The Reading Nest will open today in downtown Cedarburg, Wis., the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Located at W63 N672 Washington Ave., the Reading Nest spans roughly 600 square feet and carries general-interest titles for all ages. There is a selection of used titles available, and in addition to books, owner Kristin Burkart carries an assortment of bookish gifts. Prior to finding the space on Washington Ave., the Reading Nest operated as a pop-up within a local skin care clinic and boutique.

"I wanted to create a cozy place where we can share books and be a fun part of the community," Burkart told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A military veteran, Burkart is also the owner of Red Arrow Real Estate and was on the city's common council for eight years. 

She felt Cedarburg needed an independent bookstore, especially one with a cozy and comfortable vibe, and there seemed to be a growing trend of people choosing to support small businesses instead of giving their money to billionaires.

"I also think smaller bookstores carefully choose their inventory, or focus on a specific genre, so then it's not an overwhelming experience," Burkart said. "Small shops make it easy to casually browse and walk away with something that randomly caught your eye."

Atomic Books in Baltimore, Md., will expand this fall and more than triple in size, Baltimore Fishbowl reported. Located at 3620 Falls Rd. in Baltimore's Hampden Village, Atomic Books will take over the second floor of its building, going from about 2,000 square feet to 6,600 square feet. Initally, the second floor--a space that was once a bowling alley--will be open on weekends and by appointment while the first floor operates unchanged. After that, co-owners Rachel Whang and Benn Ray may make adjustments as needed.

"Our tagline has always been, 'Literary Finds for Mutated Minds,' " Ray wrote in a message announcing the expansion. "We simply need more room to carry the sorts of things we like to carry. So we're taking over the second floor of our building, and we'll be filling it with even more 'Literary Finds for Mutated Minds.' "

Founded in 1992, Atomic Books specializes in indie comics and small press titles and has a bar called Eightbar. It has occupied its current home for 20 years. The store is also where John Waters receives his fan mail and is something of a hub for the writer and filmmaker.

Fables & Pages, a fantasy bookstore, is in the planning stages for a launch in Ottawa, Ont., Canada, this October. The Citizen reported that a Kickstarter began on July 25, which will help co-founders Casey Thorhauge and Courtney Griffith "expand the opening inventory and pay for custom shelving, lighting and furnishings while the founders finalize a lease. Thorhauge and Griffith say they have invested their savings and secured loans plus grants, so the store will open regardless of the campaign's result. Extra funding would determine how fully the first location reflects their plan, however, including a reading area, workshop space, and an online shop."

The idea for opening a bookstore grew when Thorhauge met Evermore Books owner Amanda Holmes through a local book club shortly before her romance bookstore opened in the city's Glebe neighborhood. Community response showed a store devoted to one genre could find an audience.

"I thought if she can do this on her own, I probably could, too," said Thorhauge, who had been laid off from her tech job in January. "I need to build something that's for me that I can't get laid off from."

Griffith recalled asking what Thorhauge wanted to do with her life at that point, and when the bookshop idea came up, Griffith said, "Then you should actually do that."

Realizing she would need a co-founder, Thorhauge asked Griffith, who said yes right away: "I was in 110%. I said, 'Tell me what you need me to do and we'll make it happen.' "

They have since toured nine storefronts in central Ottawa, including the former Westboro Books space on Richmond Road. They are concentrating on walkable neighborhoods where a bookstore can accommodate regular local customers, the Citizen noted, adding that "Ottawa's independent bookselling community has welcomed the newcomers with open arms. Stephen Crocker and Cole Davidson of The Spaniel's Tale reviewed their business plan and financial projections, pointing out expenses they had missed. Holmes shared what opening Evermore had taught her."

"Community over competition is our mindset," Thorhauge said.

Phictly, the spoiler-free social platform for the book community--authors, readers, and book enthusiasts--hosted its first Global Digital Book Festival on July 25, a free one-day virtual event bringing together more than 80 authors across three concurrent tracks of panels, workshops, and live readings. The festival was presented by Shelf Awareness and co-sponsored by Bookshop.org, Libro.fm, and StickerApp.

"This first festival gave us exactly what we hoped for: real conversations between readers and authors, and a clear sense of what to build on for next time," said Nyleena Aiken, founder and CEO of Phictly.

Author Melody Chu said, "I had a great time today, and appreciate the opportunity to do a live reading of Mathey Girls and the panel on making friends through writing with Jane Hartsock! I'd be happy to work with Phictly further in the future."

Author Christina Victoria added, "As a new author and the founder of Marion Alexander Press, moments like these are unforgettable. They remind you that the long nights, the uncertainty, and the leap of faith are all worth it. I don't take opportunities like this lightly. Every conversation, every reader, and every connection filled my cup in ways I never expected. I left feeling more inspired as an author, a publisher, an entrepreneur, and a creative than when I arrived."

Shelf Awareness worked with Phictly to present this festival, a wonderful opportunity to connect authors with readers and for booksellers to discover authors from a wide variety of publishers.

The Phictly app is free to download at mobile app stores.

The Michigan State University Student Book Store in East Lansing, Mich., is relocating one block east to a new space and downsizing its services. WLNS reported that the bookstore has moved to its new home at 515 East Grand River Ave. The current location was set to close August 2.

In a social media post, the bookstore said it will no longer sell textbooks and is becoming a merchandise store exclusively, citing the ongoing shift to digital course materials at MSU.

Bookstore manager Brad Ballein, whose parents opened the store in 1960, told WLNS he has mixed emotions about the move: "It's melancholy, obviously, because things are changing and change is always hard. But at the same point, it's time for us to move forward and we're excited about the next phase."

He added that while the shop won't sell textbooks for MSU, it will serve as a bookstore for the Spartan community: "There'll be some books in there, but it won't be a textbook store anymore. It won't be college books. That's the big difference.... Most people are excited about the next phase. A lot of people are going down memory lane and thinking the same thing, 'Oh, it's sad, but at least there's going to be in another location.' "

The bookstore noted on social media: "Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past 66 years. While it's hard to say goodbye to a building that has meant so much to so many, we're excited to continue the SBS tradition in our new home. Here's to honoring the past while looking ahead to the future."

Richard Lingeman, a magazine editor and author who wrote an acclaimed study of small-town America and biographies of Theodore Dreiser and Sinclair Lewis "that helped revive interest in those once-towering American novelists," died on July 5, the New York Times reported. He was 95.

As a journalist, Lingeman and Victor S. Navasky founded the satirical magazine Monocle in the late 1950s. He went on to serve as an editor at the New York Times Book Review and, in 1978, was named executive editor of the Nation. After 18 years in the position, Lingeman stepped down to become a senior editor at the magazine, a role that gave him more time to write books.

His most notable early work, Small Town America: A Narrative History 1620-the Present (1980), "examined the development and decline of American towns, from the earliest Puritan settlements to the Midwestern trading centers and the cow towns and mining camps of the West," the Times noted. 

Critic John Leonard wrote in the Times that the book presented a world of "authoritarians and conformists, speculators and real-estate sharpies, absentee landlords and vigilantes, bankers without enough money and railroad entrepreneurs with too much money, bribery and racism and false fronts and a class system as oppressive as anything to be found in old Europe."

Lingeman published two volumes devoted to Dreiser. In Theodore Dreiser: At the Gates of the City, 1871-1907 (1986) and Theodore Dreiser: An American Journey, 1908-1945 (1990), Lingeman praised the author for his role in elevating American literature. "Out of his passions, contradictions and suffering," Lingeman observed in the second volume, noting Dreiser's bouts of debilitating melancholy and volatile romantic affairs, "he wrenched the art that was his salvation from the hungers and depressions that racked him."

Reviewing the first volume in the Times, Cynthia Ozick contended that the biography did not sufficiently strive to resolve the great Dreiser riddle: How could "a workhorse daily journalist" possibly "transform himself into a novelist of such encompassing, gritty, recalcitrant power"? But writer and literary critic Alfred Kazin called the complete work "a fascinating documentation of the most troubled life led by any important modern American writer."

Lingeman's biography Sinclair Lewis: Rebel from Main Street (2002) was part of his lifelong pursuit to "understand the role of the small town in American history," he said. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, author Keith Taylor called Lingeman's book "the most important re-evaluation of Lewis in more than a generation," adding that he demonstrated convincingly that Lewis had influenced writers as varied as Richard Wright and John Updike, the New York Times noted.

Early in his career, Lingeman freelanced for other publications and wrote two books, about prescription drugs (Drugs from A to Z, 1969) and America's home front during World War II (Don't You Know There's a War On?, 1970). In 1969, he joined the Times Book Review, where he remained for nine years, assigning reviews and compiling a weekly column of publishing news, "Book Ends," before Navasky recruited him for the Nation.

Lingeman's last book, The Noir Forties (2012), was "an examination of how a moody and often cynical film genre that flourished after World War II reflected the anxieties of battle-scarred veterans, a repressive political period and the Cold War in an atomic age," the Times wrote.

Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, N.C., hosted Dinesh Thiru (waving, at left) for the launch of his cozy YA mystery, My Killer Family Reunion (Atheneum Books for Young Readers). The Barcelona author wasn't the only person who flew in for the event--20 members of Thiru's family traveled to Raleigh and reunited at the event. Thiru gave a presentation about his inspirations for the book, answered audience questions, and signed books.

Click here to see the latest Independent Press Top 40, the weekly bestseller list celebrating the bestselling 40 fiction and 40 nonfiction titles from independent publishers, as sold by independent bookstores across the country. The list is sponsored by the Independent Publishers Caucus and the American Booksellers Association.

This week's debut fiction titles:

7. Fruit Fly: A Novel by Josh Silver (Crooked Lane Books)
13. (Mostly) Human Resources: A Novel by Grace Viall (Alcove Press)
23. Clown Town (Slough House #9) by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)
28. Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman (Coffee House Press)

This week's debut nonfiction titles:

6. Triage by Claudia Rankine (Graywolf Press)
8. Inner Propaganda: Leading Hearts and Minds Through Turbulent Times by Owen Fitzpatrick (Ideapress Publishing)
12. The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd's Life by Helen Whybrow (Milkweed Editions)
21. The Wave in the Mind: Imagination and the Art of Writing and Reading by Ursula K. Le Guin (Shambhala)
24. Great Bakes: Modern Classic Recipes from the Midwest by Martin Sorge (Agate Midway)
29. Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach (W. W. Norton)

Here is the August edition of The Poetry Shelf, our suggested poetry assortment, compiled by Michelle Halket of Central Avenue Publishing.

Welcome to the August edition of The Poetry Shelf!

I'll be keeping this edition short because the entire Bookscan bestseller list is FULL of versions of The Odyssey, The Iliad, and various other classics. It's probably due to the perfect coinciding of the movie and stocking up on back-to-school textbooks, but whatever the reason, I think this is the fewest number of new books I've ever seen on the list.

As with last month, I say just pick your favorite Homer editions and showcase those. But I'm betting a bunch of you have already cross-merchandised your preferred retellings with your Odyssey displays. If I had a bookstore, I'd be putting up my faves: Circe by Madeline Miller, Edith Hamilton's Mythology, and any editions of Norse, Indian, or Indigenous mythology I could find. As a kid I was a HUGE mythology fan, so this might be my most fun display I could put together. It's probably why my most fave series I've published is one that retells the Greek gods reincarnated as college kids. Ah--the joys of running your own press: you get to publish what you want! ☺️

Again, I wish I could list a bunch of new additions to the poetry bestsellers but I can't--it's just too gummed up with Homer! But I do notice a few older titles popping back on and rising including: Rupi Kaur's Milk and Honey, Maya Angelou's Complete Poetry, Inward by Yung Pueblo, and The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy.

For the feature, given how early in the month I am (I'm now back on my regular schedule of the first Friday of every month), I've kept it the same as last month: Back to School. I'll just reiterate what I wrote last month, where I chose to show off titles that would be ideal for Back to School displays. I chose these because of how diverse they are and generally how much these poets are taught and/or talked about. There's poet laureates (Sze) and more accessible poetry (Gorman) as well as books that might tie in well to history (Trethewey) or sociology (Choi) courses.

As always, everything I put on these lists are just suggestions meant to spark ideas of your own. Pick and choose as best fits your store!

Off the Wall: Making Stuff Together by Juana Martinez-Neal and Molly Idle (Neal Porter Books/Holiday House).

Today:
KQED's Political Breakdown: Gil Durán, author of The Tech Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy (Avid Reader Press/S&S, $30, 9781668221402).

Tomorrow:
The View repeat: Brandy Norwood, author of Phases: A Memoir (Hanover Square Press, $32.50, 9781335013279).

The longlist has been selected for the €25,000 (about $28,850) 2026 German Book Prize. The shortlist will be announced September 8, and the winner named October 5, on the eve of the Frankfurt Book Fair. See the 20 novels on the longlist here.

Jury spokesperson Cornelia Geissler of the Berliner Zeitung said, "Exploring the past in order to understand the present--our 2026 selection of novels reflects this in many different ways. The books we selected range from fragmentary works of compelling complexity to sweeping, engrossing narratives spanning long periods of time. We are particularly impressed by the striking and illuminating ways in which biographical multilingualism culminates in literary richness. With stylistic assurance, innovation and, indeed, wit, the authors reveal the vulnerability of their characters and accompany them as they set out towards a different future. How can we find our bearings in a world where uncertainty is spreading? We are convinced that reading helps. These are the books to turn to."

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
The Wild Beneath by Kelly Anderson (Park Row, $30, 9780778306061). "When I was done reading this I had sand under my fingernails, pockets full of seashells, salt water in my hair, and a story to tell." --Jackie Jones, Books Revisited, St. Cloud, Minn.

The Amateur: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday, $33, 9780385551298). "The Amateur is a defiant, tour de force of a book... a legal thriller about a young woman who makes endless wrong decisions, unlike anything he's delivered to readers before." --Dallas Strawn, Pelican Bookstore, Sunset Beach, N.C.

Paperback
Devour Me: A Novel by Emily Rath (Avon, $22, 9780063484764) "Polyamory is so much fun! On a mysterious island, a skeptical historian, a mage, and a shadow entity unite to stop a big bad and break a curse while entering into a throuple. Hilarity and hormones ensue!" --Gerard Villegas, Auntie's Bookstore, Spokane, Wash.

Ages 4-8
If the Moon by Matthew Burgess, illus. by Matthew Forsythe (Stonefruit Studio, $19.99, 9781464244049). "A gentle call towards calming an anxious brain, for adults and children alike. This trip through dreamland asks readers to think in beautifully creative and expansive ways. Burgess and Forsythe show us that the world is a beautiful place to be, if only we notice it and dream it." --Mikey LaFave, Rec Room Books, Athens, Ga.

Ages 8-12
Ghost in the Night by Tiffany D. Jackson (Scholastic Press, $18.99, 9798225017477). "While seeking solace from her grief over her Grandma's death, Harmony finds herself on a search for a ghost. This thriller is a love letter to Savannah, an examination of African American history, and is full of exciting page-turning action." --Jennifer Kraar, White Whale Bookstore, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Ages 13+
The Dream Thieves: The Graphic Novel by Maggie Stiefvater, illus. by Sas Milledge (Viking Books for Young Readers, $25.99, 9780593621226). "I love the unique suspense and strange mystery of this series. Sas Milledge's soft yet rich art style breathes a wonderful life into these characters that has transitioned beautifully into the second book. Let’s keep it going!" --Ross Ramirez, E. Shaver, Bookseller, Savannah, Ga.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Stephen Wright's Black Moon is a wild romp of an adventure, lush with blood and debauchery, starring a spectacularly colorful character based on the historical figure of Anne Bonny. Readers will need a strong constitution for the violence and rape that populate these pages, but the heroine and her associates offer plenty of humor, thoughtful philosophy, and transcendence to balance the scales.

Not much is known about Anne Bonny, an Irishwoman turned pirate in the early 1700s. With this inspiration, Wright (Meditations in Green; M31: A Family Romance) invents Amethyst "Meeks" Connell. From early trauma to an orphanage, then a "sewing shop for recalcitrant maids" and a youthful marriage into the minor gentry, Meeks continually reaches to improve her circumstances. When her devoted husband, Georgie, lusts after the latest round of developing war between the major European powers, Meeks plays along. "In a short amount of time she [becomes] considerably adept at fencing," followed by other forms of combat--it is a feature of Meeks's character that she is good at most anything she puts her mind to. Georgie decides he must join the war himself and secures himself a commission, and Meeks accompanies him. Within minutes of reaching the battlefield, Meeks makes her first kill and is widowed.

Wright's swashbuckling, stylish narrative unfolds perfectly naturally as Meeks lives as a soldier and a man (with a short haircut, she simply fails to correct the assumptions of her fellows); marries a woman and is widowed again; and, on the lam, sets sail for Ireland and home. When her ship is boarded by pirates, no reader will be surprised that she joins them. It is at this point that Meeks's real adventures--and the shining love(s) of her life--begin.

Meeks loves the sky over the ocean at morning, which she judges "the ultimate source of all value." She loves the lifestyle, the freedom, the riches, the violence, and the friends she makes. At sea, she lives as a woman again; vehement misogyny is common among sailors and pirates, but there are those who honor her skills. The pirate life is for "those who can work like miners, fight like demons, and revel like tosspots," and Meeks keeps up with the best of them. "There remains, of course, the lingering issue of love." Black Moon, however bloodthirsty, is also a romantic novel: spirited, atmospheric, raging, and joyful unto its unforgettable end. --Julia Kastner, blogger at pagesofjulia

Shelf Talker: This fiercely imaginative, blood-soaked, starry-eyed, and exuberant epic based on the life of Irish pirate Anne Bonny will capture the dreams and nightmares of any daring reader.

Book Lovers Day is August 9. Today's independent bookstores aren't just places of commerce. They're destinations unto themselves. They have also taken on many of the roles that used to be reserved for civic and religious institutions. Bookstores are community gathering places, hubs for conversation between like-minded souls, lecture halls hosting inspiring and thought-provoking speeches, and vital lyceums for citizens to discuss the important issues of the day.

--Frommer's, "25 Independent Bookstores We Love"

As anticipation grows for Bookstore Romance Day on August 15 ("We want to meet your book boyfriend or girlfriend."), it can be easy to overlook another, unofficial annual celebration (one whose origin story is much less clear): Book Lovers Day, which happened again last Saturday. 

I first wrote about it in 2021, asking: "So, do you have more ambitious plans for National Book Lovers Day.... No? What's that? You mean to tell me you've never heard of it?" BLD has gained momentum since then, especially among indie booksellers, who never need an excuse to celebrate the reading life, and share their thoughts about it on social media: 

Shakespeare and Company, Paris, France: "Happy Book Lovers Day to all who celebrate!"

Gramercy Books, Bexley, Ohio: "Happy Book Lovers Day! We love being book lovers and we love being here in the community for all of you! I hope you treat yourself to a book today!"

Harvey's Tales, Geneva, Ill.: "Happy National Book Lovers Day! It's no secret that the Harvey's Tales team believes every day is book lovers day, but today is designated as a day to celebrate reading in whatever form you enjoy! We love being the shop you choose to buy your next book."

Midnights Bookshop, Lodi, Calif.: "Happy National Book Lovers Day! Today is basically our Super Bowl. Celebrate accordingly: start a new book, reread an old favorite, visit your local bookstore or library, and maybe add just one more book to your TBR. (We support this decision.) However you choose to celebrate, make some time for the stories you love. Happy reading, bookworms!"

Monstera's Books, Overland Park, Kan.: "It's National Book Lovers day, the perfect day to celebrate our favorite thing: Sharing the joy of books with all of you passionate readers.... Thanks for being our neighbor!"

Highland Books, Brevard, N.C.: "It's National Book Lovers Day! That's YOU! Thank you to all the book lovers out there who help support indie bookstores!... This day is for you."

Cafe con Libros, Brooklyn, N.Y.: "Book Lovers Day at Cafe con Libros! Give thanks Bookish Family."

Newtonville Books, Newton Centre, Mass.: "Happy Book Lovers' Day from your local book lovers! Read a book, buy a book, give a book, discover a book… etc! #shopsmall."

Boss Lady Books, Beaumont, Tex.: "To all the bookworms, book hoarders, 'just one more chapter' liars, and people who definitely don't need another book but buy one anyway... this one's for you! Thank you for supporting Boss Lady Books and letting us be part of your bookish lives. We love our book community more than words can say! Now go grab a book, get cozy, and READ! Happy Book Lovers Day, book besties."

Atticus Books & Music, Fountain Hills, Ariz.: "Today is National Book Lovers Day, and we know we're among friends. Book lovers understand that a 'quick look' can turn into an hour, that one more book is almost always reasonable, and that there is no such thing as too many stories. So tell us: What book would you recommend to another book lover today?"

Gay on Wye, Hay-on-Wye, England: "Happy National Book Lovers Day to everyone who's ever missed their stop, stayed up way too late 'just one more chapter,' or cried on public transport because of a heartbreaking story. Books give us somewhere to escape to, someone to see ourselves in, a whole world of people who get it. That's what today is about, not just the books themselves, but everything they bring, comfort, connection, community, and a bit of magic. And yes, as you can see, that's exactly what a good book does to us around here! We get full of joy, have a bit of a wiggle and properly giddy over a shelf of books.... We love being part of a community that shows up for stories and for each other, today and every day."

Whistler's Daughter Books, Ferndale, Mich.: "Happy Book Lovers Day from our family of book lovers to yours. Thank you to all the book lovers out there who help support indie bookstores. Today is for you."

The Pilgrim's Way Books & Secret Garden, Carmel, Calif.: "We celebrate you, dear readers. On National Book Lovers Day... we at Pilgrim's Way honor the quiet joy of losing yourself in a story, the comfort of well-worn pages, and the connections we find between the lines.... Your stories matter here."

Does Book Lovers Day matter? Just ask Little Blue Pigeon in Denver, Colo., which posted: "Friends, we are over the moon. Little Blue Pigeon Books just made @frommers list of 25 Independent Bookstores We Love--and we're in such good company alongside so many bookshops we adore ourselves. Having only opened our doors in April, this feels like proof that the little bookshop that could... can. But honestly?

"The real honor is you. Every single one of you who's walked through our doors, picked up a book, told a friend 'you have to read this,' brought someone new to meet us, showed up for an event, or just lingered a while among the shelves--you're the reason this little shop feels like home. Thank you, truly. And what better day to say it than National Book Lovers Day? Come see us today. Wander the shelves, get lost for a minute, and find your next favorite. We'll be here."