book theme. The grand prize: an appearance by Gaiman at the winning bookstore during the holidays. The top 10 runners up will receive "signed posters, books and tchotchkes," he said.

Later in the program, Jon Scieszka, who was an honoree in the Most Engaging Author category, said that "without knowing it, Penguin has graciously agreed to put on" a similar contest that will revolve around Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka. The National Ambassador for Young People's Literature will make an appearance for the winner. "The next 10 get more posters, and then next 15 or so get a note from my mom," he added.

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A different, amazing kind of customer love:

Lanora Hurley, owner of Next Chapter Bookshop, Mequon, Wis., and two members of her staff were able to attend BEA in large part because a customer donated frequent flyer mileage for the three to fly to New York.

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Two of our favorite retired booksellers turn out not to be so retired after all. Betty Bennett, former co-owner of Bennett Books, Wyckoff, N.J., and Fern Jaffe, former owner of Paperbacks Plus, Bronx, N.Y., are both managing author signings at non-bookstore venues. "We have 50 years of experience," Bennett said when we saw her at BEA.

When the two work together, they do so under the name Books Off Site, which may be contacted at offsitebooks@aol.com or 201-891-8444. When Bennett works on her own, she does so as Fieldstone Book Company, reachable at fieldstonebooks@gmail.com or 201-891-8444. The pair do events in the New York City metropolitan area as well as in northern and central New Jersey.

Bennett continues to work 9 a.m.-3 p.m. most days at Sparta Books, Sparta, N.J. She said that she always liked offsite events and that, of course, in this iteration, there is "no payroll or rent."

Among events where the pair have sold books, the most fun recently was the PEN awards and reception, which drew more than 200 attendees.

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Congratulations to Ed Nawotka, a friend and former colleague, who is editor-in-chief of Publishing Perspectives, a new daily e-mail that focuses on international publishing. In beta form at the moment, the publication is sponsored by the German Book Office in New York, a subsidiary of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Another friend, Riky Stock, head of the GBO, is publishing director of Publishing Perspectives. For more information and to sign up for a subscription, go to publishingperspectives.com.

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Congratulations, too, to another friend and former colleagure, Chris Kahn, formerly Western ad director of Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and School Library Journal, who has joined EarlyWord as head of sales and marketing.

Publisher Richard Hunt and online marketer Kara Pelicano of Keen Communications rode a tandem bicycle from their New York accommodations to the Javits Center and BookExpo America this year to promote National Bike Month, cleaner air and going green.

"Booksellers are important because they can transmit passion to customers, but none of us would be here without editors," said John Freeman, acting editor of Granta magazine, as he introduced the six participants of the Editors Buzz panel.

Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel

The panel kicked off with a philosophical slant as Farrar, Straus and Giroux's Paul Elie presented Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel (September), which explores the place of justice in our society today and what we owe one another as citizens. The book is based in part on Sandel's Harvard course of the same name, an introduction to moral and political philosophy, that is one of the most popular classes at the university. This fall PBS is airing a series based on the course.

One reason Elie enjoys working with Sandel, he said, is because he learns the author's views on current events. "I feel like I'm talking to Charlie Rose or Ted Koppel," he said. Elie described the author as "a magician with ideas" and called Justice "wisdom literature for the age of Obama."


This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Ben Sevier wasted no time in telling the audience about the racy opening of Jonathan Tropper's latest novel: the main character, Judd Foxman, watches his wife have sex with another man. Along with the demise of his marriage, Judd is mourning the death of his father and spends a week with his family--together for the first time in years--trying to make sense of his life.

This Is Where I Leave You (August) is "funny, sardonic, heartfelt," said Sevier. The fans Tropper garnered for his previous four novels, he noted, "seem primed to take him to the next level." Among them is a San Francisco bookseller who has sold 1,200 copies of Tropper's The Book of Joe. 

Sevier wrapped up with a "cheat sheet" for finding readers who will like This Is Where I Leave You. They include fans of Tom Perrotta and Nick Hornby, film buffs who enjoyed the movie Dan in Real Life or who sing along during The Big Chill, those who have a big family that drives them crazy . . . or a small family that drives them crazy.


Roses by Leila Meacham

"What unites all of us is the search for the perfect read," said Deb Futter of Grand Central Publishing. She said she found it with Leila Meacham's Roses, "a throwback to the grand tradition of storytelling" that she likened to Gone with the Wind and The Thornbirds.
 
Roses is set in East Texas and spans a hundred years in the lives of a town's founding families. The book doesn't skew old or young, noted Futter, and it will make a good gift for everyone from mothers and grandmothers to sisters and wives. The author, a former teacher, is "the most polite person" Futter has dealt with. Added Freeman, "If you're polite, you will like this book."


Happy: A Memoir by Alex Lemon

Scribner editor Alexis Gargagliano agreed to have a look at poet Alex Lemon's Happy (December) with some reservations, thinking that she wouldn't want to take on a book about "a cocky college kid who took too many drugs and wasn't nice to the people around him." One plane ride later, during which she read the manuscript, Gargagliano was won over by Lemon's "gripping" memoir about his struggles with addiction.

As a 19-year-old college student, Lemon suffered a stroke and later underwent brain surgery. Happy takes the reader along on the "rollercoaster ride of Alex's survival," said Gargagliano. It's also the story of his relationship with his mother, an artist, who taught her son to talk and walk again after his surgery.

Lemon is the author of two poetry collections and received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Ultimately Happy "is a book about transformation," said Gargagliano. "It's the kind of book that makes you remember what it's like to be alive."


Stiches: A Memoir by David Small

David Small's graphic memoir Stitches "is no Leave It to Beaver" but rather a story "that could have been imagined by Kafka," said Norton editor Bob Weil. "A Gothic family drama forms the core of the memoir."

When Small was a sickly child, his physician father exposed him to radiation as a supposed cure. At 14, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, but no one told him that he had the disease and was expected to die.

When he was 16, Small fled his severely dysfunctional home with dreams of becoming an artist--and succeeded. He has received the Caldecott Medal and other awards for his children's picture books, which include The Gardener and So, You Want to Be President?

Stitches is "a silent movie masquerading as a book," said Weil, and he predicted that Small's compelling "tale of redemption" will have crossover appeal.

The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

When Robert Jordan passed away in 2007, he left detailed notes about A Memory of Light, the concluding volume in his bestselling fantasy series Wheel of Time. His wife and editor, Harriet McDougal of Tor Books, chose Brandon Sanderson to finish the series. Sanderson is the author of the Mistborn books and was on hand in the audience to take a bow.

Because of the extensive scope of the story, three volumes will make up A Memory of Light, the first of which is The Gathering Storm (November). Presumably the publishing plan--and the new writer on board--has a nod of approval from the series's creator. Said McDougal, "If Robert Jordan was not pleased with me, he would let me know all about it."

--Shannon McKenna Schmidt

[Coverage of the independent publishers' editors' buzz panel appear later this week.]

At the BEA panel "Retail Level Print-on-Demand: The Anatomy of Northshire's Espresso Experiment, " Chris Morrow, manager of Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, Vt., made a strong case for On Demand Books's Espresso Book Machine as a foot traffic booster, a P.R. dream and a potential revenue stream, but said the day when POD is a 15-minute process from customer request to sale has not yet arrived.

Recapping the first year of Northshire's "beta program" with the Espresso 1.5, Morrow said the machine was fairly easy to use, attracted customers, boosted community relations and vastly improved the customer experience. "From a customer point of view it has been a big success," he said. Customers "flock to the store" to watch books being made. The only independent bookseller in the U.S. to have an Espresso, Morrow estimates that Northshire sells 150-200 POD titles per week, largely self-published books, and said his bookstore is known throughout the state now, thanks to the machine that the store nicknamed Lurch--"because it's big and clunky."

"We've gotten way more press from this machine than we could've bought," Morrow said. "It makes people think we're on the cutting edge."

On the downside, Morrow said the machine takes up a lot of space at the front of his store and "broke down too much for my comfort level." (On Demand Books believes it has solved those two problems with its Espresso 2.0 model, which was unveiled in April at the London Book Fair.) The machine also requires one dedicated staff person who must be trained on the equipment.

Morrow outlined three categories of use for POD's direct-to-consumer capabilities: self-publishing; accessing public domain books, including out-of-print and hard-to-find titles; and instant sale of copyright titles available through Ingram's Lightning Source. He expressed frustration with the limited availability of copyrighted titles, which he attributed in part to "a bit of disconnect" on the part of publishers. If, as usually happens, e-books are released on pub date, POD format should be simultaneously available, he said. Morrow also suggested On Demand Books's software needs to be improved, especially its ability to integrate with retailers' inventory control systems.

The popularity of Northshire's POD self-publishing capabilities led the store to establish the Shire Press, which offers a full menu of services from editing to layout and cover design--and even provides ISBNs. This "high touch business" has a gross margin profit of 60%-80% for the finished product. About 10% of his POD revenue is realized through publishing services, Morrow said.

Morrow reiterated the green benefits of the POD and the potential for increased sales. He estimated that if POD can capture 20% of sales lost when a title is not in stock, it will bring in roughly $60,000 in additional revenue per year. "I'm confident the numbers can work easily in favor of the bookstore," he said. The average cost to consumers for a self-published or OP book is $10-$15 for a title of 200 pages. Publishers' retail prices apply to copyrighted books.

A spokesperson for On Demand said the Espresso 2.0 machine and two requisite printers have a 5' x 15' footprint, and the cost of renting all three is approximately $1,000 per month. Paper and ink are the same quality as those used on larger presses, and the finished product is a traditional perfect bound paperback that can be trimmed to meet specs from 4.5" x 4.5" to 8.5" x 11." A color printer allows for full-color covers and interiors.--Laurie Lico Albanese, co-author The Miracles of Prato

This morning on Good Morning America: Bruce Leininger, author of Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot (Grand Central, $24.99, 9780446509336/0446509337).

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This morning on the Today Show: Mark Reiter and Richard Sandomir, authors of The Final Four of Everything (Simon & Schuster, $19.95, 9781439126080/1439126089).

Also on today: Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, authors of Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography (Simon & Schuster, $25, 9781416559382/1416559388).

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This morning on NPR's Morning Edition: Huston Smith, author of Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine, an Autobiography (HarperOne, $25.99, 9780061154263/0061154261).

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Today on NPR's On Point: Richard Wrangham, author of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human (Basic Books, $26.95, 9780465013623/0465013627).

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Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Jay Dobyns, author of No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels (Crown, $25.95, 9780307405852/0307405850).

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This week on Fox News's Glenn Beck Show, Glenn Beck will discuss his new book, Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government (Threshold Editions, $11.99, 9781439168578/1439168571).

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Today on Fresh Air: Larry Tye, author of Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend (Random House, $26, 9781400066513/1400066514).

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Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Gretchen Peters, author of Seeds of Terror: How Heroin Is Bankrolling the Taliban and al Qaeda (Thomas Dunne, $25.95, 9780312379278/0312379277).

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Tonight on Nightline: Bethenny Frankel, author of Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting (Fireside, $16, 9781416597988/1416597980).

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Tomorrow morning on the Today Show: Melissa Gilbert, author of Prairie Tale: A Memoir (Simon Spotlight, $26, 9781416599142/1416599142). She will also appear tomorrow on Access Hollywood.

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Tomorrow on the Diane Rehm Show: Steve Luxenberg, author of Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret (Hyperion, $24.99, 9781401322472/1401322476).

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Tomorrow on Fox News' Hannity Show: Mark Levin, author of Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto (Threshold Editions, $25, 9781416562856/1416562850).

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Tomorrow night on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Peter Schiff, author of The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets (Wiley, $19.95, 9780470383780/047038378X).

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next picks:

Hardcover

The Walking People by Mary Beth Keane (Houghton, $25, 9780547126524/0547126522). "As a child in her beloved Ireland, Greta Cahill is so awkward she's called 'Goose.' In her new home of America, she blossoms into a young woman of self-worth, finding love and family. While she longs to return to Ireland, a secret from her former life prevents the trip back, until her children decide to reunite her two lives, much to Greta's fear. Mary Beth Keane has given us an impressive debut novel."--Kathleen Creamer, Maine Coast Book Shop, Damariscotta, Me.

I'm Down: A Memoir by Mishna Wolff (St. Martin's, $23.95, 9780312378554/0312378556). "Mishna Wolff's father totally immersed himself and his daughters in black culture. (They are totally white.) Her memoir tells of her trials trying to please her father and stay afloat in different worlds. You will not stop reading I'm Down once you have read the first page."--Judith Lafitte, Octavia Books, New Orleans, La.

Paperback

Nikolski: A Novel by Nicolas Dickner, translated by Lazer Lederhendler (Trumpeter, $14.95, 9781590307144/1590307143). "Unaware of each other's existence, two half-siblings and their cousin cross paths in this modern-day, coming-of-age saga set mostly in Montreal. Winner of several prizes in the original French, Nikolski draws you in with sympathetic characters, gentle humor, and vivid prose, all laced with fascinating tidbits of geography and ethnography."--Ilene Traiger, Books on the Common, Ridgefield, Conn.

For Ages 9-12

Also Known As Harper by Ann Haywood Leal (Holt, $16.99, 9780805088816/0805088814). "This achingly realistic and timely novel explores what happens when a family can't make ends meet. A fresh and original character, Harper Lee Morgan keeps writing poems and taking care of her little brother while Mama works. This is a lovely story, guaranteed to evoke both smiles and tears."--Joanne R. Fritz, Chester County Book & Music Company, West Chester, Pa.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

In recent years, several memoirs have explored the more fractious aspects of marriage, from discord and infidelity to separation and divorce. Others, some with great eloquence, have discussed the emotional devastation created by the death of a spouse. Few, however, combine so many of these elements or describe as much grief as Perfection, Julie Metz's dark and remarkably candid account of the deception and disloyalty in her own marriage.

In early 2003, Metz, 44 years old at the time and working as a freelance graphic designer, heard a crash in the kitchen of the New York home she shared with her husband, Henry, and their six-year-old daughter, Liza. Henry had suffered a pulmonary embolism, collapsed and died within minutes. Shattered, Metz called on friends to help her cope and they made funeral arrangements, cleaned out Henry's office and went through his papers. For a few months after his death, Metz carried on in a daze; bereft and lonely, barely able to take care of her daughter. Seeking comfort, she began seeing a young man, Tomas, an artist who had been a friend of the couple. When Tomas hinted that Henry had not been faithful, Metz, who admits that she had long lived in a state of self-deception, began sifting through Henry's e-mails and papers.

What Metz discovered, and what she shares in detail here, was that Henry was a serial philanderer who documented his affairs with women of all ages, as far flung as Oregon and Argentina. The one that wounded Metz the most, however, was the three-year affair Henry had been having with Cathy, the wife of a local couple she and Henry counted as close friends. Metz forced herself to read every word of Henry's torrid e-mails with Cathy (many of which she includes here) as well as all of his journal entries. Then in a rage, she confronted Cathy, breaking up the friendship between their two daughters and severing all ties with the couple. Unable to confront the husband who had "conveniently" died, Metz worked through her anger and grief by contacting every woman Henry had an affair with--all of whom seemed unsurprised by her calls and some of whom she forged tentative friendships with.
 
Metz's road to the "renewal" of the title was a long one and fraught with missteps. It took years for her to admit that her marriage had been an unhealthy one from the start and a great deal of anguish before she could forgive Henry. Ultimately her elegantly written story is a cautionary tale--against willful emotional blindness and facing truth before it is too late.--Debra Ginsberg

Shelf Talker: A dark, evocative memoir from a woman forced to come to terms with her husband's death and the revelation of his infidelity.
 
 

We learned that the great photo Cynthia Christensen, owner of the Book Stop, Hood River, Ore., sent us of her daughter, Kelsey, posing with Neil Gaiman at BookExpo America (Shelf Awareness, June 5, 2009), was shot by professional photographer Miriam Berkley, 353 West 51st Street, #1A -Bell 6; New York, N.Y. 10019-6458; (212) 246-7979; authorpix@aol.com or authorpix@mac.com.