Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Ye Olde Partners Page

*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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