Publishers Weekly articles from October 2003

Publishers Weekly archives from October 2003

A good year after all?(booksellers positive mood)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... Across the country, independent booksellers' mood about fall and Christmas sales is increasingly positive, judging from comments made at the three regional bookseller association shows held 10 days ago and covered in Bookselling, this issue,...

Borders to urge review of pricing policies: retailer hoping for industry cooperation.
October 6, 2003... BORDERS GROUP IS hoping to open a dialogue with its vendors next year about the possibility of removing printed prices from book jackets. "Bookselling is one of the few retail environments where the price is fixed by the supplier of the...

Solid e-book gains: unit sales jump in first half of '03.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... After flat unit sales growth in 2002, the sales of e-books increased dramatically in the first two quarters of 2003, according to statistics from the Open eBook Forum, Unit sales in the first period of 2003 were 288,440, a gain of 19% over the...

Ammer named to global post at random.(News: late-breaking news on the Web)(Bonnie Ammer)
October 6, 2003... LOOKING TO MAXIMIZE the publishing opportunities for all Random House titles around the world, the company has named Bonnie Ammer to the newly created position of executive v-p, publisher at large, Random House Worldwide. In announcing the...

AMS under SEC investigation.(Probing)(ADVANCED MARKETING SERVICES )(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... ADVANCED MARKETING SERVICES has been notified that it is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, in a matter the company believes is related to a search warrant and subpoena served to it by a federal court in July. ...

Blackwell's to close Oregon warehouse facility.(Consolidating)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... BLACKWELL'S BOOK SERVICES will close its Academic Book Center warehouse in Portland, Ore., at the end of the year, merging all its North American book operations into its Blackwood, N.J., distribution center. The decision will affect about...

Industry stocks: September performances.(Market Watch)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... Industry Stocks: September Performances Winners COMPANY AUGUST 29 SEPTEMBER 30 % CHANGE Books-A-Million 3.40 4.12 21.2% Reader's Digest ...

Palm e-book founders out after acquisition.(Dispute)
October 6, 2003... THE SALE IN early September of Palm Digital Media, the e-book retail Web site of the maker of Palm handheld devices, to PalmGear, a company that sells other Palm OS applications, has led to the departure of PDM's founding managers and spurred...

Winning women writers.(News)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Rona Jaffe with this year's winners of the award that bears her name: Allison McKittrick, Katherine Noel, Kathleen Graber, Julia Whitty, Joanna Klink and Olette Trouve. The award recognizes exceptional women...

Chicago Review Press buys Zephyr Press.(Acquisition)
October 6, 2003... CHICAGO REVIEW PRESS INC., which includes the 30-year-old publishing house Chicago Review Press and distributor Independent Publishers Group, has acquired Tucson, Ariz.-based educational publisher Zephyr Press. The deal includes the press,...

Arte Publico: branding Hispanic history.(Hispanic Literature)(Recovery Project)
October 6, 2003... LOOKING TO RAISE public knowledge about Hispanic-American history and politics, Houston, Tex.-based Arte Publico, a 20-year-old press specializing in Hispanic literature, is launching a campaign to brand its many books on Hispanic civil rights....

Harvard B-School press in deal with RH Kodansha.(Partnering)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... IN A BID to increase sales in Japan, Harvard Business School Press has formed a partnership with Random House Kodansha to collaborate on a new imprint that will publish Japanese translations of selected HBS Press titles. The first titles under...

The word from Hans Blix.(hot deals)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... The head of the U.N. arms inspection team in Iraq, who found himself in the center of a firestorm as the U.S. prepared to attack without the sanction of the world body, has written a book that Pantheon plans to publish here next spring. Dan...

Viking's Greenland Saga.(hot deals)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... Appropriately enough, it was a Viking Penguin editor, Carole DeSanti, who bought a first novel about ancient days in Greenland by scholar/explorer Judith Lindbergh, who has hitherto confined her writing to scholarly articles. DeSanti likens the...

A basketball 'miracle'.(hot deals)(Putnam's Gotham imprint's new book of story of high school basketball coach)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... The story of a high school basketball coach whose winning team helped turn around a failing Catholic school will be told in a book just bought for Putnam's Gotham imprint by Brendan Cahill. The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Bob Hurley...

Atria's Emily Bestler signed popular author Jodi Picoult to three new books, world rights, with agent Laura Gross.(Short Takes)(Atria)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... Atria's Emily Bestler signed popular author Jodi Picoult to three new hooks, world rights, with agent Laura Gross. Picoult's next, due out in March, is My Sister's Keeper.

Dan Halpern at Ecco won a hotly contested auction for a big Italian cookbook by star chef.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... Dan Halpern at Ecco won a hotly contested auction for a big Italian cookbook by star chef, restaurateur and TV cook Mario Batali, formerly published at Clarkson Potter; it was a North American and first serial deal with agent Anthony Gardner,...

Norwegian publisher Cappelen's book by Ala Bashir, Saddam Hussein's personal physician for 20 years, Saddam's Confidante.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... Norwegian publisher Cappelen's book by Ala Bashir, Saddam Hussein's personal physician for 20 years, Saddam's Confidante (Hot Deals, Sept. 1), has made a number of foreign sales, and Time Warner U.K., which bought world English, will be looking...

Another book with high Frankfurt hopes is a comic first novel called The Journal of Mortifying Moments by Robyn Harding.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... Another book with high Frankfurt hopes is a comic first novel called The Journal of Mortifying Moments by Robyn Harding, sold by Joe Veltre at Carlisle & Company to Ballantine's Linda Marrow in a two-book, six-figure world rights deal.

Penguin editors here and in the U.K. (Wendy Wolf and Simon Winder, respectively) bought a book detailing the rise, impressive empire and final fall to the Romans of ancient Carthage by Cambridge historian and archeologist Richard Miles.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... Penguin editors here and in the U.K. (Wendy Wolf and Simon Winder, respectively) bought a book detailing the rise, impressive empire and final fall to the Romans of ancient Carthage by Cambridge historian and archeologist Richard Miles; Curtis...

McGraw-Hill's Nancy Hancock paid six figures for a book called Shine: Searching for the Star Within You.(Short Takes)
October 6, 2003... McGraw-Hill's Nancy Hancock paid six figures for a book called Shine: Searching for the Star Within You, an inspirational and anecdotal self-help title by former Hollywood producer and agent Larry Thompson; the world rights deal was made by...

Portfolio's Adrian Zackheim bought a book tentatively called Head Trip by tennis coach Brad Gilbert.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... Portfolio's Adrian Zackheim bought a book tentatively called Head Trip by tennis coach Brad Gilbert (he has coached Agassi and Roddick) telling readers how to apply his lessons about performing under stress to their lives. It was a buy for...

Doubleday's Deb Futter bought a first novel by a young actress/screenwriter whose first movie (Anything but Love) comes out shortly.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... Doubleday's Deb Futter bought a first novel by a young actress/screenwriter whose first movie (Anything but Love) comes out shortly. The book is The J.A.P. Chronicles by Isabel Rose, and it was part of a two-book deal, sold by agent Sally...

Patricia Henley.(Short Takes)(Correction Notice)
October 6, 2003... In last week's story about the sale of Patricia Henley's new novel, we gave her the wrong first name.

Photographers' suit against CCC to go on.(Litigation)(Copyright Clearance Center)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... AFTER FACILITATING LITIGATION in several high-profile copyright infringement cases in the coursepack market, the nonprofit Copyright Clearance Center is now facing copyright questions of its own. Last week the CCC prevailed in the U.S. District...

Law to join S&S kids; Hinkel moves up at RH.(People)(Elizabeth Law, Nancy Hinkel)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... ELIZABETH LAW, associate publisher at Viking Children's Books, is moving to Simon & Schuster as v-p, associate publisher of thee S&S Books for Young Readers imprint, effective October 27. She will report to Brenda Bowen, publisher of hardcover...

Two join scholastic.(People)(Scholastic)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... SCHOLASTIC HAS recruited two new managers. Gray Peterson joined the company last week from Dalmatian Press as v-p for sales, mass market. Peterson will be responsible for the mass market sales channel, which includes mass merchandisers and ID...

Bonnier to buy Econ/Ullstein/List.(Acquisition)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... SWEDISH MEDIA GIANT Bonnier has agreed to acquire Econ/Ullstein/List, one of Germany's most prominent book publishers. Based in Munich, Econ has annual sales of about 60 million euros ($70 million) and 100 employees. The acquisition, which is...

Nelson adds more bibles.(Acquisition)(Thomas Nelson Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... THOMAS NELSON increased its stake in the Bible market last month with the acquisition of certain assets from World Bible Publishers, a division of Riverside-World Inc. Nelson's Vance Lawson said the company acquired approximately 1,000 titles...

Lit Spotting.(news)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Litquake founder Alan Black and author Irvine Welsh, who recently moved to the Bay Area, hang out at the after-party for the second Litquake, an annual San Francisco literary event that drew more than 4,000...

New Coetzee book gets nobel boost.(Award Winner)(J.M. COETZEE )(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... For J.M. COETZEE and his publisher, Viking Penguin, winning the Nobel Prize for literature could not have come at a better time. Viking is scheduled to publish the South African writer's ninth book, Elizabeth Costello, on October 13. After...

Wiley Canada in Deal with Canadian Press.(Partnering)(John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd. partnering with Canadian Press)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd., is partnering with print and broadcast news agency Canadian Press on a book publishing program that will combine quickie books on current events with more traditional titles that draw on CP's extensive archives....

Algonquin evolves as part of workman.(20th Anniversary)(Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)
October 6, 2003... IN A PREFACE to its debut catalogue of four titles dated Fall 1983, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill announced its mission as "publishing books of quality... designed to be of nationwide appeal." That was written by Louis D. Rubin Jr., a...

Layoffs at CrossGen.(Financial Problems)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... WHILE FINANCIALLY troubled comics publisher CrossGen has not yet announced the second round of financing it claimed to be finalizing a couple of weeks ago (News, Sept. 22), it has announced a round of layoffs and a major corporate...

Keillor to host 'Paris Review' benefit.(Tribute)(Garrison Keillor )(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... GARRISON KEILLOR HAS agreed to host the 50th-anniversary party for the Paris Review, which will serve not only as a fund-raising event but also as a celebration of the life of George Plimpton, the Review editor who died September 25 (News,...

William Morris.(Obituary)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
October 6, 2003... BILL MORRIS, longtime v-p and director of library promotion at HarperCollins Children's Books, died of cancer on September 29 in New York City. He was 74. Morris was born in Eagle Pass, Tex.; he attended Rice University and earned a master's...

Correction.(news)(Correction Notice)
October 6, 2003... Based on new information, PW has revised its estimate of Houghton, Mifflin's children's book sales in 2002, to $38 million. The new figure represents a 15% increase over sales in 2001, maintaining HM's place as the eighth largest publisher of...

A heavenly landing.(behind the bestsellers)('The Five People You Meet in Heaven')(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... That might well describe any book that makes it to the top of the chart after just a week in the stores, but Hyperion has a lot riding on this week's lead fiction title, The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Author Mitch Albom is no stranger to...

Microsoft's reading list.(behind the bestsellers)('Quicksilver: Volume One of the Baroque Cycle')(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... According to Morrow, its newest bestseller, Quicksilver: Volume One of The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson, is "required reading." Its employees and the author's many fans will be very busy over the next 12 months, which will see publication...

Political tomes are hot.(behind the bestsellers)
October 6, 2003... Check out the hardcover nonfiction list and you will see that the dominant subject is politics. More than half of the books are by or about political figures and issues. In fact, the three new nonfiction bestsellers this week would be shelved...

Classic strategy, classic sales: Penguin pulls ahead in the battle for bookstore presence, while Barnes & Noble edges up.(book news)(marketing of classic literature)
October 6, 2003... If there's any question whether classics sell, then the numbers for John Steinbeck's 1952 novel East of Eden (Penguin) should dispel that notion. It has sold more than 1.6 million copies since Oprah made it the first selection of her classics...

Feminist publishing for fun and profit.(New Strategy)(City University of New York's Feminist Press)
October 6, 2003... This is not your mother's Feminist Press. The venerable publishing arm of the City University of New York, founded in 1970, is flexing new muscles and producing edgier books with more of a pop sensibility. Central to this new focus is the...

NAIBA indie bookies deal in Atlantic City.(Upbeat Regional Roundup)(New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association)
October 6, 2003... After six years ill Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association gambled on a return to Atlantic City, N.J., its show site for nearly 20 years, on Sunday and Monday, September 21-22. The association,...

Not wet, but wild: SEBA on Jekyll Island.(Upbeat Regional Roundup)(Southeast Booksellers Association)
October 6, 2003... If Wanda Jewell, the Southeast Booksellers Association's executive director, hoped that the reinvigorating spirit of this spring's "bookseller revivals" would carry through to fire fall trade show on Georgia's Jekyll Island, she got her wish....

PNBA prepares for a hopeful fall.(Upbeat Regional Roundup)(Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association)
October 6, 2003... Attendance dropped slightly at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association trade show in Portland, Ore., September 18-20, but sales reps seemed pleased with the number of orders they wrote, and most attendees approved the show's new...

The kids stay in the picture: children's books continue to provide good grist for the Hollywood mill.(children's books)
October 6, 2003... Ask any parent, kid or media executive films for children and families are hot these days and you'll likely hear a resounding "yes." Of course this assessment is obvious to just about anyone who has visited a multiplex in the past year. Harry...

In the works.(children's book)
October 6, 2003... What follows is a list of some of the children's books that have recently been optioned or are in production or development for film or television. 1-800-WHERE-R-U series by Jenny Carroll (Simon Pulse), developed by Lions Gate TV and...

From playback to page: Stephen King crowns a book deal for Ron McLarty's audio-only title.(audio)
October 6, 2003... Actor Ron McLarty is no stranger to audiobooks. He has been recording them for Recorded Books and other companies for years. Not many of his audiobook fans know that McLarty is also a writer, but that's about to change, thanks in large part to...

Him talk pretty on audiobooks.(Speaks with David Sedaris)(Interview)
October 6, 2003... Humorist and bestselling author David Sedaris has made a career not only with his words, but with his voice. Legions of fans have enjoyed his readings of essays, diary entries and stories on National Public Radio's Morning Edition since the...

Avenger.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 6, 2003... FREDERICK FORSYTH, READ BY ERIC CONGER. Audio Renaissance, unabridged, eight cassettes, 12 hrs., $39.95 ISBN 1-55927-947-8 Conger's coldly precise narration complements the riveting prologue to Forsyth's latest thriller, which describes the...

The Beachcomber.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 6, 2003... KAREN ROBARDS, READ BY KATE FORBES. Simon & Schuster Audio, abridged, three cassettes, 4.5 hrs., $25 ISBN 0-7435-3367-3 When listeners pop the first tape of this absorbing audio adaptation into their cassette decks, they may get the sense...

To the Nines.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 6, 2003... JANET EVANOVICH, READ BY LORELEI KING. Audio Renaissance, unabridged, seven CDs, 8.5 hrs., $37.95 ISBN 1-55927-777-7 Narrator King somehow makes the crazy, comic antics of Evanovich's irresistible bond agent, Stephanie Plum, seem almost...

Summer in Tuscany.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 6, 2003... ELIZABETH ADLER, READ BY CELESTE LAWSON. Blackstone Audiobooks, unabridged, seven cassettes, 9 hrs., $49.95 ISBN 0-7861-2510-1 When Gemma Jericho learns that her feisty Italian mother has inherited land in her Tuscan hometown, she...

Still Life With Crows.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 6, 2003... DOUGLAS PRESTON AND LINCOLN CHILD, READ BY RENE AUBERJONOIS. Time Warner Audiobooks, abridged, four cassettes, 6 hrs., $25.98 ISBN 1-58621-504-3 This latest Preston and Child thriller, even in abbreviated form, offers gore galore,...

The John Cheever Audio Collection.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 6, 2003... JOHN CHEEVER, READ BY THE AUTHOR, MERYL STREEP, GEORGE PLIMPTON ET AL. Harper Audio, unabridged, six CDs, 6.5 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 0-06-055483-5 * This remarkable treat for lovers of audio books is as tastefully and elegantly packaged as it...

Praying God's Will For Your Life.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 6, 2003... STORMIE OMARTIAN, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Oasis Audio, unabridged, four cassettes, 5 hrs., $25.99 ISBN 1-58926-238-7 Are spiritual exercises, prayers and "tools for truth" necessary to strengthen one's faith? Based on the success of evangelist...

Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community and the World.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 6, 2003... THICH NHAT HANH, READ BY MICHAEL YORK. Simon & Schuster Audio, abridged, six cassettes, 3 hrs., $26 ISBN 0-7435-3003-9 In narrating Nhat Hanh's spiritual guide, York did not have an easy task. The text is an accessible, solid introduction...

Living History.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 6, 2003... HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Simon & Schuster Audio, abridged, four cassettes, 7 hrs., $26 ISBN 0-7435-2833-6 Whether or not you believe that the Clintons were victims of what Hillary calls a "vast right-wing conspiracy,"...

Use What You've Got.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 6, 2003... BARBARA CORCORAN WITH BRUCE LITTLEFIELD, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Listen & Live Audio, abridged, three CDs, 4 hrs., $23.95 ISBN 1-59316-015-1 It's hard not to share in Corcoran's delight as the New York City real estate giant tells her...

Audio bestsellers.(Illustration)
October 6, 2003... AUDIO BESTSELLERS Fiction [1] Bleachers (unabr. CD). John Grisham. Read by the author. Random House Audio. Four CDs, 4.5 hours, $24.95 ISBN 0-7393-1016 [2] The Da Vinci Code (abr. CD). Dan Brown. Read by Colin...

The year of the sports bestseller: publishers count on good writing, good stories and an eager audience to guarantee their success.
October 6, 2003... IT WILL CO DOWN AS THE YEAR of the sports bestseller. PW counts seven titles that made long stays on multiple bestseller lists in 2003: Who's Your Caddy? by Rick Reilly; Moneyball by Michael Lewis; The Teammates by, David Halberstam; Open by...

The uses of horror: Peter Straub writes to sell.(Innovators Series)(Interview)
October 6, 2003... JULIA. GHOST STORY. SHADOWLAND. Floating Dragon. The Talisman, with Stephen King. Mystery. Koko. The Throat. Peter Straub wrote one bestseller after another in the '70s and '80s, and won critical awards while doing so. As the paperback market...

Rising from the dead: publishers are finding ways to put life, and profits, into e-book publishing.(Industry Overview)
October 6, 2003... LAST WINTER'S TABLET PC DIGITAL PUBLISHING Conference in New York City, attracted a fair number of people front the book business. For many in the audience, more compelling than the eventual success (or not) of tablet computers was an afternoon...

When history and poetry collide.(PW interview Peter Balakian)(Interview)
October 6, 2003... The Armenian genocide has haunted Peter Balakian's imagination since he was a young man, and it played a crucial role in his development as a poet. In his 1997 memoir, Black Dog of Fate, he describes a transforming moment in 1974, after he...

The Havana Room.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... COLIN HARRISON. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24 (400p) ISBN 0-374-29986-2 * Harrison's status as the noir poet of New York crime fiction (Afterburn; Manhattan Nocturne) will surely be enhanced by his latest thriller--featuring, among other...

The Stranger at the Palazzo D'oro: and Other Stories.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... PAUL THEROUX. Houghton Mifflin, $23 (304p) ISBN 0-618-26515-5 Theroux's characteristic haze of exoticism hangs over this uneven collection of two novellas and two stories, ushered in by the gothic title novella, which tells a tale of sexual...

Someone to Run With.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... DAVID GROSSMAN, TRANS. FROM THE HEBREW BY VERED ALMOG AND MAYA GURANTZ. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25 (752p) ISBN 0-374-26657-3 Every once in a while, Grossman abandons his structurally intricate, morally complex novels of Israeli society,...

Something's Down There.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... MICKEY SPILLANE. Simon & Schuster, $24 (288p) ISBN 0-7432-5146-6 Eighty-five-year-old Spillane (I, the Jury; Erection Set; Tomorrow I Die) shows little evidence of advanced age in this entertaining island adventure featuring ex-spook Mako...

Sacred Time.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... URSULA HEGI. Touchstone, $25 (256p) ISBN 0-7432-5598-4 A boisterously funny opening is followed by family tragedy in this moving if occasionally manipulative novel by Hegi (Stones from the River, etc.) charting a tumultuous half-century in...

There are Jews in My House.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... LARA VAPNYAR. Pantheon, $19.95 (160p) ISBN 0-375-42250-1 * Whether set in Vapnyar's native Russia or in her adopted New York, the six understated stories in this debut collection are beautifully crafted and unswerving in their exploration...

The Red Passport: Stories.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... KATHERINE SHONK. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $22 (224p) ISBN 0-374-24847-8 In this promising debut collection set primarily in post-Communist Russia, expatriates and natives alike endeavor to make their way in a new social and economic...

The Big Bad Wolf.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... JAMES PATTERSON. Little, Brown, $27.95 (400p) ISBN 0-316-60290-6 * In a recent column in Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King cited Patterson's thrillers as the example of "dopey" bestsellers. We hope that doesn't mean that those who enjoy...

Number 10.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... SUE TOWNSEND. Soho, $24 (288p) ISBN 1-56947-349-8 In Townsend's latest British farce (after 1993's The Queen and I, which put the British royal family in public housing, to hilarious effect), the prime minister, known by much of his public...

Safe Harbour.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... DANIELLE STEEL. Delacorte, $26.95 (336p) ISBN 0-385-33630-6 An 11-year-old girl strikes up a friendship with an artist and introduces him to her mother, a grieving widow, in Steel's 59th bestseller-to-be, a sweet but slow-moving romance....

Tidal Rip.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... JOE BUFF. Morrow, $25.95 (464p) ISBN 0-06-000966-7 Submarine aficionado Buff stirs up his usual whirlpool of frightening undersea exploits, but in this fourth outing his formula is beginning to feel a little soggy. Like last year's Crush...

The Hornet's Nest.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... JIMMY CARTER. Simon & Schuster, $27 (480p) ISBN 0-7432-5542-9 With this intricately detailed novel of the American South and the Revolutionary War, President Carter becomes our first chief executive, past or present, to publish a work of...

Learning to Drive.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... MARY HAYS. Crown/Shaye Areheart, $23 (320p) ISBN 1-4000-4780-3 The world of Christian Science healing forms the backdrop for this story about grief and the conflict between religious faith and physical experience. In December 1952,...

Stories From Another World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... SHEILA KOHLER. Ontario Review (Norton, dist.), $22.95 (150p) ISBN 0-86538-110-0 Though South Africa-born Kohler (Cracks; Children of Pithiviers; etc.) sets her stories in France, Italy, South Africa and the U.S., these 12 spare tales evoke...

Naughty or Nice.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... ERIC JEROME DICKEY. Dutton, $17.95 (240p) ISBN 0-525-94776-0 Dickey's holiday gift to readers follows his usual sure-fire formula of African-American sex, love, in fidelity and redemption (Sister, Sister; Cheaters; The Other Woman). This...

Speak Now.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... KAYLIE JONES, Akashic, $22.95 (300p) ISBN 1-888451-53-X Pretty much everyone in Jones's affecting but overwrought novel has a dark past and a resultant chemical dependency. There's Clara, a counselor at a battered women's shelter, who used...

Stanley, California.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... SHEILA EVANS. Permanent, $26 (200p) ISBN 1-57962-094-9 Evans's second novel (after Maggie's Rags), which chronicles a day in the life of a woman grappling with personal and marital doubt, offers deft insights into the elements that bind...

In the Cherry Tree.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... DAN POPE. Picador, $14 paper (272p) ISBN 0-312-42236-9 Rather plodding but appealingly homely, this first novel has the feel of an old family album. In a series of grainy snapshots, Pope chronicles the coming of age of 12-year-old Timmy...

The Last Days.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... JOEL C. ROSENBERG. Forge, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-765-30928-9 Rosenberg's sequel to the bestselling The Last Jihad (2002) is a near-clone of its predecessor: an action-packed Clancyeasque political thriller with paper-thin characters....

No Matter how Much You Promise to Cook or Pay the Rent You Blew it Cauze Bill Bailey Ain't Never Coming Home Again.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 6, 2003... EDGARDO VEGA YUNQUE. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25 (656P) ISBN 0-374-22311-4 Yunque's sprawling, old-fashioned debut, a multigenerational melting-pot epic set in New York City in the 1980s, is populated by a host of characters with...