Although the bookselling landscape is as bleak as ever for the independents, things are looking pretty good for the superstores. [Warning! Lots of numbers ahead.]

Sales at Barnes & Noble rose 9.7%, to $926.2 million for the third quarter ended November 1, with same store sales up 4.5%.

Sales at Borders increased 7.7%, to $807.9 million, although most of that was due to new store openings. Sales at stores opened for at least one year rose only 1.5% as strong gains in books, DVDs and gifts were partially offset by a decline in music sales.

So how bad off is the book business? Good question...who the hell knows.