Jeanette Watson, owner of Books & Company on Madison Avenue, said: "It's a very nice way to meet someone, hanging around a bookstore.

Ms. Watson, the owner of Books & Company, was at the party.

Mitchell Kaplan, the owner of Books & Books in Florida said: "It shows the strength and importance of the independents.

"Publishers are very stingy with the co-op money," said Warren Cassell, owner of Just Books, an independent store in Greenwich, Conn.

He is married to Jeannette Watson, the owner of Books & Company on Madison Avenue, and has two sons and a stepson.

"The effect is immediate and significant," said Jeanette Wilson, owner of Books & Company, a bookstore on Madison Avenue in Manhattan.

But "fourth and fifth graders want them, too," said Jennifer Lawton, owner of Just Books in Old Greenwich.

In February 1995 responsibility for managing the list was taken on by Shoshana Edwards, owner of Books From Bree.

"I think it should definitely not be on the nonfiction best-seller list," said Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla.

Marvin Post is the owner of Attic Books.