The New York Daily News profiles one of the few businesses in
Times Square that has survived the cleansing of 42nd Street:
"the city's largest and oldest Christian bookstore," which until
recently was called Christian Publications Bookstore but has been
rechristened the Timeless Treasures Christian Gift & Bookstore.
Mark and Georgina Hill bought the 11,000-sq.-ft. store from the
Christian and Missionary Alliance, which operated it for 122 years. The
Hills are renovating and expanding the store; a grand re-opening is
scheduled for April.
The Daily News said that the store "carries a wide range of goods, from
Christian key chains to greeting cards thanking ministers for sermons.
But the big sellers are Bibles and evangelical books by Max Lucado,
T.D. Jakes, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Gary Chapman, Joyce Meyer, Tony
Evans and Billy Graham, whose works fill one entire shelf."
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The Baltimore Sun offers a Q&A with Benn Ray, co-owner of
Atomic Books, who went from a career playing video games all the time
to bookseller. Click here adeptly for more information.
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C-Span 2's Book TV bus rolled into Charleston, S.C., last week to film
during Taylor Books's "local authors day" celebration yesterday,
according to the Charleston Daily Mail. The 10-year-old store is credited with helping redevelopment on Capitol Street, the paper added.
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A Hastings Entertainment store will open in an Albuquerque, N.M., space
originally built for an Eckerd store that never opened, according to
the Tribune Reporter. The new Hastings will have 19,000 square feet of space.
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CM Bulletin describes
bills in California, New York and Connecticut that are among the 30
being considered by 16 states to lower textbook prices. Bills in
Virginia and Washington state have been passed by the legislatures and
may be signed into law by the governors.
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Ted McDermott of Dalkey Archive Press reminds us that CONTEXT, whose latest issue is just out both in print and online, is a free magazine; booksellers who want copies to give to customers can e-mail him for more information.
CONTEXT aims to create "an international and historical context
in which to read modern and contemporary literature" and keep readers
interested and involved with titles both from the U.S. and U.K. and in
translation. Contributors include William H. Gass, Dubravka Ugresic and
John Taylor.
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To see the finalists for the 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, click here. Winners will be announced and honored on April 28, at the beginning of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.
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Ecstatic publisher Matthew Miller notes a review in Saturday's Wall Street Journal of one of his favorite authors, Donald Harington. By Ed Gray, editor of the Books and Perspective sections at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, the review of The Pitcher Shower
(Toby Press, $22.95, 1592641237) concluded: "If there is a common
thread to be found in such powerfully imaginative work, it would be the
transformative quality of love, a quality so strong that it can make a
man who hates himself feel worthwhile. It is not much of a stretch to
say that a love for what he does is what keeps Mr. Harington going. He
has been operating on the margins of a big success for more than 30
years, showered with ecstatic reviews but not too many greenbacks, and
yet his will to produce more work never seems to flag."
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Paula Quint is resigning as president and executive director of the
Children's Book Council. She joined the Council in 1963 and has served
in her present positions since 1992. She will remain at CBC until a new
executive director is found.
In a statement, Quint said that as "plans for a refocused and
streamlined CBC have emerged" after several months of management and
board review of the Council's mission, she decided "it would be an
appropriate moment for me to step aside to enable CBC to move forward
under new leadership."
Board chair Simon Broughton praised Quint, saying, "We owe her a
substantial debt of thanks--for her commitment, hard work and
dedication over many years, and for her unparalleled service as an
ambassador for our industry."
Jen Lancaster is the author of Bitter Is the New Black: Confessions
of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or Why You
Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office (NAL, $13.95, 0451217608), which was published last week. She is also "Governor" of her blog, 
