"Owning and operating a bookstore has been my personal dream, a dream I've quietly clung to for many years. Truthfully, I long doubted that such a dream could ever become a reality. There aren't many African Americans who own bookstores and even fewer African American women doing so. I've had to search for role models....

"You don't go into this business for money. You go for the love of reading and spreading that love to as many people as you can. I'm thrilled to have local authors and creative vendors selling a variety of items in my store. I even stock an author from Charleston, mystery writer John Stamp. We also recently increased our Christian fiction, nonfiction, bibles and church supply inventory. Right now, I cannot afford mainstream authors, but one day I will. That's why I'm still working full-time and part-time jobs. I'm also still living in Charleston, involved in local organizations such as the Charleston Friends of the Library, and I am blessed with an amazing staff that takes care of the store in my absence."

Pagination in progress

Pagination Bookshop, "a cozy, independent bookstore, complete with a fireplace and a Harry Potter-inspired cupboard under the stairs," will be opening later this year at 1150 E. Walnut St. in Springfield, Mo., the News-Leader reported. Owned by Jennifer Murvin and Kory Cooper, the shop will sell new and used titles "with an emphasis on books from independent publishing presses, small presses and local authors," as well as literary gifts and stationery.

"We really want to spend time curating choices of books for our particular community," Murvin said. "It's my goal to invite writer friends, friends in the literary arts to curate special shelves in their areas of expertise as recommendations for people."

They purchased the house, which was originally built in 1905 and remodeled with an addition in 1925, in August. Murvin said the moment they walked inside and saw its wide, airy living room, built-in bookshelves and cupboard under the stairs, they knew they had found what they were looking for, a "dream bookstore house.... We thought, okay, this is it. This is the perfect space."

The owners also have plans to convert the top floor into bed-and-breakfast suites. "Anybody can stay there, but in my mind I envision artists and writers staying up there and having the energy from hundreds and hundreds of books floating up from the bottom floor into their head," Murvin noted. "We felt Walnut Street was the absolutely perfect location for us. It's close enough to the university, close to Pickwick... close to downtown. We hope everyone feels like we're their neighborhood bookstore."

French booksellers have called on literary judges to "defend books and not those who threaten them" after Marco Koskas's Bande de Français, which was self-published on Amazon's CreateSpace platform, was among the 17 titles selected to contend for this year's Prix Renaudot, one of the country's most prestigious awards.

Although Koskas has said he was forced to self-publish after being unable to find a French publisher, Syndicat de la librairie française contended that the jury has put them in an impossible position. The novel is available only through Amazon, so it is "technically and commercially almost impossible" for bookshops to stock it.

"Morally, above all, they refuse to 'jump into the wolf's mouth,' " the Syndicat said in a statement, warning that including Bande de Français on the Renaudot longlist "does a disservice to the author himself, as well as to booksellers, and is a worrying sign for the future of book creation and distribution."

Koskas countered that he was "amused and proud" to find himself picked out, adding that Syndicat's call for him to be excluded was a "great lack of fair play, not to say blackmail." He told the Guardian that bookshops should not be angry with him nor with the Renaudot jury, but with the publishers who "made a mistake about my book."

The author also expressed his affection for bookshops, but cautioned that "if they are bookshops where you can't find my books, when I have spent my life writing books, well, let's say that I am becoming less sympathetic to booksellers' plight."

French author Laurent Binet contended the problem wasn't that the title was self-published, but that it was published through Amazon: "For us, literary prizes have an enormous impact and generate a lot of sales, so the stakes are high. In France, our bookshops are doing better than elsewhere because of a very restrictive book policy... and also thanks to our attachment to paper books. The sale of e-books is still marginal. But this relative good health is fragile, and it would take little to destabilize it. And Amazon is clearly seen as the No. 1 threat. The move from the Renaudot is seen as a sort of Amazon Trojan horse."

Kaplan Test Prep has acquired the test prep, study aid and foreign language assets of Barron's Educational Series--altogether about 650 titles--as well as the Barron's brand name. Barron's other titles, including children's, parenting, cooking, art, hobby and craft, coloring and activity and pet books--about 1,350 titles--will continue to be published under a new name, B.E.S. Publishing, which remains in the company's headquarters in Hauppauge, N.Y. Some Barron's Educational Series employees have been let go as a result of the sale.

Manuel Barron, 98, who founded Barron's in 1941, said: "I couldn't be more pleased to pass the torch on to a company that shares the same roots and values as Barron's. Kaplan has also been a strong innovator in delivering educational programs and products, and I'm thrilled that Kaplan will be powering the future of the Barron's brand to new generations of students."

John Polstein, CEO of Kaplan Test Prep, a Graham Holdings Company subsidiary, commented: "Kaplan and Barron's have always had a symbiotic relationship since our founder, Stanley Kaplan, worked for Manuel Barron decades ago to help a generation of students prep for the [New York State] Regents exams. As we look to prep future generations, we are thrilled to bring Barron's into our portfolio and look forward to helping the Barron's brand flourish."

Polstein said Kaplan has no plans to integrate the brands: "Kaplan and have both been successful taking different approaches to instruction and learning, as they appeal to different types of learners. We plan to continue with that approach."

Granta Publications will close its Portobello Books imprint, effective January 2019, with all authors under contract to be published by Granta Books, the Bookseller reported. The publisher added that no change in output or personnel would result from the development, with the list size of Granta Books expanding to incorporate the Portobello titles.

Portobello Books was founded in 2005 by Philip Gwyn Jones, Sigrid Rausing and Eric Abraham. Rausing, who bought Granta in 2006 and merged the two independent publishing houses, along with Granta magazine, in 2011 to become Granta Publications (Jones left Granta in 2013), said: "I am so proud of everything we have achieved, but publishing all our books under the Granta imprint allows us to truly focus on building our reputation as a quality publisher of global literary fiction and non-fiction and will bring the editorial vision of the books and magazine closer together."

British writer David Yallop, "an investigative journalist who wrote popular books about true crime and conspiracy, including a bestseller asserting that Pope John Paul I was murdered as part of a Vatican plot," died on August 23, the New York Times reported. He was 81.

His 1984 book In God's Name: An Investigation Into the Murder of Pope John Paul I "was perhaps the most controversial of all," but spent 15 weeks on the Times' bestseller list and won the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger award for nonfiction in 1984.

Yallop took on the Catholic Church again in The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of John Paul II's Vatican (2006) and Beyond Belief: The Catholic Church and the Child Abuse Scandal (2010). His other books include  Deliver Us From Evil (1981) and Tracking the Jackal: The Search for Carlos, the World's Most Wanted Man (1993).

Josh Crute, who recently "retired" after three years in the children's department of Vroman's, Pasadena, Calif., to write full time, celebrated his first book, Oliver: The Second-Largest Living Thing on Earth (Page Street Kids), this past weekend with the rest of the Vroman's children's department and a standing room only crowd. He and illustrator John Taesoo Kim's charming book features Oliver, the second-largest tree in the Sequoia National Forest, and playfully addresses topics like "not winning" and interconnectedness. Vroman's president and CEO Allison Hill said, "Josh has been a beloved member of our children's department for years, sought out by parents and kids for his spot-on book recommendations. The only comfort we have in losing 'Josh the bookseller' is knowing we're gaining 'Josh the author.' We're looking forward to Josh's long, illustrious writing career." Josh has two more picture books due out next year, also from Page Street Publishing. In the photo, Vroman's booksellers: from l. to r., back row: Eva Andrews, Nolan Machock, Miles Grant, Tyler Meyer, Ashlee Null, Leticia Plasencia, Karrie Hyatt. Front row: Matt Miyasaki, Steve Ross, Josh Crute and Susan Mooradian.

To celebrate this week's release of Reese Witherspoon's Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love, and Baking Biscuits (Touchstone), the staff at Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tenn., was inspired by the new book's tutorial on how to use hot hair rollers and "because we're nothing if not thorough around here--and we want to make sure we're ready when Witherspoon comes to Nashville on Sunday, September 23--we gave it a try."

On the store's blog, Parnassus shared photos of the process and results before reaching a final verdict: "This tutorial was amazingly easy to follow. Even the shop dogs could do it.... With our new hair, we gained tremendous multi-tasking powers. Karen could even balance a book in one hand with a little whiskey coffee in a teacup in the other!... Seriously, though: There's so much more to this book than hair lessons."

Queen's Park Books in London tweeted: "Check out our lovely new painted window by Frann Preston-Gannon to celebrate her lovely book I Am The Seed That Grew The Tree. She was also kind enough to sign some copies, so come on in and grab one!"

Bridget O'Toole has been promoted to marketing manager at Berkley.

How Airports Work by Clive Gifford, illustrated by James Gulliver Hancock (Lonely Planet).

Today:
CBS This Morning: Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults): A True Story of the Fight for Justice (Delacorte, $18.99, 9780525580034).

Tomorrow:
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports: Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Leadership: In Turbulent Times (Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781476795928). She will also appear on CNN's Amanpour.

Wendy Williams: Omar Epps, author of From Fatherless to Fatherhood (Lulu Publishing, $19.99, 9781483485034).

Angelina Jolie will star in The Kept, a film adaptation of James Scott's 2014 novel, Variety reported, adding that Imperative Entertainment recently acquired the rights to the work. Alice Birch (Lady MacBeth) is writing the screenplay. Jolie will produce with Imperative's Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas, while the company's head of film, Jillian Apfelbaum, oversees development and production.

Drew Gilpin Faust received the $1 million John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity, which recognizes individuals "whose outstanding scholarship in the humanities and social sciences has shaped public affairs and civil society." Faust is a historian, the president of Harvard University and author of six books, including the Bancroft Prize-winning work This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War.

"The Library of Congress is thrilled to recognize Drew Gilpin Faust for her extraordinary work researching, writing and teaching about the fabric of American life," said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. "Through her extensive writing about Southern identity, she has explored themes of deep relevance to our national conversation on race and gender. As the first female president of Harvard University, she has also led one of the most esteemed educational institutions in the world through a period of intense growth and transformation."

Faust commented: "I am deeply honored to receive the Kluge Prize and would like to thank the Library of Congress for this recognition and for the vital mission it pursues on behalf of our nation. The humanities and social sciences have never been more important to our understanding of society and the increasingly connected world we inhabit. They allow us to see the world through the eyes of others, to understand the common hopes and aspirations we share, to cultivate judgement and discernment, and to identify and pursue the questions that must animate our pursuit of a better future."

Hayden selected Faust from a list of finalists for the prize, which is administered by the Kluge Center in the Library of Congress. The center's mission is to "reinvigorate the interconnection between thought and action," bridging the gap between scholarship and policymaking.

photo: Joodie Photo

Sara Raasch has known she was destined for bookish things since the age of five, when her friends had a lemonade stand and she tagged along to sell her hand-drawn picture books. Not much has changed since then--her friends still cock concerned eyebrows when she attempts to draw things and her enthusiasm for the written word still drives her to extreme measures. She's the author of the Snow Like Ashes trilogy, and her pirate fantasy, These Rebel Waves (HarperCollins), was released on August 7, 2018.

Book you're an evangelist for:

I adore Claire Legrand (I mentioned Winterspell above), and her next book, Sawkill Girls, comes out this October. It sounds like the type of brooding, romantic storyline she excels at, with lush characters I'm sure will shatter my heart.