Book links roundup: Natalie Portman takes on Judith Krantz, beautiful bookstores, and more

• Natalie Portman is behind a new TV miniseries based on Judith Krantz’s steamy novel Scruples
• Take a peek at 20 of the most beautiful bookstores in the world
• The New York Times reports Barnes and Noble won’t stock Amazon-published titles
• Collette, Dorothy Parker, and Anaïs Nin among 10 legendary bad-ass girls of literature
• The Lambda Literary Awards are set for June 4, 2012, at City University of New York

Toronto’s Dragon Lady Comics to close its doors

Just days after Quillblog reported on the troubles facing two Toronto independent bookstores comes word that Little Italy’s Dragon Lady Comics is closing its doors.

Torontoist writes:

According to manager Joe Kilmartin, a combination of factors led to the store’s demise, including a drop in foot traffic after repairs to the College Street streetcar tracks, an industry in flux, declining sales, and most directly, a recent increase in the store’s rent.

As of July 2011, rent was raised about 25%, meaning they’re now paying $5,200 a month.

Kevin Boyd, who broke the story on the Joe Shuster Awards website, writes that “Dragon Lady’s closing definitely affects most of us in the Toronto comics community because the store and the people [who] work there have had an impact on collectors, readers, creators, and even other retailers for over 30 years.”

A closure date hasn’t been announced, but Kilmartin says owner John Biernat hopes to move his business online instead of having a massive sale.

Two iconic Toronto bookstores hit hard times

Two of Toronto’s longstanding independent bookstores will face major changes in 2012.

This morning, Sue Houghting, owner of The Book Mark in the city’s Kingsway neighbourhood, announced she will close shop after 46 years in business. In a press release, Houghting cites an “unaffordable rent increase and high property taxes” as factors that have made the bookshop, believed to be Toronto’s oldest surviving indie, unsustainable. Houghting is aiming to shut down by Jan. 21, “but if stock dwindles before that we will close earlier,” she says.

News of The Book Mark’s demise follows reports that Glad Day Bookshop, the city’s iconic LGBT bookseller, is seeking new ownership. Last week, owner John Scythes told the Toronto Star he’s hoping to find a buyer within his customer base before opening the sale up to the general public.

Glad Day, the world’s oldest existing gay and lesbian bookshop, has struggled financially throughout most of its 42 years. A 2010 social media campaign by store staff brought its money problems to public attention. At the time, co-manager Sholem Krishtalka chalked them up to a steady decline in book sales, combined with significant legal fees left over from a decades-long censorship battle with the Ontario Film Review Board.

Books & Company says goodbye to its feline companion, Miss Lily

Photo: Ashliegh Gehl

Miss Lily rubbed against the calves of literary greats the way no book enthusiast would dare.

The plump ginger cat who lived at Books & Company, an independent bookstore in Picton, Ontario, often interrupted an author’s reading with the hum of her purr and tinkle of her bells.

Last spring, she accompanied memoirists Iain Reid, Merilyn Simonds, and Wayne Grady on stage, and swirled at the feet of Governor General’s Literary Award winner Charles Foran during a Prince Edward County Authors Festival master class.

But on Nov. 23, when Margaret Atwood was in the store for an Al Purdy A-Frame Trust fundraiser, Miss Lily was too ill to make an appearance. She died that evening of diabetes, at nearly 12 years of age.

Alexandra Bake, owner of Books & Company, says Lily will be missed by visiting authors who would often joke about the bookstore being “upstaged by the cat.”

In October, Lily won the affection of Scottish crime writer Stuart MacBride during his four-week tour of Canada.

“The first time I met Miss Lily she was having a kip underneath the radiator by the stairs in the bookshop – a large, ginger, stripy cat doing her best to ignore all the people trooping past on their way up to the reading,” says MacBride. “She looked more like a marmalade cushion than a scourge of mice, rats, and the occasional bird.”

Instead of signing a copy of his book to Bake, he signed it to the cat. “It was obvious to me that Miss Lily was the one in charge of the bookshop,” says MacBride. “One should always keep the boss happy.”

Goderich bookstores and library pick up pieces in wake of tornado

Photo: Vanessa Brown

Vanessa Brown, reporter for the Huron Expositor, toured the damage caused by Sunday’s tornado in Goderich, Ontario:

Three of four bookstores in Goderich, Ontario, along with the town’s public library, remain cordoned off by police after a tornado ripped through the lakeside community of 8,000 around 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

The twister, packing winds up to 300 kilometres an hour, ripped part of the roof off Fincher’s bookstore. The shop remains otherwise intact.

Owner Tom Fincher is mindful of how lucky he is, considering the storm killed one person and injured 37 others.

Read the rest of the story

Ottawa bibliophile helps tourists book their travel

Nigel Beale is an Ottawa resident, broadcaster, and inveterate book lover. He is also the owner and publisher of a new website, Literary Tourist, intended to assist bibliophilic travellers wishing to locate and explore interesting literary sites around the world. Literary Tourist’s searchable database lists used and new bookstores, independent bookstores, as well as literary landmarks, writers’ festivals, and rare libraries.

According to the site, the database “represents one of the world’s most comprehensive continuously updated directories of used bookstores and literary destinations” and “contains valuable, detailed information and reviews designed to help traveling bibliophiles determine how best to spend their time.”

From the Ottawa Citizen:

The idea, says Beale, was to create a travel resource for people who love books.

He says he’s concerned about used bookstores closing down, and hopes that by stimulating tourism, he can keep some stores in business.

Beale started his venture by buying Book Hunter Press, a small publishing firm that put out a guide to used bookstores in North America.

According to the Citizen, the website Biblio.com has signed on as a partner “to help promote independent bookstores.”

Flying Dragon prepares to close, citing rapidly changing industry

Just days after being named specialty bookstore of the year at the Canadian Booksellers Association’s Libris Awards, Toronto’s Flying Dragon Bookshop has announced it is closing after eight years. On its blog, the store cites the growing importance of e-books as a reason for shutting its doors:

We have in recent months explored opportunities to embrace the technological advances that have presented themselves with such rapidity in our industry. But at the end of the day we realized that for us, it was all about the books and the tactile, sensory experience they provide.

Flying Dragon’s last day will be June 30; until then, all stock has been marked down by 20 per cent. The store is the second indie to wind down operations in the past week or so. Vancouver’s Ardea Books & Art closed on Monday.

Book links round-up: Harper Lee’s unauthorized biography, vulgar Dorian Gray, and more

• Harper Lee denies cooperating with writer on upcoming biography
• Uncensored, “vulgar” Dorian Gray text published 120 years later
• Natalie Portman’s doctor dad self-publishes “fertility thriller”
• UNESCO names Buenos Aires 2011 World Book Capital, thanks to its 200 bookstores and 70 libraries
• Would you like a Pepsi with that? N.Y.C. author releases e-book with built-in ads and narrative product placement

Borders on the brink, but Kobo continues to grow

A year ago, in the week following Christmas, Canadian publishers and distributors were greeted with the dismaying news that one of the country’s leading bookstore chains, McNally Robinson Booksellers, was significantly scaling back its operations, closing down locations in Toronto and Saskatoon Winnipeg. This year, a retail shakeup on an even bigger scale is taking place in the U.S., where the future of the bookselling chain Borders, which operates 676 bookstores across the U.S., is in question.

Late last week, the Ann Arbor, Michigan–based chain announced it is delaying payments to some of its vendors in an attempt to restructure its debt. The news set off investor panic, resulting in the company’s share price falling by 22 per cent on Friday.

Now, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that at least one major vendor, Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group (which owns the distributor National Book Network) has temporarily suspended shipments to the retail chain. Other publishing companies, including Hachette Book Group and Sourcebooks, are also reported to be considering similar options. From the WSJ:

“When a customer of that size calls you up and says you aren’t getting a check, that’s a piece of information you have to act on,” said Jed Lyons, CEO of Rowman & Littlefield.

Mr. Lyons said he wanted more information from Borders and expected to learn more from the bookseller this week. “Up until now they’d been paying us like clockwork,” he said.

[...]

Mr. Lyons said that about a year ago, National Book Network approached its clients and said that if they wanted their books distributed to Borders, they would have to assume the risk associated with that business. Most clients, he added, responded by saying they wanted to continue shipping to Borders.

Borders is the U.S. retail partner for Kobo, the Indigo-owned e-book company, which nevertheless put a rosy spin on its holiday numbers. In a press release, Kobo reported that it had its best weekend ever on Christmas and Boxing Day, and that the number of registered Kobo users had nearly doubled since mid-November.

“Earlier this month we predicted that Christmas would be a record breaker for Kobo, and we have exceeded our expectations driving several ebook downloads per second since Christmas Eve, or an equivalent number hardcover books stacked as high as 50 Empire State Buildings [sic],”  Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis said in the release. Kobo also noted that it had experienced some of its biggest gains outside North America, in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Singapore.

Daily book biz round-up: Costa Book Award nominees; world’s best bookstores; and more

Today’s book news:

• Costa Book Award nominees announced
• Joyland Books, the e-book only imprint of ECW Press, releases its first Canadian-authored title: Chris Eaton’s Letters to Thomas Pynchon
• Lonely Planet names world’s 10 best bookstores
• Grand Central to publish Dan Rather memoir
• George Murray pesters Margaret Atwood (and demonstrates why interviews require questions)
• NPR on writing in exile