The 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards will recognize the books that booksellers most enjoyed handselling in the past year. Nominations for Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Children's Literature, and Illustrated Children's Book will be drawn from the Top Ten Book Sense 76 picks of 2001. Only books published in the preceding year are eligible. Lines for write-ins are provided on the nomination form.

Syndicated Columnist Sharon Randall's Essays on Life and Family Find Book Sense Fans

Birdbaths and Paper Cranes, a collection of personal essays by syndicated columnist Sharon Randall, is making friends among booksellers. The Sleeping Bear Press title is a January/February Book Sense 76 selection, nominated by Bob Spear of The Book Barn in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Last week 27 of the 75 titles on the Book Sense Bestseller List were Book Sense 76 picks, illuminating the connection between marketing and sales; the 76 displays and distribution of the 76 fliers.

Imagine a novel based on a sensational and highly-publicized real-life courtroom drama involving a celebrity defendant accused of killing his beautiful wife; where the defense strategy involves putting the victim herself, and her hedonistic lifestyle, on trial.

O.J. Simpson, you say?

In the January 7, 2002, issue of BTW, you'll find a ballot for the first round of voting for the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year awards. You'll see a long list of nominees drawn from the Book Sense 76s of 2002 in the categories of Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Children's Literature, Children's Illustrated, and, for the first time, a Rediscovery Award. This new fifth award will be drawn from a mix of adult and children's backlist or recently reissued books that made the 76 in 2001.

For Wally Amos, gourmet cookie guru and founder of Famous Amos Cookies, the cookie is a metaphor for life. That's why his new book (written with Eden-Lee Murray), The Cookie Never Crumbles: Inspirational Recipes for Everyday Living (St. Martin's), serves up recipes from his own personal kitchen that can help others lead gourmet lives.

I know you can barely bear to think about 2002 right now, but I do hope you can take one moment in this hectic holiday season and get a little re-energized by the thought of a lot of gems coming first thing in the New Year! Great midlist for us to sell!

In fact, it's the highest number of books I can recall coming out in the first two weeks of the 76 time span in question, and I apologize in advance. I kept them to a minimum, AND a few publishers moved up shipping schedules for us to get them out earlier.

-Carl

Eloquent and Provocative Memoir Garnering Strong Reviews

Most booksellers know the Hammett byline. The five classic novels and several volumes of short stories by Dashiell Hammett, father of modern American crime fiction, have been steady sellers for decades.

Booksellers around the country are reporting disparate results from the first shopping week of the Christmas season. The effects of the economic recession and the traumatic events beginning on September 11 are not consistently hurting, or helping, the nation's bookselling community. Weather conditions, ranging from snowy to summery, had a great impact on post-Thanksgiving shopping, as did a store's location. Resort areas were packed for the long weekend, while some cities were fairly quiet.