Specialty Bookselling

Here's the first of the Winter Kids' 76, intended for use from December and into the new year. (The next Kids' 76 won't be until late spring 2003.) This is the result of great recommendations, as always, but the Top Ten was child's play to figure out, if you will! This 76 will be in the November white box mailing, if we can get it off to, and back from, the printer in time. Stay tuned. Full 76 to run here next week. Carl carl@booksense.com

"'I'm Rose Pardue, of Rosemont,' Rose had introduced herself as a girl. It had been her open sesame all over the Black Belt of Alabama. She fixed her once-famous eyes on the girl by her bed." So begins the first story of Mary Ward Brown's new collection, It Wasn't All Dancing and Other Stories, published by the University of Alabama Press (UAP) as part of its Deep South Book series.

As of October 6, New Words Bookstore, a 28-year-old feminist institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is closed, but its legacy is assured for the future. All of the store's papers and records have been acquired by the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, for its permanent collection.

Based on the last eight weeks of sales from over 350 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.

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.

The pad is on press now and will be in the October white box mailing. You can also click here for the list in PDF format. Thanks! Carl carl@booksense.com

The Science Fiction Achievements, more popularly known as the Hugo Awards, were recently announced. Among the winners were:

Based on the last eight weeks of sales from over 350 independent bookstores across America. Last week, we ran a list for teens and up, so here's one for the Middle Readers. Yes, Harry and Redwall appear on both lists, but there are a lot of great-selling, new and classic books for ages nine to 12. And kudos to Aladdin and their $2.95 paperback reissues. Attention Media: Please contact Kristen Gilligan at kristen@bookweb.org for reprint guidelines for your newspaper or magazine.

Based on the last eight weeks of sales from over 350 independent bookstores across America. Here is a fantastic cross-section of SF and fantasy fiction, new and classic, for teen readers up to us oldsters. (Dune is still my favorite book of all time.) Look for The Two Towers to make a run at #1 soon. A few nice surprises on this list. Next week: A younger readers' fantasy list. (No, that can't include a wish that summer would never end…)

Grand opening celebration at the Hue-Man Bookstore in Harlem.