The careers explored include astronaut, balle- part of the book is an atlas with eight regional
rina, doctor, builder, firefighter and farmer. maps, text about the countries, illustrations of
their flags and a file of facts about each region. keeper! Samantha can’t do anything in a
book
previews
Discovering the inner self
and the outside world
CHILDREN REFERENCE
Job for a Day assortment, from Dorling Geographica, edited by Philippa Sandall.
Kindersley. Whether it’s flying a spaceship, Produced by more than a score of staff mem-saving a life, building a house, fighting a fire, bers at Random House Australia, Geographica
tilling the soil or dancing onstage, children will reflects many recent geopolitical changes. The
love trying out exciting new roles with this book opens with a two-part introduction that
unique series meant to fuel their imaginations. includes essays and topical maps. The main
Jane Porter
KIRA STEWART PHOTOGRAPHY
SCIENCE FICTION An accompanying CD features maps from the house, but she can’t go back to her previous
The Traveler, by John Twelve Hawks. atlas as well as informative text and images. job either.
This first novel in a trilogy interweaves stories
of past, present and near future. Gabriel and WOMEN’S FICTION The Frog Prince, by Jane Porter. Holly
Michael Corrigan are two young men living The Undomestic Goddess, by Sophie Bishop is a good-as-gold girl-next-door. She
beneath the glitter of Los Angeles. They have Kinsella. Samantha Sweeting is an attorney follows all the rules, is kind to others and never
been shaped by stories of their father, a who has just made such an incredibly bad mis- makes mistakes. That is, until she marries
Traveler—one of an elite group of prophets take that she has blown every chance for ever Prince Charming, who, on their honeymoon,
who are able to attain enlightenment. Since making partner in the firm. She flees the drops a bomb on Holly. Determined to start
they may have inherited their father’s gifts, office, gets on a train and ends up who knows over, she moves to San Francisco. With the
they have always kept to themselves. Now, the where. When she knocks on the door of a gor- Golden Gate in the background and a collec-secret is out and they are being pursued by a geous home to ask for directions back to civi- tion of wackos in the foreground, Holly dis-mercenary and a Harlequin pledged to protect lization, she is mistaken for an expected covers that nice girls don’t have to finish last;
Travelers at any cost. interviewee looking for the job of house- they could end up having it all!—Valerie Ryan
book
look
Better late than never
the small publisher Ignatius Press.
Located in San Francisco, this nonprofit
company, the largest Catholic publisher in the
Writing improves with age 2004—an increase of 14 percent over 2003. U.S., has long published Ratzinger’s backlist
A recent study proves that it’s never too The bulk of those titles are being put out by of 22 titles. Founded by Friar Joseph Fessio, a
late time to dust off the manuscript that’s small and midsize publishers along with van- former student of Ratzinger’s, Ignatius Press
been languishing in your desk drawer. Lulu ity presses and on-demand publishing. typically puts out 50 new titles a year. But the
(
www.lulu.com), a print-on-demand Web site Bowker went on to say that fiction rush for works by the new pope means several
for writers and independent publishers (see showed the fastest growth, with numbers titles will be reprinted.
next story) finds that the average age of writ- jumping as much as 43 percent. Nonfiction And that led to something of a miracle:
ers whose novels topped the fiction section of areas that showed the greatest growth include This is the first time Costco has placed an
the New York Times bestsellers list from 1955 religion, travel and home economics. The order with Ignatius Press.
to2004 was50.5years. areas showing the biggest decline include
At the high end of the spectrum are education, history,science and biography. Source: Publishers Weekly
Agatha Christie and James Michener, who Another report, which looked at the
were 87 and 81, respectively, when they had quantities of books published each year, sug-theirlastnumberones. gests that the number of Americans who
“Authors of every age use Lulu,” says Bob write books is set to outnumber those who
Young, founder and CEO of Lulu. “But we read them. Lulu (see story above) points to
wanted to discover the optimum age to write 2052 as the year when this “authorgeddon”
a bestseller; especially since we suspected that will happen. Looking at current trends, Lulu
it was higher than many people assume. surmised that by 2052, 148.4 million books
Unlike scientists or musicians, say, writers will be published in the U.S., while only 129.4
tend to mature with age.” million Americans will actually read a book.
Then again, why wait? Pope-ular publisher
Bowker, the company responsible for When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became
assigning ISBN numbers to books, recently Pope Benedict XVI in April, it didn’t just
reported that 195,000 titles were published in affect the religious community, it also affected
signings
Joel Osteen signs Your Best Life Now on
July 7, at noon, at the Fountain Valley,
California, Costco, at 17900 Newhope St.
Terry McMillan signs The Interruption of
Everything on July 23, at noon, at the
Sterling, Virgina, Costco, at 21398 Price
Cascades Plaza.
(Click here for maps and
directions to Costco locations.)
