Book Sense

Christine Onorati had to move from Northport, Long Island (population fewer than 8,000) to Brooklyn, New York (population more than two million) to get that small-town feeling.

For the eight week-period -- including Poetry Month -- ending May 1, 2007, and based on sales in independent bookstores with Book Sense nationwide.

Past Category Bestseller lists are available on ABA's trade website, BookWeb.org.

Attention Media: Contact Meg Smith at [email protected] for reprint guidelines for your newspaper or magazine.

Stores with Book Sense will be receiving the Spring - Summer 2007 Book Sense Reading Group Picks list in the May Red Box mailing; however, the full list, with bookseller quotes, can be previewed online now.

Steven Hall

Steven Hall, author of The Raw Shark Texts (Canongate), an April Book Sense Pick, provides an entertaining look at his experiences on a cross-country promotional tour.

Friday, April 27

Here is the full listing of June Book Sense Picks, with booksellers' comments, as well as a preview of the month's Notables. Independent booksellers in the Book Sense program will be receiving their June Picks fliers in the May Red Box. (The flier includes jacket images, bibliographic information, and bookseller quotes.)

Believe it or not, there's only one Book Sense Picks deadline this month.

The deadline for the July Picks list is Friday, May 4.

Nominations may be sent to [email protected] or via a convenient web form on BookWeb.org.

For some, Omaha, Nebraska, may seem far removed from the world's major financial markets, but others, such as the owners of the city's 21-year-old independent bookstore, The Bookworm, know quite the opposite is true.

Givex, Book Sense's partner in gift card processing, is migrating the current store administrative website to a more secure portal website. The new portal will add an extra level of security to the program's administration and transaction processing. Book Sense is also moving its gift card program fulfillment services to a company in the U.S. that will expedite card and presenter delivery times.

George and Sally Kiskaddon, owners of Berkeley, California's Builders Booksource, haven't decided precisely how they will be celebrating their store's silver anniversary, but they plan to "make a big deal of it," said George Kiskaddon. "We're going to have a yearlong exclamation of joy."

Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky, has been a partnership of Carol Besse and Michael Boggs since they founded it 29 years ago. The two are joined in matrimony and their names are linked to create the bookstore's name -- Car(ol) + Michael. Before they started Carmichael's, the couple worked together at Barbara's Bookstore in Chicago.

By tradition, plum wine is made at home by an individual, for the eventual enjoyment, perhaps, of a few family members and friends.

For the eight-week period ending April 17, 2007, and based on sales in independent bookstores with Book Sense nationwide.

Past Category Bestseller lists are available on ABA's trade website, BookWeb.org.

Attention Media: Contact Meg Smith at [email protected] for reprint guidelines for your newspaper or magazine.

This Friday, April 13, is the deadline for both the Summer Book Sense Children's Picks and the Summer Paperback Picks list.

When booksellers Christine Freglette and Bina Valenzano first opened The BookMark Shoppe in Brooklyn, New York, they had no idea they'd be quite so ... popular. "We thought it would be calmer, but it's always hopping!" said Freglette. "There's no downtime, but I love it. We always have so many different groups of people -- a set of teenagers, a mother with three kids, an older woman. And it all just meshes."