Book Stores

For many people, the best new thing in home entertainment is a step backward. Let everyone else rave about videocassettes, they say--we prefer audio cassettes. Specifically, the spoken-word kind generally referred to as "books on tape," though they encompass much more. While watching a video is often an experience indistinguishable from simply watching TV, listening to audiocassettes usually can't be compared to just listening to the radio.

"The Iliad," the epic verse of the Greek poet Homer, is known in the world of classic literature as a tragedy. But the fate of the North Hollywood bookstore that bears its name has been anything but. In the age of e-books, Amazon.com and discount chain stores, the Iliad Bookshop remains a rare success story. Recently, Dutton's and Bodhi Tree, once popular fixtures in literary Los Angeles, joined the growing list of independent book retailers to shut their doors. "I'm sort of the last man standing," said Dan Weinstein, 47, proprietor of the Iliad, one of the largest used-book stores in the city.

Not many artistic collaborators would admit to tracing their beginnings to a shopping mall. But that's exactly where a bookstore employee discovered a group of performers using music to bring children's books to life. Out of that sighting at Santa Monica Place came the idea for "Concerts on Canvas," a monthlong celebration of music, art and children's books at Storyopolis, a Los Angeles bookstore and art gallery.

Neuroscientists would have a ball in this bookstore. They'd spot the metaphorical magic right away: Each room is like a separate area of the brain, sporting its own specialty and character. Yet it all functions as a single unit too, a seamless whole composed of exquisite particulars. The brains behind the Seminary Co-op is, at this moment, sitting in a straight-backed chair and looking far too serene for a man in charge of what many fear is a dying business: the independent bookstore.

Neuroscientists would have a ball in this bookstore. They'd spot the metaphorical magic right away: Each room is like a separate area of the brain, sporting its own specialty and character. Yet it all functions as a single unit too, a seamless whole composed of exquisite particulars. The brains behind the Seminary Co-op is, at this moment, sitting in a straight-backed chair and looking far too serene for a man in charge of what many fear is a dying business: the independent bookstore.

Six hours before her heart attack, Elaine Petrocelli, celebrated independent bookstore owner in literate and leafy Marin County, had her empire firmly in hand. Books arriving, books selling, workshops, readings, signings--all moving smoothly along. Then came the tight chest, the labored breathing and the back pain. The call to 911. The ambulance ride with what Petrocelli calls "six of the most gorgeous paramedics you have ever seen." And the diagnosis. Heart attack.

When Deborah Owen arrived here from New York to set up shop as a literary agent more than 20 years ago, the book publishing world still had a fusty Bloomsbury flavor about it. Publishers were a clubby group, she recalled, centered around Bloomsbury and Bedford squares, with the British Museum library between. They entertained authors, agents and booksellers in nearby Dickensian pubs and restaurants.

Visitors to San Francisco's Mystery Books, mentioned in "Book Soup" (May 1), should note the store's odd hours. They are: Wednesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Also omitted from your article were two landmark downtown Oakland bookstores: De Lauer's Super Newsstand, 1310 Broadway, has vast offerings, including paperbacks, magazines and newspapers from around the world. The Holmes Book Co., 274 14th St., is in its 100th year and has three floors of mostly used books and some rare literature.

Rizzoli, it isn't. There are no clearly delineated aisles, no bright signs telling people what subject is in what row, no window display of new releases. The books at Apollo Book Store in Costa Mesa are stacked on the floor with no seeming rhyme or reason, magazines commingle with hardback books, and newspapers are found in a variety of spots. But there are many diamonds in the rough to be found, as Apollo keeps its inventory up to date with rare and out-of-print books and first editions.

We read with great dismay Jerry's response to R. B. of Canoga Park regarding "a store that specializes in maps and travel books" in Travel Tips Oct. 4. R. B. need not have looked farther than her backyard: MAPS, etc. is at 21919 Sherman Way in Canoga Park just east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. As the only complete map and travel bookstore in the west San Fernando Valley, we also carry foreign travel maps, USGS Topo maps, hiking books, nautical and aeronautical charts, raised relief maps and globes, as well as sales and marketing maps for business.

Writing a book is one thing. Making people aware that you've written it is another thing entirely -- and because we live in a busy, crowded, hyperactive world, creating that awareness can constitute an even more colorful ordeal than the writing act itself. Two new authors are fighting the good fight right now. M. Glenn Taylor, an English professor at Harper College in Palatine, Ill., and Marianne Herrmann, who lives in St. Louis Park, Minn.

They are packing up Old Hollywood and moving it to Newbury Park. That's where about 3 million film studio publicity stills, 50,000 original movie posters and 20,000 vintage fan magazines will be stored until they are auctioned off six months from now.

The iPod is a hit. Macs are flying off the shelves. The share price has tripled in a year. So why is Apple Computer Inc. so touchy these days? In its latest fit of corporate pique, Apple pulled dozens of books by John Wiley & Sons Inc. from the shelves of its 103 stores, the publisher said Tuesday. Apple was unhappy with an upcoming book on its chief executive and co-founder, Steve Jobs. The move heightens Apple's reputation as Silicon Valley's most thin-skinned company.

For David Shanks, chief executive of Penguin Group (USA), the logic is simple: If a potential customer is surfing the publisher's website, why wait for that person to buy from a store? Just sell the book right away, directly from the site. But for retailers, simple logic says: When publishers sell straight to the public, bookstores lose. "I would hope that publishers try to drive sales to us, their customers," Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla., says.

Six hours before her heart attack, Elaine Petrocelli, celebrated independent bookstore owner in literate and leafy Marin County, had her empire firmly in hand. Books arriving, books selling, workshops, readings, signings--all moving smoothly along. Then came the tight chest, the labored breathing and the back pain. The call to 911. The ambulance ride with what Petrocelli calls "six of the most gorgeous paramedics you have ever seen." And the diagnosis. Heart attack.

More than an hour before the Book Baron opens for business, a dozen workers weave around its aisles, restocking shelves that are unusually tidy for a used-book store. Come opening time, however, not a single person enters the store, which anchors a barren strip mall in a modest Anaheim neighborhood that long ago fell from Barnes & Noble's target demographic.

As a lover of literature I have hunted for favorites in used-book stores in Europe, Africa, Asia and the United States. To qualify for my continued patronage a store must meet the following criteria: (1) Provide a wide range including the classics. (2) Stock books in good condition. (3) Allow comfortable search by single-row presentation in alphabetical order under each subject heading. (4) Sell at a reasonable price. (5) Refrain from imposing discordant music or radio chat shows on the customer.

From his converted workshop garage, Anthony Tremblay has a terrific view of Los Angeles City Hall--not to mention Iraq's Great Mosque of Samara and the Mayan Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl. He also can see the ornamental windows on New York's Flatiron building, and the weathered limestone of the Great Pyramid of Khafre. No, he's not operating spy satellites.

After moving to Thousand Oaks 23 years ago, Nancy Sumers landed work as a substitute teacher. But when she had problems finding educational supplies for her students and for her young daughter, she decided to open her own children's bookstore. You can still find her there today. New Horizons, at 1350-A N. Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks, is one of two independent children's bookstores in the county--the other is Adventures for Kids in Ventura, which has operated nearly as long as Sumers' store.

Not many artistic collaborators would admit to tracing their beginnings to a shopping mall. But that's exactly where a bookstore employee discovered a group of performers using music to bring children's books to life. Out of that sighting at Santa Monica Place came the idea for "Concerts on Canvas," a monthlong celebration of music, art and children's books at Storyopolis, a Los Angeles bookstore and art gallery.