Book News

The September/October Book Sense 76 is now online at news.bookweb.org/read/1715. For the past several weeks, a daily e-mail stream of enthusiastic nominations from independent booksellers has created an usually strong 76 list -- highlights from what looks to be quite a season of compelling fiction and nonfiction. Many thanks to all the booksellers who took the time to nominate titles and whose passion and insight so enrich the Book Sense 76.

Based on four weeks of sales from over 400 independent bookstores across America.

Past Category Bestseller lists are available at www.bookweb.org/read/5677.

Attention Media: Please contact Kristen Gilligan at [email protected] for reprint guidelines for your newspaper or magazine.

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On Thursday, August 7, Good Morning America announced that Life of Pi: A Novel, by Yann Martel (Harvest), a Book Sense Top Ten pick and 2003 Book Sense Book of the Year Fiction Finalist, is the 13th selection for the morning show's "Read This!" book club.

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated," bookstore owner Larry Abramoff told BTW, quoting Mark Twain. Abramoff, owner of Tatnuck Bookseller & Sons in Worcester, Massachusetts, was featured in a new dinner theater murder mystery as the victim (he played himself as a ghost). The sold-out show was performed at Tatnuck to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Worcester. Actors mixed with the audience during the three-hour, interactive, buffet-style dinner.

The Book Sense Animal Bestseller List for the four weeks ended August 3, 2003.

Based on sales reports from well over 400 Book Sense stores nationwide.

Past Category Bestseller lists are available at www.bookweb.org/read/5677.

Attention Media: Please contact Kristen Gilligan at [email protected] for reprint guidelines for your newspaper or magazine.

On Thursday, July 31, NBC News' Today Show announced that the latest selection of its monthly "Today Book Club" is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Doubleday). The title was a July/August 2003 Book Sense 76 pick. Dave Barry, who appeared on the popular morning show with Haddon, chose the book.

Here are independent booksellers' picks for the top ten small press titles for the fall. Pads will be in the August white box mailing and a downloadable PDF file will be available at http://www.bookweb.org/read/1474. This Web page also includes links to all past Book Sense 76s.

Very many thanks to all the independent booksellers who shared their enthusiastic nominations for this top ten list.

Friday, August 1, is the deadline for two upcoming Book Sense 76 lists:

Based on sales reports from well over 400 independent bookstores across the U.S. for the four weeks ending July 20, 2003.

Food, glorious food. We wonder, Are women even allowed near the grill?

Attention Media: To reprint this list, contact Kristen Gilligan at [email protected].

Thanks to all loyal reporters!

Here are booksellers' picks for the top ten science fiction and fantasy titles for the fall. Pads will be in the August white box mailing and a downloadable PDF file will be available at www.bookweb.org/read/1474 next week. This Web page also includes links to all past Book Sense 76s.

On Wednesday, July 16, six national free expression groups, led by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), demanded that the All-American Soap Box Derby cease efforts to censor a new history of the Derby, Champions, Cheaters, and Childhood Dreams: Memories of the All-American Soap Box Derby, by Melanie Payne (University of Akron Press).

The Atomic age spawned more than nationwide paranoia, anti-Soviet propaganda, and "Little Boy," the code name for the four-ton bomb dropped on Hiroshima. There was a spate of filmmakers and writers who responded to the possibility of nuclear Armageddon with a legion of classics: Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, The Manhattan Project, and Fail Safe, among them.

Public radio listeners are among the heaviest book buyers (according to a recent analysis by Mediamark Research), so when notable public radio personality Susan Stamberg hosts a segment devoted to bookseller picks for summer reading, stores can expect a significant response. Stamberg, who serves as a National Public Radio (NPR) special correspondent, periodically devotes segments on news programs to brief interviews with independent booksellers around the country.

On Thursday, July 10, Good Morning America announced that A Vineyard Killing (Scribner) by Philip R. Craig was the latest book chosen by the show's "Read This!" book club. The mystery yarn follows retired policeman and part-time private detective J.W. Jackson's investigation of the attempted murder of a real-estate tycoon who had been trying to pressure locals into selling their island homes for much less than they are worth.

Based on four weeks of sales from over 400 independent bookstores across America.

Past Category Bestseller lists are available at www.bookweb.org/read/5677.

Attention Media: Please contact Kristen Gilligan at [email protected] for reprint guidelines for your newspaper or magazine.