Books Inc., which has 11 stores in the Bay Area in California, has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in federal bankruptcy court, seeking to continue operations while it "establishes a sustainably solid financial footing." It will close its Berkeley store, whose lease was not extended at the end of last year after negotiations to reduce the rent were unsuccessful. Some of the Berkeley store staff will move to the other Books Inc. stores, and apart from that, Books Inc. intends to keep its 122 employees, whom it called "critical to its business operations." Besides the 11 stores, Books Inc. has a corporate office and warehouse, both located in the same building as its San Leandro store.

Books Inc. in Berkeley

CEO Andy Perham said in a statement, "Books Inc. is not going away. Our board, investors, senior managers and key partners agree that reorganizing with the tools afforded us by Chapter 11 is the fastest path toward putting our company on a smaller, financially stronger platform from which we can continue our long legacy of serving California readers.

"Restructuring Books Inc. for long-term viability will require we make some very difficult decisions that affect our people and business partners, and we intend to do everything we can to minimize these impacts. The experience and dedication of our booksellers and management is the foundation on which we feel confident in our ability to transition Books Inc. to its next successful era."

Books Inc. was founded in 1851 and boasts of being the oldest independent bookstore in the West. It's noted for having stores that are quite different from each other in look and inventory, reflecting their differing cities and neighborhoods. The company has regularly expanded and contracted during its history. Thirty years ago it filed for Chapter 11 reorganization after longtime owner Lew Lengfeld died and Borders and Barnes & Noble superstores were expanding across the country. At that point, Books Inc. closed all but two of its stores, but then rebounded under the leadership of former CEO Michael Tucker and Stephen Mayer, both of whom remain directors and equity owners.

The main cause for the company's current problems, it said in its Chapter 11 filing, are "dramatic changes to consumer buying patterns" during and after the pandemic. The lockdowns and then the prevalence of hybrid and remote work have led to lower foot traffic and thus lower sales. At the Civic Center store in San Francisco, for example, foot traffic has declined to less than half of pre-pandemic levels. At the same that sales declined, Books Inc. has had to deal with "significant increases in operating costs, including higher payroll and rental expenses" as well as higher interest rates on its debts.

Sales dropped from $20.9 million in 2019 to $11.3 million in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Sales improved in 2021, rising to $15.1 million, and to $17.7 million in 2022, then to $18.9 million in 2023. But last year, sales fell to $17.1 million--$3.75 million below 2019. Some 95% of revenue comes from in-store sales. The rest of sales is evenly split between online and event programming.

Books Inc.'s inventory is worth about $2.5 million. Secured debts amount to about $1.75 million. Unsecured debts, including money owed publishers, amount to about $3 million. Debts include unpaid California sales tax of $427,123.

Books Inc. described efforts it has taken to cut costs and return to profitability, including cutting store hours and shifting staff hours to reflect the changes in foot traffic. At the height of the pandemic, it also negotiated rent forgiveness and rent reductions. In addition, Books Inc. began a customer rewards program "to promote sales growth and customer loyalty" and moved its book fair programs, children's event programs, and community outreach programs--none of which were profitable--to its nonprofit Reading Bridge entity.

Under Chapter 11, Books Inc. intends "to work with its landlords to adjust lease costs to align with the current levels of foot traffic and sales" in its stores. If it can't negotiate changes at "underperforming" stores, it will close them.

Jupiter's Eye Book Cafe opened in downtown Spokane, Wash., on Friday, KXLY reported.

Located in a historic building at 411 W. 1st Ave., Jupiter's Eye focuses on mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror books. The cafe serves beer and wine along with tea and coffee.

Owner Morgan Lynch, a Spokane native, told KXLY: "I love this this town, and I'm just really excited to be part of it and leave my mark in it and kind of find kindred spirits who also are looking for this little cozy spot."

Lynch noted that the bookstore's building, which was built in 1901, was originally the Spokane Paper Company. There was "something really lovely about 100 years later selling books, paper goods in this place. It's full circle for that."

Friendly City Books, an independent bookstore and publisher in Columbus, Miss., held a grand reopening celebration in its new home over the weekend, WCBI reported.

Bookstore owner Emily Liner and her team have moved the bookstore from 118 5th St. N. to a larger space at 423 Main St. The reopening, held on January 19, also functioned as a donation drive for the Columbus Lowndes Humane Society, with 10% of the day's sales donated.

Founded in 2020, Friendly City Books sells new and used titles for all ages across a wide variety of genres. Its publishing wing releases 2-3 titles per year and in November 2023, Friendly City launched a nonprofit arm that donates books to schools, libraries, and community members in need.

Authors for LA, a group of authors and readers organized by Daniel Palmer and Jeff Ayers, is holding an auction to benefit American Red Cross relief efforts "to support those affected by the Los Angeles fires."

Bids, which close February 11, are being accepted now on a range of items from authors. In addition, today at 6 p.m. Eastern there will be a live telethon event to raise awareness and money, featuring Kimberly Belle, C.J. Box, Alafair Burke, S.A. Cosby, Joseph Finder, Tess Gerritsen, Heather Gudenkauf, Charlaine Harris, Brad Meltzer, Sara Paretsky, Kaira Rouda, Hank Philippi Ryan, and Lisa Unger.

The auction features such items as the opportunity to be named as a character in an author's next book (including, among others, David Baldacci and Michael Connelly); Zoom sessions with authors; editing services; tickets to the 2025 Edgar Awards and ThrillerFest; and many, many signed books (including a full set of Longmire novels by Craig Johnson, Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke, and Native Tongue by Carl Hiaasen).

Book sales in France decreased by an estimated 3% after inflation last year, according to Vincent Montagne, president of the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l'Edition) and chair and CEO of Media Participations. The Bookseller reported that in a speech at the SNE's New Year reception, Montagne described 2024 as "a difficult year." 

Figures released by market research firm NielsenIQ x GfK showed that 23 million French people bought at least one book last year, with secondhand copies accounting for 18% of the total and e-books less than 5%. The Bookseller noted that the data was collected from more than 8,500 points of sale, including 1,100 independent booksellers.

Regarding indies, last year was difficult one for outlets of all sizes and in all regions, said Alexandra Charroin-Spangenberg, president of the French Booksellers Association (Syndicat de la Librairie Française, SLF).

"Larger shops normally fare better in a downturn, but last year the decline was across the board," the Bookseller noted. "The SLF's Observatory panel of 470 booksellers showed a 2024 drop of 0.9% in turnover and 2.4% in the number of copies sold, which was partially offset by an average 1.6% rise in book prices."

Charroin-Spangenberg, who is joint manager of the Librairie de Paris bookshop in Saint-Etienne, cited France's political instability as a reason for end-of-year sales being exceptionally bleak, noting that fears of economic turmoil due to the country's massive financial deficit have eroded consumer spending. "We are not expecting miracles from the government," she added.

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Robbie Egan

In the first newsletter of 2025 from BookPeople, the association of Australian booksellers, CEO Robbie Egan looked back on 2024 and forward to the year ahead, noting, in part: "I hope trade is strong and you had a chance for quality time with friends and family after the mayhem of December. Anecdotally things are positive, though there is no universal truth. As always there are many markets and variations by location, demographics and so on. Early indications suggest January is off to a strong start, which is an encouraging sign for the year ahead."

Noting that 2024 was "another good year for BookPeople," Egan wrote that the association has migrated its membership information to a new management system that "will allow us to better communicate (and track our comms) with you all. The system allows for the creation of groups, something that many members have asked for over the years. We will be trialing this feature of the system and look to set up groups as soon as we have a better grasp of how to best manage them.

"The buying group continues to grow. Reports show huge market share for key titles in the last weeks of December, and that does not include the total group.... Our gift cards are picking up steam. It was gratifying to see a significant number of orders in December were international, particularly from the U.K. and Ireland, with N.Z. and North America featuring prominently, all of which is liquidity that would otherwise not exist.... I think we have achieved an enormous amount in the six years I have been here, under the most testing of circumstances. We now look forward to a fantastic 2025." 

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Jim MacSweeney

Jim MacSweeney is stepping down after 27 years from his position as manager of 46-year-old Gay's the Word bookshop in London. In a Facebook post, the bookstore noted that MacSweeney will continue to work as a bookseller, book buyer, and accounts manager, and he "is delighted to be handing over the reins to Uli Lenart who has supported him in the role of deputy manager for the last twenty years.

"Jim and Uli have always run the bookshop collaboratively, deciding together, and with the support of our fantastic team of booksellers and directors, how best to look after this special space for now and the future. We see this shift as the best of all worlds. The bookshop gets to retain all of Jim's knowledge and expertise, and after an incredible period at the helm, he gets to have some pressure taken off his shoulders, with more time to enjoy being a bookseller.... Jim has been an extraordinarily dedicated manager and it's not an overstatement to say that the LGBT+ community, across generations, owe him a debt of gratitude." --Robert Gray

A rare snowy day in New Orleans prompted this photo and succinct comment from Blue Cypress Books: "well cold damn."

Andy Dodds has joined Podium Entertainment as director, acquisitions. He was previously at Grand Central Publishing.

The Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Skills Workbook: Cope with Emotional Pain, Connect with What Matters, and Transform Your Life by Matthew S. Boone and Jennifer Gregg (New Harbinger Publications).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Michael Chad Hoeppner, author of Don't Say Um: How to Communicate Effectively to Live a Better Life (Balance, $30, 9780306834509).

Tamron Hall: Andrea Dunlop and Mike Weber, authors of The Mother Next Door: Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy (St. Martin's Press, $30, 9781250284273).

Masterpiece on PBS has released the first trailer for Miss Austen, based on Gill Hornby's bestselling 2020 novel. Starring Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard, The Durrells in Corfu), the project's cast includes Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones), Synnøve Karlsen (Last Night in Soho), Patsy Ferran (Living), Max Irons (The Wife), Alfred Enoch (How to Get Away with Murder), Calam Lynch (Bridgerton), and Phyllis Logan (Downton Abbey). 

Aisling Walsh directs from a script by Andrea Gibb (Elizabeth Is Missing), Miss Austen premieres May 4. It is a co-production of Bonnie Productions and Masterpiece, in association with the BBC and Federation Stories. 

Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari (Random House) has won the Association of Jewish Libraries' Jewish Fiction Award. Tsabari receives $1,000 and an invitation to attend the 2025 digital conference of the Association of Jewish Libraries, June 23–26.

Three honor books were also recognized:

The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad, translated by Jessica Cohen (New Vessel Press)
Displaced Persons: Stories by Joan Leegant (New American Press)
Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore (Dell)

The Association of Jewish Libraries called Songs for the Brokenhearted "a moving, literary experience. In this novel, author Ayelet Tsabari intricately weaves together three timelines and perspectives: Yaqub, a young Yemenite immigrant to Israel in the 1950s, immediately lovestruck by a woman singing by the river near the immigrant camp; Zohara, a Ph.D. student in New York in 1995 increasingly disenchanted with her chosen research topic of Hebrew poetry; and her teenage nephew Yoni in Israel, struggling with his identity and grief following his grandmother's death. All three are bound by their shared history with Saida--Yaqub's love, Zohara's mother, and Yoni's grandmother.

"At its heart, Tsabari's beautiful-tragic novel explores the complex dynamics of diasporic and Israeli Jewish identities, particularly Yemenite Jews, whose painful and often neglected history she illuminates with sensitivity and depth. As Zohara confronts the loss of her mother and discovers Saida's hidden voice through tapes of her singing, she embarks on a journey of emotional rediscovery and personal healing."

AJL Fiction Award committee member Hannah Srour-Zakon added, "In its exploration of a tumultuous history through the lens of one family, Songs for the Brokenhearted is, above all, a celebration of Yemenite Jewish joy."

photo: Karianne Flaathen

Edward Underhill grew up in Wisconsin suburbs, where he could not walk to anything, so he had to make up his own adventures. He studied music in college, spent several years living in very small apartments in New York, and currently resides in California with his partner and a talkative black cat. He is the author of the young adult novels Always the Almost and This Day Changes Everything. The In-Between Bookstore (Avon Books, January 24, 2025), his first book for adults, is a whimsical and healing novel about a trans man who moves back to his small hometown, a magical bookstore, and the questions "If you had one chance to talk to your younger self... would you? What would you say?"

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

A trans man walks into a magical bookstore, enters a time slip, and encounters his pre-transition, teenage self behind the register.

On your nightstand now:

At any given moment, I have a stack of books that is either about to topple off my nightstand or crush it under their combined weight. But I'll say currently on the top of the stack: I'll Have What He's Having by Adib Khorram (hugely fun so far), Ocean's Godori by Elaine U. Cho (ditto), A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jen Ferguson (she always writes with such nuance), and The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew (the premise is so cool!).

Favorite book when you were a child:

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I discovered it randomly at my local library because of the eye-catching and wonderfully bananas '80s cover--wizards and lightning bolts and a giant blue demon face. That book proceeded to basically live at my house. As soon as it was due, I'd return it and then go back to the library to check it out again the next day. I don't think this book is why I started writing my own stories, but it's absolutely the first book I remember trying to analyze (at age 12) to figure out why it was so damn good.

Your top five authors:

Honestly, the answer is constantly evolving, depending on what I've read recently and what new book has blown me away. But in terms of authors I return to again and again: Diana Wynne Jones, Kristin Cashore, Steven Rowley (Lily and the Octopus was the first time I saw a casually queer adult character in a novel that was not about how terrible it is to be queer), Adib Khorram (Darius the Great Is Not Okay and neither was I after reading that book), and Madeleine L'Engle.

Book you've faked reading:

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. I was supposed to read it in high school and I got so bored. I think I made it about halfway through before I gave up and checked out a movie version from the library. I suppose it was an early lesson in just how subjective books are, because I know it's counted as "great literature" but by the end of the movie, I just felt like I'd made the right call giving up on the book!

Book you're an evangelist for:

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall. I'm picky about romance, but I adored this book. It's funny, voice-y, self-deprecating, and delivers an emotional wallop when you least expect it. I'm pleased to say I've converted many people to loving it, including my agent.

Book you've bought for the cover:

Absolutely, Positively Not by David LaRochelle. First queer book I bought, and I pulled it off the shelf solely because the cover looked like rainbow sherbet and the little "window" in the jacket made me laugh.

Book you hid from your parents:

I'm not sure I ever actively hid books from my parents! They weren't really nosy about what I read.

Book that changed your life:

Well, this question is just rude. You expect me to pick only one?! But a recent book that changed my life was Never Say You Can't Survive by Charlie Jane Anders. Part writing guide, part encouragement book, all about creating when the world feels like a hopeless dumpster fire. It was a valuable reminder that the stories we tell and the lives we live are completely intertwined, and neither is full without the other.

Favorite line from a book:

And that, the monster said, is not the truth at all. --A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

First time I remember a single line just breaking me apart and healing me at the same time. I think about the power of that a lot when I write--that delivering an emotional gut punch is not just about the sentiment of what you're writing or the particular plot point, but about the specific words you choose, the simplicity of them, and literally where they fall in time and space (beginning of a paragraph, end of a section, near the beginning or end of a particular story arc, and so forth).

Five books you'll never part with:

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (my copy is literally disintegrating, but I love how brown the pages have become); This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (had no idea what was going on at first, was practically sobbing by the end); Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (entirely about healing from trauma, and the villain is dead the entire book); Pagan's Crusade by Catherine Jinks (had never encountered voice like that); and A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (felt like it was written for everyone who's constantly searching for something without knowing what it is).

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen. That book slapped. The combination of emotional and plot twists was so well done, I was alternately cackling and melting down while reading it.

Book that made you cry:

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. Just... oof.

Ben Clanton (Narwhal and Jelly series), Andy Chou Musser (Search for a Giant Squid, with Amy Seto Forrester), and Corey R. Tabor (Simon and the Better Bone) join forces to create Papilio, the inventive story of a black swallowtail butterfly, scientific name Papilio polyxenes. The charming and informative tale is divided into three sections, each representing a stage in Papilio's life: "Caterpillar," "Chrysalis," and "Butterfly."

Readers first meet Papilio in Clanton's "Caterpillar." She sits inside a small yellow egg on a flower's leaf: "Today is the day! she decides." After bursting out, her "tummy replies... gurgle!" The endearing caterpillar, with two dot eyes, perky antennae, and a warm smile, goes in search of food. She falls from her leaf, believing she's flying, but instead lands dramatically and comically on the ground. When a friendly mouse helps her, she discovers the world is "full of surprises!" The children at whom the book is aimed, who may also frequently seek snacks and stumble as they find their footing, will find much to enjoy, especially when Papilio sings, delightfully, before the "Chrysalis" story: "Got a full belly, time to turn to jelly!"

Tabor's "Chrysalis" depicts Papilio inside her "cozy chrysalis" where she "dissolves and turns into goo," prompting her to ponder how "weird" growing up can be. There's danger when birds argue over the tasty-looking chrysalis snack, but once again, the mouse saves the day. In Musser's "Butterfly," the still-hungry creature learns to navigate flying with her big new wings, avoids becoming a spider's meal, and shares a sweet treat with her mouse friend.

The stories flow seamlessly and blend cohesively into a unified whole, with each illustrator's distinctive style shining through. A closing note reveals that the final illustration is a collaborative one. Occasional speech bubbles and panels give the book a slight comic-book feel. The backmatter includes "A Flutter of Facts," a short section about butterflies, and an authors' note that explains how the story began as the collaborators walked through the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle, wondering: "What would happen if we made a book together?" The result is a must-have for elementary science classrooms and libraries, as well as an ideal story for children curious about the natural world. --Julie Danielson

Shelf Talker: This collaborative story blends the artistic styles of three author/illustrators and tells a memorable story of metamorphosis.

The following were the most popular book club books during 2024 based on votes from book club readers in more than 88,000 book clubs registered at Bookmovement.com:

1. The Women: A Novel by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin's Press)
2. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead Books)
3. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Doubleday)
4. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (Harper)
5. First Lie Wins: A Novel by Ashley Elston (Pamela Dorman Books)
6. Hello Beautiful: A Novel by Ann Napolitano (Dial Press)
7. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Doubleday)
8. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper)
9. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (Grove Press)
10. Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See (Scribner)

Rising Stars:
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods (HarperCollins 360/One More Chapter)
The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Holt)