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I have seen David Baldacci speak a couple of times, which is why I looked forward to his appearance at Borders in New York this week. Baldacci tells great stories and the hour flew by quickly as he shared tales of fan encounters, his law career and his characters. Many people ask authors how they feel about their books being made into movies. David has a great answer to this. When he makes a book deal he goes to Kinkos and blows up the check --- BIG --- like poster size. He puts it in his office. Then, when the director or producer calls and says things like, we think the heroine should be male, or the setting does not work so we are moving it, he pauses for a moment and then looks at the check, which usually is quite hefty, and says okay. The book is the book and the movie is the movie. Sounds really smart to me!

As you may know, our staff is rather farflung. This week Wiley Saichek, who works in Texas, came to see us in New York for the week. He and Tom Donadio spent time in the evening exploring bookstores all over the city. Over the years, Wiley has told me stories about visiting bookstores in every town and city that he visits around the country --- and his finds there. Years ago a number of Bookreporter.com readers gathered in St. Louis and Chicago --- their itinerary always included treks to bookstores.

On Monday morning many of you, like me, woke to the sad news that Christopher Reeve had passed away. I remembered reading his book, STILL ME, when it came out in 1998. Until then, I had little, if any, knowledge of what it means to be a quadriplegic. Flash forward to 2002 when a book called MIRACLES HAPPEN by Brooke and Jean Ellison came out. Brooke had been paralyzed in a car accident when she was 11. She went on to graduate from Harvard with both undergrad and masters degrees, with her mom at her side each step of the way. I interviewed Brooke and Jean when their book came out, and I remember their sharing that Reeve had planned to direct a movie about Brooke's life. Recently I read that it is to air on A&E on October 25th at 8PM ET (Check local listings). This week I had planned to share this reminder with you. Now this movie takes on more significance in the wake of Reeve's death as it is one of the last films that he directed. He spent the last 9 years of his life empowering those who were confined to chairs and beds by telling his story. I urge you to click on the links above to honor his memory and learn more about his story --- and Brooke's.

Greetings from Toronto. I arrived here Wednesday for the Bouchercon Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Conference. The past few days have been a flurry of events, panels and passings in the hallway with authors. Who's here? 350 authors and 850 readers. Among the authors are Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, and Ian Rankin, and to my delight some authors who we have featured in our suspense/thriller feature like Joseph Finder, William Lashner (who is up for a Shamus award tonight), M.J. Rose and Raelynn Hillhouse. What's fun about this conference is that is a fan conference. I end up learning about a lot about authors and books from readers as I walk the halls and attend panels!

I wanted to share three very different books with you this week. The first is a book that I first read in manuscript --- the New York Times Bestseller NOT FADE AWAY by Laurence Shames and Peter Barton. It's now out in paperback. Instead of sharing what it is about, I am going to suggest that you read my interview with Shames and our review by clicking on the link above. I will tell you that everyone I know who has read this book has told me it had a huge impact on him or her. When I need a laugh I turn to Sophie Kinsella. SHOPAHOLIC & SISTER is the latest in her Shopaholic series where Sophie finds that she has a long-lost sister. But how can they be relatives when her sister loathes SHOPPING, a "sport" in which Sophie has a Black Belt? Read what Roberta O'Hara has to say about it in our review this week. About a year ago there was a lot of news about Alicia Valdes-Rodriguez, whose book THE DIRTY GIRLS SOCIAL CLUB was a bestseller. Her new one is PLAYING WITH BOYS and again it has energy, bite and humor that were her signature in DIRTY GIRLS. Here the story revolves around three Latina women in the entertainment business in L.A. We love when a well-loved first novelist delivers a second book worth reading.