"When a book gets banned, it has a second life.... The state of Utah has become our best marketing team."
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| Leslie Schicht | |
Poor Charlotte's Books, a "romance-forward bookstore serving Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati," hosted its grand opening on October 25 at 112 West Pike St. in Covington, Ky.
Owner Leslie Schicht "came across a map of romance book stores around the country and noticed that the closest one to Northern Kentucky was in Louisville," LINK nky reported.
"And I was just like, 'Oh my gosh, that's all I want to do today is walk into a store and talk to someone who can point me to 10 books that I'm gonna love," said Schicht. "And I realized that there was nothing anywhere close to where we are.... I just kind of like 'wait, I could do that, I've read enough of these. I know this genre.' So it just kind of stuck in my mind. And I just started pursuing it."
To start her new business, Schicht said she worked with Aviatra Accelerators, a Covington entrepreneurial nonprofit that supports women-owned startups and small businesses, and "they've been wonderful in helping me learn how to run a small business, because that's not my background at all."
Poor Charlotte's is opening in Aviatra's retail pop-up space, but Schicht said she doesn't want to call her shop a pop-up because the plan is to be in in the space for at least a few months, after which "we might stay for a little longer. We might find a different space. I'm not sure what the future holds."
Schicht added that if she were to open somewhere permanent, "it would have to be in Covington. I'm from here. I moved away for 20 years, and then I moved back, and I think Covington is the right fit for this type of store..... I can't wait to meet all these people who love what I love. It's going to be so much fun."
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| Erin Masse | |
The Little Bubblegum Bookshop had its grand opening celebration October 25 at 103 Wickenden St. in Providence, R.I. The romance-only bookstore "brings a pop of color and plenty of heart to Corliss Landing," Providence Monthly reported.
Owner Erin Masse, a lifelong book lover, said she "wanted to create a space that's joyful, inclusive, and fun, a place where romance readers can feel seen and celebrated. There's something special about walking into a shop that's full of love stories. It's an instant mood boost."
The bookstore features new and used romance novels, along with gifts and accessories. Plans call for hosting author signings, themed book clubs, and after-hours events "designed to bring Rhode Island's romance community even closer together," Providence Monthly noted.
Love Spell Books, a romance-focused bookstore and coffee bar, opened in early October in Summerville, S.C., the Post and Courier reported.
Located at 428 Old Trolley Rd., Suite B, the bookstore carries a wide assortment of romance titles ranging from YA romance to dark romance, along with a small selection of thrillers and mysteries. While the book inventory is predominantly new, a small amount of used titles are available. Nonbook offerings include candles, teas, and apparel, and the cafe menu features coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and a variety of specialty drinks.
"It's really about building community and having a place where people can come and either get a drink or a book, or both, or just end up hanging out," owner Deborah Pignol told the Post and Courier.
Prior to opening Love Spell Books, Pignol launched a book subscription service called My Blush Box, which focused on independent romance authors. Her event plans for the bookstore include book clubs and writing clubs.
Post and Courier noted that Love Spell Books is part of a romance boom in the Charleston area: a bricks-and-mortar store called Sweeter Than Fiction and a mobile bookstore called Bound to Bindings both opened last year.
In the third quarter ended September 30, net sales at Amazon rose 13%, to $180.2 billion, and net income rose 39%, to $21.2 billion. Sales in North America rose 11%, to $106.3 billion, and international sales rose 14%, to $40.9 billion. (Excluding favorable foreign exchange rates, international sales rose 10%.) Sales at AWS, Amazon's cloud services division, rose 20%, to $33 billion.
The increase in AWS sales, after several years of lower rates of growth, cheered Wall Street. On Friday, Amazon stock rose 10.9%, to $244.22 a share, an all-time high.
Amazon president and CEO Andy Jassy emphasized that AWS has been growing "at a pace we haven't seen since 2022, re-accelerating." He added, too, that the company is benefiting from AI both in how it's used internally at Amazon and in its offerings. AI "drives meaningful improvements in every corner of our business," he said. (Only days before its report, Amazon announced it is cutting 14,000 executive-level jobs, and may cut as many as 30,000 in all.)
In addition, Jassy stated, "In stores, we continue to realize the benefits of innovating in our fulfillment network, and we're on track to deliver to Prime members at the fastest speeds ever again this year, expand same-day delivery of perishable groceries to over 2,300 communities by end of year, and double the number of rural communities with access to Amazon's same-day and next-day delivery."
The company estimated that net sales in the fourth quarter, which includes the holiday season, should grow between 10% and 13% to between $206 billion and $213 billion. Operating income should be between $21 billion and $26 billion compared to $21.2 billion in the same period last year.
Macmillan has acquired the book, e-book, audiobook, and audio original catalogs of Sounds True, the mind, body, spirit company that will now focus on its direct-to-consumer platform, including online learning, events, and digital media.
The purchase includes backlist, forthcoming titles, and original audio content. Books and e-books will be published under the St. Martin's Essentials imprint, and audio will be published by Macmillan Audio. Sounds True authors joining St. Martin's Essentials and Macmillan Audio include Jon Kabat-Zinn, Pema Chödrön, Richard C. Schwartz, Caroline Myss, David Deida, Tara Brach, Wim Hof, Terri Cole, and Jack Kornfield.
Macmillan CEO Jon Yaged commented: "Sounds True has been a longtime Macmillan distribution client. In that time, we've seen firsthand the passion and commitment with which Tami Simon and Sounds True have built a remarkable program. This acquisition represents our deepening investment in content that helps people live with greater intention, clarity, and purpose."
Sounds True founder Tami Simon said, "Macmillan shares our values and our deep commitment to authors and the messages they bring into the world. After 40 years, it feels like a growth-filled evolution for our publishing program to expand further with such a trusted and mission-aligned partner."
Jennifer Enderlin, president & publisher of the St. Martin's Publishing Group, added, "We're excited to welcome Sounds True's publishing program. We admire what Tami has built over the last 40 years and we're delighted to continue and build on her legacy, bringing Sounds True authors to their new St. Martin's Essentials home."
And Mary Beth Roche, president and publisher of Macmillan Audio, said, "Sounds True has set a high standard in wellness and personal growth audiobooks. We're thrilled to bring this exceptional content into the Macmillan Audio list and expand its reach across our fast-growing listener base."
Powell's Books, Portland, Ore., has conducted another round of layoffs, letting 13 people go in October, according to the Oregonian and KOIN. After three rounds of summer layoffs, a total of 31 staff members have been let go. Jeremy Solly, Powell's chief marketing officer, confirmed the layoffs to KOIN, saying that "these changes were not limited to our stores, the majority affected management and business services positions across departments."
Solly explained the cutbacks this way: "As with many businesses right now, we're seeing expenses rise faster than sales. This has been an ongoing challenge since the pandemic, and while we've taken many steps to grow revenue and control costs, this most recent action was an unfortunate but necessary step to help ensure the long-term stability of Powell's Books."
WORD Bookstore, Jersey City, N.J., hosted a sold-out event for Where Nightmares Live: The Graphic Stories by MrBallen, illus. by Andrea Mutti (Ten Speed Graphic). Pictured from left: store manager Steven Warren, MrBallen, Vinnie Onorati, co-owner.
One More Page Books, Arlington, Va., is offering free books and puzzles for anyone affected by the government shutdown. As the store wrote on Instagram: "Stop in anytime to grab yourself a little treat. You deserve it!"
"Yikes! It's too non-fictiony outside." That was the sidewalk chalkboard message in front of Highland Books, Brevard, N.C., which noted: "What to do with that extra hour when we 'fall back?' That stack of books by your bed may have some ideas!"
"Last few days of gorgeous fall light. The bookshelves are filling up!" White River Books, Carbondale, Colo., posted on Instagram.
Exposure: How an Outlier's Journey Illuminates the Extremes of Power, Vitality, and Possibility by Wim Hof, photography by Henny Boogert (Sounds True).
Today:
CBS Mornings: E. Lockhart, author of We Fell Apart: A We Were Liars Novel (Delacorte, $22.99, 9780593899168).
The View: Scott Galloway, author of Notes on Being a Man (Simon & Schuster, $29, 9781668084359).
Watch What Happens Live: Judd Apatow, author of Comedy Nerd: A Lifelong Obsession in Stories and Pictures (Random House, $50, 9780593595930).
On Tamron Hall:
Tomorrow:
CBS Mornings: Patti Smith, author of Bread of Angels: A Memoir (Random House, $30, 9781101875124).
Good Morning America: Catherine Newman, author of Wreck: A Novel (Harper, $26.99, 9780063453913).
Also on GMA: Hayley Kiyoko, author of Where There's Room for Us: A Novel (Wednesday Books, $22, 9781250356314).
Kelly Clarkson Show: Cameron Crowe, author of The Uncool: A Memoir (Avid Reader Press, $35, 9781668059432).
Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Michelle Obama, co-author of The Look (Crown, $50, 9780593800706).
Netflix has preemptively acquired Academy Award winner Stephen Gaghan's (Traffic, Syriana) pitch for Valley of Ashes, "a contemporized loose adaptation... set in San Francisco" of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby, Deadline reported.
While specifics regarding the project are under wraps, "sources indicated that the film revolves around Silicon Valley, specifically," Deadline noted. Gaghan will direct from his own script and produce through his Super Emotional banner, alongside his Syriana producer Jennifer Fox.
The winners of the 2025 World Fantasy Awards, announced during the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, England:
Novel: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey)
Novella: Yoke of Stars by R.B. Lemberg (Tachyon Publishing)
Short Fiction: "Raptor" by Maura McHugh, in Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology
Collection: A Sunny Place for Shady People: Stories by Mariana Enriquez, trans. by Megan McDowell (Hogarth)
Artist: Liv Rainey-Smith
Special Award, Professional: Mapping New Stars: A Sourcebook on Philippine Speculative Fiction by Gabriela Lee, Anna Felicia Sanchez, Sydney Paige Guerrero (University of the Philippines Press)
Special Award, Non-Professional: Steve J. Shaw, for Black Shuck Books
Life Achievement: Juliet Marillier and Michael Whelan
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Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War by Lyndal Roper (Basic Books) has won the 2025 Cundill History Prize, administered by McGill University. Roper receives $75,000.
Organizers praised this "sensational account of the sixteenth-century uprising that shook Europe to its core. The first history of the German Peasants' War in a generation, and told through the voices of the peasants themselves, Summer of Fire and Blood uncovers the far-reaching ramifications of this doomed rebellion. Though the victors portrayed the uprising as naive and chaotic, Roper instead reveals a coherent mass movement inspired by the radical principles of the Protestant Reformation. Her deeply researched account shows that the uprising was one that expressed early ideas of justice, communal decision-making, and resistance to arbitrary power."
Jury chair Ada Ferrer, a professor of history at Princeton University and 2022 Cundill History Prize finalist, called Summer of Fire and Blood "a gripping history of the German peasant rebellions of 1524-1525, the largest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution. At the centre of her history are the peasants themselves. Roper traces the emergence, unfolding and eventual undoing of the rebellion and offers a vivid and compelling portrait of the peasants' world. Through this lens, she delivers a history of the Reformation from the ground up--as it was lived and understood by the ordinary people, who often interpreted its message as far more radical than envisioned by its architects. Her analysis is stunning and multifaceted, seamlessly weaving together cultural, intellectual, social, economic and religious history into a rich and engaging narrative."
Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven (Flatiron, $29.99 hardcover, 400p., 9781250372444, January 6, 2026)
Jennifer Niven (The Ice Master; When We Were Monsters) picks the pivotal year of 1964 as her setting for the charming, thought-provoking Meet the Newmans. The world is still reeling from the Kennedy assassination; many women who had been part of the workforce during World War II are questioning their place in society; and the Beatles have recently arrived in the U.S.
Dinah Newman, 43, begins the story on March 20, 1964: "the night the world as she knew it ended." Her husband, Del--writer, director, and star of television's Meet the Newmans--has been in a car accident. Del and Dinah Newman are "America's favorite married couple," but no one knows they sleep in separate beds (even though they were the first to share one onscreen). Their sons, Guy, 22, and Shep, nearly 18, have grown up on the show. Guy longs to direct, and Shep, who launched a lucrative singing career, feels like he's owned not only by CBS Studios but also by CBS Records. When Del winds up in a coma, the Newmans know the show must go on even as they keep his condition a secret from the network. Just two episodes remain in the season, their sponsors have backed out, and the final episode's script has yet to be written. Plus, their 12-year contract may not be renewed.
Dinah taps journalist Juliet Dunne, who came to interview Dinah for the Los Angeles Times, to be her co-writer on the season finale. Juliet, age 26, is a daring choice, considering she made clear to Dinah just how "out of touch" she believes the series is, even leaving Dinah a copy of The Feminine Mystique. This fascinating relationship becomes the constellation around which the novel orbits, with wonderful moments from both Dinah and Juliet as they each discover what the other has to offer.
Meanwhile, Shep and Guy feel that their televised lives have sucked the vitality out of their lives offscreen. Shep acts out by sleeping his way across Los Angeles; Guy lives a closeted life with "best friend"--and movie star in his own right--Kelly Faber. And Dinah finds a mysterious deed to a house and their finances in peril: Did Del have a secret life? Everything blows up just days before the final episode, in a wonderfully farcical denouement.
Niven humorously and perceptively exploits the juxtaposition of a TV family who have lost the distinction between their on-air personas and their real lives. Niven wisely does not go for the quick fix or the sitcom ending. She instead leaves readers with a realistic picture of a loving family reconstituting itself as growing individuals after a tectonic shift. --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: Jennifer Niven's moving exploration of a 1960s television family demonstrates how families can drift apart, and how they can reunite by celebrating each other as individuals.
The bestselling Libro.fm audiobooks at independent bookstores during October:
Fiction
1. Mate by Ali Hazelwood (Penguin Random House Audio)
2. Babel by R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)
3. Alchemised by SenLinYu (Penguin Random House Audio)
4. The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman (Penguin Random House Audio)
5. A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (Penguin Random House Audio)
6. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (Hachette Audio)
7. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (Recorded Books)
8. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab (Macmillan Audio)
9. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (Penguin Random House Audio)
10. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Penguin Random House Audio)
Nonfiction
1. Enshittification by Cory Doctorow (Macmillan Audio)
2. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Tantor Media)
3. Nobody's Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre (Penguin Random House Audio)
4. 107 Days by Kamala Harris (Simon & Schuster Audio)
5. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green (Penguin Random House Audio)
6. Awake by Jen Hatmaker (Simon & Schuster Audio)
7. Cultish by Amanda Montell (HarperAudio)
8. Separation of Church and Hate by John Fugelsang (Simon & Schuster Audio)
9. An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi (Mariner Books)
10. Strong Ground by Brené Brown (Penguin Random House Audio)