People

Claire Cook, whose novel Must Love Dogs (Onyx Books) is a top ten pick on the Summer Paperback Book Sense 76, recently wrote to Dan Cullen, editor-in-chief of the Book Sense 76 lists, to express her appreciation for independent booksellers' support of her work and to acknowledge the power of the Book Sense 76 lists.

Esme Raji Codell, and yes, she was named for Salinger's Esme -- came to national attention with her first book, Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year (Algonquin). The insightful, funny, unbelievably energetic Codell began her first year of teaching in an underachieving, charmless public school in a very poor section of Chicago. She chronicled the experience and gave readers a glimpse of what a gifted teacher can do even in the humblest environments.

It took Nancy Pearl a year to complete Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason (Sasquatch Books, September 2003). But that's just one way of looking at it.

James Welch, acclaimed Native American author of many novels, including Fools Crow (Penguin, USA) and The Indian Lawyer (Penguin, USA), died of a heart attack in his home in Montana on Wednesday, August 6. He was 62 and had been struggling with cancer.

"He was a very caring and giving person," said Barbara Theroux of Fact and Fiction Books in Missoula, Montana. "He was somebody you felt was a true friend, in addition to being an internationally acclaimed and best selling author."

Renowned Canadian Author Carol Shields Dies at 68

On July 16, author Carol Shields died of complications from breast cancer in Victoria. She was 68. Shields' eldest daughter, Anne Giardini told Anne Collins, Carol's Canadian publisher, "This is a difficult time for us. It is going to take all of our courage, resolve, and grace to even try to go on without her. My parents had 46 years of marriage, but there were many happy, busy years ahead of them. She had many books left to write. We are bereft."

In the July/August Book Sense 76, the nominating bookseller for The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka (Viking, $24.95, 0670031925) was incorrectly identified. The bookseller, from The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, North Carolina, was Katrina Denza.

Colleagues and friends of Milwaukee bookseller A. David Schwartz, owner of Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee, have created a special way to celebrate the bookseller's 65th birthday and to show their support as Schwartz recovers from recent cancer surgery. They are collecting new books that will be donated to three local Milwaukee charities: COA Youth and Family Centers, The JCC Parenting Center and Library, and Milwaukee Women's Center.

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.