"Jeff Bezos: The weaselly Amazon owner forbade the Washington Post from endorsing Kamala Harris, so I'm no longer endorsing Amazon. Why buy books from this craven creep when independent bookstores deserve our support? That's why I'm pleased to announce that the official vendor of my books is now Bookshop.org, which has raised millions of dollars for local bookstores."

The Nook Bookstore & Mocktail Lounge has opened at 211 N 9th St. in Manitowoc, Wis. WFRV reported that the new venture, owned by Jessica Nicholson and Lily Schuette, "brings customers together to enjoy spiritless mocktails alongside a diverse selection of books in a comfortable space with an ambiance the owners say will have you lounging for hours."

Nicholson, a local real estate agent, said she was excited about introducing a hangover-free concept to Manitowoc, and has plans to host events aimed at fostering community connections.

Schuette added that she was enthusiastic about creating a space where people can savor a delicious mocktail or immerse themselves in a good book. The Nook's menu features coffee, tea, and specialty mocktails, including a Galaxy Gin Fizz, Pink Lady Lemonade, Old Fashioned Essence, and Smokey the Bear. Small bites, including parfaits, avocado toast, turnovers, and bagels with cream cheese, are also available.

After the Nook's grand opening on December 14, Nicholson and Schuette posted on Facebook: "All we have to say is... WOW! Never in a million years did we expect to walk outside and see a line wrapped around the building. What an honor it was to serve every single one of you who came to our grand opening. 

"We have prepped for months, and we hope every customer had an amazing experience! Seeing our space filled with people enjoying our creations is one of the best feelings ever! We will be restocking TONS of books, retail, and blind dates with a book (those sold out within the first half hour)! If you have any feedback, we would love to hear it. Shoot us a message and let us know what we can do to keep you all coming back.

"A HUGE shoutout to our team today--this was their first real day and they were incredible. With hardly any training they jumped right in and got the hang of things so quick. The perfect team, hands down!"

Meet Cute Midland, a romance bookstore and gift store, opened earlier this month in Midland, Tex., YourBasin reported.

The bookstore, located in the Micro Market at 201 West Wall St., carries an assortment of romance titles representing a wide variety of sub-genres, along with nonbook items like candles, stationery, bath soaks, and spa headbands, and offers a monthly subscription program. Meet Cute is open Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Sisters Amanda Wilson and Megan Dixon opened the bookstore with their mother, Terri Matthews. All three are lifelong readers, and they managed to get the bookstore up and running in just 42 days. 

"We want to be that for everyone in the community, a place that you can just come in and be you... it doesn't really matter what you like to read or what your favorite book or category is, we all love reading," Wilson told YourBasin. "It's just an exciting experience to be able to share that love with everybody and be somewhere where you could just foster that love and passion and come in, read your favorite book, sit down a while, hang out, really just get to know other people who love the same thing that you do."

Meet Cute Midland is the second romance bookstore to open in Midland this year. Love Affair Bookstore opened in July.

Always Here, a bookstore specializing in queer books for all ages that began as a pop-up in 2023, will be moving into a permanent home in Portland, Ore., next year.

John (l.) and Rafael Hart at the new storefront.

In advance of the move to a long-term space, Always Here owners Rafael and John Hart have launched a membership program to help make sure the bookstore has a sustainable future. They are in the midst of a membership drive that has raised just over $12,000 toward a $24,000 goal. Membership tiers range from $5 to $500 per month, and perks include discounts, store merch, access to a monthly members' social club, and more.

For the past year, Always Here has operated out of a pop-up storefront at 3803 N. Williams Ave., which the bookstore was leasing on a month-to-month basis at a reduced rent. When they inquired with the landlord about renting long-term, they learned that they would have to pay more than triple the month-to-month rent.

One day, someone left a note on the bookstore's counter with contact information and an address for a building about a 10-minute walk away. It turned out to be a standalone building with ground-floor retail space, owned by a landlord looking for a new tenant.

Within two weeks, Always Here and the landlord had agreed to a five-year lease and officially signed it on November 5, with the intention of having at least some good news on election day.

"Too often, we hear about other bookstores being priced out of their neighborhoods by predatory landlords," said John Hart. "Our guy seems to really care about what a community space can do for the city he lives in."

Ana Maria Allessi has been promoted to president and publisher of Hachette Audio, effective January 2. She has been v-p and publisher. In her new role, Allessi will continue to lead the company's audio, recording, and digital content publishing efforts, including marketing to consumers, as well as audio distribution strategies for audiobooks for all of HBG's imprints.

Ana Maria Allessi

Before joining Hachette in 2022, Allessi was v-p and publisher of Workman Audio and earlier worked at HarperAudio and Harper Media. She was a board member of the Audio Publishers Association for 11 years and president of the board from 2019 to 2023.

Hachette Book Group deputy CEO Richard Kitson said, "Under Ana Maria's dynamic leadership, HBG has delivered another record-breaking year of audio sales. She delivers day in, day out and is focused on driving innovation and growth. She has a brilliant team working with her who constantly aim to deliver our mission to make it easy for people to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment, and opportunity. I look forward to working closely with her in this new role and her continued contributions to the HBG Executive Management Board and the wider company."

In a related move, Kim Sayle, who has served as v-p, associate publisher of Hachette Audio since 2019, has been promoted to senior v-p and deputy publisher.

British children's author and illustrator Jean Adamson, who published 150 books over five decades, died December 15, the Bookseller reported. She was 96. Her publisher, Ladybird, described Adamson as "one of our most beloved and respected children's book creators, best known for creating Topsy and Tim with her late husband Gareth Adamson." 

She began her career as a freelance artist and illustrator, as well as a storyman in the advertising industry, but after her marriage in 1957, the couple "decided to create books for children working on the books together, with Jean researching the story and illustrating, and Gareth writing the stories. They also created original animations for Yorkshire TV in the 1970s," the Bookseller noted.

Jean Adamson was awarded an MBE for her services to children's literature in 1999 and in 2016 was made an Honorary Fellow of Goldsmiths College.

"For the Adamsons, having children at the center of the narrative was part of the magic of the stories," Ladybird said. "In their eyes, the books didn't need any fantastical elements, 'because all the world is magic for children.' Jean said the choice of girl and boy twins was a way of ensuring gender equality." 

Francesca Dow, managing director of Penguin Random House Children's, said: "Jean and her husband Gareth's work was uncharacteristic of the time, with Jean's art style being bright, pared back and uncluttered. They made sure that the depictions of these first experiences were well-researched so that parents and children could trust them. And, unusually for the time, gave Topsy an equal role to play in the adventures as Tim. Jean will be greatly missed. She leaves behind a gift to children and their families in her greatest creations."

Mandy Little, chair and former literary agent at Watson, Little, said: "The world she and Gareth created around the twins continues to be relevant for today's children, who still start school or go to the doctor for the first time and Topsy and Tim stories will go on for generations, helping to demystify rather scary first experiences with lots of fun along the way."

Exile in Bookville co-owners Javier Ramirez and Kristin Enola Ramirez have been named Chicagoans of the Year in Books by the Chicago Tribune, which reported that what they "have built on Michigan Avenue feels like a cool secret. And that, in fact, was the idea. They built a small business, which, now three years later, is an influential one, its tendrils entwined with both the Chicago book community and the indie music ecosystem.... The Ramirezes wanted a bookstore exuding warmth, and they got it back tenfold."

Javier Ramirez and Kristin Enola Ramirez

In an Instagram post, the owners noted, in part: "We are so, so, so incredibly honored to be included in the select list of those named as Chicagoans of the Year by the @chicagotribune in 2024!... We want to give a big hug to our beautiful building and the humans who make our home so special here at the @fineartsbuilding!

"Exile, while officially just the two of us, is the product of so many. Exile grows a little every day from your contributions and presence. From the authors and translators who write and translate the books we stock and the publishers who publish them. From the authors we host at Exile to the readers who attend their events. From our fellow bookselling friends from all over the country to our publicists and reps. From our family and friends to our beloved Travis and Jeanine at UPS and USPS, respectively. From our friends who work the store in our absence and to those same friends who work the register while we are busy making cocktails. And to our dear customers who support us near and far. We think of you all more as friends than customers and we truly have the best friends! So, really, when you look at Exile, you'll see many Chicagoans of the Year. This honor is yours as much as it is ours."

"Seasons readings. Chill out with a new book." That was the holiday sidewalk chalkboard message in front of Barrier Island Books & Art, Stone Harbor, N.J.

"Our mascot Wally is so elfin' cute! Swing by the bookstore anytime for a boost in serotonin.... Wally might even be there to greet you!" Gramercy Books, Bexley, Ohio, posted on Facebook.

Today:
Fresh Air: Miranda July, author of All Fours: A Novel (Riverhead, $29, 9780593190265).

Tomorrow:
Morning Joe: Judge Frederic Block, author of A Second Chance: A Federal Judge Decides Who Deserves It (The New Press, $27.99, 9781620978870).

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, December 21
11:30 a.m. Susanna Ashton, author of A Plausible Man: The True Story of the Escaped Slave Who Inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin (The New Press, $28.99, 9781620978191), at Solid State Books in Washington, D.C.

12:25 p.m. Bob Frishman, author of Edward Duffield: Philadelphia Clockmaker, Citizen, Gentleman, 1730-1803 (‎The American Philosophical Society Press, $60, 9781606180099).

2 p.m. An author discussion on the Battle of the Bulge during World War II with Anthony Tucker-Jones, author of Hitler's Winter: The German Battle of the Bulge, Gregory Fontenot, author of Loss and Redemption at St. Vith: The 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge, and John C. McManus, author of Alamo in the Ardennes: The Untold Story of the American Soldiers Who Made the Defense of Bastogne Possible, at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

Sunday, December 22
8 a.m. Bill Clinton, author of Citizen: My Life After the White House (‎Knopf, $38, 9780525521440). (Re-airs Sunday at 8 p.m.)

9:20 a.m. Andy F. Puzder, author of A Tyranny for the Good of its Victims: The Ugly Truth about Stakeholder Capitalism (‎Encounter Books, $34.99, 9781641774154). (Re-airs Sunday at 9:20 p.m.)

10:15 a.m. The Before Columbus Foundation presents the 2024 American Book Awards, which recognize "outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America's diverse literary community."

1:10 to 7:10 p.m. Coverage of the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, Tenn. Highlights include:

• 1:10 p.m. Mark R. Cheathem, author of Who Is James K. Polk?: The Presidential Election of 1844.
• 2:01 p.m. Andrew Smith, author of Devil in the Stack: A Code Odyssey.
• 2:55 p.m. Sayantani DasGupta, author of Brown Women Have Everything: Essays on (Dis)comfort and Delight and Barbara Jenkins, author of So Long as It's Wild: Standing Strong After My Famous Walk Across America.
• 3:46 p.m. Alice Driver, author of Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking on America's Largest Meatpacking Company.
• 4:35 p.m. Neesha Powell-Ingabire, author of Come By Here: A Memoir in Essays from Georgia's Geechee Coast, and Andrew Ross, author of The Realms of Oblivion: An Excavation of the Davies Manor Historic Site's Omitted Stories.
• 5:27 p.m. Steven Hale, author of Death Row Welcomes You: Visiting Hours in the Shadow of the Execution Chamber, and Joseph B. Ingle, author of Too Close to the Flame: With the Condemned inside the Southern Killing Machine.
• 6:19 p.m. Corey J. Miles, author of Vibe: The Sound and Feeling of Black Life in the American South, and Julian Randall, author of The Dead Don't Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi, and Black TV Nerd Shit.

7:10 p.m. Dava Sobel, author of The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science (Atlantic Monthly Press, $30, 9780802163820), at Politics and Prose in Washington D.C.

George Szirtes has been awarded the 2024 King's Gold Medal for Poetry, which was established by King George V in 1933 and is awarded annually for excellence in poetry to a recipient from the U.K. or a Commonwealth Realm. The Poetry Medal Committee recommended Szirtes "due to his deeply personal pieces of work, informed by his dual perspective, looking both east and west." 

Born in Budapest in 1948, Szirtes and his family moved to England as refugees following the Hungarian Uprising in 1956. "He is now considered a major figure across the United Kingdom and beyond," the committee noted. Szirtes has published 13 collections of poetry as well as biographies, including The Photographer at Sixteen (2019), a memoir of his mother that won the James Tait Black Prize for biography. 

"George Szirtes is a deserving recipient of the King's Gold Medal for Poetry," said Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. "For decades his crafted, observational poems have turned the spotlight on society and its values--how countries and regimes treat their people, how people operate under fluctuating political ideologies. His work and his perspectives are as relevant now as they were when he first put pen to paper, and possibly more so." 

Szirtes commented: "When our family came here as refugees in 1956 only my father spoke some English. Although English was chronologically my second language, it quickly become first in daily life. I had no notion of being a poet until one day in a school corridor, a friend showed me a poem and suddenly a door opened where there hadn't been a door at all. I had no expectations, no background or formal teaching, so being the recipient of the King's Gold Medal for Poetry tops everything."

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, December 24:

The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap (Kensington, $28, 9781496750341) is a mystery about cadaver snatchers in 1828 Scotland.

Miss Amelia's List by Mercedes Lackey (DAW, $28, 9780756419097) is the 17th Elemental Masters book, a paranormal fantasy series set in Regency England.

A Sky of Emerald Stars: A Novel by A.K. Mulford (Harper Voyager, $28.99, 9780063291478) is the second Golden Court werewolf romantasy book.

The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can't Stop Talking About by Mel Robbins (Hay House, $29.99, 9781401971366) is a self-help book about releasing the power we give other people over ourselves.

David Cronenberg: Clinical Trials by Violet Lucca, illus. by Little White Lies (Abrams, $50, 9781419771910) surveys the work of a horror film director.

Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (Tundra Books, $20.99, 9780735269989) is book two in the YA sci-fi Iron Widow series.

Escaping Peril: A Graphic Novel by Tui T. Sutherland, illus. by Mike Holmes (Graphix, $12.99, 9781339001234) is the eighth graphic novel adaptation in the popular middle-grade Wings of Fire series.

Who Was Shirley Chisholm? by Crystal Hubbard, illus. by Tim Foley (Penguin Workshop, $6.99, 9780593750261) is another installation of the nonfiction Who Was? Series, about the first Black woman to be elected to Congress.

Paperbacks:
Backwater Justice: Sisterhood Book 36 by Fern Michaels (Zebra, $9.99, 9781420157161).

River Wild: A Powder River Novel Book 4 by B.J. Daniels (Canary Street Press, $9.99, 9781335508164).

I Am Sin by Helen Hardt (Waterhouse Press, $16.99, 9781642634082).

The Secret Daughter: The Brides of Bellaire Gardens Book 4 by Anne Gracie (Berkley, $9.99, 9780593549704).

A Tempest of Desire: Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James Book 5 by Lorraine Heath (Avon, $9.99, 9780063384453).

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

Hardcover
Woo Woo: A Novel by Ella Baxter (Catapult, $27, 9781646222551). "Surreal and chaotic. Take a wild ride with Sabine as she plunges her emotional depths prior to her art show opening. I enjoyed exploring the artists' work that Baxter opens each chapter with. It's fascinating to see who and what inspires creativity." --Jennifer Wood, East City Bookshop, Washington, D.C.

The Collaborators: A Novel by Michael Idov (Scribner, $28.99, 9781668055571). "A dynamite spy thriller full of pulsating suspense, dead bodies, and vivid characters. Why did the billionaire's daughter and rogue CIA sleeper agent team up to comb the world to find dangerous answers? This will keep you page-turning to find out." --Maureen Palacios, Once Upon a Time, Montrose, Calif.

Paperback
American Bulk: Essays on Excess by Emily Mester (Norton, $17.99, 9781324035237). "It's so refreshing to read cultural critique written by someone who's in the trenches with the rest of us. American Bulk is the essay collection we need as we're bombarded by algorithmically intelligent ads and our one-click-buy existences." --Laurel Kane, White Whale Bookstore, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Ages 4-8
All the Books by Hayley Rocco, illus. by John Rocco (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9780316512749). "Piper Waterstone loves her books! She loves them so much she wants to keep them forever. When she discovers the library, she learns the art of sharing and friendship in this beautiful picture book." --Rae Ann Parker, Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tenn.

Ages 6-11
Bog Myrtle by Sid Sharp (Annick Press, $19.99, 9781773218922). "I LOVE THIS GRAPHIC NOVEL! Fantastic illustrations perfectly depict the story's changing moods. Problems are solved righteously with humor. And I love that spiders are depicted as the intelligent, valuable creatures they are." --Kay Wosewick, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, Wis.

Teen Readers
For She Is Wrath by Emily Varga (Wednesday Books, $20, 9781250877383). "Varga's Pakistani-inspired retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo is a fierce, compelling tale of sisterhood, adventure, and vengeance. Fans of Chloe Gong will love this enemies-to-lovers romance!" --Alyssa Raymond, Copper Dog Books, Beverly, Mass.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Novelist Karolina Ramqvist's vivid memoir Bread and Milk, elegantly translated from Swedish by Saskia Vogel, depicts in moving detail the relationships the author has with important members of her family, seen through the lens of her memories of food. Whether startling her grandparents by preparing a beef stew thought to be out of range for a child her age, or eating in one go all the tangerines her mother bought at the store, or whipping up an ill-fated rice pudding for her daughter, all the episodes show the dominant role that food has occupied in Ramqvist's life.

She writes, "I've found myself thinking that all lovers of food must be abandoned children because, in most families anyway, food is the only thing within reach for a child who can't handle all that it means to exist." The increasingly sinister nature of the relationship Ramqvist had with food creeps up on readers. First, she centers the extent of her childhood isolation when living with her mother, whose job, social commitments, and romantic adventures frequently took her out of the house, leaving her alone well into the nighttime hours.

By the middle of the memoir, Ramqvist's full-blown eating disorder--or as she thought of it at one time, addiction--is clearly on display. What seemed to have started innocuously enough, with preferences for skim milk or rice pudding over meat or fatty foods, revealed an insidiousness as the troubling incidents mounted. It became clear how much Ramqvist had been left on her own and how fully she came to associate food with love and care: "I had turned to food because it gave me everything I wanted and needed, but the older I got, the clearer it became how short-lived the effect was. It surged and then subsided, a security and a warmth that ultimately existed only in the brief, flashing moments when my mouth was full."

Ramqvist's telling is focused more on her development and self-knowledge rather than the physical effects of disordered eating or a difficult 12-step journey. Still the trajectory is one of recovery. At its heart, Bread and Milk is a sensual personal reflection, filled with the love Ramqvist (The White City) has for the people in her life, and inextricably tied to her memories of food and its preparation. A moving, beautifully crafted and translated journey about what sustains and connects us. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash.

Shelf Talker: Bread and Milk is a captivating and moving memoir about hunger, food, love, and satiety.