Oprah's next book club pick will be announced on the show Friday, September 18.

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The Richmond Times-Dispatch profiled Simple Pleasures Books & Gifts, Ashland, Va., owned by Brenda Seward and her daughters Stacey Cook, Theresa Courtright and April Seward.

Brenda observed that during the process of planning the shop, which opened in April, "We looked at the things we liked and decided to do it exactly the way we would want." The Times-Dispatch noted that the "result is a bookstore geared toward women."

"We're women and we know what women want," Seward said.

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Stone Alley Books and Collectibles, Galesburg, Ill., opened last weekend, and WGIL reported that after Friday's official grand opening, owner Ben "Stone" Stomberg said "he's already looking at some pretty empty shelves."

"I couldn't have possibly opened this store without constant help from my friends and family," he said. "My family and my friends have been in this store with me around the clock, literally--sometimes they've even been in here when I've gone home to sleep--to keep working, to make sure we were ready to open today and tomorrow and every day after that."

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Owned by Ellen Burns and Darwin Ellis, Books on the Common has moved to downtown Ridgefield, Conn., according to the Ridgefield Press. At 2,150-sq.-ft., the space is slightly larger than the store's old location in Copps Hill Common. The store is 25 years old and has been owned by Burns and Ellis since 2004.

"We're very excited to be in such a beautiful historic building in a great location," Burns told the paper. "We're happy to be part of Ridgefield's downtown community."

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More than 100 people helped author Ray Bradbury celebrate his 89th birthday at Mystery and Imagination bookstore, Glendale, Calif., on Saturday. The News Press reported that Christine Bell, the bookshop's owner, "first met Bradbury in the 1970s at one of his speaking engagements. The author has been a common visitor of the bookshop, attending 10 birthday celebrations and holding several book signings throughout the years."

"He was an incredibly inspirational speaker, and we became friends after that," she said. "He's always been supportive of small, independent bookshops."

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Obituary note: Stanley Kaplan, who founded the test prep company that is now a Washington Post Company subsidiary, died on Sunday at age 90, the New York Times reported. The Times recounts in detail the opposition Kaplan faced long ago from the College Board, administrator of the SATs, and others to his idea that coaching could improve scores--and should be done. How times have changed!

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According to the White House, President Obama has taken the following books on his vacation on Martha's Vineyard:

• The Way Home by George Pelecanos
• Lush Life by Richard Price
• Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Tom Friedman
• John Adams by David McCullough (a Vineyard resident)
• Plainsong by Kent Haruf

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The Front Table, web magazine of the Seminary Co-op bookstores, Chicago, Ill., featured an essay by Doug Seibold--president and publisher of Agate Publishing--on Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr. Bolden Books, Agate's imprint "dedicated to publishing both fiction and nonfiction dealing with the African-American experience," has published three books by Pitts, including Forward from this Moment, an upcoming collection of his columns, and Before I Forget, a novel "about the challenges of fatherhood among three generations of black men."

"Pitts is not alone in his preoccupation with this subject," Seibold wrote. "As he has walked the unique and highly public cultural tightrope that has carried him to the presidency, Barack Obama--himself both a black father and a largely fatherless son (as well as the most famous member, I believe, of the Seminary Co-op)--has made African-American fatherhood one of the very, very few 'racial' issues that he has addressed repeatedly since he began his run for that office. I can't imagine another reader who would better appreciate the work of Leonard Pitts, Jr."

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Effective January 1, PGW will begin distributing Wilderness Press in the U.S. and Canada. Wilderness Press, Berkeley, Calif., which emphasizes "hiking, biking and paddling books for the active outdoor lifestyle," is owned by Keen Communications.

The Emerging Leaders Council of the Emerging Leaders Project, which works with the American Booksellers Association "to support, develop and provide a voice for the next generation of booksellers," has several new members and now consists of the follow representatives:

• Midwest Booksellers Association: Jay D. Peterson, manager, Magers and Quinn Booksellers, Minnapolis, Minn.
• Mountains and Plain Independent Booksellers Association: Joe Eichman, personnel, Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, Colo.
• New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association: Stephanie Anderson, manager, WORD, Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Northern California Independent Booksellers Association: Jennifer Laughran, children's events, Books Inc., San Francisco, Calif.
• New England Independent Booksellers Association: Heather Gain, marketing manager, Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass.
• Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association: sweet pea Flaherty, events coordinator/new book buyer, King's Books, Tacoma, Wash.
• Southern California Independent Booksellers Association: Emily Pullen, ordering manager, Skylight Books, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance: Rich Rennicks, bookseller, Malaprop's, Asheville, N.C.

The council noted with great appreciation the hard work of departing council members Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, former NAIBA rep, Megan Sullivan, former NEIBA rep, Jenn Northington, former MPIBA rep, and Caroline Green, former SIBA rep. All four were instrumental in starting the Emerging Leaders group at the Winter Institute in 2006, and their work while on the council helped develop projects like scholarships for Emerging Leaders to Winter Institute and gatherings of Emerging Leaders at regional trade shows. Those interested in more information about or working with the Emerging Leaders Project can read its blog or follow it on Twitter as @ABAEL.

The Hastings Entertainment book buying team challenged sales reps from Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and the Fuji group to a game of kickball, boasting about regular practices that made the Hastings buyers a "well-oiled machine." The sales reps flocked to the Lone Star State from as far away as Chicago, and donned their matching green shirts bearing the name, Catch-22. Dressed in red, the Hastings players revealed their team name just seconds before the start time: "Don't Ask Us about Remote Access." According to S&S national accounts manager Gillian Redfearn, the reps dominated from the get-go. Hastings's Matthew Gildea graciously admitted defeat and asked for a rematch in 2010. All in the name of books.

Last week John Mutter of Shelf Awareness spent two days with New England Independent Booksellers Association executive director Steve Fischer visiting bookstores in Connecticut and New York. It was a great little working vacation! Here's the first part of a multi-part series reporting on what we saw.

Fran Keilty had worked for Atticus Bookstore/Cafe, New Haven, Conn., for nearly 30 years (most recently as general manager at a time Atticus still had three stores), when six years ago, her local bookstore, the Hickory Stick Bookshop, Washington Depot, Conn., was up for sale. She nabbed it.

The store is nearly 60 years old, has had four owners and boasts of "a long history," Keilty said. "We continue to be custodians." After moving several times, Hickory Stick is in a 3,300-sq.-ft. space in a curved brick building in the center of this village in the heart of Litchfield County, which has rolling hills, many farms and many second homes, primarily for Manhattanites. The shopping area in Washington Depot includes a mix of stores, including a J. McLaughlin outlet, art galleries, a large, upscale hardware store, a delicious restaurant and food shop called the Pantry and more.

Recently Keilty became president of the area's business organization, which encourages residents and visitors to buy local. Keilty indicated that the group will become even more active. Likely it will because she has a history of getting things done: besides being general manager of Atticus, she has been president of the New England Independent Booksellers Association and president of the Independent Booksellers Consortium.

As at many other bookstores, "business has been up and down this year," Keilty said. "And August has been good so far." She said she is also looking forward to a strong fall lineup of titles.

Hardcover fiction and mysteries have sold well during the time Keilty has owned the store although sales have slid somewhat lately. The travel section has shrunk. Among strong sections: business and cooking are growing; history, biography, paperback literature and backlist are strong. Sales of audiobooks and CDs are "not huge" but the sections "still bring people into the store," Keilty said. (CDs include Putumayo albums as well as selections by such brand names as Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.) Hickory Stick sells some remainders, mainly during the holiday season.

As in so many stores, children's books sell well, in part because Hickory Stick emphasizes them. Still, Keilty is looking for someone "to do more" with kids and expand children's programming. YA is hot, but Keilty said she believes that "there has always been a lot published, but it's getting more attention." The store features some YA titles that adults would like. Although Hickory Stick sold many copies of the Twilight series, "here it was not the phenomenon it was elsewhere," Keilty said.

Books account for 75% of Hickory Stick's sales. While sidelines are an integral part of the sales mix, Keilty said, "It's important to the community and to us to be a bookstore."

Those sidelines include toys, gifts, cards and an impressive range of other non-book products. There are four large cases of Vera Bradley bags, gardening tools, candles and several items that are made by local artisans, including bird carvings and clay horse models. "We try to have things that make us different and interesting," Keilty commented.

Sidelines also include something literally close to home for Keilty: yarn from Maple Spring Farm, the organic farm in neighboring Morris where Keilty has lived for more than 35 years. Her husband, Michael, who is a sustainable agriculture educator at the University of Connecticut, is the main farmer. (The yarn comes from the sheep on the farm.)

The store has events every week in the fall and from March to June, which draw on the many writers and illustrators who live and spend weekends in the area, among them Wendell Minor, Mary Pope Osborne, the late Frank McCourt, Ann and Denis Leary, Dana Shapiro and April Stevens. "People are always talking about the events even if a few are not well attended," Keilty said.

Despite the store's proximity to New York City and its many transplants and New Yorkers with second homes, Keilty said she believed the area is ripe for more author events. "Authors could see a lot of stores and sell a lot of books in two days," she said.

Hickory Stick works with libraries in Litchfield and Washington and recommends events that don't work at the store. The store has an in-house book club, and there are many book clubs in the area.

The store's website is used mainly for informational purposes. Hickory Stick has a Facebook page and sends event-related e-mails via Constant Contact. Keilty would like to do a blog, "but it must be meaningful," she said.

The store has eight people on staff, all but one of whom are parttimers, a staff that is down slightly.

Cool Ideas from Hickory Stick Bookshop

*To publicize events, the store uses a sidewalk sign (see illustration at left) that has a black background with white lettering, the reverse of most such signs. As a result, the sign stands out in a way the usual black-on-white signs do not.

*In Hickory Stick, Keilty has promoted the 3/50 Project, a national effort that encourages consumers to spend $50 a month in each of three independently owned businesses that they would miss if they disappeared. The project is not directly related to bookselling, but addresses the issue of buying local in a way that makes it easy for a concerned person to take effective, meaningful action, she said.

*Last but not least, for the past year and a half, the store has had a display that is changed daily on a table directly inside the front door. The staff, not Keilty, is solely responsible for the four or five books that are displayed, which can be from any section. "They're all kinds of things," Keilty commented. "And practically every day we sell one or two or more." The day of Shelf Awareness's visit the four titles were One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Summer on a Plate by Anna Pump and Gen Leroy, Gilded Youth: Three Lives in France's Belle Epoque by Kate Cambor and Antiques Inventory by Judith Miller. (See below.)

A key element of the table: a vase of fresh flowers!

--John Mutter

Today on Talk of the Nation: Awista Ayub, author of However Tall the Mountain: A Dream, Eight Girls, and a Journey Home (Hyperion, $23.99, 9781401322496/1401322492).

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Tomorrow morning on Good Morning America: Nina Garcia, author of The Style Strategy: A Less-Is-More Approach to Staying Chic and Shopping Smart (It Books, $21.99, 9780061834011/0061834017).

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

Director Sam Mendes has asked playwright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton (Atonement) to adapt Joseph O'Neill's Netherland for the screen, the Guardian reported. Movie rights to the novel are owned by Oprah Winfrey's company, Harpo Films.

"It is a beautifully written book and I quail at the idea of adapting it," said Hampton. "This is a very difficult project, I know that. When Sam first asked me, I said it was too difficult and that I could not do it. But Sam was very persistent and quite eloquent too. . . . I don't know why Sam wanted me to do it, but I do know he feels that he has to make it. He told me there really isn't anybody else who could make this film, since he is both a film director and an expat cricket-lover living in New York."

Selected new titles appearing in hardcover next Tuesday, September 1:

Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow (Random House, $26, 9781400064946/1400064945) is a fictitious account of the Collyer brothers, wealthy New York City recluses who hoarded junk.

The Death of Conservatism by Sam Tanenhaus (Random House, $17, 9781400068845/1400068843) chronicles the history of and factions within conservatism.

Dark Slayer by Christine Feehan (Berkley, $25.95, 9780425229736/0425229734) is a fantasy novel about a girl who finds trouble after freeing a caged magician.

Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain (Minotaur Books, $24.99, 9780312368487/0312368488) continues a decade-old cat-and-mouse game between a Portland detective and a famous serial killer.

The Smartest Retirement Book You'll Ever Read by Daniel R. Solin (Perigee, $21.95, 9780399535208/0399535209) is a comprehensive guide to retirement saving.

A wild roller coaster ride is nothing compared to the vertiginous ups and downs of the contemporary art market between 2005 and 2009 described by Richard Polsky (I Bought Andy Warhol). No sooner had he sold his green Andy Warhol Fright Wig painting in 2005 than he had the worst kind of seller's remorse. Not only had he loved the painting, but he quickly realized he had let it go cheaply--an orange Fright Wig painting sold for much, much more within two years. As he tells us, he had violated the cardinal rule for art dealers--never get emotionally involved in your inventory--and he paid dearly.

In a valiant attempt to downplay the loss he suffered from bad timing, Polsky focuses on the allure that the constantly changing market holds for him. Its shifting seats of power fascinate him in the extreme: gallery owners no longer dominate as auction houses call the shots; people rush from one international art fair to another in search of the next big thing; old-time dealers like Polsky reinvent themselves as "financial art advisors" and connect owners of particularly desirable artworks with auction houses hungry for saleable inventory; advisors recount stories about Wayne Thiebaud's Bakery Counter to entice collectors to part with collections (bought for $500 in 1962 to hang over a couch, the painting sold for $1.5 million in 1998). The scene is crazy, sexy and never boring for Polsky, even if it is more about doing business than loving a thing of rare beauty.

The stratospheric prices works bring at auction also obsesses Polsky; his mania is so infectious that readers might stare at paintings bought for a few hundred dollars and wonder, "What if these are like David Rockefeller's Rothko?" Rockefeller bought Mark Rothko's White Center (Yellow, Pink, and Lavender on Rose) for $10,000 and sold it at auction in May 2007 for $72.8 million. Timing, even for a Rockefeller, is everything in the art market.

Polsky, who still shivers at the thought of having sold his Warhol early for a piddling $375,000, resorts to schadenfreude to keep his sanity amidst market madness; he casts a jaundiced eye over current art-world denizens and regards them as petty, jealous and egotistical (but, of course, never dull). In a particularly sardonic mood, he writes, "Although it was summer, there was certainly no moratorium on ridiculous art-dealer behavior." And, God bless him, the stories of bad behavior are as beautiful as the paintings that got away.--John McFarland

Shelf Talker: A sardonic guide takes readers on a dizzying, dishy and fascinating tour of the recently crazy market for contemporary art.

Our mention yesterday of Housing Works Bookstore Cafe inadvertently moved the store to Brooklyn. No, it has not moved and remains in Manhattan on Crosby Street.