Book Sense

The Book Sense Gift Card Program, just completing its first year of operation, has already helped more than 200 bookstores dramatically increase their sales.

A new crop of films based on books -- and books based on films -- provides booksellers with plenty of opportunities for cross promotions now and in the coming months.

Claude Anshin Thomas recounted the meditation retreat he attended in 1990, a gathering for Vietnam War veterans led by the renowned Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. It was a profound experience for the decorated combat vet. "When I first heard Thich Nhat Hanh speak about Buddhist practice and principles, it was clear that the Vietnamese were no longer my enemy," Thomas told BTW in a recent interview. "If I had still seen the Vietnamese as my enemy, then I was still an enemy to myself and separate from my own humanity.

The October 2004 Book Sense Picks list incorrectly attributed the quote recommending The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates. The correct bookseller is Beth Hull of The Avid Reader in Davis, California.

A new terminal for processing Book Sense Gift Cards is now available for purchase. The Elite 710 Terminal costs $295 and is a dial-up. A bit smaller than the Elite 510, the 710 has a built-in printer (that uses thermal paper) and a magnetic swipe. For more information and a photo of the 710 Terminal, click here.

When Janis Brennan and Don Krohn, owners of Orleans Whole Food Store on Cape Cod, watched the closing of their community bookstore, Compass Rose Book Shop, they mourned the loss. It was one of the only businesses on Main Street that had been there longer than they had. So, last fall when space became available next to the foods store, they decided to open their own small general bookstore, Main Street Books. "It didn't seem right not to have a bookstore," said Brennan. "It was too sad. Orleans is a wonderful, literate town."

Based on sales from many hundreds of independent bookstores for the four-week period ending September 26, 2004.

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

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

Joan of Arcadia, the award-winning CBS dramedy, returned last week for its second season of spiritual, sexual, and ethical turmoil. The independent bookstore -- where in the first season the teenaged Joan, played by actor Amber Tamblyn, was instructed by God to work -- is the venue for some of the premiere episode's most compelling action. But observant viewers will notice that not only has Joan Girardi's hairstyle been revamped, so has the bookstore.

From its beginnings, the Book Sense program has underscored the singular relationships between independent booksellers and authors. BTW is pleased to occasionally feature "Book Sense One-on-One," in which the bookseller who has nominated a title as a Book Sense Pick interviews that title's author.

Here is a preview of the November Book Sense Picks. Independent booksellers in the Book Sense program will receive the Picks fliers in the October Red Box.

Booksellers are currently receiving their orders of Book Sense Best Books: 125 Favorite Books Recommended by Independent Booksellers, the title independent publishing house Newmarket Press and Book Sense partnered to create.

Ten years ago, Donna Urey of White Birch Books in North Conway, New Hampshire, saw the potential of The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, to bring even more comfort and joy to the book's fans.

The first White Box of fall 2004 is fabulous!!!

Here are just some of the items you'll find:

Galleys, ARCs, and finished books: