Layfette Books & Gifts will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 19 for its bricks-and-mortar space, located at 7500 Oakbrook Drive, Suite 14, inside the Oakbrook Towne Center in Florence, Ky. A grand opening is slated for November 21. 

Owners Amanda and James Hopper signed a three-year lease for the 1,200-square-foot space, Cincinnati Business Courier reported, adding that the bookstore is named in honor of Amanda Hopper's parents, Dorothy and Roy Layfette Miller II. The shop will offer a selection of books for all ages, along with gifts and bookish merchandise.

James Hopper, a former Fidelity employee, said he and his wife, a career-long librarian, had considered opening a bookstore for a while, first trying out the venture through community pop-ups and events.

"We wanted to test the market, just to see if there was an opportunity in Boone County and there was," he noted. "Yes, we have a Barnes & Noble and, yes, we have a Half Price Books, but our goal is a community center where people feel comfortable coming in and asking questions about books."

Layfette's location in a high-traffic shopping center with a diverse tenant mix also factored into their decision. "We are surrounded by wonderful businesses. Restaurants, a marketplace, florists, coffee, pastries," said Hopper, who has plans for future community programming and local partnerships within the space.

"That's one of our core features, everything in the space is moveable. We can bring in chairs or we can use those tables (for a) book club, or if there's a workshop or anything of that nature," he noted. "And then Amanda, given her library background and expertise with children, will be doing story times and things like that."

Noelle Schneider has purchased Daydream Believer Books & Gifts, a bookstore and coffee shop in Lake Mills, Wis., from original owner Jean Lynch, HNG News reported. 

Schneider, who officially took over from Lynch earlier this fall, started out as a customer of Daydream Believer before becoming an employee. She was working remotely at the bookstore and coffee shop so often that Lynch eventually "offered to have her pick up some hours," HNG News noted. 

Prior to becoming a bookseller, Schneider had a background in graphic design. She called buying the bookstore "perfect." She added: "I'm seeing people again and getting involved in the community."

While she plans to keep the core of the business the same, Schneider said she will host more events, including author readings, storytime sessions, and creative workshops, as well as make some aesthetic and design changes.

Lynch opened Daydream Believer in November 2021. About a year prior to opening she started making pop-up appearances in Lake Mills to gauge the community's interest and was highly encouraged. The bookstore sells titles for all ages and includes a bakery and coffee area.

Lit and Lore Bookstore has opened a bricks-and-mortar store in downtown Fremont, Ohio, 13ActionNews reported.

Located at 118 South Front St., Lit and Lore carries titles for all ages, with adult offerings focused on romance, fantasy, science fiction, horror, and thrillers. The store has a small young adult section and larger children's section, while nonbook items include tote bags and candles. 

The bookstore debuted on October 17, and began regular hours October 20. In the weeks to come, owner and author Olivia Jenkins plans to continue building out the space, adding a wider selection of books, and introducing events such as book clubs. Jenkins plans to host a grand opening celebration soon.

Jenkins told 13ActionNews in August that she created the bookstore in order to fill a void in the community. Community members often told her: "We need a bookstore, we need this here, this is an amenity that we don't have."

Bookends & Beginnings in Evanston, Ill., has launched a fundraising campaign to counter what has been "an extremely challenging sales year," noting that the bookstore "needs your help to keep the doors open. As we adapt to a changing environment, your contribution will help us repair the damage from the past year, and your participation in our paid membership program will help provide stability as we move forward into the new year." The bookstore has raised over $45,000 toward its $60,000 goal thus far. 

In a video message released this week, owner Nina Barrett said that "when people ask me how the store is doing, I usually say, 'We're holding our own.' And for 12 years that has been true. There have been a few emergencies, but we've survived them, and for the past three years it's been smooth sailing."

This year, however, has been different. "We're still not sure what exactly is going on, but the economy is obviously a huge problem," Barrett noted, adding that "sales have been slow this year that we are heading into the holiday season not sure if we will survive into the new year. We can usually count on holiday sales to keep us in the black, but if this year's holiday sales follow the pattern of the rest of the year, well, we'll be sunk."

On the fundraiser page, Bookends & Beginnings said that "downtown Evanston seems to be struggling more with its post-pandemic recovery than nearby neighborhoods like downtown Wilmette and Andersonville. Other stores and restaurants downtown are also hurting.... While we're looking forward to your holiday shopping soon, we're frankly worried that if the holiday season follows the pattern of decline from the earlier months of the year, we simply will not be able to keep our doors open beyond the New Year."

Peggy Rathmann, the Caldecott Medal-winning children's book author and illustrator "whose warm, witty picture books have delighted generations of young readers," died on November 3, Penguin Random House noted in a remembrance. She was 73.

Born in St. Paul, Minn., Rathmann grew up in the suburbs and, after high school, attended several colleges, changing her major numerous times before earning a BA in psychology from the University of Minnesota. Her wide-ranging artistic education included studying commercial art at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, fine art at the Atelier Lack in Minneapolis, and children's book writing and illustration at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.

While at Otis, Rathmann began the work that would launch her career in children's literature. Her first picture book, Ruby the Copycat, earned a "Most Promising New Author" distinction in PW's 1991 annual Cuffie Awards. Over the course of her career, she wrote and illustrated five children's books and illustrated one more. "Her singular gift for visual storytelling, gentle humor, and capturing the mischievousness of childhood and animals made her books enduring favorites," PRH wrote.

Rathmann's best-known works include Officer Buckle and Gloria, the story of a school safety officer hilariously upstaged by his canine partner, which received the 1996 Caldecott Medal; the acclaimed bestseller Good Night, Gorilla, a nearly wordless picture book about an unsuspecting zookeeper who is followed home by the animals in his care; 10 Minutes Till Bedtime; and The Day the Babies Crawled Away. There are now 15 million copies of her books in print.

"Peggy Rathmann could bring a smile to absolutely anyone's face," said Susan Kochan, senior executive editor, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers. "She had a palpable warmth of spirit and a constant cheeky sparkle in her eyes. She poured her kindness and impish sense of humor into all the characters and stories she created, delighting kids and adults alike. Peggy was truly a national treasure and we're lucky we get to share and enjoy her books with readers of all ages."

Jen Loja, president, Penguin Young Readers, added: "Peggy's books have brought joy and comfort to generations of young readers. Look at any child's bookshelf, and chances are her books are among the most well-loved, read aloud at bedtime, shared again and again, and treasured long after childhood. Peggy brought extraordinary care, wit, and artistry to every book she created, and we are fortunate that her stories will continue to delight children and families for generations to come."

Carrie Deming, who opened the Dog Eared Book in Edenton, N.C., in August, posted a video, noting: "Sometimes I don't believe my luck that I get to do this every day. Running a shop is actually crazy hard work and insane hours but I wouldn't have it any other way."

"It is with heavy hearts that we have to tell you that Mr. Bingley, who captured the hearts of so many, and was such a very good, and wonderful boy, passed away Tuesday evening," the Haunted Book Shop in Mobile, Ala., posted. "There's so much more that can be said but we're still processing and believe us, we will do a celebration of life for this very special cat and will keep you informed. We already miss our top haint and the store will not be the same without our beloved buddy."

Mr. Bingley, "Mobile's cutest cat," was featured in Shelf Awareness back in 2022. 

The sidewalk chalkboards in front of Highland Books in Brevard, N.C., featured its choices for top five bookmarks:

#5 Random scrap of paper from purse or pocket
#4 Old grocery list
#3 Gum wrapper
#2 Receipt (bonus if it's from Highland Books!)
#1 Highland Books freebie

Cathy Taylor, formerly national accounts manager for Tuttle Publishing, is the new Ingram Publisher Services field sales representative for New England and is based in Vermont.

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At Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing:

Alex Kelleher-Nagorski has been promoted to senior director, publicity. He was most recently a director.

Nadia Almahdi has been promoted to senior director, digital marketing. She was most recently a director.

Shannon Pender has been promoted to associate director, digital marketing. She was most recently an assistant director.

James Akinaka has been promoted to assistant director, digital marketing. He was most recently a senior manager.

Jasmine Normil has been promoted to marketing associate, children's education & library. She was most recently a marketing coordinator.

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Mary Beth Keane, author of Whale Harbor: A Novel (Scribner, $29, 9781668224632).

"What would You've Got Mail look like decades on from the heyday of AOL?" Deadline asked in reporting that Warner Bros. is developing "a new take" on the classic bookstore rom-com movie, with Jason Orley (I Want You Back, Big Time Adolescence) directing.

Although details about the storyline are being kept under wraps, Orley is writing the current draft based on a screenplay by Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont (Can't Hardly Wait, Josie and the Pussycats). "Coming off the 20th rom-com Beach Read, based on Emily Henry's bestseller," Neal Moritz is producing alongside Tania Landau via Original Film, Deadline noted.

Directed by Nora Ephron, the 1998 hit movie You've Got Mail starred Meg Ryan as an independent children's bookshop owner and Tom Hanks as the corporate bookselling magnate threatening her livelihood. They become pen pals online, then fall in love without realizing they are rivals.

Nobel Prize-winning author and screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro was awarded the Critics' Circle Rose Bowl for Distinguished Service to the Arts, recognizing his contribution to literature and the wider arts. The Bookseller reported that Corinne Julius, president of The Critics' Circle, opened the proceedings on November 5 at the National Liberal Club in London "with a toast to the arts, drinking from a goblet that once belonged to Charles Dickens."

In his acceptance speech, Ishiguro said, "I've spent countless hours being engaged and entertained by what many of you here, and your predecessors, have written. Sometimes I've disagreed strongly; more often, I've been inspired, excited, guided--made to reflect in fresh and more rigorous ways about what I do....

"I hope I've managed to convey here why I'm so deeply happy to receive this particular award from you today, and why what you do, your continued presence, gives me the confidence to go on working, to believe in the profound value of the cultural world that we--together--make possible."

Whale Harbor by Mary Beth Keane (Scribner) has been selected as the 2026 Barnes & Noble Book of the Year. In addition, B&N selected Is This a Plum? by Dan and Finn Ojari (Random House Children's Books) as Children's Gift Book of the Year; The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan by Jasmine Warga (Balzer + Bray) as Children's Book of the Year; and This Vast Enterprise by Craig Fehrman (Avid Reader Press) as Nonfiction Book of the Year.

Lexie Smyth, campaign manager of fiction at B&N, said, "I fell in love with the Joyce clan and the seaside village of Connemara from the very first pages of Whale Harbor. The excitement for a new Mary Beth Keane novel, especially after the success of Ask Again, Yes was apparent in the fantastic early reads, and that enthusiasm continued to build among our booksellers as early copies were passed from hand to hand. This novel is for everyone--it feels like an instant classic. Our booksellers will find joy in recommending it throughout the holiday season and beyond."

Stephanie Pinheiro, campaign manager of children's books at B&N, commented: "Sweet illustrations coupled with clever wordplay and a gorgeous package make Is This a Plum? the perfect interactive book for families to read together over and over (and over) again this holiday season. Prepare for plenty of giggles as surprises are unveiled on each page, demonstrating that things are not always as they first appear."

Bridgett Strawbrich, children's buyer at B&N, said, "Chase and Finnegan will warm your heart and remind you that in challenging times, the way through is connection and friendship. You will root for this troubled cheetah and pup as they deal with difficult pasts but find their way together to their happily-ever-after. This amazing story is based on true accounts from zoos; it is perfect for readers who love animals and are fans of A Wolf Called Wander and The One and Only Ivan."

Jess Lane, campaign manager of narrative nonfiction at B&N, called This Vast Enterprise "nonfiction at its finest. Craig Fehrman has given a voice to the voiceless, bringing forgotten figures to the forefront and spotlighting their integral contributions to the evolution of our fledgling nation. I flew through this book and truly believe it's a must-read for anyone who thinks they know the story of Lewis and Clark."

B&N CEO James Daunt commented: "2026 has been a wonderful year of publishing. Our stores have enjoyed a level of excitement with new publishing, month in, month out, that brings back misty-eyed memories of bookselling life before Amazon. With so many stand-out successes, our booksellers naturally look to the gems as yet unrecognized. Whale Harbor is an outstanding novel and, to pick just one of the others, Is This a Plum? a joyous picture book of which our youngest customers will demand endless rereading."

Michelle Porter (photo: Jennifer Georgette)

Michelle Porter is the author of the novels A Grandmother Begins the Story and A Glacier's Guide to Dying (Algonquin, November 3, 2026). Her previous books include the memoir Scratching River and Approaching Fire, a work of creative nonfiction about her great-grandfather, a fiddler from the Red River, which was shortlisted for an Indigenous Voices Award. She is the descendent of a long line of Métis storytellers and a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation; she lives in St. John's, Newfoundland, where she teaches creative writing and Métis literature at Memorial University.

Handsell readers your book:

A young Métis man who sets out in search of his missing father, a man who struggles with mental illness. Robbie's journey takes him from Alberta into the Montana mountains and the melting and surging remains of a glacier that starts up a conversation with him. Robbie's quest forces him to lose almost everything and to face his own mortality and, even worse, his family.

On your nightstand now:

We, the Kindling by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek, about the ways in which war infects countries and how the worst can be survived.

Good Guys by Sharon Bala, about the harm we sometimes do with good intentions.

Omeros by Derek Walcott, a novel written as an epic poem that is both beautiful and challenging to read.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. I read this story over and over again. It's about a young Inuk girl who runs away from an abusive situation to live on the land traditionally on her own, communicating with a wolf pack as part of her survival. I think the book mirrored my desire to get away from a modern life in which I didn't feel I fit in. My mother used to tell stories of her life growing up in the bush, and I so much wanted to grow up in the bush and on the land--I felt the loss of a way of life deeply even as a child.

Your top five authors:

Katherena Vermette for her work in opening up space for Métis writers and stories.

Michelle Good for the stories that love characters struggling with intergenerational trauma with a studied fierceness.

Tara Gereaux for her historical novel that brings to life the reasons so many Métis lost touch with their culture and find belonging and hope in a return to their culture.

Jane Austen for all the tea and gossip in her stories.

Richard Van Camp for his commitment to his community's stories and the sound of oral storytelling in the written word.

Book you've faked reading:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. When I was 12 years old, my cousin suggested we read this expansive novel at the same time. It was too dense and slow moving for me and I quit reading it after a couple of chapters, but I lied and told my cousin I had not only read it but loved it as much as he did. Years later, he confessed that he hadn't been able to get through the book either but couldn't admit it to me at the time.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Halfbreed by Maria Campbell. This book started it all for us Métis. Her story introduced us to the country, an Indigenous Nation that was often misunderstood and overlooked, living in the margins. Campbell's book opened doors for all us Indigenous writers, but especially for Métis. The book has two editions, the 1973 edition and the 2019 restored edition. In the first edition, Campbell had to cut out parts of her story for fear the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would retaliate or halt publication. The book's restored edition includes the story of her assault and harassment at the hands of RCMP officers when she was 14. The two editions say so much about the power of stories and truth telling--and also say so much about Campbell's strength and wisdom in finding the time to tell her story. She set the stage for the rest of us and welcomed us all.

Book you've bought for the cover:

Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography by Chester Brown

Book you hid from your parents:

My teenage love of steamy romance novels. My mother didn't limit what I read in any way, but I didn't want her to see me reading scenes that included spicy details of romantic encounters, so I hid myself away. I didn't want Mom to tease me about them, and I for sure didn't want to talk about them with my mom.

Book that changed your life:

When I read The Break by Katherena Vermette, I broke down in tears multiple times in places in the book that might seem quite ordinary or everyday. Vermette brought to life the contemporary Métis world that I recognized but had not read in a book before then, and not in so vivid a story as hers. In many ways the Métis have been "Hiding in Plain Sight" (as the title of one museum exhibit described). Vermette's gift to us all was to make who we are now, with our complicated families and identities, our intergenerational trauma and ongoing love of our history and culture, visible not only to the world, who made her book a bestseller, but to ourselves. Vermette's book didn't flinch from the hard things either, and the characters in her book have stayed with me since my first reading.

Favorite line from a book:

The title of Tara Gereaux's novel Wild People Quiet stays with me these days. The title comes from the quote by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald in 1869 about the Métis people: "I anticipate that [the lieutenant governor] will have a good deal of trouble, and it will require considerable management to keep those wild people quiet." I was just talking about this quote with my Métis writing group earlier today, saying how our writing is part of how we continue to refuse to be quiet as Métis people. Gereaux's use of that quote is so smart.

Five books you'll never part with:

My collection of Jane Austen novels. I can read each of those countless times and they feel just as fresh.

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

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. This book asks you to walk with it, slowly and quietly, until the quiet itself becomes such a powerful sound that the life-changing ending is the natural result. Keegan makes this story about the treatment of girls in Ireland's Magdalene laundries. It's a story that happens over Christmas, and you feel the approaching chill of winter and travel with the main character as he drives through the first snow and finds within himself the courage to make a difference to one girl, no matter the cost to himself. In this book, courage is a quiet, anxious thing, and it sneaks up on you even when you've decided to do without it. This telling is magical in the trance it puts upon the reader, one that doesn't let go until the last sentence. I'd like to write something in this style one day.

Award-winning science journalist and assistant professor of science writing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Angela Saini (The Patriarchs) clearly and incisively examines data collection about sex and race from censuses, medical trials, and even what people volunteer on social media in Other: Race, Sex, and the Hidden Harms of Human Categories. She posits how it has changed society and explores why individuals should care--and maybe even think twice--about checking boxes asking them to volunteer this information.

"Human classification is a trick of the mind, strange and insidious, taking populations and weaving spells over them, manufacturing boundaries where they never existed, pumping meaning into the meaningless, quietly shuttling each of us into the place" writes Saini. She delves into how identity categories began to be defined and untangles how even efforts intended to help people overcome boundaries based on variables such as sex and race resulted in the creation of more barriers instead. Other is a concise yet thorough read that balances the idealism that led to initial attempts to classify and count those not served by larger governmental systems, such as censuses, with the reality of the dangers posed by technocrats and authoritarian governments collecting ever more personal information and using it to track people in various ways. Most importantly, Saini exposes how these groupings are actively constructed and remade in different social and cultural contexts, establishing time and again how no category currently used to define sex, gender, or racialized identities is absolute or even truly tied to distinctive or precise biological realities.

Saini divides Other into three parts--"Sex," "Race," and "The Future"--with chapters devoted to tensions that fit within each broader category. She considers not only the history of why people started tracking sex and race, whether in medicine, education, or politics, but also the legacy of these systems over time and the debates over how to construct these categories today. Ultimately, Saini presents a cogent argument for a shift away from categorization, demonstrating how "other," once a catch-all for what did not fit neatly into other classifications, might be the only solution to interrupt the increasingly frequent use of this data to restrict people's rights and ability to self-identify. Other is fascinating, timely, and imperative for anyone interested in interrogating the concept of identity politics at its most basic: how systems decide who individuals are and why people should resist fitting into these boxes. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer

Shelf Talker: Angela Saini's Other: Race, Sex, and the Hidden Harms of Human Categories is a cogent and timely interrogation of human classification.

The top 10 bestselling Libro.fm audiobooks at independent bookstores during 2026:

1. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Penguin Random House Audio) 
2. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks) 
3. Whistler by Ann Patchett (Harper)
4. This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum (Macmillan Audio)
5. Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth (Macmillan Audio) 
6. Strangers by Belle Burden (Penguin Random House Audio) 
7. Kin by Tayari Jones (Penguin Random House Audio)
8. My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney (Macmillan Audio)
9. London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe (Penguin Random House Audio)
10. Famesick by Lena Dunham (Penguin Random House Audio)