Entertainment Weekly presents an entirely Bolano-free list of the best fiction and nonfiction of the year: Fiction1. SAY YOU’RE ONE OF THEM, Uwem Akpan2. THE BOOK OF DAHLIA, Elisa Albert3. OLIVE KITTERIDGE, Elizabeth Strout4. LUSH LIFE, Richard Price5. BOTTOMLESS BELLY BUTTON, Dash Shaw6. THE HOUSE ON FORTUNE STREET, Margot Livesey7. DISQUIET, Julia Leigh8. THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, David Wroblewski9. AMERICAN WIFE, Curtis Sittenfeld10. WHAT HAPPENED TO ANNA K., Irina Reyn Nonfiction1. BEAUTIFUL BOY, David Sheff2. NIXONLAND, Rick Perlstein3. THE FOREVER WAR, Dexter Filkins4. PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION, Mark Harris5. THE BIN LADENS, Steve Coll6. BOTTLEMANIA, Elizabeth Royte7. THE AGE […]
Another Portland Store Faces Closing
Portland, Oregon’s Twenty-Third Avenue Books is the latest longstanding independent store to put out a call for help as they approach their twenty-ninth anniversary. In “a call for help this holiday season,” the store writes that “we’re wondering if that date [the January 1 anniversary] will be the final closing of our beloved shop.” They note: “We’ve all been affected by the current state of the economy, like so many of our fellow independent bookstores, and Twenty-Third Avenue Books is no different; we’re behind in our rent and facing eviction. With no funds to relocate, such a state of affairs […]
Bookstore Worker Held for Embezzlement
Forty-three-year old Anna Susan Kosak was charged with embezzling $348,975 from Quail Ridge Books & Music over the past seven years. The News Observer says she was the bookstore’s bookkeeper until September. General manager Sarah Goddin said they missing money “went undetected because it disappeared over a long period of time.” Co-owner Nancy Olsen says their sales are about $3.4 million a year. “We’re shocked,” Olsen said after the arrest. “We felt a professional closeness with her. We thought a lot of her.” She adds, We thought we were watching our every dollar. I guess we weren’t.” Olsen notes that […]
New Releases Aim for Post-Holiday Sales
Gotham publisher Bill Shinker explains to the WSJ that “the week after Christmas is a great time to put out books,” in part due to the rise in gift-card sales. Barnes & Noble says gift card purchases have doubled over the past five years. Highlighted newly-releasing titles in this short piece are: Josh Bazell’s Beat the ReaperAnn Coulter’s Guilty: Liberal ‘Victims’ and Their Assault on AmericaAzar Nafisi’s Things I’ve Been Silent About: MemoriesHarry S. Dent’s The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Crash Following the Greatest Boom in History WSJ
S&S Year-End Thoughts, and More
In “a challenging year,” SImon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy’s year-end letter is mostly focused on taking “time to celebrate our industry and our company, to remember and be grateful for what makes publishing an exciting and wonderful business and Simon & Schuster a special company within it.” She also suggest that “this is precisely the moment – when established routines do not yield the customary results – that we must take chances and embrace risk.” In digital news, like Random House, Simon & Schuster will “nearly quadruple eBook sales this year” even with a delay in their initiative announced […]
Bertram's Status–Whatever
Ever since the troubles at Woolworth’s became severe earlier this fall, we’ve been dubious about the short statements from Bertram’s managing director Michael Neil, whose twin pillars have been business is great and sale of the book wholesaler is imminent. Now Neil finally admits no sale is likely until next year, and calls himself unrealistic: “”Bertrams will be sold–probably not as quickly as we said it would be, but that’s because of Christmas and New Year. It’s unrealistic to think it would be sorted out this close to Christmas.” And business remains great, except not: “We had a great week […]