By Tom Dalton
SALEM — The best-selling books at independent bookstores on the North Shore tell a curious tale this Christmas season. The same books aren't the top sellers at every store.
Some of the books flying off the shelves are not a surprise since they have received a lot of press and are on national best-seller lists. A good example is "True Compass," the memoir by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.
"Ted Kennedy's book has been very strong," said Ted Monroe, the owner of the Derby Square Bookstore in Salem.
Other books are more local, but still generating a lot of interest.
"The book that's kind of hot here is 'Prides Crossing' by Peggy Franck," said Pam Price, co-owner of The Book Shop of Beverly Farms.
Franck's book is a biography of Eleonora Sears, a sports champion and horsewoman who smashed gender barriers in Boston society in the early part of the 20th century. A Prides Crossing resident, she died in 1968.
"The fun thing about this book is we've been having people coming in all fall telling us stories" about Sears, Price said.
In another local link, "Prides Crossing" is published by Commonwealth Editions of Beverly.
Sports seems to rule over at Cornerstone Books in Salem, where one of the most popular books has been "When the Games was Ours," the story of the rivalry and friendship between basketball stars Larry Bird and Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr.
"We're having trouble keeping it in stock," store manager Jonathan Simcosky said.
Fiction rules the day at the Spirit of '76 Bookstore in Marblehead. The best-seller "The Help" has sold well all year and continues to be popular, according to store manager Hilary Emerson Lay. Set against the backdrop of Mississippi and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, it follows three women who launch a movement of their own.
The secret of the book's success has to do with its mass appeal. "It's a hugely popular book club book," Lay said.
Leading the way on the nonfiction side at Spirit of '76 is a book that appears destined for success — Greg Mortenson's new book, "Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan." This is the sequel to "Three Cups of Tea," Mortenson's wildly popular account of his school-building efforts in Pakistan.
"It's a huge gift book this year," Lay said.
Several picture books are selling well at Banbury Cross, the children's bookstore in Wenham. One book appealing to young and old is "Nubs the Dog: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle" by U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Brian Dennis. It's the story of an abandoned dog that befriends Marines in Iraq.
"I started flipping through it, and I was actually in tears," store manager Gwen Holt said. "It was just so touching."
