Publishers Weekly articles from March 2006

Publishers Weekly archives from March 2006

Amazon as publisher: e-tailer steps up publishing effort.
March 27, 2006... Amazon generated quite a bit of media attention late last year when it announced plans for Amazon Pages, a program that would let consumers view parts of a book online on a pay-per-view basis (PW, Nov. 7, 2005). While Pages has yet to see the...

Bonnier buys Weldon Owen.(Bonnier Publishing)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Swedish publishing giant Bonnier Publishing has acquired the San Francisco--based packager and educational publisher Weldon Owen. Financial terms were not disclosed. The executive team, including founder and CEO John Weldon, as well as 80...

S&G lands Orman.(Spiegel and Grau, Suze Orman)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Cindy Spiegel and Julie Grau have a name for their new Random House publishing division: Spiegel & Grau. "Naming a house after its (female) founders feels both old-fashioned and radical," said the two in a statement, adding that the name also...

The price isn't right.
March 27, 2006... For a business that is almost synonymous with poor-mouthing, publishing sure throws its money around. In the last couple of months, various houses have agreed to pay $7 million to Warren Buffett (or more accurately, his female Boswell); $8 +...

Colbert inks book deal.(Stephen Colbert )(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... In the wake of his own successful Comedy Central show, Daily Show alumnus Stephen Colbert has been signed to write an as yet untitled comedy book by Warner Books for a reported seven figures. The book will be published in September 2007....

Smagler joining scholastic.(Alan Smagler)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Alan Smagler, who was named publisher of Houghton Mifflin's children's group last July, is leaving that post to join Scholastic as v-p of trade sales. Smagler is replacing Gray Peterson, who will remain at Scholastic in a senior sales spot....

Newcomb joins Cambium Learning.(Jonathan Newcomb)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Former Simon & Schuster chairman and CEO Jonathan Newcomb has returned to publishing as president and CEO of Cambium Learning. Newcomb, who headed S&S from 1994 to 2001, most recently was with two investment banking firms--Leeds Equity...

Fourth quarter boosts chain sales.
March 27, 2006... A solid fourth quarter, in which revenue rose 5.6%, helped give the nation's three largest bookstore chains a 4.4% sales increase for the year ended January 31, 2006. Total sales for the year hit $9.69 billion. All of the major...

Random touts global strength.(Random House UK Ltd.)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... In remarks accompanying the release of Bertelsmann's 2005 operating results, the parent company of Random House cited the publisher's worldwide reach as a key to its success. In the year, total revenue rose 2.1%, to 1.83 billion euros ($2.2...

AAA headed back to NBN.(American Automobile Association signs distribution agreement with National Book Network)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... The American Automobile Association is moving its distribution back to National Book Network after nearly eight years with Simon & Schuster. The switch is effective August 1. Bill Wood, director of publishing product development at AAA, said...

As paper supply falls, prices rise.(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... After absorbing steady losses over the last several years, the tide has turned for paper manufacturers, a shift that could spell higher prices for publishers as well as supply issues. Paper prices rose an average of about 5% in January, and...

Sales shrink at AMS.(Advanced Marketing Services)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... The seemingly endless audit of Advanced Marketing Services' financial statements took another slight turn last week, when AMS announced that it was making revisions to its 2000-2002 fiscal year reports, in addition to restatements to fiscal...

The Christopher winners.(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... NFL star Rohde Barber, right, accepts a Christopher Award for his children's book Game Day from Christophers president Dennis Heaney at the 57th annual Christopher Awards ceremony in New York. Illustrator Barry Root (left) and co-author...

New 'Olivia' from S&S.(Simon and Schuster to publish Ian Falconer's 'Olivia's Christmas')(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Simon & Schuster's Atheneum Books for Young Readers will publish Ian Falconer's next Olivia book, Olivia's Christmas, in October 2007, with a 500,000-copy first printing. A book entitled Olivia Does Christmas was due out from Atheneum in...

Nancy Olson, owner, Quail Ridge Books & Music, Raleigh, N.C.(Angela Davis-Gardner's 'Plum Wine')(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Angela Davis-Gardner's Plum Wine (Univ. of Wisconsin, Apr. 3) is a multilayered, gorgeously written novel about an American teacher in Japan during the Vietnam War. Through memoirs she inherits from a friend, she learns of the horrors of the...

Introverts in demand.(Rachel Klayman acquires Susan Devenyi's 'Quiet: The Importance of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking')(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Concluding an eight-bidder auction, Crown's Rachel Klayman has acquired North American rights to Susan Devenyi's Quiet: The Importance of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, via Richard Pine at Inkwell. Devenyi, a lawyer turned...

Competitive gardening.(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Joe Veltre at Artists Literary Group recently concluded an auction for Susan Warren's Backyard Giants: A Season of Heartbreak, Passion and Glory in the Quest to Grow the Biggest Pumpkin Ever; Bloomsbury's Colin Dickerman won North American...

Novels on war and love.(book acquisitions)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Counterpoint's Amy Scheibe has preempted North American rights to a first novel by Peter Melman titled Landsman from Lucy Childs at Aaron Priest in a six-figure deal. Set at the start of the Civil War, the novel tells the story of a young...

Calendar: April 2-8.
March 27, 2006... 4/2 Book Sense favorite Lisa Tucker's novel Once Upon a Day (Atria and Brilliance Audio) is released. PW's starred review said, "This should be catnip for book clubs." 4/3 The new paperback edition of Jane Fonda's My Life So Far...

After an auction involving five publishers, Ryan Fischer-Harbage at Simon Spotlight Entertainment has acquired Matthew Diffee's The Rejection Collection, a compendium of 30 New Yorker cartoonists' favorite work rejected by the magazine, in a two-book deal from agent David Kuhn.(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... After an auction involving five publishers, Ryan Fischer-Harbage at Simon Spotlight Entertainment has acquired Matthew Diffee's The Rejection Collection, a compendium of 30 New Yorker cartoonists' favorite work rejected by the magazine, in a...

Heidi Cortez, who holds the distinction of being Howard Stern's favorite Playboy cyber-celebrity, will publish Heidi's Bedtime Stories, a collection of 30 short erotic tales this fall; Fireside's Cherise Grant has acquired world rights in this un-agented deal.(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Heidi Cortez, who holds the distinction of being Howard Stern's favorite Playboy cyber-celebrity, will publish Heidi's Bedtime Stories, a collection of 30 short erotic tales this fall; Fireside's Cherise Grant has acquired world rights in...

Springboard's Karen Murgolo has acquired North American rights to Sharon Osbourne's Extreme, the tell-all autobiography that has sold 900,000 copies in the U.K., from Time Warner UK.(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Springboard's Karen Murgolo has acquired North American rights to Sharon Osbourne's Extreme, the tell-all autobiography that has sold 900,000 copies in the U.K., from Time Warner UK. In the book, Osbourne discusses her chaotic childhood, her...

Ochester awarded.(Ed Ochester, Association of Writing Programs)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... When you're trying to give a life to writing poetry, it helps to get a teaching job. When you're trying to hold a teaching job, it helps to be published. After more than a quarter century editing the influential Pitt Poetry Series, Ed...

Who needs steroids?(Human Kinetics sells more than 100,000 copies of Strength Training Anatomy, 2d ed.)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Not Human Kinetics. With illegal bulking dominating the sports news, the Champaign, Ill.--based company has sold more than 100,000 copies of its second edition of Strength Training Anatomy in only three months, and with the aid of legitimate...

Welcome Books, after six years with Andrews McMeel, is being welcomed to the Random House distribution family.(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Welcome Books, after six years with Andrews McMeel, is being welcomed to the Random House distribution family. Welcome publishes movie tie-in and high-end art and photography books, as well as a popular line of Little Big Books, which have...

NavPress, a leading Christian publisher, has selected Banta Corporation to handle its fulfillment and distribution.(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... NavPress, a leading Christian publisher, has selected Banta Corporation to handle its fulfillment and distribution. Returns to its former distributor, Stackpole, will not be accepted past June 1.

Walden Media teams with Penguin.(Penguin Young Readers Group)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Walden Media, the film and television production company behind such box office hits as Chronicles of Narnia, has inked a multiyear deal with Penguin Young Readers Group that gives Walden the first-look opportunity at a certain number of...

Kendall, Harpster join Penguin.(Penguin Books Inc., Joshua Kendall, Kendra Harpster)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Joshua Kendall, formerly an editor at Picador, and Kendra Harpster, formerly an associate editor at Doubleday, have been named senior editor and editor, respectively.

New agents at Curtis Brown.(Dave Barbor, Ginger Clark and Michele Beno appointed)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Dave Barbor, foreign rights director, has been named a v-p. Katherine Fausset, formerly with Watkins/Loomis; Ginger Clark, formerly with Writers House; and Michele Beno, returning after a stint at HarperCollins, have all joined the agency.

Coppola promoted at Viz.(Viz Communications Inc., Liza Coppola)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Liza Coppola has been named a senior v-p of marketing.

Crosley rises at Vintage.(Sloane Crosley promoted at Vintage Trade Books )(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Sloane Crosley has been promoted to assistant director of publicity.

Atchenson joins new hope.(People)(Tina Atchenson)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Tina Atchenson, previously with Highland Capital Holding, has been named publicity and advertising manager.

Morrow does dual drop for Ansay.(HarperCollins Publishers Inc., William Morrow)(A. Manette Ansay)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Hoping to attract a wider and younger audience for A. Manette Ansay, HarperCollins's William Morrow imprint will release her next book, Blue Water, simultaneously in hardcover and trade paperback later this spring. Ansay, whose six other...

Tough quarter, tough questions for Scholastic.(earnings of the company)
March 27, 2006... The questions were pointed during last week's conference call, as analysts tried to determine the future of Scholastic after a poor third quarter prompted the company to lower its sales and earnings estimates for the fiscal year ending May...

New staff at Cumberland House.(Stacie Bauerle, Linda Cobb and K. Danielle Edwards appointed)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Stacie Bauerle, formerly assistant publisher, has been named an acquisition editor. K. Danielle Edwards, previously in public relations at Fisk University, has been named senior publicist for the WND imprint. Linda Cobb, formerly with H&R...

Weiss joins Harper.(HarperCollins Children's Books appoints Josh Weiss)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Josh Weiss has been named v-p, publishing operations for HarperCollins Children's Books.

Three rise at LBBYR.(Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)(Andrea Spooner, Cindy Eagan and Liza Baker promoted)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Three executive editors have been promoted at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: Andrea Spooner has been named an editorial director of the LBBYR hardcover and paperback list. Cindy Eagan is now the editorial director of LBBYR's teen...

DPW hires Tasker.(Disney Publishing Worldwide, Simon Tasker)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Simon Tasker, formerly director of national accounts at S&S, has been named director, global retail sales, for the book group of Disney Publishing Worldwide.

Aguilo rises at Berrett-Koehler.(Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc., Maria Jesus Aguilo)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Maria Jesus Aguilo has been promoted to director of international sales and subsidiary rights.

Criminal intents.(Home Box Office Inc., Steve Bogira, contract)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... The slick halls of TV's Law & Order have nothing on the grim corridors of Steve Bogira's Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse (Knopf, 2005). Painting a riveting portrait of life at Chicago's busy Cook...

Death takes a holiday.(Lifetime Television, Maddy Banks, contract)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Maddy Banks, the heroine of Lynn Isenberg's The Funeral Planner (Red Dress Ink, 2005), leaves her best friend's burial forlorn--but with a solid business plan. In a carpe diem moment, she comes up with the idea for Lights Out, a company that...

Baby, Hugh can drive your car.(Universal Studios Inc., Hugh Jackman, contract)
March 27, 2006... Hugh Jackman may be taking a last stand this summer as Wolverine in the third X-Men movie, but he'll be seated and revving up a storm in an adaptation of James Sallis's neo-noir Drive (Poisoned Pen Press, 2005). Along with Marc Platt (Legally...

Lui rises at Viz Media.(Jane Lui)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Jane Lui has been promoted to associate manager, public relations and conventions.

Melton joins Dover.(Dover Publications Inc., Jarvis (Jay) Melton)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Jarvis (Jay) Melton, formerly with Taschen, has been named v-p of sales at Dover Publications.

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
March 27, 2006... This is Archer's first novel in seven years and his fans are receptive. St. Martin's reports an in-print total of about 375,000 copies. The long gap between books is because Archer has been busy for the past five years or so serving a prison...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
March 27, 2006... The Pantheon folks say that the best thing that's happened for Cobra II is that both the liberal and conservative media have been praising it. Described as the "definitive chronicle of America's invasion and occupation of Iraq," its authors...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
March 27, 2006... Kellerman notes that he has been "writing compulsively since the age of nine." Extremely fascinated by science, specifically biology and human behavior, he chose to go for a degree in psychology. He did win a literary award at UCLA, and that...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
March 27, 2006... The Mermaid Chair is the new lead on the trade paper list, which has been dominated for more than a year by three titles--The Kite Runner, A Million Little Pieces and Night. Penguin reports a 704,000-copy first printing and notes that the...

Children's series & tie-ins bestsellers.
March 27, 2006... Whoever said that life is just like high school wasn't far wrong. Clique author Lisi Harrison certainly sees the similarities. According to Harrison's editor, Cindy Eagan, while the Clique books are about junior high girls, Harrison draws...

Truth is stronger than fiction: while veteran novelists and celebrities dominate, a few newcomers shine.(fiction and nonfiction rankings)(Cover story)
March 27, 2006... A year or so ago Kevin Trudeau and Alliance Publishing weren't on anyone's bestseller radar screen. Not so in 2005: Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About was the leading hardcover adult bestseller, with sales of more than 3.7...

Something new, something old: Rachael Ray cooks, sudoku puzzles and tie-ins pack a wallop.(2005 Bestsellers: Paperbacks)
March 27, 2006... In early 2006 James Frey was chastised, ostracized and perhaps indelibly stigmatized by Oprah Winfrey's public humiliation of him on national TV. But that was this year. Last year, thanks in major part to Oprah's impassioned support for A...

Potter leads the pack: how does 13.5 million copies sound?(2005 Bestsellers: Children's)(Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)
March 27, 2006... Many a children's book over the years has hinged on a piece of magic--a potion, a princess, a pebble. The story in children's publishing this year hinged on two particularly magic words: fantasy and sequel. And when it's a year that has a new...

The reluctant celebrity: at heart, Julia Alvarez says, she's a 'worker.' Her job is to tell stories.(Author Profile)(Biography)
March 27, 2006... Julia Alvar has to go on tour again, and she isn't looking forward to it. For one thing, it means that she'll have to leave her husband, ophthalmologist Bill Eichner, and her beautiful post-and-beam house in Weybridge, Vt. where the tractor...

The Unyielding Clamor of the Night.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The Unyielding Clamor of the Night NEIL BISSOONDATH. Bloomsbury, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 1-59691-192-2 Veteran author Bissoondath (A Casual Brutality) sets his latest novel, in which a naive rich boy takes a job as a schoolteacher, in a place...

The Dressmaker.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The Dressmaker ELIZABETH BIRKELUND OBERBECK. Holt, $23 (320p) ISBN 0-8050-8033-3 In the rural French town of Senlis, mild-mannered, middle-aged tailor Claude Reynaud fashions wedding gowns, dresses and suits for Parisian women in the...

The Abortionist's Daughter.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The Abortionist's Daughter ELISABETH HYDE. Knopf, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 0-307-26366-5 Dr. Diana Duprey--abortion clinic director, wife of local Colorado DA Frank Thompson and mother of 19-year-old college freshman Megan-has plenty of...

The Possibility of an Island.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The Possibility of an Island MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ, TRANS. FROM THE FRENCH BY GAVIN BOWD. Knopf, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-307-26349-5 Like the New Age camp of The Elementary Particles and the Thai sex tourist hotels of Platform, Houellebecq's...

Voodoo Heart.(Book review)
March 27, 2006... * Voodoo Heart SCOTT SNYDER. Dial Press, $24 (288p) ISBN 0-385-33841-4 Reading Scott Snydet's accomplished first story collection, Voodoo Heart, is a little like watching a magician pull rabbits out of a hat. No matter how many times...

Rapids.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Rapids TIM PARKS. Arcade, $24 (264p) ISBN 1-55970-811-5 Parks, whose Europa was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, sets his highly engrossing novel on a swollen, swift-moving river in the Italian Alps, where 13 Brits from a London...

The Eagle's Throne.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The Eagle's Throne CARLOS FUENTES, TRANS. FROM THE SPANISH BY KRISTINA CORDERO. Random, $26.95 (352p) ISBN 1-4000-6247-0 An ailing Mexican president, two years into his mandated six-year term and manipulated by everyone around him, has...

The Cottagers.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The Cottagers MARSHALL N. KLIMASEWISKI. Norton, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-393-06077-2 Cyrus Collingwood, 19, a lifelong resident of Vancouver Island, spends most of his time spying on the vacationers in their East Sooke holiday cottages with...

Birds in Fall.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Birds in Fall BRAD KESSLER. Scribner, $24 (256p) ISBN 0-7432-8738-X This brooding novel is a modern-day retelling of the Greek myth of Ceyx and Alcyone. In the eerie first chapter, Russell, a New York ornithologist, is on a flight to...

Eye of Vengeance.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Eye of Vengeance JONATHON KANG. Dutton, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 0-525-94953-4 Veteran journalist King, the Edgar-winning author of the Max Freeman novels (The Blue Edge of Midnight, etc.), sets this edgy, brooding stand-alone in a milieu he...

The Good Works of Ayela Linde: A Novel in Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The Good Works of Ayela Linde: A Novel in Stories CHARLOTTE FORBES. Arcade, $24 (240p) ISBN 1-55970-807-7 This delicately rendered debut episodically delineates the life and times of the most sought after girl in the village of Santa...

The Silver Crescent.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The Silver Crescent LESLIE WOODARD. Gorgeous Notions (4 E. 70th St. #2A, New York, N.Y. 10021), $15.95 paper (176p) ISBN 0-9743468-4-5 Without much else to tie together the four stories that comprise Woodard's first book, the author's...

Drag King Dreams.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Drag King Dreams LESLIE FEINBERG. Carroll & Graf/ Avalon, $14.95 (320p) ISBN 0-7867-1763-7 After a harrowing encounter with a bigot on the PATH train, Max Rabinowitz, drag king and bouncer, quarrels with cross-dressing friend Vickie--who...

The Secret River.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The Secret River KATE GRENVILLE. Canongate, $24 (352p) ISBN 1-84195-797-6 Grenville's Australian bestseller, which won the Orange Prize, is an eye-opening tale of the settlement of New South Wales by a population of exiled British...

Beachglass.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Beachglass WENDY BLACKBURN. St. Martin's, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-312-35158-5 For her debut novel, Blackburn, a chemical dependency counselor in Seattle, presents a kaleidoscopic look at AA denizens, clean and not, from the perspective of a...

Gotta Find Me an Angel.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Gotta Find Me an Angel BRENDA BROOKS. Raincoast (IPG, dist.), $21.95 (224p) ISBN 1-55192-717-9 This heartfelt but structurally flawed first novel by Canadian poet Brooks tries to find a place where lyricism and lesbian chick lit might...

Blood Mask.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Blood Mask LAUREN KELLY. Ecco, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 0-06-111903-2 Joyce Carol Oates's gripping third suspense novel under her Kelly pseudonym (after 2005's The Stolen Heart) explores twisted love. Shy, insecure teenager Annemarie Straube...

The Hard Way.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... * The Hard Way: A Jack Reacher Novel LEE CHILD. Delacorte, $25 (384p) ISBN 0-385-33669-1 In bestseller Child's 10th novel to feature ex-army MP Jack Reacher (after 2005's One Shot), a sidewalk cafe encounter in New York City plunges...

Everfree.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Everfree NICK SAGAN. Putnam, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 0-399-15276-8 Though Sagan's latest future thriller is supposed to complete a trilogy that began with Idlewild and Edenborn, it's stuffed with ideas that veer off into fascinating but...

Dead Before Dying.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Dead Before Dying DEON MEYER, TRANS. FROM THE AFRIKAANS BY MADELEINE VAN BILJON. Little, Brown, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-316-00013-2 South African journalist Meyer's first novel, his third to be released in the U.S. (after 2005's Dead at...

Genealogy.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Genealogy MAUD CASEY. Harper Perennial, $13.95 paper (288p) ISBN 0-06-074089-2 Samantha Hennart is about to die alone from a brain aneurysm; Casey (The Shape of Things to Come) tells her story in flashback. Bernard, Sam's English...

The Debutante Divorcee.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The Debutante Divorcee PLUM SYKES. Miramax, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 1-4013-5244-8 Sykes picks up where the prospective-husband hunters of her bestselling 2004 debut, Bergdorf Blondes, left off: "Married girls in New York these days put almost...

Stupid and Contagious.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Stupid and Contagious CAPRICE CRANE. Warner/5Spot, $12.95 (336p) ISBN 0-446-69572-6 This funny duet pairs two New York City 20-something neighbors: Heaven Albright, whose reversal in fortunes transforms her from uber-PR exec to bumbling...

Goodbye, Jimmy Choo.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Goodbye, Jimmy Choo ANNIE SANDERS. Warner/5 Spot, $12.95 paper (416p) ISBN 0-446-69728-1 In rural Ringford, England, the small-town snobbery of the "Mercedes Mums" sets the standard, but two London transplants, Maddy Hoare, a prickly,...

Dirty Laundry: A Sofie Metropolis Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Dirty Laundry: A Sofie Metropolis Novel TORI CARRINGTON. Forge, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 0-765-31241-7 Five months have passed since Sofie Metropolis caught her would-be husband, "Thomas-the-Toad," flagrante delicto with her maid of honor on...

4% Famous.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... 4% Famous DEBORAH SCHOENEMAN. Random/Shaye Areheart, $21.95 (288p) ISBN 0-307-23746-X Schoeneman (of New York magazine) writes a fast-paced, seductive first novel that follows three gossip columnists immersed in the chaos of Manhattan...

The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan JOHN COYNE. St. Martin's/Dunne, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 0-312-35523-8 Known more for his novels of the macabre, Coyne moves onto the links and comes up with a terrific blend of golfing lore, PGA tournament drama...

Darcy and Elizabeth: Days and Nights at Pemberley.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Darcy and Elizabeth: Days and Nights at Pemberley LINDA BERDOLL. Sourcebooks Landmark, $16.95 (436p) ISBN 1-4022-0563-5 Berdoll's second lighthearted romp through Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice set (following Mr. Darcy Takes turns nasty....

The O. Henry Prize Stories, 2006.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... The O. Henry Prize Stories 2006 EDITED BY LAURA FURMAN. Anchor, $14 paper (448p) ISBN 1-4000-9539-5 Series editor Furman (Drinking with the Cook) casts a wide net in the latest installment of the long running award collection, aided by...

Last Evenings on Earth.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... Last Evenings on Earth ROBERTO BOLANO, TRANS. FROM THE SPANISH BY CHRIS ANDREWS. New Directions, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 0-8112-1634-9 Chilean Bolano (1953-2003) wrote 10 novels (including Distant Star, published to acclaim last year), books...

After.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 27, 2006... After MARITA GOLDEN. Doubleday, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 0-385-51222-8 The author of half a dozen books on race, both fiction and nonfiction, olden tackles the subject from a different perspective in her latest novel about a black policeman who...