News - Books

A California school district has ordered a high school principal to return William Styron's novel Sophie's Choice to the shelves of the school library. La Mirada High School Principal Andrew Huynh had removed the acclaimed novel after a parent complained that the book contained sexual material that was inappropriate for minors.

Ask Solomon Jones, author of Pipe Dream, (Random House/Striver's Row) what finally turned him away from a crack-addicted life that began in 1990 and he will answer quickly, "I turned to the Lord." Taking pages out of his own life, his novel Pipe Dream catapults readers inside Philadelphia's underground drug world to solve a murder mystery.

Last spring, out of the masses of books energetically offered at BookExpo America 2001, Jim Harris, owner of Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City, Iowa, found himself compelled to pick up and read an advance copy of The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout (Ruminator), he recently told BTW.

Syndicated Columnist Sharon Randall's Essays on Life and Family Find Book Sense Fans Birdbaths and Paper Cranes, a collection of personal essays by syndicated columnist Sharon Randall, is making friends among booksellers. The Sleeping Bear Press title is a January/February Book Sense 76 selection, nominated by Bob Spear of The Book Barn in Leavenworth, Kansas.

The 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards will recognize the books that booksellers most enjoyed handselling in the past year. Nominations for Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Children's Literature, and Illustrated Children's Book will be drawn from the Top Ten Book Sense 76 picks of 2001. Only books published in the preceding year are eligible. Lines for write-ins are provided on the nomination form.

In the January 7, 2002, issue of BTW, you'll find a ballot for the first round of voting for the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year awards. You'll see a long list of nominees drawn from the Book Sense 76s of 2002 in the categories of Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Children's Literature, Children's Illustrated, and, for the first time, a Rediscovery Award. This new fifth award will be drawn from a mix of adult and children's backlist or recently reissued books that made the 76 in 2001.

Imagine a novel based on a sensational and highly-publicized real-life courtroom drama involving a celebrity defendant accused of killing his beautiful wife; where the defense strategy involves putting the victim herself, and her hedonistic lifestyle, on trial. O.J. Simpson, you say?

Last week 27 of the 75 titles on the Book Sense Bestseller List were Book Sense 76 picks, illuminating the connection between marketing and sales; the 76 displays and distribution of the 76 fliers.