"There are legal mechanisms to take care of this sort of thing. This is not needed."--Neal Coonerty, owner of Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Calif., concerning the National Security Agency's domestic spying without warrants, as quoted in a Scripps Howard News Service story. See the Sacramento Bee's version here.

On the day we heard that one publisher's difficulties with Baker & Taylor were happily resolved, we learned of another publisher that had just received the kind of shipment from B&T that has frustrated many small- and medium-sized publishers.

(A quick refresher course: When Koen Book Distributors filed for bankruptcy this past summer, it lost control of its assets. The bankruptcy court sold Koen's book inventory to B&T, which has been returning some of the books to publishers for full credit. Around the same time, some non-book assets were sold to Levy Home Entertainment, which teamed up with former Koen Book owner Bob Koen to set up Koen-Levy Book Distributors, which has no connection to the old Koen Book Distributors or B&T.)

Earlier this fall (Shelf Awareness, November 9), B&T returned some $23,000 worth of books to John T. Blair, Publisher, Winston-Salem, N.C., that were part of Blair's stock at the old Koen warehouse. Blair had long discussions with B&T and last week received a check from B&T that "paid for everything that was due and took off all the old credits for Koen books," a happy president Carolyn Sakowski said.

But B&T continues to engage in a practice that many find ethically if not contractually wrong. Kuo-Yu Liang, v-p of sales and marketing, at Diamond Book Distributors, Timonium, Md., reported to Shelf Awareness that Diamond, which specializes in comic books, graphic novels, manga, anime and other pop areas, has just received a sizable amount of returns from B&T that came in the original Koen boxes.

Liang said that his company had spoken with B&T after the November 9 Shelf Awareness story and was assured that such a thing would not happen. B&T also told Diamond that the problem had involved only small publishers in its VOR program.

Nice Ice event: Today at 6:30 p.m., Watermark Books & Café, Wichita, Kan., will host a presentation and signing by Scott Phillips, author of The Ice Harvest (Ballantine, $12, 0345440196). Set in Wichita, the novel was made into a movie that opened November 23. Starring John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Randy Quaid and Oliver Platt with a screenplay by Richard Russo, The Ice Harvest is playing at the nearby Premiere Palace theater, which will have four showings in the afternoon and evening. Phillips will talk in part about how a book is turned into a movie.

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Future editions of Life of Pi will add an element of style: illustrations. But only after an international contest. Newspapers and the book's publishers in Canada, Britain and Australia are sponsoring the competition. Author Yann Martel called the contest "another way of sharing the story." The Age in Melbourne, Australia, shares the story, with a photograph for illustration.

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As part of its "Holiday Gifts for Katrina Children" program, this week PMA publishers are sending 10,000 new children's and YA books to children made homeless and affected by Hurricane Katrina. PMA is working with Operation U.S.A., a disaster charity that has been providing supplies to some 60 school-based clinics in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.

"The thought was to get gifts in the hands of these kids for the holidays," said Susan Nicoletti, PMA's coordinator of the Katrina project. "What we found is that, for some children, this might be the first new book they have ever received."

PMA is continuing its donations to libraries destroyed by flooding from the hurricane.

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In related news, contributions to the American Library Association's Hurricane Katrina Library Relief Fund have topped $200,000. More than 1,000 ALA members, companies, individuals and others have donated money to the fund, which will be used to help rebuild hundreds of libraries destroyed or damaged by the hurricane. ALA will solicit donations for the fund at the midwinter meeting in San Antonio, Tex., January 20-25.

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Former publisher, new literary agent Larry Kirshbaum mulled the problems of publishing from a new vantage point in today's New York Times. He lamented that many people in New York houses feel "that they're not in control, that they are puppets and the corporate bosses are manipulating the strings."

He also said, "The demands of publishing and marketing a book today have grown to exceed the ability of a publisher to cope. I felt very keenly that we were leaving so many good marketing ideas unexplored because there were too many authors and too little time."

Still, Kirshbaum has a reputation for concentrated and innovative marketing. "The fact is that we are a consumer products business. You go into Costco and you're not that far from batteries and corn flakes."

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Today's Times also has a piece that originally ran in its International Herald Tribune that surveys contemporary German literature and finds it running against stereotype and thus much more exportable. "Having eschewed the traditional model of heavy, politics-laden prose in favor of light, even lively storytelling, German authors are in the midst of a breakthrough that is propelling their work to hitherto unfound success abroad."

Among the titles being picked up in Britain and Norway, for example: The Chess Automat by Robert Loehr, The Measurement of the World by Daniel Kehlmann and Herr Lehmann by Sven Regener.

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In a kind of one-for-two replacement, when Barnes & Noble opens a new store in March 2007 in Mankato, Minn., it will close a B&N and a B. Dalton Booksellers that currently operate in Mankato, which is about 80 miles southwest of the Twin Cities. The new store will be in the River Hills Mall at the intersection of Highway 22 and Highway 14. The Dalton store is in the same mall; the B&N that will be closed is at 1859 Adams Street.

Congratulations to Jeff Abraham, who after three and a half years as executive director of the Book Industry Study Group, will join Random House Distribution Services as president on February 1. He will work at BISG through the end of January "to make sure there is a very healthy, robust and smooth transition," he told Shelf Awareness. "There are also some things I'm committed to and want to wrap up."

It sounds as though Abraham has his work cut out for him. Just a week ago, in his annual letter to employees, Random House CEO Peter Olson noted that the company plans to expand its distribution services and double the number of client publishers during 2006. Random's distribution billing stands at $100 million already; the company has a huge, state-of-the-art warehouse in Westminster, Md.

During his tenure at BISG, Abraham has shored up the organization's finances, launched many initiatives and made BISG into a kind of forum to debate and deal with many book world issues, do research as well as create and maintain standards for the book industry. Most recently, for example, BISG produced an extensive study of the used book market and finished up its strategic planning process. "I felt the time was right for the next big challenge," Abraham said, adding that the Random position is "a natural transition" and "a good opportunity. It will be an exciting adventure for next year."

Today on All Thing Considered: Aaron J. Klein, author of Striking Back (Random House, $24.95, 1400064279).

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Today on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show: Matthew Modine on his experiences filming Full Metal Jacket as recounted in his new book, Full Metal Jacket Diary (Rugged Land, $29.95, 1590710479).

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Today on the View: Tammi Menendez, author of They Said We'd Never Make It (New Galen Publishing, $24.95, 0976874407).

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Tomorrow on WAMU's Diane Rehm Show, the Readers' Review segment focuses on The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, a classic that has been well-chronicled lately.

A football authority speaks about what books to get fans. In the weekend's Wall Street Journal, former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason recommended his "five best":

• When Pride Still Mattered by David Maraniss (S&S), "the life story of the game's biggest name: Vincent Lombardi," which "tells you about who Lombardi was as a coach, as a man, and about all that he brought to the table--what I'll call the virtues of football. . . the great character-building sport, a teacher of discipline and cooperation."
• Inside the Helmet by Peter King (S&S), "a terrific treat for lovers of the game" by a Sports Illustrated writer who immersed himself in the lives of 10 NFL players, including Esiason.
• Remember This Titan by Bill R. Yoast with Steve Sullivan (Taylor), "a football story charged with racial tension and drama" that centers on Yoast's experience at an Alexandria, Va., high school in 1972, when had to step down as head coach and become an assistant to the new black head coach--which was retold in the 2000 movie Remember the Titans. "This moving saga reveals how players and their coaches, functioning as a team, manage in the end to overcome their mistrust and animosity."
• Semi-Tough by Dan Jenkins (Atheneum), "better than the 1977 movie," about two Texas players who've just joined the New York Giants. The novel is "sometimes given to tastelessness that's neither amusing nor interesting. Still, nothing changes the fact that this hilarious satire is, on the whole, a very good read."
• North Dallas Forty by Peter Gent (Morrow), a novel by the former Dallas Cowboys player, "a powerful story, powerfully told," about "the darker side of football, about the game's human costs: the shattered knees and broken bodies, all the painkillers required for a player to get out of bed in the morning."

Photocraft is a bit more demanding than many craft books; however, if you read the introduction and the section called "Photocraft 101," you'll be ready to be creative with those piles of photographs you've been saving. There seems to be a lot of material to digest before you get to the creative part, but the images and the ideas are so winning and delightful that you'll want to do it. From simple Slide-Mount Pins, Accordion Frames, and Baby Bibs (!), to Hand-Colored Photographs, Silk Scarves, Paintings with Photo Insets and Vellum Lampshades, there is a project that appeals to almost anyone. The authors say they've set "a very high standard for quality, so beginners and intermediates have something to aspire to and experienced crafters and digital artists can learn something, too." Photocraft would be a fine accompaniment to all the digital cameras that will be given this holiday.--Marilyn Dahl