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*News From the Glamorous World of Bookselling*

"The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs . . ."
--Charles de Gaulle

1) A PERFECT VACUUM . . . Realistically, the only title that most booksellers care about restocking is A Stolen Life: A Memoir (9781451629187) 24.99 by Jaycee Dugard. The publisher, Simon & Schuster, did a small reprint of 25,000 copies last week. Obviously, that didn't go too far. Diane Sawyers interview with Ms. Dugard was rerun over the weekend to further amp up demand. I won't even mention that every time I jumped on the internet last week the first thing I saw on MSN was her image. If I were grading, S&S publicity department would certainly be awarded an A+. At any rate, the latest reprint was due at the publisher yesterday or today, so we should have it early next week. Get your backorders in . . .

2) EDEN . . . Arbutus Press has done a great job with their latest release, Vintage Views Along the West Michigan Pike: From Sand Trails to US-31 (9781933926308) 35.00 by M. Christine Byron & Thomas Wilson. Once the main route between Chicago and Mackinaw City, this books features postcards and pictures from the turn of the century to the 1930s. "Time has caught her, and will for all reasons take her . . ." Elly from The Bookman in Grand Haven said, "This is one sweet book." Also, a nice modern companion for this volume would be Traveling Michigan's Sunset Coast (9781933272092) 19.95 by Julie Albrecht Royce. From St. Joseph to the Sleeping Bear Dunes, there is plenty of fun to be had on Lake Michigan . . .

3) RETURN FROM THE STARS . . . Stieg Larsson, author of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (9780307269997) 27.95 is still dead. With the success of his books, publishers have been flailing around and trying to find the next big living Scandinavian author. In fact, I've heard positive arguments for Swedish author Henning Mankell's Wallander series with The Troubled Man (9780307593498) 26.95 as the latest title (and likely the last one) featuring Kurt Wallander. Also, Norwegian author Jo Nesbo, author of The Snowman (9780307595867) 25.95 has garnered a lot of favorable comparisons to Mr. Larsson. Now Lars Kepler's The Hypnotist (9780374173951) 27.00, which is actually the pseudonym for the husband and wife writing team of Alexander and Alexandra Coehlo Ahndoril, is being heralded by their publisher as the newest blockbuster in the Swedish scribe sweepstakes. Reviews are mixed. Larrrrrrrs!

4) LIBRARY OF THE 21ST CENTURY . . . Booksellers are a special breed. Borders is finally closing and instead of vindictive gloating by their competitors, I have seen nothing but sympathy and support for the 10,000 employees who have lost their jobs from just about everyone in the industry. As Mark Vonnegut once said, "We're here to get each other through this thing, whatever it is."

Odds & Sods

We have a limited quantity of signed books from three of our favourite childrens authors. We have signed copies of Meg Cabot's Abandon (9780545284103) 17.99 and Allie Finkle #1 (9780545040419) 5.99. We also have signed ones of Libba Bray's Beauty Queens (9780439895972) 18.99. And finally, we have autographed versions of Linger (9780545123297) 9.99 and Shiver (9780545123273) 9.99 by Maggie Stiefvater. Let your server know or you may get unsigned books instead . . .

Steve Hamilton's Misery Bay (9780312380434) 24.99 is back in stock and still selling well . . .

Happy Belated Lake Superior Day!

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*News From the Glamorous World of Bookselling*

"The critics say it's a bad show, but there ain't no critic who can climb into people's windows and turn off their [TV] sets . . ."
--Sherwood Schwartz

1) THE BRADY HOUR (2.0) . . . You may have heard about this Harry Potter^TM thing. However, due to a dirth of publicity, you may not know that the last movie in the series, Harry Potter & The Deathly Hollows 7.5 will be released at a handful of art theatres on Thursday night, so you might see some sales on Harry Potter & The Deathly Hollows (9780545139700) 14.99. A youngster, Rhyss Bowen Jones, was quoted in The Guardian as saying, "I have grown up in the Harry Potter generation, it's a limbo state after this . . ." Mr. Jones, I know how you feel, I grew up in the Sherwood Schwartz age, and I was saddened to learn that the creator of Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch passed away yesterday. Much like this Harry Potter fellow, Mr. Schwartz's TV shows were a rite of passage for my generation. How else would I have developed a fondness for coconut creme pies? How else would I have known that a beaded door in my swinging bachelor pad in the attic is cool? Good times . . .

2) GILLIGAN'S ISLAND . . . Okay, here's the scoop on the hot titles this week: Steve Hamilton's Misery Bay (9780312380434) 24.99 has been selling like crazy in our neck of the woods. The publisher is out. We have an order that will be shipped from their bindery on Friday, most likely it will arrive here next Tuesday. By the way, my good friends at Books Connection in Livonia will be entertaining Mr. Hamilton for an autographing on July 29. Jaycee Dugard's A Stolen Life: A Memoir (9781451629187) 24.99 is the second hottest book in the nation and we are sold out. The publisher is out too. We are expecting a partial re-stock order next week. Backorders are piling up faster than Rupert Murdoch's News of the World hacking allegations, so get your order in. Finally, the biggest seller has been the long awaited fifth book in the George R.R. Martin opus, A Dance with Dragons (9780553801477) 35.00. We're down to a few copies in the stash, but we are expecting another big batch tomorrow . . .

3) BIG JOHN, LITTLE JOHN . . . Sometimes I think that there is some sort of synergy in this universe. A higher power? Maybe. Pure coincidence? I dunno. Recently, I received David Bowie's Hunky Dory on CD as a gift, which led me to replaying most his catalogue over the ensuing weeks. And now, lo and behold, we have a new biography called Davie Bowie: Starman (9780316032254) 25.99 by Paul Trynka. I can't put it down. The reviews have been outstanding and Bowie's band, The Spiders from Mars, featured one of the most underrated guitarists of all-time, Mick 'Ronno' Ronson. John, I'm only dancing . . .

"Good night, Funnyman, may the Schwartz be with you!"

Odds & Sods

Geez, I put a new northern Michigan title in the Partners Page last week and all I got was *crickets*. Everybody complains that there aren't any new releases about upper Michigan, so here we go again: Red Hot Best of Northern Michigan 2011-2012 (9780918293091) 14.95 by Traverse Magazine is reasonably priced and it highlights the best northern Michigan has to offer in 100 categories. So say Yes to the UP, eh!

There's a new book out by the staff of my favourite TV show, Pawn Stars. It's called License To Pawn (9781401324308) 23.99 by the owner of the pawn shop, Rick Harrison. Good stuff!

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*News From the Glamorous World of Bookselling*

"Now I've been crying lately
Thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating
Why can't we live in bliss . . ."
--Cat Stevens, Peace Train

LEVEL RED: GEEK ALERT! GEEK ALERT! GEEK ALERT! GEEK ALERT! GEEK ALERT!

It's no Krod Muldoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, but it appears that George R.R. Martin's series "The Game of Thrones" was fairly successful in that all-important 'Geek' demographic on TV. Geeks read, and we've gone through more than our fair share of the first four titles in the series: A Game of Thrones (9780553573404) 8.99, A Clash of Kings (9780553579901) 8.99, A Storm of Swords (9780553573428) 8.99, and A Feast for Crows (9780553582024) 8.99.

Now there's good news and bad news. The good news is that the long anticipated fifth book in the series, A Dance with Dragons (9780553801477) 35.00, will be released next Tuesday (7/12). The bad news is that some doofus at Amazon Deutschland released 180 orders of this book to customers last week, and George Arr Arr is pissed.

Let's see what he had to say about this teeny, tiny snafu: "I am not happy about this. My publishers are furious. If we find out who is reponsible, we will mount his head on a spike . . . And thousands of other readers are now getting spoiled, most quite inadvertently and unwillingly, as they stumble over spoilers cropping up everywhere on the Internet. Most of those 'lucky' 180 are keeping mum, to be sure, but there are always a few jerkwads in any group, and those are the ones who cannot keep their mouths shut . . ."

Now, I don't want to sound like a 'Jurisfiction cop,' but I believe the correct term is 'head on a pike.' I wouldn't normally mention it, but Mr. Martin deals in medieval fantasy so you would think he would know better. We are getting a lot of back- orders and I feel this will be 'the book' of the summer. Order accordingly. We will now return to our regularly scheduled program . . .

1) HOW CAN I TELL YOU . . . Almost in time for the northern Michigan summer season, we received our copies of The Red Hot Best of Northern Michigan 2011-2012 (9780918293091) 14.95 today. I, of course, had to flip to the 'Independent Bookstore' section, and I was happy to see both Horizon Books and McLean & Eakin Booksellers are featured. I think that The Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor shoulda been on there, too. Not only is she located in one of the most beautiful places in Michigan, but she has big time writers like Nick and Robbyn van Frankenhuyzen, authors of Saving Samantha (9781585362202) 17.95 (7/10) and Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of Once Upon a River (9780393079890) 25.95 (8/5) coming to visit. Support your local businesses!

Odds & Sods

Neil Gaiman doesn't have anything new, but he has been promoting American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Ed. (9780062059888) 26.99 on the telly. I caught Neil on Craig Ferguson and I was laughing so hard that I was crying. You can catch them here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlx1ju7V9Aw
Enjoy!

The new title, Maine (9780307595126) 25.95 by Paula Abdul look-alike J. Courtney Sullivan has been getting some buzz. I was disappointed because I thought it was about the Spanish-American War, but it's actually about the three generations of the Brian Kelleher women. Backorder accordingly.