Good piece about a successful independent bookstore in Miami that specializes in mysteries called, appropriately enough, Murder on Miami Beach. Check it out:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-limurderstoreapr10.story

April 10, 2002

"Online Sales of Used Books Draw Protest
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Authors are rebelling against new efforts by Amazon.com to spur sales of used books, a practice that has become a major source of revenue for Amazon but pays nothing to writers or publishers."

Read the entire article at the NY Times online, subscription (free) necessary.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/10/technology/10BOOK.html?todaysheadlines

More on Oprah...

For the legions of fans who are sorry she is ending her book club, hope is at hand. There is a website set up to help fans send emails to Oprah, thanking her for the book club and begging her to reconsider. Check out: Oprah, Don't Pull the Plug on Your Book Club! http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=13108&CFID=1134690&CFTOKEN=71988688

Read more about it at Holt Uncensored
http://holtuncensored.com/members/index.html#goodbye

On a brighter note, the Today show jumped right into the fray, announcing they are starting a book club. It will begin in June, hosted by Katie Couric and Matt Lauer. They are planning on asking the big name authors for suggested titles by lesser known authors, hopefully avoiding the already popular bestsellers and Franzen-like debacles. They will start in June and have a thirty minute discussion once a month at 8:30 a.m. Get more details:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/735977.asp

Sounds like a winner to me.

Interesting Blogs

Moby Lives: Weekly news and commentary about books and writers. In-depth articles with a point-of-view. Intelligent. Interesting. Posted daily. http://www.mobylives.com/

Ex Libris: an E-Zine for Librarians and Other Information Junkies. http://marylaine.com/exlibris/

Library Stuff: Steven Cohen's daily weblog of ... library stuff. Brief commentary, mix of news stories and useful websites for librarians, readers, researchers. http://www.librarystuff.net/

I am thrilled to report that Richard Russo won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for EMPIRE FALLS, and David McCullough won his second Presidential Pulitzer for biography for JOHN ADAMS! Here's the news report:

Pulitzer Announces 2002 Winners in Letters and Drama

On Monday, April 8, winners of the Pulitzer Prize in literature were
announced, recognizing work in fiction, drama, history, biography, poetry,
and general nonfiction. Among those honored were Richard Russo, whose
novel, Empire Falls (Knopf), a poignant story about a "decent man encircled
by history and dreams" in a down-and-out town in Maine, was recognized for
distinguished fiction by an American author. Also winning was David
McCullough, for his epic biography of the second president of the U.S.,
John Adams (S&S). It was McCullough's second presidential-related Pulitzer;
previously, he had won for Truman in 1993.

Also cited for this year's prizes were Topdog/Underdog (Theatre
Communications Group), by Susan-Lori Parks, for drama; The Metaphysical
Club: A Story of Ideas in America (FSG), by Louis Menand, for history;
Practical Gods (Penguin Books), by Carl Dennis, for poetry; and Carry Me
Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights
Revolution (S&S/Touchstone), by Diane McWhorter, for general nonfiction.

Been meaning to post this for a few weeks. From the NY Times report on the Rock 'n Roll
Hall of Fame induction:

" Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers introduced Talking Heads, saying that hearing the band gave him a new sensation:

"I wanted to have sex with a lot of librarians." "