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By Roger Rosenblatt
 The week of September 21-28 is declared Banned Book Week by the American Library Association and other organizations interested in publicizing attempts to ban books in schools and libraries.
Except for a concern about the future of democracy, I don't understand what the fuss is about. Ban all the books, I say.
ABA's Prescription for Reading is in full swing, and booksellers who spoke to BTW reported that they are having great success with this year's program. "We started out with 200 books [for the program]," said Lee Kimball, manager of The Library Shop in Richmond, Virginia. "We ended up having to order another 1,000 more."
Ray Barone, the title character on the CBS hit comedy Everybody Loves Raymond, now in its sixth year, is not really the bookish type. But in the episode airing October 14, Raymond and his long-suffering wife, Debra, attempt to raise his cultural IQ by attending a lecture by the fictive author of Hidden Treasures of the Amazon at Sidewalk Books, an invented Book Sense bookstore on Long Island, New York.
 Arthur Phillip's debut novel Prague was one of the most critically praised works of 2002. A July/August Book Sense 76 pick, it was also a Book Sense national bestseller and an enthusiastic handsell among independent booksellers nationwide.
The Citywide Book Club trend, which began in Seattle six years go, shows no sign of slowing down. When Bookselling This Week first created its Citywide Book Club list in March 2002, there were 45 known community-reading initiatives. Seven months later, the number has more than doubled, and now lists 94 cities, counties, or states that have organized (or are organizing) events that encourage communities to read the same book at the same time.
The number of national and local magazines, newspapers, industry publications, and Web sites carrying Book Sense Bestseller (national, regional, or category) lists continues to grow each month.
In September, the media outlets listed below began running one of ABA's Book Sense Bestseller Lists. To view the complete list, click here.
NATIONAL:
Motorboating Magazine (Nautical List)
Based on the last eight weeks of sales from over 300 independent bookstores across America.
Thanks to all the stores that report, the new expanded electronic reporting options, and the software our team here has built to sort and slice a ton of data according to BISAC categories, this is the latest of many subject category lists to run in BTW each week. These are intended as inventory checking tools for booksellers, alerts to publishers as to what's selling, and lists that the media can run.
By Carl Lennertz
Publisher Ad Kudos:
We've always kept you posted by e-mail or at BookWeb.org about upcoming Book Sense ads and the titles involved. I'm going to run reminders here, and I hope that you'll give these 76 picks an extra look stock -- and display-wise. I'll also try and alert you, when I see them, to national ads that mention Book Sense.
Many, many, many thanks to all the publishers who advertise with us in our ad format, and to those who include us in their own ads!!
The national in-store fundraising campaign to benefit local firefighters is gaining momentum in bookstores, as the October 28 air date of the History Channel documentary based on the book, Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire by John N. Maclean (Washington Square Press), grows near.
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About ABA
The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.
Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.
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