Anthology for Books recently celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 137 South State St., Suite 101, in Geneseo, Ill. The Rock Island Dispatch-Argus reported that co-owners Jim Nyland and Beth Nyland "consider themselves voracious readers, with deep ties to the Geneseo community. Thinking about what they could do to make an impact, they began brainstorming."

"If you had asked us six months ago, 'Will you be opening a bookstore?' We would have laughed," Beth Nyland said. "It was a dream, but it was not something we really took seriously until about eight or 10 weeks ago."

Early in the process, they sought advice from Kara Taghon, owner of Moline bookstore Atlas Collective, who gave them the push they needed to get started. As the Nylands looked at potential properties, their main priority was accessibility, and while the buildings on State Street were historic and beautiful, availability was almost nonexistent.

"It was hard to find a building, much less a building that satisfied our requirement that we want everybody, regardless of their ability, to be able to enter the store, to communicate with us, connect with other people, and be part of conversations and great storytelling," Beth Nyland said, adding that many of the older buildings weren't compliant with accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Then they found the Geneseo House, which features the Cellar restaurant. Although the space available was too small, another of the building's tenants, Jenna Eden Designs, was looking to downsize and offered up one of her spaces. 

Anthology for Books will offer a collection of material based on community input. "We wanted to curate a selection of books that was really based on the feedback of the people that are here in this community, because we want to make sure that this is a place for exploration, for connection; a gathering place," Jim Nyland said. "We want to make sure that we have the right books, the right access to literature, to the different styles and genres that are of interest.... Just based on the size of the feedback that we got, we're going to be predominantly, initially at least, new titles."

Andy Lacher, owner and founder of BookStacks in Bucksport, Maine, will sell the 27-year-old bookstore to Kate Corwin, the Bangor Daily News reported. The pair agreed to a preliminary succession plan earlier this week, with Lacher saying he will stay on for a while to train Corwin, though there is no firm timetable for the transition.

Corwin has lived in Bucksport for 20 years and has been a frequent customer of BookStacks. Prior to purchasing the bookstore, she worked in customer service, and her studies included fashion design and merchandising.

"BookStacks has been a constant source of knowledge and escapism nearly my whole life," Corwin told the Bangor Daily News. "It's very exciting and truly a dream come true."

Lacher has had a long career in bookselling. Before starting BookStacks in 1997, he spent over a decade working for Mr. Paperback, a Maine bookstore chain that has since closed. He explained that a major health scare in 2022, which involved a cardiac episode and a hospital stay, spurred him to start thinking about selling the store. He remarked: "The heart attack made it clear. I'm going to be 71 pretty soon, and it's pretty obvious that I can't keep doing this indefinitely."

Lacher added that he looks forward to stepping away from the business gradually and spending more time with his wife.

JF Books will open in Washington, D.C.

Jifeng, a landmark Shanghai bookstore that was shut down by authorities six years ago, is reopening September 1 in Washington, D.C., as JF Books, the South China Morning Post reported. The bookshop, which had been popular with Shanghai's liberal intelligentsia for its wide range of academic titles and seminars, will be located in DuPont Circle at 1509 Connecticut Ave. NW. (The site is on the same block as Kramers.)

"After six years, in a new country, we have dedicated our hearts and souls to restart Jifeng and bring the only Chinese bookstore to Washington D.C.," owner Yu Miao said in a WeChat post.

Jifeng was founded in 1997 by Yan Bofei and "quickly found a market for its range of political, history and philosophy titles, expanding to eight branches around Shanghai at its peak," the Morning Post noted. The stores also hosted talks by a number of leading academics in the humanities and social sciences.

By the time Yu bought a majority stake in the bookstore in 2013, Jifeng was already under pressure. Authorities had stepped up ideological controls under Xi Jinping, who became Communist Party chief in 2012 and president of China the following year. Three branches had to close over costs and accusations by authorities that they did not have a license. The main location was shuttered in January 2018 after being denied a lease renewal. Yu and his family subsequently moved to Florida.

In his recent post, Yu said Jifeng had hosted more than 800 seminars in the five years before it closed, and the tradition would continue at the new store in Washington. JF Books will sell Chinese humanities and social science books published in Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as English-language books on China and Asia--many of which are unavailable in mainland Chinese bookstores due to strict censorship.

Staff at a Bookmans location in Tucson, Ariz., have voted to unionize, News 4 Tucson reported.

The union election took place Tuesday, with 49 employees at the 6230 E. Speedway Blvd. store casting votes. They intend to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Workers at the store, which sells used books along with other media, said organization efforts were spurred in part by abrupt layoffs earlier this year that impacted the Bookmans marketing team.

Kai Parmenter, a book buyer at the store, told News 4: "I wanted to unionize our store for better pay and benefits, but also because we feel undervalued. Our subject matter expertise and relationships with customers is what makes Bookmans thrive. We deserve to be treated like it. Now that we have a union, we finally have a voice to make things better."

According to News 4 Tucson, this is the first time a bookstore in Arizona has unionized.

"Slow your roll on your daily doomscroll. Pick up a book." That was the recent sidewalk chalkboard message in front of Inkwell Books & Threads, Rockton, Ill.

In the field and inside sales teams at HarperCollins:

Jamil Zaidi has joined the field team as the sales rep for the PNBA and MPIBA regions, including Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. For the past five years, he was a trade sales rep in the PNBA region for Chronicle Books. Earlier he was a manager at Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, Wash., where he worked for 10 years, and was a commission rep with Chickman Associates.

Kalani Kapahua has joined the inside sales team as the sales rep for the SIBA region, including Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. He will also be working with many BIPOC stores across the country and partner with the retail marketing team to support and provide insights for success with these bookselling partners. He was a bookseller for 10 years, starting at Third Place Books, Seattle, Wash., where he helped manage its events program and the local author program. For the last six years at Third Place, he was the manager and buyer at Ravenna Third Place Books. In addition, Kalani has been on several boards and committees, most recently a member of the ABA's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council and on the board of directors of the Seattle City of Literature, both since 2023.

Giselle Durand has joined the field team as the sales rep for the MIBA and GLIBA regions, including Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska. She was a bookseller for three years at the Book Cellar, Chicago, Ill., where she worked on events and managed its social media and online presence, in addition to handselling and developing a reading community. She has a background in theater, most recently working as a production manager for Midsommer Flight, a Chicago theater company that produces accessible performances of Shakespeare's plays.

Suzi Hough is joining the field team as the sales rep for the CALIBA region, effective September 3. She was a bookseller for four years at Hicklebee's, San Jose, where she was the store manager and events and marketing manager. Most recently, she worked as a commission sales rep for the Imprint Group, providing trade sales and marketing representation to 35 publishers/vendors.

The Border Between Us by Rudy Ruiz (Blackstone Publishing).

Today:
CBS Mornings: Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of The Leadership Journey: How Four Kids Became President (S&S/Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9781665925723).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, August 31
4:05 p.m. Robin Bernstein, author of Freeman's Challenge: The Murder That Shook America's Original Prison for Profit (University of Chicago Press, $27.50, 9780226744230).

5:10 p.m. Christopher F. Minty, author of Unfriendly to Liberty: Loyalist Networks and the Coming of the American Revolution in New York City (Cornell University Press, $59.95, 9781501769108).

Sunday, September 1
8 a.m. Jamie Stiehm, author of The War Within: What I Witnessed From Inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 (Creators Publishing, $12.99, 9781962693080). (Re-airs Sunday at 8 p.m.)

2 p.m. Steven Hale, author of Death Row Welcomes You: Visiting Hours in the Shadow of the Execution Chamber (Melville House, $28.99, 9781612199283).

3 p.m. Isaac Arnsdorf, author of Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement's Ground War to End Democracy (Little, Brown, $30, 9780316497510).

4 p.m. Dana R. Fisher, author of Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action (Columbia University Press, $19.95, 9780231209304).

5:40 p.m. Alissa Quart, author of Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America (Ecco, $27.99, 9780062412256).

New Zealand author Tracey Slaughter's "reasons to end us (an aerial view)" won the €3,000 (about $3,340) Moth Short Story Prize. Noting that the winning story was chosen because "the narrator's voice in this exceptional work is so insistent, so intense, reading it literally took my breath away," author and judge Louise Kennedy said, "Reading the entries reminded me of how delicate and marvelous a thing a good short story is, no other form can carry such emotional heft in so few words.... There is extraordinary control here, but what really sets this short story apart is timing; details--startling in their originality--explode like little bombs and revelations land at precisely the right moment."

Irish writer June Caldwell took second place for "Catastrophic," while third prize went to "Gertrude's Favourite Pfeffernüsse" by U.S. author Melanie McGee Bianchi. The runners-up receive a week-long stay at Circle of Misse writers retreat in France, with an open travel stipend; and €1,000 (about $1,110) respectively.  

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, September 3:

Lovely One: A Memoir by Ketanji Brown Jackson (Random House, $35, 9780593729908) is a memoir by the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.

We're Alone: Essays by Edwidge Danticat (Graywolf Press, $26, 9781644453025) includes new essays on personal and world events.

Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World by Peter Godfrey-Smith (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $29, 9780374189938) looks at how life on Earth prior to humanity has shaped the planet.

Follow the Science: How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails by Sharyl Attkisson (Harper, $32, 9780063314917) explores wrongdoing in the pharmaceutical industry and government.

Passions in Death by J.D. Robb (St. Martin's Press, $30, 9781250289568) is the 59th Eve Dallas thriller.

Capture or Kill by Vince Flynn and Don Bentley (Atria/Emily Bestler, $29.99, 9781668045831) is the 23rd Mitch Rapp thriller.

Safe Enough by Lee Child (Mysterious Press, $28.99, 9781613165669) includes 20 thrilling short stories.

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida, trans. by E. Madison Shimoda (Berkley, $25, 9780593818749) follows the patients of a mysterious clinic that prescribes cats as medication.

The Life Impossible: A Novel by Matt Haig (Viking, $30, 9780593489277) follows a retired teacher gifted a run-down house on a Mediterranean island.

Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday, $30, 9780385547994) is the sixth mystery with private eye Jackson Brodie.

Cookie Time by Jessie Sima (Simon, $18.99, 9781665936743) is a picture book by the Not Quite Narwhal author featuring two children who become time travelers to get to baked cookies faster.

Out of My Dreams by Sharon M. Draper (Atheneum, $18.99, 9781665949545) features tween Melody from Out of My Mind and Out of My Heart as she travels to London to speak at a convention about differently abled kids.

Zoë Bakes Cookies: Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Favorite Cookies and Bars by Zoë François (Ten Speed Press, $30, 9781984860804) includes 75 dessert recipes.

Paperbacks:
The Best American Poetry 2024 by David Lehman and Mary Jo Salter (Scribner, $20, 9781982186791).

Malort: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit by Josh Noel (Chicago Review Press, $19.99, 9780914091677).

The Little Sparrow Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, trans. by Bryan Karetnyk (Pushkin Vertigo, $16.95, 9781782278870).

The Cloverton Charade: The Houses of Yorkshire Series Book 3 by Sarah E. Ladd (Thomas Nelson, $17.99, 9780785246862).

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 Lost Boy of Santa Chionia: A Novel by Juliet Grames (Knopf, $29, 9780593536179). "Set in an isolated Italian village, this is so rich in detail, so deep in characterization, that it's like eating dessert in a fine restaurant: savoring each bite, letting it linger on the palette. Easily one of my favorite books of the year so far!" --Pete Mock, McIntyre's Fine Books, Pittsboro, N.C.

The Horse: A Novel by Willy Vlautin (Harper, $25.99, 9780063346574). "Al Ward is flawed--alcoholism, a never quite good enough country guitarist and song writer. When a blind horse shows up at his isolated shack on a snowy, freezing night, the best of Al comes out. Yes, Al is flawed, but you'll root for him." --Karen Emmerling, Beach Books, Seaside, Ore.

Paperback
Charlotte Illes Is Not a Teacher by Katie Siegel (Kensington, $17.95, 9781496741004). "Siegel's humor and heart shine as we follow Charlotte to her new job as a substitute teacher at her old middle school, as she helps her new colleagues solve a mystery. Fan favorites Lucy and Gabe are back to help and their banter remains delightful." --Andi Richardson, Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, Va.

Ages 5-8
Little Shrew by Akiko Miyakoshi (Kids Can Press, $19.99, 9781525313035). "Meet your new favorite character in children's literature! Little Shrew is an adorable story about the daily life and routines of Little Shrew. Each page is a delight!" --Jessica Nock, Main Street Books, Davidson, N.C.

Ages 8-12: An Indies Introduce Title
The Spindle of Fate by Aimee Lim (Feiwel & Friends, $17.99, 9781250886194). "I loved this charming middle grade inspired by Chinese mythology, exploring themes of grief, growing up, and family. Full of action-packed sequences and quiet, emotional moments alike, this book was a wonderful read." --Donna Liu, Kepler's Books, Menlo Park, Calif.

Teen Readers
The Wilderness of Girls by Madeline Claire Franklin (Zando Young Readers, $19.99, 9781638931003). "After finding four wild young women deep in the forest, Rhi begins to confront her own past in a story that masterfully blends reality with questionable fantasy. Confronting societal expectations of girlhood and exploring the meanings of family, this is a challenging and impactful read." --Matilda McNeely, Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, Ga.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Marguerite Sheffer won the Iowa Short Fiction Award for her inventive debut collection, The Man in the Banana Trees. Technology and art are major themes and the 18 short stories, half of which are flash length, incorporate speculative elements to explore how the past--and the dead--might persist.

Sheffer draws on history or envisions an alarming near-future--or both within four pages, as in "The Unicorn in Captivity," which strings together moments in the life of a tapestry from a French chateau. In 2073, the "children of the sunken city," viewing it behind plexiglass, marvel more at the background foliage than the legendary creature.

Art also lives on in two other standouts. In "En plein air," the ghost of a painter haunts a corporate retreat on a Southern barrier island and fumes when she learns that her Black "house girl," Josephine, painted over her discarded canvases with everyday scenes of island life. In "In the Style of Miriam Ackerman," a photographer's posthumous exhibit is augmented with disturbing AI-generated projections.

Technology and creativity can be at odds or go hand in hand. "At the Moment of Condensation" features drones in a teardrop formation carrying upturned umbrellas to collect water. In a drought-ridden future where corporations monopolize airspace to harvest rain, the act is both protest and performance art. Climate breakdown is also the backdrop to "The Pantheon of Flavors," when the keynote address at the International Ice Cream Technology Conference 2036 predicts burnt tastes will dominate in a world on fire.

Several stories are voiced by teachers contemplating their responsibility to a certain student--a puppet, a boy objecting to the status quo during a staging of The Nutcracker composed of "white Victorian children and... mostly Black and Latino mice," or a murdered Black teenager given a virtual reality memorial. In the title story, set in Covid-era New Orleans, a woman miscarries twins. Although this seems like one of the most realistic stories in the book, she imagines the title character, a Rumpelstiltskin-like imp, ushering in disasters. Here and elsewhere, Sheffer dabbles in magic realism and horror.

She also commemorates real figures: Josephine in "En plein air" was modeled on Clementine Hunter; Lizzie, the discoverer of pulsars in "The Observer's Cage," was inspired by Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Sheffer moves between time periods and genres with aplomb, exhibiting variety and verve. Her final paragraphs and lines, in particular, are killer. This terrific collection should attract fans of Megan Mayhew Bergman, Alexandra Chang, and Louisa Hall. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader and blogger at Bookish Beck

Shelf Talker: The 18 stories of Marguerite Sheffer's wonderfully inventive debut alternate between the realistic and the speculative, employing technology and art to explore how the past and the dead might live on.