FALL: TIME TO CURL UP WITH A GOOD BOOK

Felt the need lately to curl up with a good book? With the onset of fall, and thoughts of a cold winter just around the corner, the idea becomes more and more appealing. And book publishers are counting on this fall to be one of the biggest seasons for best-sellers.

Blazing the trail is the newly-released and long-awaited sequel to the classic "Gone With the Wind," titled "Scarlet."

Released just two weeks ago, "Scarlet" has been hard to keep on the bookshelves.

"We've not been able to keep them in," Waldenbooks Manager Rhonda Eskew said of "Scarlet." So far the store has received about 200 copies of the book, written by Alexandra Ripley, but nearly all were sold before they hit the shelves to people who had signed a waiting list.

"We put one on the shelf today and it stayed for about 20 minutes," Eskew said.

"Scarlet" is currently at the top of the best-seller list for fiction. It sells for $24.95. The release of "Scarlet" also has led to its predecessor gaining a spot on the best-seller list. "Gone With the Wind" is currently No. 9 on the fiction list.

Jackie Anderson, owner of Metro News Bookstore, said she has several copies of "Scarlet" but they are selling fast.

"It has sold better than most hard-backs," Anderson said, adding that in Cape Girardeau, paperback books sell faster and in more volume than hard-back books.

"Scarlet" is not the only fall release book buyers are yearning for. At the top of the non-fiction best-seller is Kathryn Hepburn's "Me."

Noted authors Steven King, Daniel Steele and Sidney Sheldon also have new or soon-to-be-released novels.

King's "Needful Things" will likely hit the best-seller list with a bang, Eskew said.

"I expect it to go straight to No. 2," she said.

Due out in November is Steele's "No Great Lover" and Sheldon's "The Doomsday Conspiracy," which already is No. 3 on the top 10 list for fiction.

Another controversial but best-selling book that is currently No. 2 on the non-fiction list is Derek Humphry's "Final Exit." The book, dealing with suicide, has been hard to keep in the store, Eskew said.

"It's a real controversial book and we sell it only to adults over 18," she said. "But we haven't had a problem with younger people wanting to buy the book."

Rounding out the fiction list is "The Sum of All Fears" by Tom Clancy at No. 2; "Night Over Water" by Ken Follett at No. 4; "The Dutchess" by Jude Deveraux at No. 5; "Dragon Reborn" by Douglas Jordan at No. 6; "The Deceiver" by Frederick Forsyth at No. 7; "The Firm" by John Grisham at No. 8; and "Imajica" by Clive Barker at No. 10.

For non-fiction, "Uh-Oh" by Robert Fulghum is No. 3; "LaToya" by LaToya Jackson is No 4.; Geraldo Rivera's "Exposing Myself" is at No. 5; Charles Givens takes spots 6 and 7 with "Wealth Without Risk" and "Financial Self-Defense," respectively; Peter McWilliams' "Do It!" is No. 8; John Bradshaw's "Homecoming" is No. 9; and Webster's Ninth New College Dictionary is at No. 10.

Though nationally known authors are making the lists, local authors are offering a unique look at life in Southeast Missouri. Several local writers recently have published books, Anderson said.

Jackson author Frank Watson's "A Cold, Dark Trail" is a western that is expected any day now at Metro Books, she said. A paperback, the book sells for $3.99.

Sikeston author Terry Teachout has written a book titled "City Limits: Memories of a Small-Town Boy."

Anderson said several copies of the hard-back book, detailing growing up in a small southern town, are available and sell for $19.