"If you can be lucky enough to do something that you're passionate about and be business-like about it to make it profitable, that's the home run. I have not quite mastered that. I continue to have the business be tilted to heart. It's not a very economically sound model running this bookstore . . . but I've now resolved that it's good enough for me to have the pleasure of doing what I care so much about."--Roxanne Coady, owner of R.J. Julia Booksellers, Madison, Conn., in an interview with Hartford Books Examiner.

Room service for digital readers. Gansevoort hotels in Manhattan, South Beach and Turks & Caicos are now lending guests Sony Readers. USA Today reported that "having readers (available for complimentary use on a first-come, first-served basis) appeals to carry-on aficionados who don't want to lug lots of reading material, says Gansevoort New York sales and marketing director Suzi DeAngelis. From a marketing perspective, it 'helps set us apart and makes people come back.'"

Kindle readers "are a hit at Manhattan's Algonquin Hotel and a good fit with its literary pedigree," USA Today added.

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Speaking of the Kindle, Jeff Bezos, founder and head of Amazon, indicated last week that the Kindle eventually will support several formats beyond PDF and said that Amazon sees e-readers and e-books as separate businesses that shouldn't subsidize one another, the New York Times reported.

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Author promotes authors.

After a reading yesterday at Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville, Ky., David Sedaris "offered first book-signing privileges to attendees who would purchase the store's five total copies of two of Sedaris' favorite books, Lazarus Project by Bosnian-born writer Aleksandar Hemon and No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July," according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

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Congratulations to Erica Eisdorfer, long-time book manager at the UNC Chapel Hill Bulls Head Bookshop, Chapel Hill, N.C., whose The Wet Nurse's Tale (Putnam, $24.95, 9780399155765/0399155767) will be published August 6. The store described the book this way:

"Susan Rose is illiterate, scheming, plain-faced and as lovable as possible. Forced into wet nursing after the birth of her illegitimate child, it's Susan's twists and manipulations of her employers' foibles that get her where she wants to be. And, while a scullery or a cook is below stairs, a wet nurse does her work above stairs where she is privy to all the interesting little family arguments and secrets in the house. Well-researched and quickly-paced, The Wet Nurse's Tale is a rollicking read that speaks to class and what has been basic women's work for millennia."

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Sadly we've learned from Jean Westcott at International Publishers Marketing that Maziar Bahari, co-editor of Transit Tehran: Young Iran and Its Inspirations, published by Garnet Press earlier this year, and a Newsweek writer, has been arrested in Iran. Newsweek has a story. Incidentally the Daily Show's Jason Jones interviewed Bahari last month.

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Jean Matthews and Russ Lawrence, former owners of Chapter One Bookstore, Hamilton, Mont., have begun their stint with the Peace Corps, working in Peru. Catch up with their adventures on their blog. From the most recent entry by Lawrence, former ABA president:

"It's total immersion time. [Our host family members] speak no English, and their rapid-fire Spanish--while not heavily accented--is nonetheless not enunciated with perfect clarity. It's a challenge for us, but we're communicating well, and even joking around. I've made only one major embarrassing linguistic faux pas, but the language police let me off with a warning, after gales of laughter. Our home is small--we have a bedroom about the size of a New York hotel room (tight), indoor plumbing, and a shower with the potential for hot water, but it's not functioning consistently. Our hosts couldn't be kinder or more fun and understanding. In the house we have a small cat, on the patio two canaries, and on the roof (!) a dog and a turkey that was intended for a Mother's day dinner, but Angelica hasn't been able to sacrifice it yet. There's also a small store attached to the house where they sell candy bars, sodas, bananas, and the requisite 8 varieties of potato, and where we will have a chance to put in a few hours' work, which will be . . . interesting."

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Murder charges were brought against the truck driver who crashed into Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse, La Canada, Calif., April 1 (Shelf Awareness, May 5, 2009) after hitting several vehicles, injuring a number of people and killing a man and his 12-year-old daughter.

The Associated Press (via the Mercury News) reported that the "indictment charges [Marcos Barbosa] Costa, 44, of Everett, Mass., with two counts of murder and adds allegations of great bodily injury to two counts of vehicular manslaughter. It also charges him with three counts of reckless driving causing injury to three people."

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"In these tough economic times, consumers should be encouraged to not only spend their dollars locally, but also to specifically support local businesses that are involved and invested in the community," the Naperville Sun observed. "At the heart of Naperville [Ill.], and other communities like it, are the people who invest in their towns to help maintain the quality of life we enjoy. One great example of a business that consistently gives back to the local community is Anderson's Bookshops."

Co-owner Becky Anderson Wilkins "is a member of the Sunrise Rotary Club, a board member of the DuPage Symphony Orchestra, KidsMatter and a commissioner on the Advisory Cultural Commission for the city of Naperville," the Sun added. "Bill Anderson has been actively involved in the Rotary Club and has served as president. The Andersons are longtime members of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Naperville Alliance, where Bill is a past president and Becky was on the board. The family members give generously of their time and talents to help local charities. . . . Remember that when you shop, you do have choices. Select businesses that show they care and know how to give back to the community."

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Ron Czerwien, owner of Avol's Bookstore, Madison, Wis., is still considering eventual relocation of his used, rare and out-of-print bookshop despite a reprieve from his landlord that would "let the store stay until July 1, 2010, if the building was not rented or sold by next October," according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

"I’ve had people say to me that it would be a real loss to downtown Madison if this store had to leave. I would hate to leave the downtown area," said Czerwien, who posted an open letter to "Friends of Avol’s" on the shop's website June 1 "informing customers that declining sales for the past few years along with the expensive rent in the State Street area brought him to the decision not to renew the lease past March 1, 2010," the Journal reported. Despite the letter and reprieve, Czerwien "said sales have stayed down."

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Librarian to the stars Nancy Pearl offered her summer best books choices on NPR's Morning Edition: "Despite their differences of plot, settings and genre, what I love about each one of these books is the same: the voice of the narrator. These narrators are so compelling, so engaging, so real that I resented each moment I wasn't reading them. I hope you enjoy their company as much as I did."

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Nearly 30,000 overdue books were returned to the San Francisco Public Library during a recent two-week amnesty period. NBC Bay Area reported that in addition to the AWOL books, patrons "were also asked to submit 'excuses' for their lateness. One apologetic library patron, known only as 'Antonio,' blamed his tardiness on a two-month abduction by aliens, the library said."

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Congratulations to Rich Rennicks, who has joined Unbridled Books as bookstore liaison, "maintaining the company's close relationships with booksellers and working personally with them to facilitate events and on promotions." He continues as a part-time bookseller at Malaprop's Bookstore, Asheville, N.C. Rennicks may be reached at 888-732-3822, ext.108, rich@unbridledbooks.com or on Twitter at twitter.com/richrennicks.

Earlier this month, the Book Works, Del Mar, Calif., hosted an event at which the store and Luis Alberto Urrea, whose new book is Into the Beautiful North (Little, Brown), raised more than $4,000 for local public radio station KPBS. The money goes to a KPBS fund to offer wider coverage at the border of California and Mexico, which dovetails with Urrea's themes of identity and transition for people with ties to both countries. The event included a silent auction, donation solicitations, a wine-and-cheese reception with live music and a talk and book signing by Urrea that was introduced by KPBS border correspondent Amy Isackson. Pictured above: the Book Works staff with Luis and Cindy Urrea (far right) and Amy Isackson (fourth from right in the back).

Kristen McLean, executive director of the American Booksellers for Children, moderated the panel called Give It Away to Get It Back: Using "Thought Leadership" Marketing to Build Your Children's Business as a follow-up to last year's "Thought Leadership" discussion (Shelf Awareness, June 16, 2008), again building on Joel Kurtzman's idea that "thought leaders" are people "widely recognized for innovative ideas that they share broadly with their organization or community."
 
This year, the focus was on building relationships with teachers and the larger community through book fairs, book clubs and other indie businesses.
 
McLean suggested that bookstores:

• Give professional book talks
• Offer teacher in-service
• Form creative partnerships with local schools
• Teach a class in the community's continuing education program about children's books
• Create an in-store education information center
• Spearhead buy-local programs

Shelly Plumb, owner of Harleysville Books, a general bookstore in Harleysville, Pa., noted that children's books are her bestselling category for which she has developed several programs:

• Participation in the Pennsylvania State Certification Program and offering PSCP courses to teachers. (Most attendees are private or parochial schoolteachers.)
• Establishing eight types of book fairs for schools, from preschool through middle school.
• A contest with schools where they earn "book bucks" and a prize goes to the school that's read the most books.

Diane Capriola, owner of Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Ga., started a book fair program with local schools when parents complained about the mass market titles and "gimmicky things" offered through Scholastic Book Fairs. Capriola said she "handpicked quality books" for the school book fairs, and that while it's labor-intensive and doesn't generate a lot of revenue, it does create a lot of good will.
 
"Teaching today is very different from teaching 10 years ago," Capriola said, noting that teachers have to focus more on testing and the core curriculum. She said because of such demands on teachers, "bookstores have the opportunity to approach them with summer reading lists, book fair ideas and how to use graphic novels in the classroom," with an educators' discount. Little Shop of Stories has also partnered with other kid-friendly businesses such as toy stores, a candy store, and a music school that's opening soon in their area.
 
Another way Capriola generated good will was by promoting at her store an event at the Carter Center where a sister indie, A Capella Books, was handling the book sales. A Capella did a shout-out to Little Shop of Stories, thanking the store for spreading the word, which resulted in attendees buying books from Capriola.
 
When Capriola heard that Daren Wang (formerly of Spoken Word), author Thomas Bell and others were thinking of starting a book festival in Decatur in February 2005, she offered to provide children's book authors for a "Children's Stage" event. The Decatur Book Festival launched Labor Day weekend in 2006 and has grown to draw more than 70,000 attendees; and the Children's Stage generates the most revenue, Wang told Capriola and Little Shop co-owner Dave Shallenberger. A YA stage made its debut at last year's festival.
 
Speaking of teens, Shannon Mathis, the children's book buyer for Books Inc., with headquarters in San Francisco, Calif., is perhaps best known for founding the "Not Your Mother's Book Club," which is now four years old. Mathis called it a "literary salon for teens." Among its "rules": participants don't have to read the book before meetings, every event is a party and Books Inc. gives away prizes such as iPods. Through the book club, Books Inc. has made a name for itself with teen readers in the Bay area as well as with the San Francisco public library system. 
 
Some San Francisco residents used to pay to have people facilitate book clubs in private homes, Mathis noted. Books Inc. saw this as an opportunity and offers a speaker at a book club as a prize at school auctions. The stores also sponsor book talks called "Lattes and Literature" and give out book lists with the bookstores' addresses. Mathis also urged booksellers, "Don't underestimate teen reading lists." She distributes summer reading list order forms and receives orders from schools as far as 30 miles away.
 
McLean reminded booksellers of the "posse" that last year's thought leadership panelist Emily D'Amour Pardo started at Books & Books, Coral Gables, Fla.: teens who interned in the store created a teen blog on the store's Web site about both titles and events. Teens reach teens most effectively, she said.
 
McLean also urged booksellers to incorporate the articles she includes in the ABC Toolbox e-newsletter on their own Web sites where appropriate. After all, it's all about "innovative ideas that [we] share broadly with [our] community."--Jennifer M. Brown

My Sister's Keeper, based on the novel by Jodi Picoult (Pocket, $7.99, 9781439157268/143915726X), opens this Friday, June 26. A young girl (Abigail Breslin) who has never questioned her role as bone marrow donor for her older sister (Sofia Vassilieva), who has leukemia, starts to crave medical independence. Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric play the sisters' distraught parents; also includes Alec Baldwin and Joan Cusack.

Chéri, based on the novel by Colette, also opens June 26. Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates and Rupert Friend star in this tale of a young man who falls for an aging courtesan in 1920s Paris. Directed by Stephen Frears, screenplay by Christopher Hampton. The movie tie-in edition is from Farrar, Straus and Giroux ($15, 9780374532222/0374532222).

This morning on Fox & Friends: Elizabeth Ford and Daniela Drake, authors of Smart Girls Marry Money: How Women Have Been Duped into the Romantic Dream--And How They're Paying for It (Running Press, $17.95, 9780762435173/0762435178).

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Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Michael Norman and Elizabeth Norman, authors of Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath (FSG, $30, 9780374272609/0374272603).

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Today on Fresh Air: Bradley Graham, author of By His Own Rules: The Story of Donald Rumsfeld (PublicAffairs, $35, 9781586484217/1586484214).

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Today on Oprah, in a repeat: Steve Dublanica, author of Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter (Harper Perennial, $14.99, 9780061256691/0061256692).

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Today on NPR's Marketplace: L. Jon Wertheim, author of Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24, 9780547232805/0547232802).

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Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Bill Russell, author of Red and Me: My Coach, My Lifelong Friend (Harper, $24.99, 9780061766145/0061766143).

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Tonight on the Colbert Report: Simon Schama, author of The American Future: A History (Ecco, $29.99, 9780060539238/0060539232).

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Tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman: Emeril Lagasse, author of Emeril at the Grill: A Cookbook for All Seasons (HarperStudio, $24.99, 9780061742743/0061742740).

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Tomorrow morning on the Today Show: Dick Morris, author of Catastrophe (Harper, $26.99, 9780061771040/006177104X).

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Tomorrow on the Diane Rehm Show: Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer, authors of The State of Jones (Doubleday, $27.50, 9780385525930/0385525931).

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Tomorrow night on the Colbert Report: David Kilcullen, author of The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One (Oxford University Press, $27.95, 9780195368345/0195368347). He will also appear tomorrow on the Charlie Rose Show.

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Tomorrow night on the Late Show with David Letterman: Sandra Day O'Connor, author of Finding Susie (Knopf Books for Young Readers, $16.99, 9780375841033/0375841032).

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Tomorrow night on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: James Frey, author of Bright Shiny Morning (Harper Perennial, $15.99, 9780061573170/0061573175).

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

Hardcover

The Brothers Boswell by Philip Baruth (Soho, $24, 9781569475591/1569475598). "This is a book full of wonderful writing, insightful observations of human nature, and witty dialogue--totally appropriate considering its subjects, diarist James Boswell and his brother John."--Susan C. Bradley, Tinman Artworks, Spokane, Wash.

The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown (Morrow, $25.99, 9780061348105/0061348104). "Daniel James Brown makes you feel as though you are there with the ill-fated members of the wagon train led by George Donner through the Sierra Nevada in 1846. A compulsive read."--Maryjude Hoeffel, Bookin' It, Little Falls, Minn.

Paperback

Right of Thirst by Frank Huyler (Harper Perennial, $14.99, 9780061687549/0061687545). "Frank Huyler's novel about a doctor's troubled life after his wife's death is a tender and unexpected story, completely different from what I expected it to be."--Joe Foster, Maria's Bookshop, Durango, Colo.

For Ages 4 to 8

Dessert First by Hallie Durand, illustrated by Christine Davenier (Atheneum, $14.99, 9781416963851/1416963855). "Dessert Schneider is a lovable and believable little girl who is always getting into trouble, and learning how to accept the consequences of her actions. Dessert First is a sweet tale about learning lessons in life, especially how to wrong a right. Scrumptious!"--Rebeka Leinberger, Blue Manatee Children's Bookstore, Cincinnati, Ohio

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

 
Around the turn of the millennium, journalist Ryan Grim noticed that LSD, previously "a fixture of my social scene," had all but vanished. Curious, Grim began to research what turned out to be not only "a major event" in the storied history of LSD, but also a reflection of some fascinating patterns in drug use in general. That led to a well-received piece in Slate.com and formed the jumping-off point for This Is Your Country on Drugs, an absorbing look at the U.S.'s obsession with all things mood and mind altering.

After a lively chapter explaining the disappearance of LSD (Jerry Garcia died and with him Grateful Dead shows, which were the main stages for acid-taking and exchange; and in 2000, William Leonard Pickard, the nation's main producer, was busted and sent to prison, where he remains), Grim launches into a far-reaching look at the history and prominence of drugs in American culture. He offers indisputable evidence that Americans have eagerly consumed all manner of drugs since the country's inception and that for almost as long, Big Pharma has dictated their sale, legality, consumption and availability. One priceless example is Bayer Heroin, the "non-addictive" morphine substitute perfect for children and anything that ails you, introduced around 1900. Oops. Another: Benzedrine "pep pills" for energy, Dexedrine pills for women to lose weight and Ritalin for attention problems. Just make sure you have your ID handy if you want to buy some Sudafed, lest you're planning to cook up a batch of methamphetamine in your trailer. "When methamphetamine is made and sold by major corporations, it's no big deal," Grim states, but when it is "made by bikers . . . we have a crisis."

A topic as vast, intricate and psychologically thorny as American drug use and policy could easily fill several volumes of this size. Out of necessity, Grim cherry-picks sub-topics from a seemingly endless array. Among these are how the U.S. funded Contra-run drug deals, the rise in popularity of hallucinogens such as salvia (which will become illegal any minute now) that are lauded and sold over the Internet, the failure of D.A.R.E. programs to reduce youth drug use rates and the draconian laws governing marijuana in all forms. Though the narrative slows a little when Grim analyzes statistics, there are enough engrossing anecdotes (such as his wildly hallucinogenic "ayahuasca journey") and apocryphal stories (the DEA agent who was doused with a bucket of LSD and had to be placed in a Thorazine-induced coma) to make this a truly compelling and enlightening read.--Debra Ginsberg

Shelf Talker: An engrossing and enlightening look at the history of drug use, culture and policy in the U.S., complete with fascinating, often-surprising facts and anecdotes.