Recordpub.com - One for the Books: Valentines

Just for you, I've selected a few little treasures that would make excellent gifts for Valentine's Day.

First, I found a wonderful little Valentine for a loved one of any age. "Bloom! A Little Book About Finding Love" by Maria Van Lieshout is a picture book about love and friendship. Bloom, a lovely little pink piglet, isn't interested in doing the things other piglets do. She loves flowers and beautiful things, and when a "flying flower" dances by, Bloom falls in love with the charming butterfly, who spurns her and heads off into the sky. She is crushed when she loses her beloved, but she finds that the love of a good friend can help her find joy again.

"Other People's Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See" edited by Bill Shapiro shows photo reproductions of actual love notes, e-mails, telegrams, Post-it notes, instant messages, children's scrawls to each other, and yes, a Valentine. They're written on maps, napkins or matchbooks; handwritten, typed or even in Braille; pieced together with poetry, doodles or drawings. They include an apology, a good-bye, a proposal, a message from a soldier, a note to a dead spouse. The editor says they're "unflinchingly honest." They're also intimate, funny, colorful, clever and even bitter: "Thanks for once again saving my burnt-out soul"; "I love you like a fat kid loves cake." The notes include a few hot moments but, surprisingly, only about half a dozen curse words. At the end, short postscripts reveal what happened to some of the letter writers.

While that one is actual correspondence, "Four Letter Word: Invented Correspondence from the Edge of Modern Romance" edited by Joshua Knelman and Rosalind Porter is not. The editors asked 41 celebrated writers to create fictional love letters. These are very literary creations, and in fact some become little short stories from writers such as Margaret Atwood, A.L. Kennedy, Ursula K. Le Guin, Leonard Cohen, Audrey Niffenegger, Jeanette Winterson and more. The writing is very inventive, with some profanity. The letters include a message to Earth from Mars, a grammatically challenged letter from Bigfoot to Santa, one from a student to his teacher that's kind of a horror story and one set during the Russian Revolution. A Nigerian woman writes, "I like that you like me and that your liking me makes me like myself." The letters give us sweetness, bitterness, humor and irony from the people who know what that word means.

Looking for a light novel? In "Manless in Montclair: How a Happily Married Woman Became a Widow Looking for Love in the Wilds of Suburbia" by Amy Holman Edelman, suburban mom Isabel comes home from the dentist to find her husband dead. As she deals with being a widow, the book flashes back to the couple's meeting and courtship. When she starts dating again, the book gets funny, as she tries disastrous blind dates, Internet dating, speed dating and matchmakers. Finally, she sends out an e-mail offering a prize to the person who sets her up with her next husband. It's touching, with a happy ending and someresting writing: "His grief ... had become an essential part of his core. You could smell it on his skin like aftershave."

Finally, for a more literary read, there's the anti-Valentine: "Caspian Rain" by Gina B. Nahai is a tragic story that is beautifully written -- even poetic. It asks, "What if you bet your whole life on a single wish, and lost?" The story follows a girl from a Jewish family in Iran under the reign of the shah. Bahar, age 16, decides to marry "up" to a rich man whose family doesn't want her. The way she is treated by her selfish husband, his rude parents, a judgmental society, and even her own family is disgustingly unfair, but is, I'm sure, based on reality. The writing feels foreign, with incredibly tiny details that really illuminate it: "They bring jars of quince syrup and milk and honey, rosewater and ceruse and lavender and henna. They stand in the yard singing old Persian love songs ... and ululate as they walk with her in a procession." The author made me feel Bahar's humiliation: "It's an unmerciful hierarchy. It obliterates the weak, the young, the rebellious. We live, each of us, in a shadow world of veiled truths and guarded mysteries. It's like the way houses were built in our part of the world before the Europeans arrived: There was an 'outer chamber' ... where visitors were allowed. And then there was an 'inner chamber,' where only the closest family could enter, where the women of the house spent most of their lives and where they could take off their veils, speak, and even laugh. Every person I know has a hidden half."

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The Friends of the Randolph Library will hold a book sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 15 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Randolph Community Center.

On the topic of love stories, one of my favorites is played out every week in the TV show "As Time Goes By" from the BBC, in which a couple who met at age 19 in the 1950s meet again about 35 years later. This is one of the best-written comedies of all time, and just this week, local PBS TV-45/49 started running it again from the start. Catch the first episode today at 2 p.m. and watch the whole series at 8 p.m. Saturday nights, rerun on Friday afternoons.

I also try never to miss "Bill Moyers' Journal," which airs on TV-45/49 at 10 p.m. Fridays. Recently, CBS news anchor Katie Couric asked the presidential candidates what one book they would take with them to the White House. Last Friday, Moyers picked up on this and asked his viewers, "What's the one book you wish the winning candidate would take to the White House next January ... the one book our next president should read in preparation for leading the country?" Viewers were asked to post their suggestions at PBS.org, and during tonight's show Moyers will share those suggestions.

For links to the TV stories above, and for more book news, visit www.recordpub.com, click on "Lifetimes," and check out "One for the Books" online.

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BOOK NOTES,
One for the Books Extra Online Exclusives:
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Here's the link to the candidates' answers to Katie Couric's question: "If you were elected president, what is the one book, other than the Bible, you would think is essential to have along?"

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/29/eveningnews/main3767057.shtml?source=search_story

Here's the link to the Bill Moyers Journal blog, with LOTS of great ideas from viewers who read. These are my kind of people, and these are FASCINATING blog entries!

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2008/01/power_reading.html

The Journal's main Web page is at

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html

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"As Time Goes By": http://atgbcentral.com

...

Channels 45/45: http://www.pbs4549.org

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Randolph Library Book Sale -- More information:

The Friends of the Randolph Library will hold a book sale at the Randolph Community Center (located behind the library) on Friday, Feb. 15, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and on Saturday, Feb. 16, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Parking is available both behind the library and behind the community center. For more information about this event or other library programs and services please call the library at (330) 325-7003 or visit the Portage County District Library Web site at www.portagelibrary.org.

The Randolph Library is located at 1639 S.R. 44. Regular hours at the branch are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays; and Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Other PCDL branch libraries include Aurora Memorial, Brimfield, Garrettsville, Pierce Streetsboro, Randolph, Windham, and Outreach Services (Includes Home Delivery & Library Express).
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From now until Feb. 11 ONLY you can access "The Undecided Voter's Guide to the Next President" for free:

http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061537301&WT.mc_id=news_HotHarper_Halperin_BI_full_020108

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According to The Guardian, American thriller writer James Patterson will develop a computer game based on his Women's Murder Club series.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2253301,00.html

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PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST-SELLERS

HARDCOVER FICTION
1. "The Appeal" by John Grisham (Doubleday)
2. "Duma Key" by Stephen King (Scribner)
3. "Sizzle and Burn" by Jayne Ann Krentz (Putnam)
4. "Plum Lucky" by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press)
5. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Hardcover)
6. "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks (Viking Adult)
7. "World Without End" by Ken Follett (Dutton)
8. "The Senator's Wife" by Sue Miller (Knopf)
9. "Beverly Hills Dead" by Stuart Woods (Putnam Adult)
10. "The Shooters" by W.E.B. Griffin (Putnam)
11. "Double Cross" by James Patterson (Little, Brown and Company)
12. "Sword Song: The Battle for London" by Bernard Cornwell (Harper)
13. "Blasphemy" by Douglas Preston (Tor)
14. "The Secret Between Us" by Barbara Delinsky (Doubleday)
15. "The Purrfect" by Murder Rita Mae Brown (Bantam)

NONFICTION/GENERAL
1. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words
2. "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan (Penguin)
3. "Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day" by Joel Osteen (Free Press)
4. "You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty" by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz (Free Press)
5. "How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better" by Charla Krupp (Springboard Press)
6. "I Am America (And So Can You!)" by Stephen Colbert (Grand Central Publishing)
7. "An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems" by Glenn Beck (Threshold Editions)
8. "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld (HarperCollins)
9. "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning" by Jonah Goldbert (Doubleday)
10. "The Dangerous Book for Boys" by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden (Collins)
11. "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)" by James J. Cramer, Cliff Mason (Simon & Schuster)
12. "Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works" by Newt Gingrich (Regnery)
13. "The Daring Book for Girls" by Andrea J. Buchanan, Miriam Peskowitz (Collins)
14. "Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography" by Andrew Morton (St. Martin's Press)
15. "Temples on the Other Side" by Sylvia Browne (Hay House)

MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS
1. "Vampires Are Forever" by Lynsay Sands (Avon)
2. "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett (NAL Trade)
3. "Treasures" by Nora Roberts (Silhouette)
4. "Snowfall At Willow Lake" by Susan Wiggs (Mira Books)
5. "The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town" by John Grisham, (Dell)
6. "Atonement" by Ian McEwan (Anchor)
7. "Three In Death" by J.D. Robb (Berkley)
8. "Sisters" by Danielle Steel (Dell)
9. "Plum Lovin"' by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Paperback)
10. "The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence" by Gavin De Becker (Dell)
11. "Whitethorn Woods" by Maeve Binchy (Knopf)
12. "The Faithful Spy" by Alex Berenson (Jove)
13. "The Watchman" by Robert Crais (Pocket Star)
14. "The Murder Game" by Beverly Barton (Zebra)
15. "The Shape Shifter" by Tony Hillerman (Harper)

TRADE PAPERBACKS
1. "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" by Eckhart Tolle (Plume)
2. "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett (NAL Trade)
3. "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin)
4. "Atonement" by Ian McEwan (Anchor)
5. "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin)
6. "Eat This Not That!" by David Zinczenko, Matt Goulding (Rodale)
7. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead)
8. "Skinny B----" by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin (Running Press)
9. "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen (Algonquin)
10. "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs (Berkley)
11. "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone)
12. "Body Surfing" by Anita Shreve (Back Bay Books)
13. "The Audacity of Hope:Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" by Barack Obama (Three Rivers Press)
14. "The Calorie King Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter 2008" by Allan Borushek (Family Health Publications)
15. "The 6th Target" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Grand Central Publishing)
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USA TODAY BEST-SELLERS

Key: F-Fiction; NF-Nonfiction; H-Hardcover; P-Paperback
1. "The Appeal" by John Grisham (Doubleday) (F-H)
2. "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" by Eckhart Tolle (Plume) (NF-P)
3. "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett (NAL Trade) (F-P)
4. "Duma Key" by Stephen King (Scribner) (F-H)
5. "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) (NF-P)
6. "Atonement" by Ian McEwan (Anchor) (F-H)
7. "Three Cups Of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) (NF-P)
8. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" by Jeff Kinney (Amulet) (F-H)
9. "Eat This Not That!" by David Zinczenko, Matt Goulding (Rodale) (NF-H)
10. "Sizzle and Burn" by Jayne Ann Krentz (Putnam)(F-H)
11. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) (F-P)
12. "Skinny B----" by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin (Running Press) (NF-P)
13. "The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence" by Gavin De Becker (Dell) (NF-P)
14. "Plum Lucky" by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press) (F-H)
15. "The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town" by John Grisham, (Dell) (NF-P)
16. "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen (Algonquin) (F-P)
17. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words) (NF-H)
18. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Hardcover) (F-H)
19. "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs (Berkley) (F-P)
20. "Sisters" by Danielle Steel (Dell)(F-P)
21. "Snowfall At Willow Lake" by Susan Wiggs (Mira Books) (F-P)
22. "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) (F-P)
23. "The 6th Target" by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Grand Central Publishing) (F-P)
24. "Treasures" by Nora Roberts (Silhouette) (F-P)
25. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney (Abrams Books for Young Readers) (F-H)
26. "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone) (F-P)
27. "The Audacity of Hope:Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" by Barack Obama (Three Rivers Press) (NF-P)
28. "Vampires Are Forever" by Lynsay Sands (Avon) (F-P)
29. "Three In Death" by J.D. Robb (Berkley) (F-P)
30. "The Calorie King Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter 2008" by Allan Borushek (Family Health Publications) (NF-P)
31. "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown for Young Readers) (F-H)
32. "World Without End" by Ken Follett (Dutton) (F-H)
33. "Into the Wild" by John Krakauer (Anchor) (NF-P)
34. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) (F-H)
35. "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Vintage) (F-P)
36. "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks (Viking Adult) (F-H)
37. "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan (Penguin) (NF-H)
38. "Body Surfing" by Anita Shreve (Back Bay Books) (F-P)
39. "90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life" by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey (Revell) (NF-P)
40. "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson (Tor) (F-P)
41. "Plum Lovin"' by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Paperback) (F-P)
42. "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards (Penguin) (F-P)
43. "Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day" by Joel Osteen (Free Press) (NF-H)
44. "The Senator's Wife" by Sue Miller (Knopf) (F-H)
45. "Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentine" by Barbara Park, art by Denise Brunkus (Random House) (F-P)
46. "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy (Vintage) (F-P)
47. "Whitethorn Woods" by Maeve Binchy (Knopf) (F-P)
48. "Killing Fear" by Allison Brennan (Ballantine Books) (F-P)
49. "Daddy's Girl" by Lisa Scottoline (Harper) (F-P)
50. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee (Grand Central Publishing) (F-P)
Reporting stores include: Amazon.com, B. Dalton Bookseller, Barnes & Noble.com, Barnes & Noble Inc., Books-A-Million and Bookland, Booksamillion.com, Borders Books & Music, Bookstar, Bookstop, Brentano's, Davis Kidd Booksellers in Nashville, Jackson, Memphis, Tenn., Doubleday Book Shops, Hudson Booksellers, Joseph-Beth Booksellers (Lexington, Ky.; Cincinnati, Cleveland), Powell's Books (Portland, Ore.), Powells.com, R.J. Julia Booksellers (Madison, Conn.), Schuler.
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WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST-SELLERS

FICTION
1. "The Appeal" by John Grisham (Doubleday)
2. "Duma Key" by Stephen King (Scribner)
3. "Sizzle and Burn" by Jayne Ann Krentz (Putnam)
4. "Plum Lucky" by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press)
5. "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown for Young Readers)
6. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Hardcover)
7. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown)
8. "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks (Viking Adult)
9. "World Without End" by Ken Follett (Dutton)
10. "The Senator's Wife" by Sue Miller (Knopf)
11. "Beverly Hills Dead" by Stuart Woods (Putnam Adult)
12. "Blasphemy" by Douglas Preston (Tor)
13. "The Shooters" by W.E.B. Griffin (Putnam)
14. "Double Cross" by James Patterson (Little, Brown and Company)
15. "The Purrfect" by Murder Rita Mae Brown (Bantam)

NONFICTION
1. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words)
2. "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan (Penguin)
3. "StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Tom Rath (Gallup Press)
4. "An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems" by Glenn Beck (Threshold Editions)
5. "How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better" by Charla Krupp (Springboard Press)
6. "Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day" by Joel Osteen (Free Press)
7. "Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works" by Newt Gingrich (Regnery)
8. "You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty" by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz (Free Press)
9. "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Other's Don't" by Jim Collins (Collins)
10. "The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life" by Ellie Krieger (Taunton)
11. "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld (HarperCollins)
12. "I Am America (And So Can You!)" by Stephen Colbert (Grand Central Publishing)
13. "Temples on the Other Side" by Sylvia Browne (Hay House)
14. "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning" by Jonah Goldbert (Doubleday)
15. "The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich" by Timothy Ferriss (Crown)
The Wall Street Journal's list reflects nationwide sales of hardcover books during the week ended last Saturday at more than 2,500 Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton, Bookland, Books-a-Million, Books & Co., Bookstar, Bookstop, Borders, Brentano's, Coles, Coopersmith, Doubleday, Scribners and Waldenbooks stores, as well as sales from online retailers Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
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from Shelf Awareness -- new titles out Feb. 4-5:

Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me by Ben Karlin
7th Heaven by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Stranger in Paradise by Robert B. Parker
Stupid Black Men: How to Play the Race Card--and Lose by Larry Elder

and on Feb. 12:

The Ghost War by Alex Berenson
Dakota: A Novel by Martha Grimes
The Killing Ground by Jack Higgins
Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West by Benazir Bhutto
Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq by Michael Scheuer
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from Publishers Weekly -- new titles:
[c] = children's titles
*= PW starred review

February 1
[c]* Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
The Great Awakening by Jim Wallis
The Faith: What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why It Matters by Charles Colson and Harold Fickett
[c]Zen Ties by Jon J Muth
Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me by Ben Karlin

February 5
7th Heaven by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
[c]Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly by Jane O'Connor, illus. by Robin Preiss Glasser
[c]The Clique #9: Bratfest at Tiffany's by Lisi Harrison
Stranger in Paradise by Robert B. Parker
The First Patient by Michael Palmer
Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq by Michael Scheuer
[c]Dora the Explorer #16: Dora and the Rainbow Kite Festival by Christine Ricci, illus. by Robert Roper
[c]Go, Diego, Go! #7: Diego's Buzzing Bee Adventure by Alison Inches, illus. by Ron Zalme
[c]Go, Diego, Go!: Rescue Truck Saves the Day! by Sydney Parker, illus. by Art Mawhinney
[c]Disney's High School Musical: Along for the Ride
Why Women Should Rule the World by Dee Dee Myers
[c] Avatar #5: The Earth Kingdom Chronicles: The Tale of Zuko by Michael Teitelbaum, illus. by Patrick Spaziante
Stupid Black Men: How to play the race card -- and lose by Larry Elder (This is interesting: apparently it was originally titled "Stupid Black Men: And Why the Democratic Party--and Al Qaeda--Want to Keep Them That Way.")
His Illegal Self by Peter Carey

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This is fun. Shelf Awareness tells us of a new subscription club from the immense Powell's Books in Oregon:

Surprise in a Box: Powell's Launches Subscription Club

Powell's Books, Portland, Ore., is launching a subscription club that every six weeks will deliver an unusual edition of a new book in a box along with at least one surprise--which may be a DVD or CD, a literary magazine, signed blads from graphic novel, a zine, a mug, excellent chocolate, etc. The program costs $39.95 per box, including shipping and handling, and begins on March 5 with a hardcover first edition copy of How the Dead Dream by Lydia Millet (Counterpoint Press) with a matching full-cloth slipcase (see illustration). The first shipment will be limited to 200 copies, signed and numbered by Millet. People who buy a membership for themselves may cancel at any time. Those who buy it as a gift take it for at least three, six or twelve installments.

Many of the books will be sent around the time of publication and may be first editions, special editions and in some cases higher-quality ARCs, and many will be signed. Publishers will be able to include something in the box such as a note, a reader's reaction card and more. The boxes themselves may be somewhat fancy, depending on the cost. "At the least, the boxes will be lovingly packaged," Dave Weich, director of marketing and development at Powell's, told Shelf Awareness.

Called IndieSpensable, the book club is "basically handselling," Weich continued. "We want people not just to be pleased but be surprised and entertained. Members won't know what they're getting, and part of the thrill is of getting that book before anyone else." Authors will include both established and new voices, and Powell's will emphasize independent press titles, aiming to have about two-thirds of the first nine choices published by indies. Powell's is not asking for financial support from publishers. "This is selective and high quality," he added.

To sign up,

http://www.powells.com/indiespensable

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Are you enjoying the complete Jane Austen series on "Masterpiece" on PBS? Now you can check out how the dashing leading men of Austen rate (and cast a vote yourself) in a modern-day dating profile on MASTERPIECE's new interactive feature, THE MEN OF AUSTEN

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/austen/menofausten.html

which highlights everything you need to know -- from their turn-ons to their fortunes -- to make the perfect Austen match. Click on the one you'd like to vote for. Many readers have been voting for Pride and Prejudice's Mr. Darcy as the most eligible of Austen's bachelors. MASTERPIECE's The Complete Jane Austen will present Andrew Davies' acclaimed 1995 adaptation, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, starting Sunday, Feb. 10.

May the best man win.

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from Publishers Weekly -- On-Sale Calendar of comics and graphic novels for Jan. 30:

Rurouni Kenshin VIZBIG Edition Vol. 1 (Viz Media)
Batman: The Man Who Laughs (DC)
El Diablo (DC/ Vertigo)
Casanova Vol. 1: Luxuria (Image)
New Avengers: Illuminati (Marvel)
Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shiar Empire (Marvel)
What Were They Thinking Vol. 1 (Boom! Entertainment)
Albert & the Others (Drawn & Quarterly)
Warriors Vol. 2: Warriors Refuge (Harper Collins)
Hell Girl Vol. 1 (Del Ray Manga)
Ral Grad Vol.1 (Viz Media)
Predator Omnibus Vol. 2 (Dark Horse)
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January Catholic Bestsellers:

HARDCOVERS
1. Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism. George Weigel.
2. The Dream Manager. Matthew Kelly.
3. Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. Mother Teresa with Brian Kolodiejchuk.
4. Celebration of Discipline, 25th Anniversary Edition. Richard Foster.
5. Technology Tools for Your Ministry. Tim Welch.
6. Rediscovering Catholicism. Matthew Kelly.
7. Jesus of Nazareth. Pope Benedict XVI.
8. The Rhythm of Life. Matthew Kelly.
9. Simply Christian. N.T. Wright.
10. Catechism of the Catholic Church.

PAPERBACKS
1. The Screwtape Letters. C.S. Lewis.
2. Mere Christianity. C.S. Lewis.
3. Catechism of the Catholic Church.
4. The Great Divorce. C.S. Lewis.
5. The Cross, Our Only Hope. A. Gawrych and K. Grove.
6. The Only Necessary Thing. Henri J.M. Nouwen.
7. The Complete C.S. Lewis Classics. C.S. Lewis.
8. On Christian Hope. Pope Benedict XVI.
9. Life of the Beloved. Henri J.M. Nouwen.
10. The Handbook for Today's Catholic.

http://www.cbpa.org/memberservices/2008bestsellerslist.html

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Amazon.com is looking to purchase Audible Inc., the No. 1 source for downloaded audio books.

Amazon's sales of its e-book reader, the Kindle, are so strong that it can't keep up with demand, but Jeff Bezos says he's trying.

How do you feel about reading books on an e-reader rather than on paper? Do you already own an e-book reader? Will you be buying a Kindle? Let us know.
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The release date of Christoper Paolini's "Brisingr" has been moved to 12:01 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, so stores can have midnight "Harry Potter"-type events for kids.
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Al Roker's newest pick for the Today Show Book Club for Kids is Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism by Georgia Byng.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/22934922

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A blogger at The Guardian discusses the recent scandals surrounding the writing of "memoirs," and he offers these suggestions:

"I'd like to propose a simple set of realistic standards that all writers should adopt to avoid authorship scandals in the future. Here are the eight things every writer should remember:

1. Do not use the word "memoir" unless you mean it.
2. If you're not sure whether what you're writing is a memoir or not, guess what? It's a novel.
3. No more than half a page of plagiarism per book.
4. Don't make up exact dates that you can't remember. Instead, be general: "The most important day of my life was the day of my son's birth, in the summer of 2005 ..."
5. Just say no to sending a friend out in public with a wig as you.
6. If you're in a flame war and you're about to go sock puppet, take a 10-minute break and go to a coffee shop without a wi-fi facility. Maybe the walk will cool you down.
7. Go ahead and make up dialogue. Everybody except Tom Wolfe does.
8. Pick a name. "Benjamin Black is John Banville" is just not a good look."

For explanations to the parts of this you don't understand (I didn't, either), this link will take you places that will explain them.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/02/how_to_avoid_author_scandals.html

or try looking up the phrase at

http://www.urbandictionary.com

That's a handy little link! But be warned -- this is a slang dictionary, and there are a lot of pretty disgusting definitions!
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"The Greatest Gift": biography of Dorothy Stang, nun and rain forest defender
By MICHAEL ASTOR
Associated Press Writer
"The Greatest Gift" (Doubleday, 256 pages, $21.95), by Binka Le Breton: Dorothy Stang wasn't an average nun. She didn't wear a habit or retreat to a convent for pious prayer and contemplation. She rode a motorcycle over rutted dirt roads, enjoyed watching football games with a cold beer in her hand and lived for 40 years among some of Brazil's poorest people.
She helped build schools, taught Amazon settlers the value of the rain forest and helped them fight for their rights in the face of land grabbing and wanton environmental destruction.
And for this, she paid with her life.
"She was tough, smart and intensely political. It was precisely her fervent work on behalf of the poor that got her killed. None of this little nun bit. She was like a Mack truck," Stang's brother David explains.
On Feb. 12 2005, a gunman fired six bullets into her 73-year-old body at close range on a muddy stretch of road in the heart of jungle.
Like the assassination of Chico Mendes, the rubber tapper and union leader shot dead in 1988, Stang's killing focused international attention on land struggles in the Amazon, where powerful ranchers using forged papers routinely force settlers from their homes and where nearly 1,000 union leaders, activists and clergy members have been killed over the past 30 years.
Le Breton, a British journalist who has written a number of important books about Amazon issues, describes in this terse, highly readable narrative how a scrappy little nun from Dayton, Ohio, stumbled into Brazil's wild west.
The biography follows Stang from her Norman Rockwell upbringing as the fourth of nine children in a stern German-Irish Catholic family to her convent years among the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur to her early work with Mexican migrants in Arizona.
Stang then moved on to the backwaters of Brazil, where she and a handful of other young American nuns arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1966, while the country was still ruled by a military dictatorship.
Le Breton provides wonderful details, such as how Stang came to lose her habit " removing it only to keep it clean on the country's dry dusty roads and then finding the local bishop preferred the young nuns without them.
Le Breton also does a nice job of explaining how Stang's work with the poorest led her to Liberation Theology, which reinterprets the Gospels to focus on Christ's work for the poor. The movement was sweeping Latin America at the time, despite Vatican opposition that led the church to censure of a number of prominent advocates.
Liberation theology also upset powerful interests in Brazil.
"People who worked for human rights and for the settlers' rights to the land were labeled subversive and the government had them hunted down," Sister Joan, one of Stang's oldest friends, explains in the book. "Death was a price that many paid for envisioning a just society. Everyone who worked with the poor was called a communist. Dot was called a communist."
One almost wonders how Stang managed to survive as long as she did.
In 2004, Stang was charged with running guns for the settlers. Later that year, she was declared a persona non grata by the mayor of Anapu, the town where she spent 23 years of her life.
Since her death, it's hard to find anyone, including many of her enemies, willing to say anything bad about the nun. Le Breton's biography also suffers here: Too often, descriptions of Stang's shortcomings are left dangling, and hard questions are left unexamined. It leaves the reader with an impression of Stang as a somewhat one-dimensional figure.
Toward the end of her life, Stang was promoting Sustainable Development Projects, a zoning mechanism under Brazilian law that allows settlers to claim land in exchange for promising to develop it in a sustainable manner, without cutting more than a small portion of trees.
This brought her into direct conflict with a pair of local ranchers who claimed the land as their own.
Le Breton recreates these scenes from the perspective of Stang and her killers, but doesn't fully explore the motivations of these rich and powerful ranchers. While two ranchers were charged with ordering her death and one has been convicted, their motivations remain obscure.
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from Shelf Awareness:

The finalists for Barnes & Noble's 2007 Discover Great New Writers Awards:

Fiction
Matthew Eck, author of The Farther Shore (Milkweed Editions)
Joshua Ferris, author of Then We Came to the End (Little, Brown)
Vendela Vida, author of Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name (Ecco)

Nonfiction
Kate Braestrup, author of Here If You Need Me: A True Story (Little, Brown)
Elizabeth D. Samet, author of Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point (FSG)
Yaroslav Trofimov, author of The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al Qaeda (Doubleday)

The winners will be announced on Wednesday, February 27. Winners in each category receive a $10,000 prize and a year of addition promotion at B&N. Second-place finalists win $5,000; third-place finalists $2,500.
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The National Book Critics Circle has a Best Recommended List for us to check out.

http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com

plus a whole lot of other recommendations for reading, and why they're good!
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Here's the link to the list of finalists for the Audio Publishers Association "The Audies" awards for excellence in audiobooks:

http://www.audiopub.org/2008Audiesfinalistsrelease2.pdf

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Top Ten Bestsellers on www.AbeBooks.com in Victoria, British Columbia, for January:
1 The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren
2 The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
3 Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom
4 Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
5 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey
6 The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, Thomas Friedman
7 Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, Robert Tignor
8 Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson
9 Freak the Mighty, Rodman Philbrick
10 We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families, Philip Gourevitch
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from the Associated Press:
By PATRICK CONDON
Associated Press Writer
"Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farm Journalist: Writings From the Ozarks" (University of Missouri Press, $34.95), edited by Stephen W. Hines: Laura Ingalls Wilder was 66 when the first volume in her beloved Little House series, "Little House in the Big Woods," was published. But Wilder had already been an established writer for more than two decades by that point, writing a biweekly column about women and country life for a publication known as the Missouri Ruralist.
Stephen W. Hines collects 13 years worth of these columns in the book "Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farm Journalist." Hines's undertaking seems worthwhile in the name of preserving the many interesting, grassroots-level glimpses of a time of great change in American history that can be found in the work.
More than anything, Wilder was an ardent defender of country living at a time when more Americans than ever were leaving the farms for town or city life. But far from being stuck in the past, Wilder was a passionate advocate of modern conveniences that were just becoming available to homes across the land -- such things as indoor plumbing and electric lights and home appliances. She imagines the day when everything in a woman's kitchen "from peeling the potatoes to cooking the dinner and washing the dishes is done by electricity," giving farm wives more time to listen to the birds singing or notice the beauty of the sky and clouds.
Still, a little of that kind of historical novelty goes a long way, and in her columns, Wilder never strayed too far from her favorite themes of hard work, thrift and determination in the running of a home and raising of a family. The book benefits from her occasional foray into other topics, particularly politics and her championing of a woman's right to vote.

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Here's what's happening in February at the Blue Heron Bookstore in Peninsula:

http://www.blueheronbookstore.com/events/eventspage.html

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The next assignment for Oprah's Book Club is Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose." Sign up at www.oprah.com for live Web classes with the author.

Oprah's previous book was Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth." How disappointed was I when Follett appeared on Oprah's show for only a few minutes? Very. She took the rest of her interview with him to her "after the show" show, apparently -- which I can't see because I don't have cable -- and some kind of online discussion. Her on-air book club discussion was only 12 minutes in length, and that included the introduction of the new one, so her talk with Follett was VERY short.

Doesn't this bother any of you at all? I watch her show to watch her show, not to watch videos online of the parts of her show that were evidently not good enough for advertisers to support. I watch her book club shows to hear discussions of the book. But this latest show was half taken up with world record holders and a man making bubbles. Are you kidding me? PLEASE write to me and tell me you agree. (Don't get me wrong; I liked the bubble man. But although that was fun, it wasn't about books; she could have had that on anytime.)

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from Publishers Weekly:

Young People's Literature Ambassador Jon Scieszka reveals
"a partial list of suggestions from Ambassador fans big and small of what I should receive as Ambassador:
cape
sash
laurel wreath/crown
bejewelled goblet
those little flags for my car
guards for my embassy
an Apache attack helicopter (my idea)
jetpack
Popemobile
jetpack-Popemobile
instant restaurant reservations anywhere, anytime
a fancy uniform
medals
epaulets
a Captain Crunch style admiral's hat (Dave Shannon's suggestion)
Secret Service Franking privileges (mine also)
lifetime diplomatic immunity, for anything (ditto)
a million dollars (surprisingly not mine, but very nice)
official seal diplomatic pouch rank above TSA officials
Ambassador underwear
championship wrestling style belt
require everyone to address me as "Your Excellency" or "Your Eminence"
A butt of Malmsey (traditional payment for England's Poet Laureate)"

http://www.publishersweekly.com/enewsletter/CA6529535/2788.html

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From Publishers Weekly -- Children's Books on sale in March 2008

1
Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls by Meg Cabot
The Jellybeans and the Big Dance by Laura Numeroff and Nate Evans, illus. by Lynn Munsinger

4
The Big Field by Mike Lupica
The Backyardigans: Opposites Race by Irene Kilpatrick, illus. by Susan Hall
The Backyardigans: Away We Go! by Irene Kilpatrick, illus. by Carlo Lo Raso
Barnstormers #3: Game 3 by Phil Bildner, illus. by Loren Long

11
MySpace/OurPlanet by the MySpace Community with Jeca Taudte

13
Return to Fairyopolis: The Search for the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker

18
Don't Bump the Glump! by Shel Silverstein
Ranger's Apprentice: Book Four, The Battle for Skandia by John Flanagan

25
Magic Tree House # 39: Dark Day in the Deep Sea by Mary Pope Osborne, illus. by Sal Murdocca
Steel Trapp: The Challenge by Ridley Pearson

31
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
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