Publishers Weekly articles from March 2004

Publishers Weekly archives from March 2004

Publishers debate range of issues: consumer research, retailing, used books among hot topics at AAP meeting.
March 1, 2004... A LACK OF CONSUMER FEEDBACK, the proliferation of used books, and retailers' publishing operations have beset--and will continue Lo beset-publishers, according to a comprehensive new study. The report, presented at the Association of...

Altruda to head Borders superstores; Heim departs.(News)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... VINCENT ALTRUDA, who has been president of Borders's international stores since 1997, has been named president of Borders stores worldwide, assuming responsibilities held by Tami Heim, who resigned as president of Borders's U.S. stores last...

Marwell to head HC sales; Lennertz promoted.(Changes)(Josh Marwell)(Carl Lennertz)
March 1, 2004... HarperCollins has reorganized the management structure of its sales operations and named Josh Marwell to head the newly unified division. Marwell, who had been senior v-p for sales for the HarperCollins adult imprints, will now be responsible...

Cover sticker defuses D'day, Nelson row.(The Code)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... THOMAS NELSON has avoided possible legal problems with Doubleday by placing a sticker on the cover of Nelson's forthcoming Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyone's Asking by Darrell Bock, a theological critique of Dan...

Earnings rise 4% at Harlequin.(Results 2003)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... THE WEAK AMERICAN dollar took some of the steam out of Harlequin's results in 2003, although the book publisher was still able to increase operating its 4.1%, to C$124.1 million ($93 million). Sales in the year fell 5.3%, to C$584.9 million...

Award for Hazzard.(News)
March 1, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Novelist Shirley Hazzard, whose The Great Fire won the National Book Award, received the Literary Award from New York's National Arts Club at a February ceremonial dinner. Here, l. to r.: club president O....

Mixed year at Thomson, Reed.(Results 2003)
March 1, 2004... THOMSON CORP. and Reed Elsevier, the parent companies of large professional and educational publishers, reported similar results in 2003 as both conglomerates managed to increase profits despite a weak sales performance. Total revenue at...

ProOuest buys Copley Publishing.(Acquisition)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... PROQUEST INFORMATION and Learning has strengthened its presence in the customized textbook market with the acquisition of Copley Publishing Group. Financial terms were not disclosed. Copley's resources will become part of ProQuest's XanEdu...

Jessica Kingsley sets up U.S. office.(Expanding)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... FORMER TAYLOR & Francis executive v-p of sales Robert Rooney is starting the American beachhead of Jessica Kingsley Publishers, a U.K. reference publisher concentrating on titles in the social and behavioral sciences aimed at parents and...

'Nanny' authors land at Atria.(hot deals)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The authors of the bestselling The Nanny Diaries, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, whose subsequent book, signed by Random House, was turned down, have moved instead to Atria, where their new book will be published this fall. It's called...

Harcourt gets Wallach memoir.(hot deals)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... A memoir, his first, by noted actor and Actors Studio pioneer Eli Wallach was bought by Harcourt publisher Andre Bernard. In the book, called The Good, the Bad and Me, Wallach will write of his early days in Brooklyn; his 50 years as a screen...

Another side of Steinke.(hot deals)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... A pair of books, nonfiction and fiction, that dwell on matters of religious faith, seem like an unlikely creation for Darcey Steinke, author of such outre works as Suicide Blonde and Jesus Saves, but that's what her agent, Wylie's Sarah...

Whoopi Goldberg has become the latest celeb to go the kids' book route.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Whoopi Goldberg has become the latest celeb to go the kids' book route, signing with Hyperion's Jump at the Sun imprint, in the person of Jackie Carter, for a series of books that will kick off in fall 2005; the deal was signed with Whoop Inc.,...

Viking senior editor Ray Roberts won an auction for a book by mountaineer Greg Mortenson.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Viking senior editor Ray Roberts won an auction for a book by mountaineer Greg Mortenson, who later became famous for building schools, mostly for girls, against considerable Islamic opposition in mountainous areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan;...

Putnam's David Highfill paid a hefty six figures for two thrillers by TV writer Scott Frost.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Putnam's David Highfill paid a hefty six figures for two thrillers by TV writer Scott Frost, including his debut, called Choose, about a female detective whose daughter is kidnapped by the murderer she is pursuing; the North American rights...

An author whose first novel was published by Nan Talese at Doubleday has moved to Norton for a two-book deal.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... An author whose first novel was published by Nan Talese at Doubleday has moved to Norton for a two-book deal. She is Nicole Krauss, author of Man Walks into a Room, and Norton's new executive editor, Jill Bialosky, preempted with a major...

The world of contemporary body snatchers is described in the tentatively titled Resurrection Men by journalist Annie Cheney.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The world of contemporary body snatchers is described in the tentatively titled Resurrection Men by journalist Annie Cheney, which Broadway's Charles Conrad just bought for world English rights from David Halpern at the Robbins Office....

Random's Ileene Smith preempted an epic Southern novel that tracks a North Carolina family from the years before the Civil War to the Great Depression.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Random's Ileene Smith preempted an epic Southern novel that tracks a North Carolina family from the years before the Civil War to the Great Depression; it's Cataloochee and is by N.C. writer Wayne Caldwell; Smith made a two-book world English...

A history of the slave ship as a creator of a new kind of human society was bought at auction by Viking Penguin's Wendy Wolf.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... A history of the slave ship as a creator of a new kind of human society was bought at auction by Viking Penguin's Wendy Wolf. The author is U. of Pittsburgh history professor Marcus Rediker and the agent was Sandy Dijkstra....

Eamon Dolan at Houghton Mifflin signed an untitled book about Sir Thomas More by admired English historian John Guy (Queen of Scots).(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Eamon Dolan at Houghton Mifflin signed an untitled book about Sir Thomas More by admired English historian John Guy (Queen of Scots) that stresses the significant role played by his daughter, Margaret Roper, in his life and writings; Dolan got...

Douglas: publishing unit has full support of new owner.(Transitions)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... VINCE DOUGLAS, president of School Specialty Children's Publishing division, told PW that the new owner of the supplementary materials publisher is "100% behind all of our book programs." Douglas was reacting to assertions from competitors that...

Stinehour Press going strong after acquisition.(Printing)(Company Profile)
March 1, 2004... THOUGH NOT LONG AGO it faced being shut down, the Stinehour Press is thriving once again, under new owners who mix modern printing and design tools with a half-century-old tradition of Yankee craftsmanship. "We have invested more in the...

Earnings soar at Varsity Group.(Results 2003)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Fueled by an increase in the number of schools taking part in its eduPartners program, Varsity Group reported that sales jumped nearly 52% in 2003, to $25.2 million, while net income soared to $4.4 million from $661,000 in 2002. The number of...

Friedman out at Scholastic.(People)(Friedman Phil)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... PHIL FRIEDMAN, a longtime Grolier executive who most recently served as chief financial officer at Scholastic Library Publishing, has resigned to pursue other interests. Friedman is credited with leading the team that developed Grolier's...

Schmidt, Devlin join Chronicle.(New Hires)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... CATHLEEN SCHMIDT, formerly with S&S's children's publicity, has been named publicity manager for Chronicle Books children's department. In addition, Calla Devlin, formerly with Harper San Francisco, has joined the Chronicle adult trade and gift...

Bond to be BCA president.(People)(Book Club of America appointed Lynn Bond)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... LYNN BOND, who joined Kensington Publishing last summer as director of sales and new business development (News, July 28, 2003), has left the company to become CEO of Book Club of America. Bond succeeds BCA founder Albert Haug, who will remain...

Beal, Kasius new hires at Perseus's Running Press.(People)(appointed Beal Ellen and Jennifer Kasius)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... ELLEN BEAL, formerly director of product development with Berlitz International, has been named editorial director of Running Press, a subsidiary of Perseus Books. In addition, Jennifer Kasius, formerly with Crown, has joined the company as a...

Reed Business.(people)(Adriana Dominguez)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... REED BUSINESS Adriana Dominguez, a Spanish instructor who has worked in Spanish children's book publishing, has been hired as freelance children's editor for Criticas.

Thomas Nelson.(people)(appointed Rodney Hatfield, Brian Mitchell and Andrea White)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... THOMAS NELSON Rodney Hatfield, formerly marketing director at Transit and Tommy Nelson, has been promoted to v-p of brand strategy.... Brian Mitchell, previously general manager of Essential Records/Provident Music Group, has been named...

HarperCollins.(people)(promoted: Paul Olsewski, Jennifer Brehl, Carrie Feron and Debbie Stier)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Paul Olsewski, a managing member of the publicity team, has been named a v-p.... Jennifer Brehl, executive editor, has been promoted to v-p.... Carrie Feron, executive editor, has been named a v-p.... Debbie Stier, senior director of publicity,...

Scholastic.(people)(Alan Boyko promoted)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Alan Boyko, previously Scholastic Book Fairs' v-p of product development and of Scholastic's Tangerine Press, has been promoted to senior v-p of Scholastic Book Fairs.

Klutz.(people)(Steve Pease and DeWitt Durham has been promoted)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Steve Pease, formerly v-p of finance and operations, has been named v-p, general manager.... DeWitt Durham, with the company since 1988, was named v-p of production and product development.

Avalon Publishing Group.(people)(Jane Musser promoted to production director and Cavalli Ellen promoted to editorial director)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Jane Musser, previously production manager, has been promoted to production director of the California division.... Ellen Cavalli, previously editorial manager, has been promoted to editorial director.

Booksurge.(people)(Sean Ryan named chief operation officer )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Sean Ryan, cofounder of Exact Target, has been named chief operations officer.

Dawson Books.(people)(appointed Jeff Tegge)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Jeff Tegge, formerly national sales manager for libraries and schools at Sourcebooks, has been named v-p and general manager of Quality Books Inc., a distributor of small press titles to the U.S. library market.

Howard Publishing.(people)(W. Terry Whalin named fiction editor)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... W. Terry Whalin, who previously worked for Cook Communications, has been named a fiction acquisitions editor.

Yale University Press.(people)(Robert Baldock became managing director)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Robert Baldock, formerly deputy managing director, has been appointed managing director.

Harcourt.(people)(promoted: Vaughn Andrews, Paul Von Drasek and Richard Schmitz)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Vaughn Andrews, previously executive art director, has been promoted to the newly created position of creative director.... Paul Von Drasek, previously director of sales, has been named executive director of sales.... Richard Schmitz, formerly...

D.B. Hess.(people)(appointed Mark Mindrum and James E. Sula)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Mark Mindrum, formerly with Wallace Computer Services, has been named v-p of sales and marketing.... James E. Sula, formerly an accountant with Appliance Controls Group, has been named v-p of finance.

'PW,' ABA team up.(Strategic Partnership)
March 1, 2004... PUBLISHERS WEEKLY and the American Booksellers Association have entered into an agreement that will offer PW to ABA members at a special subscription rate. The agreement will also provide the ABA with several pages of advertising space in...

CrossGen list back by May?(Money Trouble)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... THE ONGOING SAGA of cash-strapped CrossGen's graphic novel publishing program has just developed a new wrinkle. In mid-February, Sojourn Volume 4, CrossGen's first trade paperback since last summer, arrived in comics stores. Still,...

Listen up, readers.(behind the bestsellers)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Radio talk show host Sean Hannity hit the PW hardcover nonfiction bestseller chart back in September 2002 with his first book, Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism. By the end of that year, the book had enjoyed an...

How sweet it is.(behind the bestsellers)
March 1, 2004... Winning practically every kind of award to which romance authors aspire, Susan Elizabeth Phillips has written 16 books in the past 22 years. One of her books has appeared on the Romance Writers of America's list of "Top 10 Favorite Books of the...

Not sweet, but super.(behind the bestsellers)(SuperFoods Rx)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Morrow is jumping into the diet book pool with SuperFoods Rx by Dr. Steven G. Pratt and Kathy Matthews, which offers "groundbreaking research" about nutrients found in 14 "SuperFoods" that reportedly, says the publisher, can "make you look...

The British are coming.(behind the bestsellers)(The Birth of Venus)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Actually, we're talking about Sarah Dunant, author of the new fiction bestseller, The Birth of Venus, set in 15th-century Florence. The book was published in England last year to critical acclaim and huge success, and it looks like the author's...

Paperback tradeoff: Philippa Gregory's new novel takes off with major book club support and minimal media attention.(book news)
March 1, 2004... In June 2002, Touchstone published Philippa Gregory's fourth historical novel, The Other Boleyn Girl, as a trade paperback original to little fanfare. But what followed was the publishing equivalent of a popular uprising. Based on the true...

Liberal spotlight on GOP women.(Prepub Buzz)
March 1, 2004... It hardly seems possible that a new critique of the Bush administration could enter virgin territory, yet popular San Francisco public radio host Laura Flanders has two books coming out this spring that differ from other red-meat anti-Bush...

Changing with the times: Left Bank Books evolves from political social tool to premier St. Louis bookstore.(bookselling)
March 1, 2004... St. Louis is celebrating a lot of important anniversaries this year: the 200th anniversary of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, which started out in nearby St. Charles; the 100th anniversary of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, where both the ice...

Borders's new look in N.Y.C.(On Broadway)
March 1, 2004... Borders's February opening in the lavish new Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle in New York City would have created enough of a splash were it a familiar Borders store. But the high-profile location hosts one of a handful of Borders stores...

Grammy gold: Recording Academy winners announced.(audio)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... No doubt lots of people tuned in February 8 to the live telecast of the 46th Annual Grammy Awards to see if there would be any "wardrobe malfunctions" like the one at the Super Bowl. (Thanks to CBS's precautionary measures, there weren't.) But...

Audio addendum.(audio)(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2004... The following was not included in our Spring Audio Announcements (Feb. 2). FULL CAST AUDIO The Red-Hot Rattoons by Elizabeth Winthrop. Read by the author and a full cast. Unabridged, four cassettes, five hours, $25.95; five CDs, $34,...

Audible and Apple partner.(audio bits)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Audible Inc. and Apple, both established leaders in the audio download arena, recently joined forces to make more than 20,000 hours of audiobooks and additional spoken word programming available for download exclusively from Apple's iTunes...

Candlewick tests audio waters.(audio bits)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Massachusetts-based publisher Candlewick Press makes its first foray into the audio arena with five Candlewick Audio titles set for publication in May. The new line was produced in collaboration with Candlewick's sister company in London,...

Bet Me.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
March 1, 2004... JENNIFER CRUSIE, READ BY DEANNA HURST. Brilliance Audio, unabridged, 10 CDs, 11 hrs., $36.95 ISBN 1-59355-392-7 Minerva Dobbs is an overweight, overcautious woman in her 30s, but when she hears her ex-boyfriend bet handsome Calvin Morrisey...

Paycheck.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
March 1, 2004... PHILIP K. DICK, READ BY KEIR DULLEA. Harper Audio, unabridged, one cassette, 40 mins., $9.99 ISBN 0-06-058990-6 The moral and the atmosphere of the recent Paramount Pictures film Paycheck differ significantly from those in the original...

The Best American Short Stories 2003.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
March 1, 2004... EDITED BY WALTER MOSLEY, READ BY MOSLEY, JESS ROW, OLIVER WYMAN ET AL. Houghton Mifflin Audio, abridged, four CDs, 4.5 hrs., $30 ISBN 0-618-19752-4 Listeners may be tempted to gorge on all seven selections in this abridged audio collection...

Slaughterhouse-Five.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
March 1, 2004... KURT VONNEGUT, READ BY ETHAN HAWKE. Caedmon, unabridged, four cassettes, 6 hrs., $25.95 ISBN 0-06-056492-X "Listen: Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time." So begins Vonnegut's absurdist 1969 classic. Hawke rises to the occasion of...

Idyll Banter: Weekly Excursions to a Very Small Town.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
March 1, 2004... CHRIS BOHJALIAN, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Random House Audio, abridged, three cassettes, 4.5 hrs., $25 ISBN 0-739-30913-7. This audio adaptation of Bohjalian's (Midwives, etc.) collection of essays on life in small-town Lincoln, Vt., gets off to...

Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
March 1, 2004... BARRY GLASSNER, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Audio Editions, abridged, four CDs, 4.5 hrs., $24.95 ISBN 1-57270-354-7 In this oddly comforting audiobook, Glassner (Derailing Democracy) deconstructs many commonly held beliefs about the threats of the...

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
March 1, 2004... THOMAS CAHILL, READ BY OLYMPIA DUKAKIS. Random House Audio, abridged, six CDs, 6 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 0-7393-0687-1 Dukakis makes an oddly fine match for this learned, accessible and occasionally glib survey of early Greek culture and its...

Dude, Where's My Country?(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
March 1, 2004... MICHAEL MOORE, READ BY D. DAVID MORIN. Time Warner AudioBooks, unabridged, eight CDs, 7 hrs., $42.98 ISBN 1-58621-588-4 Although it's curious that Moore (Stupid White Men) chose not to narrate his latest indictment of the conservative...

Audio bestsellers.
March 1, 2004... Audio Bestsellers PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Available online the Friday before issue date at: www.publishersweekly.com Fiction 1 The Da Vinci Code (abr. CD). Dan Brown. Read by Colin Stinton. Random Mouse Audio. Five CDs,...

The price of making the grade: a pair of spring novels address the issue of standardized school testing.(children's books)
March 1, 2004... One doesn't have to look far for controversy surrounding the current emphasis American schools place on testing. From the first standardized tests administered at the elementary level to the dreaded SATs, many parents and high-schoolers...

A conference for the community.(children's books)
March 1, 2004... Indianapolis in winter may not be much of a travel destination, but this past January 24, neither snow nor sleet nor wintry mix could keep 350 teachers, librarians and writers from attending the 14th annual Butler University Children's...

Honoring a father.(children's bookbag)(Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America)(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Sharon Robinson, daughter of baseball great Jackie Robinson, has written a picture book about her father called Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America (Scholastic), in which she gives readers insight into his life as a sportsman...

HarperCollins establishes fiction contest.(children's bookbag)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... HarperCollins Children's Books has announced the introduction of a fiction contest in the name of Ursula Nordstrom, the legendary children's publisher who directed Harper's Department of Books for Boys and Girls from 1940 to 1973. The contest...

'Child' magazine celebrates top authors and illustrators.(children's bookbag)
March 1, 2004... On February 12, Child magazine hosted its third annual children's book awards event. Held at the Union Square Barnes and Noble bookstore in New York City, the event brought together over 20 authors and illustrators who made the magazine's 50...

2004 Zolotow Award winners.(children's bookbag)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Amy Schwartz has won the Charlotte Zolotow Award for 2004 for her picture book What James Likes Best (Atheneum/Jackson). Honors went to John Coy for Two Old Potatoes and Me, illustrated by Carolyn Fisher (Knopf); Rebecca O'Connell for The Baby...

Publishing outside the box: independent publishers find creative ways to develop and market their titles.
March 1, 2004... FINDING A NICHE HAS always been considered the key for an independent publisher to be successful. And while that principle applies to several among this year's crop of fast-growing small publishers, others have embraced diversification, albeit...

McBooks stronger after near-death experience.
March 1, 2004... It's tough for any independent publisher to build a business these days. But McBooks Press, a small publisher specializing in nautical historical fiction, faced an unexpected challenge early on that could have wiped out the company--a huge...

Wittgenstein's author: David Markson.(interview)
March 1, 2004... As PW treks to David Markson's place in Greenwich Village, the thought occurs that the apartment is almost equally distant from two of the great New York literary saloons of the last half-century--the White Horse, still happily alive over on...

Pushkin and the Queen of Spades.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... ALICE RANDALL. Houghton Mifflin, $24 (320p) ISBN 0-618-45659-7 * Randall made a big splash (and got into legal hot water) with her first novel, The Wind Done Gone, a parody of Margaret Mitchell's classic Civil War saga. Her second is nearly...

The Perfect Play.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... LOUISE WENER. Morrow, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-06-058547-1 Poker is the catalyst for change in this nervy, crackling novel about a brainy 32-year-old underachiever on a quest to find her long-lost father. Audrey Ungar's boyfriend, Joe, says...

Crossing the Line.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... CLINTON MCKINZIE. Delacorte, $23 (384p) ISBN 0-385-33637-3 Antonio "Ant" Burns, special agent with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, is back with his trusty wolf-dog Mungo, rusty Land Cruiser the Iron Pig and berserker brother...

To Have and to Hold.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... JANE GREEN. Broadway, $21.95 (472p) ISBN 0-7679-1226-8 In bestselling British novelist Green's sixth novel, a less-than-perfect London marriage disintegrates stateside. Alice loves her husband, the dashing Joe Chambers, even though he works...

Knowing when to hold 'em.(PW Talks with Louise Wener)(Louise Wener)(Interview)
March 1, 2004... PW: You seem to have made a huge stylistic leap since the '90s, when you were writing hit songs for the band Sleeper and Bob Dylan was your main influence. Now you've written a disciplined novel [The Perfect Play, reviewed on p. 46] with all...

Good Grief.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... LOLLY WINSTON. Warner, $18 (344p) ISBN 0-446-53304-1 * The grief is up already. It is an early riser, waiting with its gummy arms wrapped around my neck, its hot, sour breath in my ear." Sophie Stanton feels far too young to be a widow, but...

Down Here.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... ANDREW VACHSS. Knopf, $19.95 (288p) ISBN 1-4000-4173-2 Burke is back with a vengeance, and with the full complement of underground irregulars who've populated his dozen or so previous heir adventures. For starters, there's Max the Silent...

A Girl Like Che Guevara.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... TERESA DE LA CARIDAD DOVAL. Soho, $24 (320p) ISBN 1-56947-758-7 Doval provides an intimate portrait of life inside Communist Cuba in this absorbing if uneven debut. It is January 1982: Che Guevara is a national icon; bread lines curl around...

Buddha Da.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... ANNE DONOVAN. Carroll & Graf, $14 paper (330p) ISBN 0-7867-1336-4 Novels from current Scottish authors are assumed not only to be full of the kind of dialect that on screen would require subtitles, but also fraught with edgy violence, rage...

Links.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... NURUDDIN FARAH. Riverhead, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 1-57322-265-8 * In this stunning, timely novel from the internationally acclaimed Somalian writer Farah (From a Crooked Rib, etc.), Jeebleh, a middle-aged Somalian, leaves his family in New York...

My Fine Lady.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... YOLANDA JOE. Dutton, $23.95 (240p) ISBN 0-525-94808-2 Bestseller Joe's latest gives a nod to My Fair Lady--and, like the musical, it's predictable but plenty' of fun. Imani Holland has a voice like "velvet on fire," and she raps the lyrics...

A Question of Attraction.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... DAVID NICHOLLS. Villard, $23.95 (384p) ISBN 1-4000-6181-4 This entertaining first novel by an English television writer tells the story of Brian Jackson, an unworldly but affable college freshman whose main ambition in life is to compete on...

The Outside World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... TOVA MIRVIS. Knopf, $24 (320p) ISBN 1-4000-4161-9 With a sharp and sympathetic eye for the oft neglected and misunderstood worlds of ultra-Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Judaism, Mirvis (The Ladies Auxiliary) crafts a compelling narrative...