The Write Stuff

Latitude 33 to Close

Latitude 33’s owner has received no buyout offers since putting the store up for sale and announced plans this past Sunday to close the shop.

Owner Tom Ahern cited a significant drop in sales, which he attributed to the poor economy and a lack of traffic from tourists and locals alike, as well as competition from Amazon.com, and the increasing use of ebooks. 

“Many of our long-time customers have bought or been given Kindle ereaders, which read only ebooks from Amazon.com.  Some browse in Latitude 33, ask our booksellers for recommendations, and have the gall to ask to borrow pen and paper so they can write down information so they can get the ebooks on Amazon,” Ahern said in a statement.

Though he was contacted by 17 prospective buyers, none made an offer, he said. The Ocean Avenue store will offer a sale of its stock at 20 percent off cover price. Final closing date is expected to be in August.

Book Publisher’s ‘Earthing’ Is a Winner

“Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?” by Clinton Ober, Stephen T. Sinatra MD, and Martin Zucker, was recently named a 2011 Nautilus silver award winner.

“Earthing” was published last year by Basic Health Publications, founded by Laguna Beach resident Norm Goldfind. A 53-year veteran of trade book and mass-market publishing, Goldfind has specialized in health books for two decades and relocated to Laguna Beach in 2006.

The Laguna operation now has over 200 titles in print and publishes about 15 to 20 books a year, distributed through major chains, independent retailers and on-line booksellers.

Tunes & Tomes

Top sales/rentals for the week ending May 22:

Sound Spectrum

1264 S. Coast Highway

1. Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What
2. Cars, Move Like This
3. Stephen Marley, Revelation Part 2
4. Airborne Toxic Event, All At Once
5. Beastie Boys, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
6. Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues
7. Danger Mouse/Jack White/Nora Jones, Rome
8. Alison Krauss, Paper Airplane
9. Lady Gaga, Born This Way
10. Moby, Destroyed

Laguna Beach Books

The Old Pottery Place, 1200 S. Coast Highway

1. The Story of Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer
2. Point Dume by Katie Arnoldi
3. Drenched by Marisa Matarazzo
4. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
5. Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda
6. Father of the Rain by Lily King
7. The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht
8. The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer
9. Room by Emma Donoghue
10. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

Latitude 33 Bookshop

311 Ocean Avenue

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
2. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson
3. Just Kids by Patti Smith
4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
5. The Gluten-Free Edge: Get Skinny the Gluten-Free Way! By Gini Warner
6. How to Survive in the 21^st Century as a S.S.O.F.F.: Suddenly Single Over Forty Female by Rita Lee Lloyd
7. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach
8. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
9. The Harvard Psychedelic Club by Don Lattin
10. The Ninth Wife by Amy Stolls

Barnaby Rudge Videos

1445 Glenneyre Street

1. Blue Valentine
2. The Mechanic
3. The King’s Speech
4. Tron
5. The Dilemma
6. No Strings Attached
7. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
8. Hereafter
9. Red
10. Secretariat