Tribune Columnist Tops Harry Potter

The overwhelming cultural phenomenon and international bestseller “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” author J.K. Rowling’s final installment in the wizard school series, sold well, but not well enough to place it at the top of a local bestsellers list, released today.

Destinations Booksellers, New Albany’s full-service independent general bookstore for new books, released its Top 25 bestsellers list and Tribune columnist Terry Cummins heads the list with his collection of essays, “How Did Back Then Become Right Now?”

The list covers books sold at the store at 604 E. Spring St. during the twelve months ending July 31.

Local residents who publish with a number of different publishers are well-represented on the list. Cummins’ book, consisting primarily of previously published columns that appeared in The Tribune, is published by New Albany’s Flood Crest Press. The micropublisher placeed seven titles from local authors in the top 15.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” published in the U.S. by Scholastic Press, did take the second spot on the list, followed by “New Albany: Images of America,” a local pictorial history from Arcadia Publishing by local author Gregg Seidl.

A photographic calendar of iconic Southern Indiana scenes, “Southern Indiana 2007 Calendar,” with photos and design by Audra and Chuck Skibo, earned the fourth spot on the list. “New Albany in Vintage Postcards” took the fifth spot on the 2007 list. Written by David C. Barksdale and Robyn D. Sekula, the Arcadia Publishing title is the store’s all-time bestselling book.

The entire top 25 list is available at the store’s Web site, destinationsbooksellers.com.

Besides the Potter title, the top national title on the list is Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life,” at number 11.

Other titles by local authors on the list include “Skimming the Cream” by C.R. Reagan, who also writes regularly for The Tribune; “It Comes in the Night” by Calvin Lewis Jr. and Susan L. Wilhite; “The Great Flood of 1937” by Rick Bell; “The Governors of Indiana” by IU Southeast professors Linda C. Gugin and James E. St. Clair; “Sharks Never Sleep” by Sheri L. Wright; and “Veritas de Temporis” by F.E. Adkins.

Also on the list from local authors are: “At the Crest,” a collection of poetry and short stories from local secondary school students; “Lighten Up, Will Ya? I’m Serious” by Joe Bosco; “Phantoms of Old Louisville” by David Domine; “Mommy, is God a Super Hero” by Bev Lozier Jackson; “Jeffersonville: Images of America” by Garry J. Nokes; “The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana” by Pamela R. Peters; and “The Devil’s Temptation” by Kimberly Logan.

To see the list, go to www.destinationsbooksellers.com and click on the "Features" tab.

Notes for Sunday, April 8, 2007

As you may know, Destinations Booksellers is a member of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, the regional trade association of brick-and-mortar independents from Texas to Florida to Virginia to...well, New Albany. We're the odd duck, allowed to join by waiver of the rules. There's little question that we are at the farthest edges of the South, but it made little sense to join in with Michigan stores when we're basically part of one of the South's biggest cities. The Great Lakes Booksellers Association is a fine one, but we don't share the same interests, really. Besides, I'm a Southern boy.

Of course, we do pay a price. Meetings are very far away - Orlando, Atlanta, Winston-Salem, Richmond - but then a trip to Dearborn, Grand Rapids, or Chicago can be just as onerous. And our Southern-influenced holiday catalogs can often have a few too many Charlotte/Miami/Mobile books for my own tastes.

Which is the long way around to introducing the following commentary from Nicki Leone, the Web site and marketing manager for SIBA.

A recent colleague posting on our listserv (bookseller forum, Yahoo group) asked for definitions of "literary fiction." I thought Nicki's response was well done and, with her kind permission, I'm sharing it with you.

When Bristol Books first helped create the Cape Fear Crime Festival, I became involved in alot of mystery discussion groups, and this topic would invariably arouse all sorts of ire. "Literary" was used as an insult, to describe novels that were "boring," "confusing," and where, famously, "nothing happens to a bunch of people you don't care about." (I think that is actually a paraphrase from something Tony Hillerman once said, but I might be wrong.)

In truth, however, "Literary" to me has always been a description of style, not a judgment of worth. In my own mind, literary fiction is any novel where the story's internal requirements take precedence over any external rules of the genre. Mysteries, for example, are supposed to provide you clues to deduce the solution, but not give anything away until the end. A literary mystery may follow an investigation, but will not let clue-dropping interrupt the narrative flow, nor worry about the niceties of deduction at the expense of the story's own internal themes.

Which is why, I suppose, literary mysteries are said to "transcend the genre."

By the way, SIBA and the GLBA will be joining forces this Tuesday for a bookseller forum and next year, both groups will be gathering for a joint trade show in Louisville, KayWye, at the Galt House. I will be arranging credentials for a limited number of patrons who'd like to see the upcoming titles for Christmas 2008, meet the very top authors and learn a bit more about the industry. In exchange, I'll be asking you to give me just two hours of volunteer time during the three-day weekend to help us with running the show. I guarantee you will love the experience. Two regionals have never joined together, so you can bet the publishers will be going all out to send their very best authors to this giant show. Send me an e-mail or note to express your interest. Don't trust me to "remember" unless it's down on paper.

---------------------------------------

Here's your bestseller report from Book Sense, the independent bookstores across America.

Paperback
Hardcover
Children's

Once again, The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes is reported as the best selling book in the Louisville metropolitan area, according to BookScan.