"New technology can mask a truth that existing technology is sometimes better. The printed book remains a significantly more developed piece of technology than the e-book in some important ways, not least in the tactile and design qualities they embody.... Bookselling in its oldness is part of the new: for publishers, partnering with booksellers is to partner with the reader's most reliable and accessible curators. In an age of over-abundance of choice, this makes sense. The mass market is different, of course, but for the core audience of readers for whom books are an essential part of the goodness of life, bookshops are the first and most reliable gateway to the world of reading and writers. As a reader and publisher, I can only celebrate this new turn in the story of books, and at Faber and the Independent Alliance we will seek to prioritize the skills to be a good partner in this renewed and remade ecosystem."

A fire Tuesday morning at Browse Awhile Books in historic downtown Tipp City, Ohio, caused significant damage and briefly hospitalized a firefighter and two tenants living in the building's apartment, WHIO reported. Bill Jones, owner of the used and rare bookshop, estimated that more than $1 million in inventory was lost in the fire, while fire chief Steve Kessler said his initial damage estimates include $400,000 to the building and $200,000 to the contents, but "could change based on what can be salvaged."

Jones, who has owned the store since 1990, said some books can be salvaged, but valuable titles were lost. Although he has insurance, he noted: "This is a historic district, so it has to come out looking exactly the same. But all of that is in the future. I'm still in a little bit of shock."

The Downtown Tipp City Partnership has started a GoFundMe page for relief efforts to all affected by the fire. Director Heather Dorsten noted: "We are sad not only because of the economic development hit downtown. When it comes to the historical architecture of the building, we are all devastated for the loss."

"It's heart-warming and touching," Jones said of the community's response. "I've got more hugs (Tuesday) than I've gotten in the last six months. That's Tipp City. It's a close-knit town. Everybody cares about everybody else. We're going to dig out the best we can and see where we go from there."

Penguin Random House is selling Fodor's Travel to Internet Brands, an online media and technology company whose travel websites include FlyerTalk.com and Wikitravel.org. Fodor's will become part of its new owner's consumer home/travel group, while PRH will continue to sell and distribute Fodor's print guides to the book trade on behalf of Internet Brands.

"We couldn't be more proud of all that Fodor's has accomplished as a highly popular and innovative travel-content brand, whose own great journey has been its transformation from a print to a digital company, with an outstanding digital portfolio to match the quality of its iconic print guides," said PRH CEO Markus Dohle. "For Fodor's to now reach its fullest e-commerce potential we believe the best path forward is for it to become part of Internet Brands: highly motivated tech entrepreneurs and content creators who share our passion for the brand, and have the focus, drive, and resources to deliver greater benefits to consumers and to business partners from Fodor's online presence. We look forward to working with Internet Brands to ensure that Fodor's print guides continue to thrive."

Bob Brisco, CEO at Internet Brands, commented: "The Fodor's name is legendary, and we have a deep appreciation for its history and the direct impact Fodor's has on the way people explore new places. Internet Brands has a proven history of navigating legacy brands to strong growth in the digital world. We're confident that Internet Brands is the ideal partner to ensure that the Fodor's brand continues to guide travelers for generations to come."

Effective immediately, Patricia Hespanha has been appointed executive director of HarperCollins Brasil, succeeding Antonio Araujowho. Hespanha brings more than 25 years of international business management experience to the position, including working for the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee for Olympic and Paralympic Games and Citibank. In addition, she spent 15 years at Readers Digest in Brazil, Mexico and Europe, serving most recently as regional president of Latin America, Asia and Pacific.

HarperCollins president and CEO Brian Murray said Hespanha has "a proven record of leading organizations to success. HarperCollins remains enthusiastic about the market, and Patricia's leadership and expertise are complementary to our plans to expand both international and local authors in the region."

In response to last week's tragedy in Orlando, Fla., and "to help bookstores around the country address the needs of customers looking for books on LGBTQ issues, acceptance, and grief," the American Booksellers Association has compiled a list of relevant titles suggested by member booksellers, Bookselling This Week reported. The initial list, which has grown to nearly 400 titles, is available as an Excel file on BookWeb.org.

A flier featuring children's backlist titles on LGBTQ themes was available at the Children's Institute Welcome Reception and Backlist Book Swap Party in Orlando last night and is also ready for download as a PDF on the BookWeb resource page.

Jack Fuller, the author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who "had a career that would be deemed implausible if it were depicted in one of the eight novels he wrote," died yesterday, the Chicago Tribune reported, noting that the "term 'Renaissance man' could have been invented for him. He was a person of exceptional curiosity, learning and ability." Fuller was 69. During his career with the Tribune, he rose from copyboy at age 16 to president of the parent Tribune Publishing Co. at the time of his retirement in 2004.

Fuller's books include the novels One From Without (recently published by Unbridled Books), Abbeville and Convergence; as well as nonfiction works What Is Happening to News: The Information Explosion and the Crisis in Journalism and News Values: Ideas for an Information Age.

Greg Michalson, co-publisher of Unbridled Books, said: "The passing of Jack Fuller is inexpressibly sad and difficult. Our hearts go out to his family. It was a tremendous privilege to know and be allowed to publish this man, whose brilliant writing may only be exceeded by his intellectual curiosity and good will toward his fellow man. His interests, like his career, had a breathtaking scope. A conversation with Jack was always profound and entertaining. He was truly one of the good guys, someone who tried to make the world that much better. We’re glad we were able to launch into that world his final novel, a masterpiece which he said took him a lifetime to be ready to write."

Last week, the Bookworm of Edwards, Edwards, Colo., hosted Amy Ippoliti and Taro Smith, authors of The Art and Business of Teaching Yoga: The Yoga Professional's Guide to a Fulfilling Career (New World Library), who gave advice at an event for prospective, beginner and established yoga professionals. Staff from four local yoga studios attended.

Noting that "nothing can beat the thrill of a book (The touch! The smell!)--and for that reason, a beautiful bookstore," BlouinArtinfo.com showcased its picks for "10 of the world's most handsome bookstores we're sure will cause more than a flutter in your heart," adding: "Bookstores, after all, can be said to be the rebels of today's increasingly digital world where one scarcely has the time to even sit down to read."

Effective July 1, Hachette Book Group is handling North American sales and distribution of all printed and digital products of Nicholas Brealey Publishing, including the imprints Intercultural Press and Davies Black. The change follows Hachette UK's purchase a year ago of Nicholas Brealey Publishing, which has offices in London and Boston.

For ordering information, contact: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, c/o Hachette Book Group, Attn: Order Department, 53 State Street, 9th Floor, Boston, Mass. 02109. 800-759-0190; e-mail: orders@hbgusa.com.

Mark Bernardi has been promoted to v-p of book trade and digital sales at Dark Horse Comics. He replaces v-p of book trade sales Michael Martens, who is leaving the company at the end of August.

Bernardi has worked at Dark Horse for 20 years, managing newsstand distribution from 1996 to 2015 and sales of print advertising from 1996 to 2013. He has also led Dark Horse's product sales division, managed the company's presence at conventions and events, worked on licensing and custom publishing projects, headed the development and launch of the Dark Horse Digital website and apps and the sale of Dark Horse books online. He's also been involved in sales and inventory analysis, marketing support, and selling hurts and remainders as well as managing the digital book side of Dark Horse's distribution relationship with Penguin Random House.

Empire of Dust by Eleanor Herman (Harlequin Teen), the second book in the Blood of Gods and Royals historical fantasy series.

Tomorrow:
Live with Kelly: Anderson Cooper (who's co-hosting the show) and Gloria Vanderbilt, authors of The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss (Harper, $27.99, 9780062454942).

Also on Live with Kelly: Cameron Diaz, co-author of The Longevity Book: The Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time (Harper Wave, $27.99, 9780062375186).

The Talk: David Duchovny, author of Bucky F*cking Dent: A Novel (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26, 9780374110420).

Late Night with Seth Meyers: Neil Gaiman, author of The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction (Morrow, $26.99, 9780062262264).

Last Call with Carson Daly repeat: Grace Helbig, author of Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It (Touchstone, $19.99, 9781501120589).

Netflix and the CBC have teamed up to greenlight Alias Grace, a six-hour miniseries from Sarah Polley (Away from Her) and Noreen Halpern's Halfire Entertainment, based on Margaret Atwood's novel. Deadline reported that Polley, "who originally adapted the book as a feature four years ago, is writing and producing, and Mary Harron (American Psycho) directs." Production is scheduled to begin in Ontario in August.

"I first read Alias Grace when I was 17 years old and throughout the last 20 years I have read it over and over, trying to get to the bottom of it," said Polley. "Grace Marks, as captured by Margaret Atwood, is the most complex, riveting character I have ever read."

"Sarah Polley wrote a stunning six-hour script, based on Margaret Atwood's award winning book, and we are thrilled that CBC and Netflix have joined forces to co-commission this show," Halpern added.

Simon Mawer's Tightrope won the £25,000 (about $36,720) Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, "awarded to the best U.K., Irish or Commonwealth novel of the previous year, which is set more than 60 years ago." The judges described the novel as "a spy story in the grand tradition, sweeping the reader irresistibly into the harrowing life of a secret agent in World War Two. Impeccably researched, it perfectly inhabits its time and place."

Arianna Huffington is the co-founder, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group and author of 15 books. The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time, on the science, history and mystery of sleep, was recently published by Harmony.

On your nightstand now:

Originals by Adam Grant and Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life, which comes highly recommended by my daughter.

Favorite book when you were a child:

I would read ANYTHING. My love of books was so all-encompassing that I remember sending my friends home early from my fifth birthday party because all that celebrating was keeping me away from what I really wanted to be doing--reading!

Your top five authors:

Shakespeare: everything, but especially The Tempest.

Marcus Aurelius: Meditations is my favorite. He was a true paradox--an emperor with almost unlimited power to control his world and circumstances, who nevertheless had a deep understanding that happiness and peace do not lie in the outside world.

Constantine Cavafy, the Greek poet: growing up in Athens, my favorite poem was "Ithaka." My sister Agapi and I had memorized the poem long before we could actually understand what it meant.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: in his novel The First Circle, he asked: "If you wanted to put the world to rights, who should you begin with: yourself or others?"

Yuval Harari: I love his book Sapiens, full of fascinating insights about our past and our future.

Book you've faked reading:

The Asian Drama by Gunnar Myrdal. In college it was on my economics syllabus, and my tutor asked me how much of the book I had read. I told him I had read all of it, to which he replied, "Even the author has not read all of it." I still remember blushing to my roots!

Book you're an evangelist for:

I love books that use the power of stories to make us see the world in a different way. In the 1840s, Benjamin Disraeli, still a long way from being prime minister, wanted to wake people up to the plight of the British working class--and move them to act. The alarm he sounded wasn't delivered in a speech, a pamphlet or an article--but in a novel, Sybil, published in 1845. It had the desired effect--raising awareness, provoking outrage and leading to the passage of several fundamental social reforms. Disraeli knew that one of the most effective ways to touch people is through narrative--putting flesh and blood on raw facts and data.

Book you've bought for the cover:

Humans of New York: Stories by Brandon Stanton. Okay, I didn't technically buy it for the cover. But the cover, like the rest of the book, has captivating photos chronicling New Yorkers from all walks of life.

Book you hid from your parents:

I don't recall ever hiding books from my parents, who were both book lovers. I guess it didn't hurt that we lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Athens, so there weren't many hiding places.

Book that changed your life:

Can I choose my first book, The Female Woman? Because it definitely changed my life. In college, I joined the Cambridge Union debate society. A British publisher, who had published Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch, happened to see me on television debating the changing role of women, and sent me a letter asking if I would be interested in writing a book on my views. I was in my last year at Cambridge and was planning to leave the next year to get a graduate degree at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. So I sent him a letter saying, Thank you, but I don't know how to write a book. He wrote back: "Can you have lunch?" Thinking of all my friends wandering around looking for a home for their manuscript, I decided it was at least worth a train ride to London. By the end of lunch, Reg Davis-Poynter had offered me a contract and a modest advance. And that contract marked a new beginning in my life, setting me on a path, though I didn't know it at the time, to writing more books, and many years later co-founding The Huffington Post.

Favorite line from a book:

My favorite expression of wisdom--one that I keep laminated in my wallet--is by Marcus Aurelius, who was both the emperor of Rome and a Stoic philosopher: "Truly whatever arises in life is the right material to bring about your growth and the growth of those around you. This, in a word, is art--and this art called 'life' is a practice suitable to both men and gods. Everything contains some special purpose and a hidden blessing."

Five books you'll never part with:

There are many more, but here are five books I've read at different stages of my life that I look forward to rereading one day:

Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Jung. I have long been captivated by Jung's emphasis on dreams and archetypes. This autobiographical work, one of my favorite books, helped me explore the possibility that our nighttime dreams, far from shutting us off from "the real world," actually open up another reality--a timeless place that allows us to listen to our souls.

Mindfulness by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. The authors suggest a variety of quick and easy ways to practice mindfulness, including taking something we've placed on autopilot--brushing our teeth, drinking our morning coffee--and putting it back on the list of things we pay attention to.

Being with Dying by Joan Halifax, who is a Zen Buddhist priest, an anthropologist and a hospice worker. She writes that treating death as a "drugged-up, tube-entangled, institutionalized" final stage denies us valuable life lessons. She argues that the practice of giving care to the dying "enjoins us to be still, let go, listen, and be open to the unknown."

Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch. "Ideas are like fish," writes the director, who is also a longtime meditator. "If you want to catch the big fish, you've got to go deeper. Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They're huge and abstract. And they're very beautiful."

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. From one of America's preeminent historians comes a story not just of innovation, but of the stubborn resilience that led Orville and Wilbur Wright to see beyond their many failures and naysayers along the way.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments. There's a reason Smith's free-market gospel, The Wealth of Nations, was preceded by this book. He understood that economic freedom could not flourish without a firm moral foundation.

The teen years are hard enough for mere mortals, but 13-year-old Luna holds a dangerous amount of magic she never even knew about... and it's starting to erupt. Luna was accidentally "enmagicked" by Xan, the goodhearted witch who rescued her when she was abandoned as a baby in the annual "Day of Sacrifice" of the Protectorate, or the City of Sorrows, a dismal, foggy place inhabited by "a subdued people, a compliant people, who lived their lives in a saddened haze."

The sad people have been tricked into believing they're appeasing a wicked witch by giving up a baby every year. But the witch, Xan, is actually an affectionate old woman who resembles "a large, good-tempered toad," and who believes the Protectorate is cruel to abandon their babies to the wild animals in the grumblingly volcanic forest. She's made it her duty to collect the cast-off babies and find them happy homes in the Free Cities. But this baby, with her black hair, black eyes and "calm, probing, unsettling gaze"--the baby she names Luna for the crescent moon birthmark on her forehead--is different. Distracted by the infant's charms, Xan mistakenly feeds her moonlight, instead of the usual dose of starlight, and a strong magic is kindled in the child. For the safety of "the girl who drank the moon," and perhaps the world, Xan decides to raise Luna herself in the forest home she shares with a bardic swamp monster, Glerk, and Fyrian, the endearingly cheerful, pocket-sized "Simply Enormous Dragon."

As Luna proves to be "a tangle of mischief and motion and curiosity" innocently wreaking havoc with her powers, Xan decides to cast a protective spell to suppress her magic until she turns 13. As they approach Luna's birthday, though, Xan has even more to worry about. A brave but misguided young man from the City of Sorrows, seeking to reform the sorrowful practice of baby sacrifice, is coming to kill the Witch, and Luna's mother, mad from grief and imprisoned in a tower, is plotting her way to the forest, too. 

Kelly Barnhill (The Witch's Boy; Iron Hearted Violet) is a skilled storyteller, and she crafts wonderfully imperfect characters with poetic prose, warmth and wit. Rather than a strident good and evil face-off, Barnhill's complex story of relative truth allows each character to make his or her own choices, even very questionable ones. The resiliency of the heroes may be partly because of magic, but also because of critical thinking, empathy, deep love and the strength of family in all its unconventional manifestations.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon takes a probing look at social complexity and the high cost of secrets and lies, weaving multiple perspectives, past and present, into one cleverly unfolding fairy tale. The knots of miscommunication, habit and assumption that tangle Barnhill's characters may inspire readers to question the stories we're told. It takes brave and creative young people with their power to transform reality to clear the air and spread some light. Thoughtful and utterly spellbinding. --Kristianne Huntsberger, writer, storyteller and publishing assistant at Shelf Awareness

Shelf Talker: In Kelly Barnhill's fairy tale full of marvelous surprises, Luna comes of age, and all the assumptions of how things have always been are turned on their head.