For the last full week before the holidays, we want to share some booksellers' tips about how to deal with and enjoy what's the busiest time of the year for many of you. These are courtesy of Steerforth Press and Pushkin Press, part of an advent calendar that they put together asking booksellers what all booksellers should remember to do in the runup to the holidays for customer service and for self-care. Among our favorites:

For self-care:

"Nap, laugh and/or rage with friends, and spoil your pet. If you don't have one, definitely get one." --Aubrey, Powell's Books, Portland, Ore.

"Chocolate. Alcohol. Meditation. Sleep. Water." --Mara, Fact & Fiction, Missoula, Mont.

"Decompress when you get home." --Baeyle, Left Bank Books, St. Louis, Mo.

"With limited hours of daylight and busy retail seasons, it's super important to prioritize at least 10 minutes of daily sunshine." --Zoey, Milkweed Books, Minneapolis, Minn.

"Get as much rest as possible & do things you enjoy." --Kromeklia, Solid State Books, Washington, D.C.

For customer care:

"Breathe and remember that the customers are having holiday stress too." --Rafe, Third Place Books, Seattle, Wash.

"Take your time." --Steve, Charter Books, Newport, R.I.

"Rely on your fellow booksellers to be there for you... Remind each other that this is an exciting job we get to do." --Torrin, Queen Anne Book Company, Seattle, Wash.

"Don't despair when the tchotchkes start outselling the books." --Bee, Pegasus Books, Berkeley, Calif.

"Lean into what makes you and your bookshop unique--you are curating an experience like no other on earth." --Amanda, Warwick's, San Diego, Calif.

Needful Books & Things opened recently at 520 W Twincourt Trail #3, St. Augustine, Fla. The Record reported that co-owner and manager Anne McCarthy's "lifelong dream of owning a bookstore is not only up and running, the brick and mortar has become a haven for book lovers in America's oldest city." 

The bookstore's name was inspired by Stephen King and his 1992 novel Needful Things, she said, adding: "In addition to the literature classics, we have special editions, fantasy and mystery thrillers, general fiction, romance, romantasy, horror, true-crime, sci-fi, young-adult, lots of kids' books for all ages, themed cookbooks, as well as local books about St. Augustine and Florida." 

Noting that a "ton of research" goes into every selection, McCarthy said, "I've worked in the big box bookstores, so I know what sells well. All of the books I order have good reviews. I just search for the prettiest ones."

Needful Books & Things also sells games, puzzles of all sizes, card games that you won't "necessarily find just anywhere," greeting cards, and gifts for children and adults, she added. "We also offer tote bags, T-shirts, candles, jewelry, handbags, wallets, bookmarks, stickers, pins, and buttons. Special orders are always available, and we have affiliations with Bookshop.org for online book orders and Libro.fm for audio books. Watch for e-book options, coming soon."

Bookstore co-owner Rhonda McCarthy brings more than 30 years of experience in business analysis and investment management to the new venture. "Mom lives in Omaha but is a frequent visitor to St. Augustine and an as-needed store assistant," Anne McCarthy noted.

Thus far, the positive community response to the new shop is "more than I could have dreamed that it could be," she added.

Two Friends Books, a bookstore and cafe in Bentonville, Ark., has launched a nonprofit arm called Two Friends Community Books, Axios reported. 

The nonprofit aims to foster literacy and increase access to literary arts throughout Northwest Arkansas. Early next year, Two Friends Community Books will open a pay-by-donation pop-up store inside Casa Magnolia cafe in Springdale, Ark. Casa Magnolia's owner, Rafael Rios, is also the owner of Yeyo's El Alma de Mexico restaurant, which is next door to Two Friends Books.

Through the nonprofit, Two Friends owners Monica Diodati and Rachel Stuckey-Slaton will also create an author speaker series that will bring authors to diverse audiences of all ages. The talks will feature a book giveaway component, and the nonprofit status will allow them to access grants and other new modes of funding. The nonprofit will also provide books to schools and libraries in the area.

"The publishing industry is not necessarily paying attention to the mid-South, and we think that they should be, and this allows us to sort of raise our hand a bit higher," Stuckey-Slaton said of the author series.

The deal under which Copperfield's Books would sublet space in the Depot Café and Bookstore in Mill Valley, Calif., and bolster Depot's bookstore operation has fallen through, according to the Marin Independent Journal. A key reason: Copperfield's learned that the lease for its store in Larkspur prohibits other stores within a distance that includes the Depot location. (We wrote about the possible arrangement last month.)

Librarian Alice Hudson, "who, after enrolling in a mandatory geography course in college, took a detour from her plan to become a professional translator and went on to devote her career to building one of the world's premier public map collections," died November 6, the New York Times reported. She was 77.

Hudson was chief of the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division of the New York Public Library from 1981 to 2009, during which time she "oversaw the doubling of the collection, to more than 400,000 maps and 24,000 atlases, rivaling the holdings of the Library of Congress, the National Archives and the British Library," the Times noted.

Hudson's exhibitions often highlighted the overlooked contribution of women to cartography. "The women are there, but literally behind the veil of social and cultural constraints that continue to this day," she said in an address to the International Cartographic Association in 1995. "In the world of early maps, unsigned colorists, names masked by initials, widows and heirs without their own names, women in cartographic tomes but not in their indexes--are all lost to us unless unveiled by accident or design."

She told the Times in 2002 that a map "is so much more than a diagram showing how to get from Point A to Point B. Every map tells a story."

In 1977, she was a founder of the New York Map Society, which offers an annual award in her name to students at Hunter College's School of Geography and Environmental Science, part of the City University of New York. She was one of the first two inductees into the society's hall of fame. The Fund for the City of New York's Sloan Public Service Award, which recognizes unheralded civic employees, was presented to her in 2001.

Matt Knutzen, who worked with Hudson in the map division and is now the Linda May Uris director of the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Divisions at the library, said, "She demonstrated, to generations of researchers, students, exhibition-goers, library administrators, that maps provide essential context in understanding human experience as it unfolds across places, and over time."

Niche Books, which opened this year in Lakeville, Minn., held its first book signing with local author Loretta Ellsworth, whose novel The French Winemaker's Daughter was just published by Harper. A large crowd gathered to celebrate with wine and homemade French cookies and madeleines. Pictured: Ellsworth (l.) with Niche owner Ashley Christopherson.

All She Wrote Books, a queer and feminist bookstore in Somerville, Mass., is offering its space to be booked for LGBTQ+ elopements and weddings prior to Inauguration Day, Massachusetts Political Dispatch reported. The store is offering several options ranging from simply renting the space to a package that includes a photographer, officiant, and more.

"We deeply value the incredible community we've built," said owner Christina Pascucci-Ciampa. "In light of the outcome of this election, we knew it was time to give back. While this is just one small part of a much larger cause, offering this space for LGBTQ+ couples is a way for people to regain some control and demonstrate our strength and resilience together."

The latest episode of the Open Road with David Steinberger podcast features David Shelley, CEO of the Hachette Book Group in the U.S. and Hachette UK. He talks about growing up above a bookshop, differences in publishing between the U.K. and U.S., and more.

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On Freakonomics' Economics of Everyday Things: Used Bookstores, Zachary Crockett interviews Francisco Hernandez, founder of Leaves in Brooklyn, N.Y.

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In its 100th edition, the Across the Pond podcast--hosted by Lori Feathers, co-founder and owner of Interabang Books, Dallas, Tex., and Sam Jordison, publisher of Galley Beggar Press in the U.K.--features an interview with Dan Wells, publisher of Biblioasis Press and the owner of Biblioasis Bookshop, Windsor, Ont., Canada.

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Hosted by writer and literary insider Tali Rosenblatt-Cohen, the new Five Books podcast invites Jewish writers to discuss the top five books that have shaped them, including their latest work, novels that shifted their perspective, and childhood books that guided their journeys. The first three episodes feature Benjamin Resnick, Yael van der Wouden, and, this week, Jean Meltzer.

Margot Atwell is stepping down as executive director and publisher of the Feminist Press at CUNY, effective in February, and will continue to edit select projects. The board of directors thanked her for "the energetic leadership she has provided FP for three years," particularly for modernizing systems, improving administration and staff benefits, leading the Press's first crowdfunding campaigns, connecting with its community, and acquiring and editing a dozen books.

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Erin Reilly has been promoted to v-p, adult mass merchandise & distributor sales, Penguin Random House, effective February 1. She will expand her portfolio to include all adult mass merchandise classes of trade. This includes Target, Walmart, the clubs, airport retailers, grocery, and drugstores. Readerlink, Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Brodart are included in the channel.

Today:
Jimmy Kimmel Live repeat: Josh Brolin, author of From Under the Truck: A Memoir (Harper, $30, 9780063382183).

Tomorrow:
Jennifer Hudson Show: Michelle Obama, author of Overcoming: A Workbook (Clarkson Potter, $19.99, 9780593237496).

Sherri Shepherd Show: Lena Waithe, author of What I Must Tell the World: How Lorraine Hansberry Found Her Voice (Zando-Hillman Grad Books, $19.99, 9781638930693).

A new trailer has been released for Nickel Boys, based on Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. IndieWire reported that writer/director RaMell Ross (Hale County This Morning, This Evening) "has already been toasted as a filmmaker to watch this awards season" for his adaptation. Nickel Boys premiered December 13 in select theaters in New York, with a Los Angeles debut coming December 20. It will expand nationwide in January. 

Ross, who co-wrote the script with Joslyn Barnes, received the Auteur Award at the 2024 IndieWire Honors event, where he said, "The film is not looking at the Black community, it's looking from the Black community. And that's a perspective I wasn't seeing often. Alternatively, I think this film and Colson Whitehead's novel is about justice on some level, not only visual justice but another justice, one for the young men of the Dozier School for Boys and their families. And this is really, really deeply true, we owe those young men for their stories not to be buried right next to them. It's such a tragedy, such a horrible story. At a time when we want to forget and ignore the ugly parts of American history, I wanted to create a loving and experiential monument to the [real life] Dozier School boys."

Nickel Boys is produced by Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine, and co-writer Barnes. Executive producers include Brad Pitt, Gabby Shepard, Emily Wolfe, Kenneth Yu, and Chadwick Prichard.

Mīkrūfūn kātim Sawt (Muted Microphone) by Mohammed Tarazi has won the 2024 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature, sponsored by the American University in Cairo Press and honoring the best contemporary novel published in Arabic in the past two years. Lebanese novelist Tarazi receives a $5,000 cash prize and an English translation of the book that will be published by AUC Press's fiction imprint, Hoopoe.

Head judge Sarah Enany said the book was chosen because of "its deep metaphor and imagery and powerful characters as well as its smooth narrative style. Although it discusses Lebanon today, it emerges from the limits of its own setting in space and time to unveil a general human reality for those of us in contemporary society who live in cities that stifle souls and kill dreams."

The AUC Press has been the originating publisher of Naguib Mahfouz's English-language editions for more than 30 years and has also been responsible for the licensing of some 600 foreign-language editions of the Nobel laureate's works in more than 40 languages since he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988.

End of August, a tenderly drawn family saga by first-time author Paige Dinneny, is rooted in the lives of three generations of strong, independent women.

Set in Indiana in the summer of 1979, the novel is narrated by deeply sensitive, 15-year-old Aurora Taylor. She and her restless, 31-year-old mother, Laine, have lived in 18 towns. Their roaming existence stems from Laine's tendency to fall in love easily and then cut-and-run for various reasons--"dead-end" jobs and a "revolving door of men." Aurora was a "mistake," birthed when Laine "was still a kid" herself. When the two learn that Aurora's grandmother has lost her husband--Laine's stepfather--Laine decides to attend the funeral and check on her mother, Katherine, a recovering alcoholic.

But what is intended as a short layover becomes a longer stay as Laine casts her wiles on a local, married mailman. She takes a job at a downtown diner, and the three women soon settle under the same roof in Monroe, a "blink-and-you-might-miss-it" small Midwestern town. Although Aurora's gran and her mom are "oil and water," that doesn't keep Aurora and Katherine from forging a deep bond, with the older woman discovering what a well-adjusted teenager Aurora has become despite her vagabond life.

Gran, her house, and the small town become a refuge for Aurora. She makes friends, gets a job at a bowling alley, and even falls for responsible, caring pastor's son named Harry, who comes from a solid family and works as a lifeguard at the local pool. As Aurora and Harry grow closer, Laine and her married lover become the talk of the town. Aurora fears that if her mother repeats history, they will become social outcasts and be forced to uproot again. Aurora rebels: all she wants is to be a "normal" teenager, get a driver's license, and start school in a place that feels like the only stable home she's ever known.

Dinneny's emotionally evocative, multigenerational coming-of-age story shows how providence can pave a way through familial abandonment and addiction issues to build pathways to redemption. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines

Shelf Talker: A tenderly drawn, redemptive family saga centered on what divides and unites three generations of strong, independent Midwestern women.