One bookseller has named it "pander kitsch." It's difficult to define, but like pornography, you know it when you see it.

Pander kitsch might be the next Kute & Kuddly Kitties book. It might be the next Doleful Doggies book. Or it might be the next ten books with titles derived directly from Dan Brown's wildly over-successful novel The Da Vinci Code.

These thoughts came to mind today when we unpacked an advance copy of The Diet Code: Revolutionary Weight Loss Secrets from Da Vinci and the Golden Ratio.

It's not the fault of Warner Wellness, a division of Time Warner Book Group. It's not their fault, I say, that Leonardo sells books. Well, maybe it is their fault, but every publisher plays this game.

Perhaps you've traveled along with Fodor's Da Vinci Code Companion or back packed with a Rough Guide to the Da Vinci Code. Travel books based on novels. What a concept.

Da Vinci Decoded. . Secrets of the Code. The Real History Behind the Da Vinci Code. Da Vinci Code for Dummies.

How dumb do you have to be to have a book tell you what you already figured out by reading the book in the first place?

Publishers crawl on band wagons like ants crawl on sugar. When one title sells fast enough to set records everyone wants a piece of that picnic. It's deplorable, it's funny, it's unabashed.

Every independent bookstore contains at least one skeptic expert at purchasing new books. For 2,500 independent US bookstores there are 2,500 independent book buyers. By contrast, for 2,500 superstores there is one buyer, who gets taken out to lunch a lot. I exaggerate, but not by much.

All this comes to mind as Bill and Elaine Petrocelli's Book Passage in Corte Madera prepares to face superstore Barnes & Noble, and not for the first time.

In 1991 as bookstore chains expanded into bookselling territory covered by smaller stores, Barnes & Noble landed in Marin County across Highway 101 from Book Passage.

To date the Petrocellis have accomplished something remarkable in the book biz -- they have prospered even as chain stores killed several thousand independent stores across the nation.

News leaked a couple of weeks ago that Barnes & IgNoble was moving into a much larger location, much closer to Book Passage. This new store will be 27,000 square feet, and will carry all the diet books based on Leonardo Da Vinci that will ever be published.

There's an uproar over this, and a fight brewing in the City Council, but hey, what can you do? The landlord turned down Book Passage for the space and rented instead to the big box store.

Book Passage's continuing success has been due in part to Elaine Petrocelli's indefatigable wooing of publishers. Big name authors vie to visit her store on national book tours. With Barnes & Not Noble next door, will Book Passage continue to snag ex-presidents, famous novelists, controversial writers and world class musicians flogging new books?

The Petrocellis' statement is bravely inspirational:

"Thank You," they write. "We have been amazed and touched by the tremendous outpouring of support from our customers regarding the Barnes & Noble dispute. We are extremely grateful for all that you have done and continue to do.

"As many of you know, the Corte Madera Town Center has now confirmed that it is leasing the former Marshalls' space to Barnes & Noble for a bookstore that will be almost three times larger than the present Barnes & Noble store. We have no doubt that Barnes & Noble will be trying to target us, just as they have other independent bookstores over the last 20 years.

"The issues in this dispute go beyond just us. Independent bookselling is at risk everywhere throughout the country. And in Marin County and throughout the country local citizens have to fight to regain control of their communities from out-of-state landlords and big-box retailers."

Brave words. I wish them luck, and lots of shoppers, too.

Aired Sunday February 12, 2006 at 10:55 am and Monday February 13, 2006 at 8:40 am

NOTES:

Keep track of this drama by visiting the Book Passage web site. Point your browser to www.bookpassage.com for the latest news.

A Book Passage-friendly site, this one run by "Citizens Concerned about Strengthening Independent Bookstores," aka friends of Book Passage: www.omnibusol.com/ccsib.html

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/03/BUGFPH19BT35.DTL