The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

« Headlines

Nostalgia boom hits America

20.12.07 Gayle Feldman

The trend towards last-minute holiday shopping continues in the US, but this year has a bonus. As Barnes & Noble e-commerce vice-president Tom Burke points out: "Christmas falling on a Tuesday gives an extra shopping day [and] we're seeing more procrastination until the very end. The stores will be open until 6 p.m. Christmas Eve."

No single title is defining the season this year, but Connecticut independent bookseller Roxanne Coady, owner of R J Julia, is not complaining. "This year, we are not having a problem finding the right book for each customer. And this year, there's something new: we find ourselves gift-wrapping a lot more paperbacks. Mind you, we're predominantly a hardcover store in an affluent community. We joke about a recession, but I'm sensing worry. Books have become an affordable luxury."

Keeping particular titles in stock has not been easy. Simon Hopkinson's Roast Chicken and Other Stories, published by Hyperion in the US just this autumn, has been a surprise hit, but it has been impossible to get hold of. Coady also laments that Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook for picky eaters, Deceptively Delicious (Collins), "has been a huge frustration—we've been out of stock half the time". Burke agrees that the book has been "a nightmare".

Collins is having a great Christmas, however, for along with Seinfeld, The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls are flying off shelves everywhere. Other hits include Phaidon's Thirty Thousand Years of Art; National Geographic's Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Greatest Trips; and The Book of Ignorance (Crown), which Burke deems "the best bathroom book ever".

Little, Brown worked hard to push Then We Came to the End, Joshua Ferris' comic novel of office life at an ad agency facing layoffs. It took a while, but after it picked up awards and reviews, it is becoming one of the more popular non-brand-name titles this season. Sherman Alexie's National Book Award-winning young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is "working wildly well" for Coady.

This time last year, B&N's membership programme was the big news. It has seen "significant" growth from its base of two million a year ago, but Burke declined to say how many more had joined.

Retail US Gayle Feldman Christmas