GIVE 'EM SPELLS, HARRY

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GIVE 'EM SPELLS, HARRY

By Mark Leffler

This recap of the year in books could have been titled "They're Just Wild

About Harry," but you've probably seen that headline on about a kajillion

articles in newspapers and magazines already. Everyone from Time and

Newsweek to the Wiccan Weekly has paid tribute to the year's biggest publishing

phenomenon and pop culture fad.

The good news is that the stories aren't just good, but they're also being

devoured by parents of Harry's teen following, Mom and Dad, having been

raised on Anne Rice's vampire chronicles and Stephen King horror novels

themselves.

July's release of the newest installment in the Potter saga Harry Potter

and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling drew hundreds of parents and anxious

children to Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Saginaw. The Titabawasee store

handed out free black plastic Harry glasses to the youngsters and dispensed

free coffee to patient parents. Many witches and warlocks were in

attendance (they must have something to do when they're not attending

Renaissance Festivals and Stevie Nicks concerts) in full regalia.

But it's a kid's book, right? Well, yes and no. But without a doubt it's a

major event when a books draws midnight crowds like the release of the new

Pearl Jam CD.

"The major highlight of our retail year was the July release. This title is

a major draw for our store (and) it is encouraging children to read that

otherwise wouldn't pick up a book," says Mary Nichols, B&N's Community

Relations Manager.

"There is still a great popularity for the books. We have a Harry Potter

Club that meets in out store on the first Thursday of each month."

Boot Up, Log On, Print Out

With the on-line publication of Stephen King's latest work and the

phenomenal popularity of E-bay and other online sites catering to the book

buying public, the internet has changed publishing as it has most other

areas of our lives.

Cyber jockeys can read author interviews at salon.com, read and order humor

at the onion.com or former Lampoon editor Tony Hendra's new site

gigawit.com, read their favorite magazine online, usually without cost, and

much more.

And the best news for bibliophiles is that several sites help you to search

for rare and out-of-print books. Log on to alibris.com, bookfinder.com,

bibliofind.com or bookavenue.com to see if you can scrounge up that copy of

National Lampoon's A Dirty Book that your roommate borrowed in college and

left at the Alpha Delta Phi house. Let me know if you find it because I

could choke the bastard. I really could.

Ch-Ch-Chains

There are still a few smaller Mom & Pop bookstores, and used bookstores

still maintain an individuality rare in the new millennium, but the chains

such as Borders and Waldens still rule the business or retailing.

The chains offer vast catalogs and espresso, comfy easy chairs and racks of

magazines the length of a hockey rink. But Bill Bailey, area nonfiction

author and a close follower of the industry notes:

"Nationally book sales are strong and both e-tailers and retailers are

sharpening prices and promoting strong-selling authors. Some readers may

have noticed the increase in television ads for books, which has been

absent until the past year or two. Also on the rise are book sales in

non-traditional locations like grocery stores, department stores,

newspapers and direct mail."

"This year Michigan lost one of it's biggest wholesalers and the entire

publishing industry continues to consolidate as giant companies exert

pricing and competitive pressures. Just like mom and pop bookstores have

disappeared, so have small publishing houses and regional wholesalers."

Bailey has written 15 non-fiction books, including his latest Spin Tactics:

A Guerilla Guide to Media Relations, dispensing tips and techniques culled

from his experience as a member of the media and as assistant manager for

the City of Saginaw. He follows trends online and in industry publications like

Publisher's Weekly.

"Trade fiction still sells well, but this year science and religious titles

were amazingly strong. In fact, books that dealt with both science and

religion are selling well and charting a new genre," he adds.

Uma - Oprah, Oprah - Uma

The juggernaut that is Oprah's Book Club continues to dictate retailer's

purchasing practices. The blend of fiction and self-help titles has stuck a

chord with her viewers and launched the careers of writers like John Grey

and Terry McMillen into the stratosphere. Oh, and that guy with the big

white beard you see on PBS sometimes, too.

"Besides the Potter books, the other major boost to our business is the

ongoing Oprah book recommendations," says Nichols. "This brings in another

dedicated book buyer to our business. The past year has been a busy year

filled with many great releases."

I hear that Jerry Springer is doing something similar, but he's limited to

audio books given his demographics.

Read Globally, Act Locally

Of course you could do more than just read for your own entertainment and

education. Several local agencies and organizations promote youth and adult

literacy and what better way to start the new year than to volunteer to

read to children or help an adult. The READ program collects books to

distribute to area children, and Boy's and Girl's Clubs and libraries are

always looking for people of all ages to read to the kids.

Literacy is one of the strongest factors in a child's achievement of his or

her dreams, and all the money and teachers in the world can't make the

difference you can make by reading to your children or others.

And in the words of Charles Dickens' Tiny Tim, "God Bless us, everyone!"

Constant Reader's List of Ten Books You Probably Didn't Read Last Year (but

should)

1. Dream Catcher by Margaret A. Salinger (Washington Square Press, $27.95

hardback) >From the reviews you would think the book might have been titled

"Serpent's Tooth" or "Hey everybody, my old man drank his own urine!" And at first

glance it is filled with a fair amount of bitterness and anger (especially

at her father's suggestion that she have an abortion a few years ago). But

it's hard to overestimate J.D. Salinger's influence on several generations

of readers and due to his Zen-like silence the past 35 years, Margaret's

book gives us as close a look at what the author of The Catcher In The Rye

has been up to all these years. The good news: he's not crazy and yes, he's

still writing and has several books in the vault!

Click on the Image to get this book now from Amazon.com!!

2. The Plant by Stephen King (available online at stephenking.com, soon to

be released in print by Philtrum Press in six parts at $7 each)

The shot heard round the world finally brought e-publishing into the

mainstream. People thought he was crazy or naive to believe that e-readers

would actually send him money on an honor system. But King knows crazy and

naive as well as anyone, and this story about a "voracious supernatural

vine that begins to grow wild in a paperback publishing house," has grossed

about $600,000 to date.

3. Hot Night In The City by Trevanian ($24.95 hardback, St. Martin's Press)

Don't even get me started on the  best pseudononymously-hidden writer whose

work truly defies categorization. I discovered him as an anti-hero

espionage thriller author (The Eiger Sanction, Shibumi) who disappeared

after writing a neo-gothic psychological romance thriller (The Summer of

Katya) only to resurface in 1998 with a western (Incident at Twenty Mile).

And oh yeah, he's also written a bawdy and ribald retelling of Arthurian

legends (Rude Tales and Glorious) under another pen name, Nicholas Seare.

And he writes under about a dozen or so other pen names. Got that straight.

Good. Now enjoy this collection of stories that are as varied in subject

matter as they are uniquely engrossing.

Click on the Image to get this book now from Amazon.com!!

4.  Enterprising Images: The Goodridge Brothers, African American

Photographers 1847-1922 by Professor John Jezerski (Wayne State University

Press, coffee-table size hardcover) Wallace and William Goodridge moved to

East Saginaw, as it was then known, in 1863 and this recent publication

chronicles their legacy with a collection of turn-of-the-century

photographs and stereoscopes (early Viewmaster technology producing a 3-D

image from twin shots of the same location and subject). Prof. J's research

spanned decades and it shows. A must for any local historian, photography

buff or constant reader. Currently the subject of an exhibit at the Michigan

Historical Museum through January. 15, 2001. (And the author gives wonderful talks

with an impressive slide show of shots culled from his book.)

5. Maestro: Alan Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom by Bob Woodward The veteran Washington Post writer and editor (who made his name breaking the Watergate burglary story as told in All the President's Men) turns his talent for research, interviewing and narrative to the now-famous head of the Federal Reserve Bank, which sets interest rates and more or less guides
the American economy. Greenspan, it turns out, grew up playing jazz in a
swing band and in his twenties was an ardent acolyte of Ayn Rand, author of
Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Woodward's tale starts with a thrilling
blow-by-blow description of the near collapse of the market near the end of
George Bush's presidency, an event early in the Greenspan reign which saw
the economy teetering on the edge of disaster. The reader enjoys an insider's view of the Fed's meetings and measured response to the fiscal crisis. And if you enjoy this sort of thing, go back and check out Woodward's examination of the Supreme Court, The Brethren.

6. It's the Little Things: The Everyday Interactions that Get Under theSkin of Blacks and Whites by Lina Williams with an introduction by Charlene
Hunter-Gault. What a fearless book! Williams, a New York Times writer, managed to get scores of men and women to spill on awkward, embarrassing
and infuriating situations and behavior. Hell, most people don't want to even go there and interracial issues are as difficult to discuss sanely as religion and politics. The book will certainly give readers a chance to hear ideas and opinions they'll never hear spoken in the office or the school lunchroom.

Click on the Image to get this book now from Amazon.com!!

7. Any of that crap about angels and New Age-y stuff by the Most

Exploitative Trend Followers in the World.  Sorry, I know that spirituality

and religion are a matter of opinion and personal belief. And some of my

best friends read and like this drivel, and they make the world a better

place for the most part. Works for you; fine with me. Fortunately the

classics like The Bible, and The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha are

still outselling these cheap knockoffs. Hucksters. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

8. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood Canada's leading novelist (now how's that for damning with faint praise?) weaves a strikingly original and
complex tale of, yup, you guessed it: a visually challenged killer. But it's more ... much, much more. Is it a story being read in the narrative by characters, or is it actually happening in the character's world. Okay, that may sound a little vague or feeble, but believe me, it works. Atwood is also the author of The Handmaid's Tale and Cat's Eye. 2000 also enjoyed new novels by John Updike, the late Saul Bellow (book publishers were picking the bones of dead artists long before Jimi and Janis had their luggage ransacked by opportunistic greedbags), Susan Sontag, Edna O'Brien and Larry McMurtry.

Click on the Image to get this book now from Amazon.com!!

9. Crazy Horse by Larry McMurtry ($19.95, Penguin Lives Series,

mini-hardcover)No, this isn't the new McMurtry novel I was talking about.

This is part of a new series by Penguin, who came up with the bright idea

of putting out slim and affordable biographies penned by nonacademic types.

Each one of the bios I've sampled is interesting, accessible and brief.

Cart around most bios of the rich or famous and you run the risk of

shattering your instep by dropping some 800 page-plus magnum opus that you

stand the same chance of finishing as you do polishing of James Joyce's Ulysses

or Dr. Steven Hawking's  A History of Time. Check out the roster so far:Edmund

White on Marcel Proust, Garry Willis on Saint Augustine, Jane Smiley

on Charles Dickens, Edna O'Brien on James Joyce, and Marshall Frady on Dr.

Martin Luther King, Junior.

Click on the Image to get this book now from Amazon.com!!

10. All Creatures Dark and Dangerous by Doug Allyn ($16, Crippen & Landru, trade paperback) Montrose's Master of Murder Mystery short stories finally collects the Dr. Donald Westbrook stories. The small-town Michigan veterinarian tends to the lost and wounded on two legs as well as four. Okay, sorry. That's the kind of thing publicists write. In fact I cribbed it from the back cover copy. But among other distinctions the book was assembled entirely on-line with cover art submitted on disk as was the copy. It was originally offered only on-line, completely bypassing the chain booksellers and mom and pop book shops entirely (and their commission fees, not coincidentally). It sold out it's original hardcover run and now is available in trade paperback. Once you've tasted this, go on to check out other Michigan mystery writers like Elmore Leonard, Loren Estleman, Lev Raphael, and Susan Holtzer (the latter two write separate mystery series set on fictional versions of the Michigan State and University of Michigan campuses respectively.

Click on the Image to get this book now from Amazon.com!!

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