Just Book-ish, an all-ages bookstore and gathering space with an emphasis on writers "whose work often challenges political paradigms," has opened on a limited basis in Boston, Mass., with a grand opening scheduled for November 23.

Bing Broderick and Porsha Olayiwola

Located at 1463 Dorchester Ave. in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, Just Book-ish spans about 1,250 square feet on the first floor of the Dot Crossing building. It carries a wide array of titles in several languages, many with a social justice focus, and serves an assortment of light snacks and beverages.

Until the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 23, the store will be open Tuesday through Friday, 2 p.m.-7 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The store's events and cultural programming will begin in the new year.

Just Book-ish is the brainchild of Porsha Olayiwola, Boston's Poet Laureate, and Bing Broderick, former director of the nonprofit Haley House. Earlier this year, they launched a fundraiser to help fill the bookstore's inventory that raised more than $51,000.

Howard Family Bookstore, an all-ages bookstore, coffee shop, and community space, will open in Detroit, Mich., next year, the Detroit Metro Times reported.

Jerjuan Howard outside the future home of Howard Family Books

Bookstore founder Jerjuan Howard purchased an abandoned building on Puritan Avenue in westside Detroit earlier this year and is at work renovating the property. He plans for the space to resemble an art gallery in its design, and along with books, Howard will sell coffee, tea, juices, and flowers from a local flower garden.

The building will have a rooftop seating area, and Howard's event plans include adult spelling bees, poetry nights, comic workshops, and more. One of the store's more unusual features will be a virtual reality room where customers can see what that part of Puritan Avenue was like in the 1950s, when the city was still booming.

Noting that there are five schools within a mile and a half of the store, Howard told the Metro Times that bringing in young people is one of his main goals with the bookstore. He also wants to help boost literacy for all age groups.

"I want it to be a space where people can come, meet, and talk amongst each other, to discuss plans for their area," he said. "I want it to build community, increase literacy, and become a neighborhood hub."

Prior to founding Howard Family Bookstore, Howard created a neighborhood nonprofit called the Umoja Debate League, which helps teach public speaking skills to local youth, and he helped with the creation of another community space called Umoja Village.

"People think that they have to just accept the conditions of an area, abandoned buildings, blight, or whatever they might have an issue with, but they don't have to accept that," Howard said. "We can change our conditions if we put our heads together."

Howard hopes to have the bookstore open by early spring 2025.

The Depot Cafe & Bookstore, Mill Valley, Calif., is looking to sublet part of its space to Copperfield's Books to help operate the bookshop. The Marin Independent Journal reported that the city council voted unanimously on November 4 to amend its lease with Depot Enterprises, the tenant that operates the business. The change allows the company to sublease a portion of the space to Copperfield's, which operates nine stores in northern California. 

"I've spent a great deal of time in Copperfield's up in Calistoga, on Lincoln Avenue, and I can tell you it's just a fantastic place," council member Caroline Joachim said. "A fantastic place for me to lose a couple hours in, have my kids there, we've spent a lot of time, and I think what Copperfield's offers is actually a really great match to what we have here in Mill Valley."

The depot opened in 1889 as a train station, and in the 1970s became Ganey's Café and Bookstore. It was renamed the Depot Café and Bookstore in the 1980s when new tenants took over the lease. The Marin Independent Journal wrote that Depot Enterprises "has struggled to manage the bookstore section of the depot, saying it does not have the resources of a large, specialized bookstore operator. The new agreement adds two five-year extensions to the lease, and allows the tenant to sublease the 500-square-foot bookstore to Copperfield's for at least three years, with an option to extend an additional three years."

Vice Mayor Stephen Burke said he once took a "long hard look" at running the bookstore, and concluded that it would be difficult in a small space as a solo operator. He added that Copperfield's Books seems like a great fit.

"I really commend the partners on their good-faith effort to operate that bookstore," Burke said. "I'm really pleased it's being maintained as a bookstore. As vibrant as the cafe is and as much as you could do with it, if you put additional tables in there, I think retaining that in the heart of our community is really important."

Barnes & Noble will open its new bookstore in the Monmouth Mall, Eatontown, N.J., on Wednesday, November 20, just two weeks after closing its former location a few hundred yards away in the same mall. The grand-opening celebration will feature author James Murray cutting the ribbon and signing copies of his books. 

"We are very pleased to be opening this beautiful new bookstore here in Eatontown," B&N said. "The Eatontown booksellers have gone above and beyond to have this new space ready so soon after closing the previous location, and just in time for the height of holiday shopping."

Also on November 20, B&N will open a new bookstore in Redstone Shopping Center at 1678 Redstone Center Drive, Park City, Utah. The official opening will feature author Jack Carr cutting the ribbon and signing copies of his books. 

"Opening a new bookstore is always a joyous occasion, and this one doubly so," B&N said. "We are not only celebrating our new Park City Barnes & Noble, but also our new Murray bookstore which opened just last week. Our Park City booksellers are eager to welcome customers into their beautiful new Barnes & Noble."

In yesterday's issue of Shelf Awareness Pro, the U.S. paperback edition of Samantha Harvey's Booker Prize-winning novel Orbital was attributed to the wrong publisher. Grove Press recently released the paperback version. Our apologies for the error.

And after the the Booker Prize was announced, Grove Press went back to press for another 50,000 copies, with more printings to come.

Congratulations to Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minn., which is celebrating its 40th anniversary next week. 

The birthday festivities begin this coming Sunday, November 17, with an event featuring Alex Aster, author of the Lightlark Saga, and will culminate on November 23 with a day-long celebration.

Throughout the day, there will be a 15% discount on purchases of $40 or more as well as special giveaways for donations of $40 or more to Red Balloon Connects, which works to improve kids' access to books. There will also be complimentary face painting, live music, a storytime dance party and costume parade, and a toast with Red Balloon Bookshop owner Holly Weinkauf.

Original owners Carol Erdahl and Michele Cromer-Poire opened Red Balloon in 1984. In 1989, with the bookstore needing more space, Cromer-Poire and Erdahl moved it into its current home. Holly Weinkauf purchased the store in 2011 when Erdahl and Cromer-Poire retired.

"These two were the FIRST couple to join our book club and we are honored to have them get engaged at the shop last night," Columbus Bound Bookshop, Columbus, Ga., posted on Instagram.

Kerry Moynagh has been named v-p, Usborne sales, at HarperCollins. For the past two years, she has been v-p, executive director of children's sales, and has been a key part of sales at the company for 20 years.

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Anthony LaSasso has joined Abrams ComicArts as senior publicist. LaSasso was previously publicity director at Steerforth Press.

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Ariana Abad has joined Berkley at Penguin Random House as a publicist.

Today:
Fresh Air: Richard Price, author of Lazarus Man (Farar, Straus and Giroux, $29, 9780374168155).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Jannah Handy and Kiyanna Stewart, authors of BLK MKT Vintage: Reclaiming Objects and Curiosities That Tell Black Stories (Black Dog & Leventhal, $40, 9780762484034).
 
Today Show: Elle Macpherson, author of elle: Life, Lessons, and Learning to Trust Yourself (BenBella, $29.95, 9781637746684).

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, November 16
9:10 a.m. Natalie Lampert, author of The Big Freeze: A Reporter's Personal Journey into the World of Egg Freezing and the Quest to Control Our Fertility (Ballantine, $30, 9781524799380). (Re-airs Saturday at 9:10 p.m.)

10 a.m. Elliot Cosgrove, author of For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today (Harvest, $29, 9780063417472). (Re-airs Saturday at 10 p.m.)

11:15 a.m. to 6 p.m. Live coverage of the 2024 Texas Book Festival in Austin, Tex. Highlights include:

• 11:15 a.m. Ernesto Londoño, author of Trippy: The Peril and Promise of Medicinal Psychedelics, and Eugenia Bone, author of Have a Good Trip: Exploring the Magic Mushroom Experience.
• 12:15 p.m. Paola Ramos, author of Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America, and Isaac Arnsdorf, author of Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement's Ground War to End Democracy.
• 1:15 p.m. Mónica Jiménez, author of Making Never-Never Land: Race and Law in the Creation of Puerto Rico, and Ray Suarez, author of We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century.
• 2:15 p.m. Elyse Graham, author of Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II, and Liza Mundy, author of The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA.
• 3:15 p.m. Glenn Fine, author of Watchdogs: Inspectors General and the Battle for Honest and Accountable Government.
• 4:15 p.m. Sarah Smarsh, author of Bone of the Bone: Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class, and Alice Driver, author of Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking on America's Largest Meatpacking Company.
• 5:15 p.m. Jonathan Blitzer, author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis, and Javier Auyero, author of Portraits of Persistence: Inequality and Hope in Latin America.

Sunday, November 17
8 a.m. John Mackey, author of The Whole Story: Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism (‎Matt Holt, $35, 9781637745120). (Re-airs Sunday at 8 p.m.)

9:05 a.m. Pamela Toler, author of The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany (Beacon Press, $29.95, 9780807063064). (Re-airs Sunday at 9:05 p.m.)

10 a.m. Vince Beiser, author of Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future (Riverhead, $32, 9780593541708). (Re-airs Sunday at 10 p.m.)

12:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. Live coverage of the 2024 Texas Book Festival in Austin, Tex. Highlights include:

• 12:15 p.m. Elizabeth Dias, author of The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America, and Shefali Luthra, author of Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America.
• 1:15 p.m. Brea Baker, author of Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership, and Rebecca Nagle, author of By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land.
• 2:15 p.m. Michael Sierra-Arévalo, author of The Danger Imperative: Violence, Death, and the Soul of Policing.
• 3:15 p.m. Ebony Reed and Louise Story, authors of Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap.
• 4:15 p.m. Frank Guridy, author of The Stadium: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play, and Megan Kimble, author of City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America's Highways.

7:30 p.m. James Patterson, co-author of American Heroes (‎Little, Brown, $32.50, 9780316407205).

The longlist has been selected for the $35,000 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize, a program of the Aspen Institute that honors a work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue. The shortlist list will be announced March 12, 2025, and the winner on April 23. The longlist:
 
Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker (Little, Brown)
Sky Full of Elephants  by Cebo Campbell (Simon & Schuster)
James  by Percival Everett (Doubleday)
Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez (Flatiron Books)
A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (Mariner Books)
Kingdom of No Tomorrow by Fabienne Josaphat (Algonquin)
The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kolawole (Amistad/HarperCollins)
Before the Mango Ripens by Afabwaje Kurian (Dzanc Books)
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange (Knopf)
Lilith by Eric Rickstad (Blackstone Publishing)  
There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes Jr. (Mariner Books)
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty (Tin House)
Devil Is Fine  by John Vercher (Celadon Books)
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (Avid Reader Press)
 
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The finalists have been selected for the $5,000 2025 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize, part of the Pitt Poetry Series at the University of Pittsburgh Press. The winner will be announced December 11 and will be published by the press. Selected by Nate Marshall, the finalists are:

Asa Drake, Maybe the Body
Bobby Elliott, The Same Man
Luke Patterson, Medic
Alafia Sessions, Nine Drops of Turpentine
Rob Shapiro, Human Nature

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, November 19:
 
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer, illus. by John Burgoyne (Scribner, $20, 9781668072240) finds lessons for human community in the natural world.
 
The Mirror by Nora Roberts (St. Martin's Press, $30, 9781250288776) is book two in the Lost Bride fantasy romance trilogy.
 
Trial by Fire: A Novel by Danielle Steel (Delacorte, $29, 9780593498583) follows a French perfume company owner trapped in Napa Valley by wildfires.
 
Now or Never by Janet Evanovich (Atria, $29.99, 9781668003138) is the 31st Stephanie Plum thriller.
 
Citizen: My Life After the White House by Bill Clinton (Knopf, $38, 9780525521440) is a memoir of Clinton's post-presidential years.
 
Cher: The Memoir by Cher (Dey Street, $36, 9780062863102) is part one of the singer's two-part memoir.
 
From Under the Truck: A Memoir by Josh Brolin (Harper, $30, 9780063382183) is the actor's memoir.
 
Tooth and Claw: A Longmire Story by Craig Johnson (Viking, $25, 9780593834169) follows a young Walt Longmire in Alaska.
 
Water, Water: Poems by Billy Collins (Random House, $27, 9780593731024) contains 60 new poems.
 
Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation by Jim O'Heir (Morrow, $29.99, 9780063293502) gives a behind-the-scenes look at the popular sitcom.
 
The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard (Tor Teen, $19.99, 9781250339485) is the final book in the author's YA fantasy series, the Luminaries.
 
Serpent Sea by Maiya Ibrahim (Delacorte, $19.99, 9780593127001) is the sequel to Spice Road, a YA romantasy which takes place in an Arabian-inspired world.
 
Paperbacks:
Is She Really Going Out with Him? by Sophie Cousens (Putnam, $19, 9780593718902).
 
Toxic Productivity: Reclaim Your Time and Emotional Energy in a World That Always Demands More by Israa Nasir (Bridge City Books, $19.99, 9781962305358).
 
A Chill in the Flame by Piper CJ (Bloom Books, $18.99, 9781464218729).
 
The Muse of Maiden Lane: Belles of London Book 4 by Mimi Matthews (Berkley, $19, 9780593639276).
 
Flourishing Kin: Indigenous Wisdom for Collective Well-Being by Yuria Celidwen (Sounds True, $19.99, 9781649632043).

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

Hardcover
Blood Test: A Comedy by Charles Baxter (Pantheon, $28, 9780593700853). "Charles Baxter should be required reading for aspiring novelists. Blood Test delves deeply into many of the broken aspects of our current culture, but also presents the redeeming qualities many possess to find fulfillment in an often-desolate world." --Bill Cusumano, Square Books, Oxford, Miss.

Forest of Noise: Poems by Mosab Abu Toha (Knopf, $22, 9780593803974). "Mosab Abu Toha, a poet from Gaza, here delves into the indignities, injustices, the utter cruelties he and his fellow Palestinians have been subjected to. In and through the sheer horror there is a most human spirit, a celebration of joy in the cracks where it might be found." --Rick Simonson, The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, Wash.

Paperback
The Six: The Extraordinary Story of the Grit and Daring of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush (Scribner, $20.99, 9781982172817). "The Six introduces us to the real first women astronauts, who faced incredible scrutiny. The awesomeness of space exploration, the Challenger tragedy, the unreasonable press questions--experience it all with this accomplished group." --Rosemary Pugliese, Malaprop's Bookstore/Café, Asheville, N.C.

Ages 5-7
Open Me... I'm a Dog! by Art Spiegelman (TOON Books, $18.99, 9781662665486). "Open Me... I'm a Dog! uses clever word play and mixed media to encourage kids to have a hands-on experience. Spiegelman uses a combination of artistic styles to illustrate the story. This is a great book to introduce to a toddler and bring out for story time." --Lea Bickerton, The Tiny Bookstore, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Ages 10-14
Bye Forever, I Guess by Jodi Meadows (Holiday House, $18.99, 9780823456383). "Never want to say goodbye to Bye Forever, I Guess! The perfect middle grade novel about the changing nature of friendship, finding your fit while remaining true to yourself, and where to sit at lunch. Plus, a focus on nerdy girls rocks!" --Susan Williams, M. Judson Booksellers & Storytellers, Greenville, S.C.

Teen Readers
The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew (Joy Revolution, $19.99, 9780593710357). "Jill Tew's debut is everything readers have been waiting for. I was completely sucked in! With its swoony romance, twisty plot, and all the thrills, it's sure to make its way into the canon of YA dystopia." --Vania Stoyanova, Brave + Kind Bookshop, Decatur, Ga.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Climate change and eco-conscious political action are at the forefront of various global conversations as it becomes harder to deny that the current status quo is not going to be sustainable for much longer. As debates rage about the most effective course of action, interdisciplinary theorist Tao Leigh Goffe passionately argues that the future cannot be solved without turning to the past. Using both personal history and an approachable distillation of academic research, Goffe presents a new understanding of the current ecological landscape as connected to the extractive colonial practices imposed upon the world at large by European nations from the Early Modern period through the Industrial Age, and beyond.

Goffe writes: "we continuously fail to address the origin of the problem. Without economic and historical analyses of the origins of the climate crisis how can we expect to understand its sedimented layers?" Using Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean to mark the start of globalization in practice, she uses European colonial archives to draw connections between ideas about race, economic progress, and how plantations and extractive practices begat the current capitalist society. In doing so, Goffe asks "urgent, philosophical questions about whether we want to live differently."

At the crux of her argument, she centers this idea: "Freedom for everyone requires a confrontation with the capitalist greed upon Western society was founded." In doing so she directly calls out the restrictive ways that ignoring the colonial condition limits the collective imagination of what a world after various climate apocalypses might look like. Goffe persuasively argues that current climate movements sidestep issues of race and colonization, and therefore clearly shows how colonial and imperial powers are still having a greater impact on the wider environment without accepting responsibility for the damage. But she also points to movements for hope by centering moments and traditions of both Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous resistance, demonstrating that there are still ways to imagine a future with ecological security for all.

Perhaps most importantly Goffe uses her own heritage--which she describes as at the intersection of Black and Chinese cultures brought into contact specifically through British colonialism--to demonstrate the impacts of colonialism and how she has ties to several heritages and environments that met specifically because of those European incursions. As she traces the threads of Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous resistance tied to the mountains, the oceans, the coral reefs, to birdsong and the resonances of plants, she calls readers to rethink their relationships to environments, to rethink the idea of ownership and belonging, and so also rethink the idea of climate justice for everyone. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer

Shelf Talker: Tao Leigh Goffe presents a compelling argument for why there will be no lasting climate solutions without indigenous sovereignty and racial equity at the core of the efforts.