More than five years after Half Price Books closed its Montrose neighborhood store in Houston, Tex., the company has acquired a building with plans to open a new store at 3509 Montrose Blvd., the Houston Business Journal reported. The 13,000-square-foot building is a few blocks away from the closed store.

"We closed our previous Montrose location back in 2021 when the landlord made the decision to redevelop the area," a company spokesperson said. "We've heard from countless customers in recent years how much they loved that store and miss having a store in the loop, so we are excited to finally return to the area. We don't have any firm dates regarding the opening of this location right now, but plan to open sometime in 2027."

In Houston, Half Price Books currently operates stores at 10915 Westheimer in Westchase and at 15754 FM 529 near Highway 6, as well as six stores scattered in the city's suburbs. 

Briar's Edge Bookery opened in Granger, Ind., in April, the South Bend Tribune reported.

The bookstore, which sells new and used titles for all ages, occupies a renovated pole barn at 12933 Indiana-23. Briar's Edge has a dedicated children's section, and the space is decorated to evoke a garden library, while the name is inspired by the Br'er Rabbit folktales. In addition to books, owners Shira and Cameron Nugent carry a variety of bookish merchandise and accessories.

The Nugents explained that their career in bookselling grew out of the decision to homeschool their daughter. As Shira Nugent researched older teaching methods, she discovered vintage children's literature, and the Nugents began collecting books from estate sales. They started selling some of those titles online before they decided to open a bricks-and-mortar store. 

Once they decided to take the plunge, they got the bookstore up and running in only four months. And while some aspects of the store remain a work-in-progress, the owners told the South Bend Tribune, Briar's Edge has been received very well. 

"The community showed us right away that we were going to be good here," Cameron Nugent said.

The effects of the reading crisis are now being felt in the German book market, where a "steadily deteriorating state of reading literacy" in the country is, for the first time, having a clear impact on book sales, according to the annual book market report, Buchmarkt kompakt 2025/2026, just published by the Börsenverein (the German book industry association).

Total industry revenue stood at €9.62 billion (about $11 billion), down 2.7% from 2024, while the number of people buying books declined in 2025 by 4.9% compared to the previous year.  

While the online book trade remained stable, physical bookstores, which are still the largest sales channel for books, suffered losses. Their revenue declined by 3.7% to €3.9 billion (about $4.5 billion), giving the retail book trade (excluding e-commerce) a 40.8% share of total industry turnover. The online book trade, about half of which is attributable to the online stores of physical bookstores, was level at €2.5 billion (about $2.9 billion) for both 2024 and 2025. It accounted for 26.1% of turnover in the overall market last year.  

"Decades of neglect in education policy have led to a progressive decline in reading literacy," said Sebastian Guggolz, chairman of the Börsenverein. "The result is now clearly reflected in the market figures. These figures must also serve as a wake-up call to policymakers; immediate and consistent measures are needed to improve education and reading literacy. This must become a top priority for the federal government, the states, and local authorities. After all, reading is an intangible infrastructure, as fundamental as roads, power grids, and functioning administrations. Those who can read are also able to understand the perspectives of others, recognize contradictions, make informed decisions, form nuanced opinions, and articulate their own interests. Public life is increasingly organized in the digital sphere, making reading proficiency an even more crucial prerequisite for democratic participation and self-assertion."

Börsenverein managing director Peter Kraus vom Cleff commented: "In addition to the dramatic decline in reading literacy, the weak economy and high consumer uncertainty are causing a drop in turnover in the book market. Last year, the propensity to save in Germany reached its highest level since the 2008 financial and economic crisis. At the same time, excessive bureaucratic requirements are tying up resources within companies. For many bookstores and publishers, this will further increase the high cost pressures they are already facing."

Results thus far in 2026 continue to reflect the weak consumer climate. The report noted that after the first six months, turnover in the central sales channels is down by 4.1% compared to the same period in 2024, while sales are down by 4.5%.

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The Montpellier commercial court has announced that the two remaining Sauramps bookshops in southern France will go into liquidation for lack of a buyer, according to the French trade magazine Livres Hebdo. The chain, which was created 80 years ago, went into receivership on June 15 and will close immediately, leaving 54 staff members at its shops in Montpellier and Alès out of work, the Bookseller reported.

Sauramps's book sales declined to €7.4 million (about $8.5 million) in 2025, compared to €8.8 million (about $10 million) a year earlier, according to Livres Hebdo. The group's owner, architect François Fontès, told France 3 Occitanie television he will work with the Occitanie regional council and the city of Montpellier "on a new concept" that would include some of the Sauramps staff.

"We are upset by the decision, even if we expected it," said group logistics chief Julien Domergue. "We are bitter that the last two years have been wasted." He told the Bookseller. "Instead of taking action, the owner and management have just let the group slide."

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Congratulations to Mr. B's Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, England, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with a Bookshop Band concert and weekend indoor street party. The Bookseller reported that Mr. B's "also held a private celebration for longstanding customers, family, friends, fellow independent businesses, staff and alumni, with the Bookshop Band playing short sets."

Mr. B's also featured a look back at "how it all B-gan," noting that "it's been so much fun taking a trip down memory lane."

Anna Jarzab has been named v-p, marketing, at Candlewick Press, Holiday House, and Peachtree, parts of Walker Books Group. In this newly created role, Jarzab will lead the publicity, trade marketing, consumer marketing, education/library, and marketing design teams. Partnering closely with editorial, publishing, sales, and leadership colleagues, Jarzab will use her nearly two decades of children's publishing experience to "oversee positioning, long-range strategy, corporate communications, and campaigns that elevate the reach of the three houses' creators and books in a competitive marketplace."

Anna Jarzab

Jarzab was most recently associate publisher for Aladdin, Simon Pulse, Simon Spotlight, Little Simon, and Boynton Bookworks at Simon & Schuster. Before that, Jarzab was the director of digital & social marketing for Simon & Schuster's Children's Division and held digital marketing roles at Penguin Young Readers Group.

Jarzab said, "I'm thrilled to be joining Candlewick, Holiday House, and Peachtree at such an exciting moment. I;ve long admired the incredible books these companies bring into the world, and I'm excited to work alongside such talented teams to help even more readers discover and connect with their stories, authors, and illustrators."

Mary Marotta, Walker Books Group's senior v-p of sales, marketing & business development, North America, to whom Jarzab reports, said, "I am beyond thrilled to welcome Anna to Candlewick, Holiday House, and Peachtree. Anna brings exceptional children's publishing experience, a sharp strategic marketing perspective, and a deep understanding of how to connect books, authors, and illustrators with the widest possible audiences. Her proven track record in integrated marketing, publicity, audience development, and cross-functional leadership makes her an outstanding partner for our teams as we continue to develop and hone our processes in this ever-evolving marketplace."

Belinda Ioni Rasmussen, CEO of Walker Books Group, said, "Anna's appointment reflects our continued investment in the growth and visibility of Candlewick Press, Holiday House, and Peachtree. Her deep publishing expertise and strategic marketing leadership in collaboration with Mary and the rest of the team will be invaluable as we build on the strengths of these distinguished houses and bring our exceptional books to even more readers."

George Francis "Snoozy" Jones, co-founder of Snoozy's College Bookstore in Birmingham, Ala., died July 6, AL.com reported. He was 91.

With his wife, Agatha, son George Jr., and daughter-in-law Virginia, Jones opened Snoozy's College Bookstore on 11th Ave. South. For 34 years, the bookstore served as a destination for textbooks, University of Alabama Birmingham merchandise, and alumni apparel before Jones retired in 2017.

Although the bookstore later closed, George Jones Jr. "continued the family's retail legacy by opening Snoozy's Kids in 1988 in Crestline Village in Mountain Brook. The toy store remains in operation today," AL.com reported.

Born in Montgomery, George Jones Sr. graduated from Sidney Lanier High School, where he played football. He attended Virginia Tech on a football scholarship and later graduated from Huntingdon College with a teaching certificate.

In addition to teaching, he coached football, basketball, and track, along with officiating high school athletics. He co-founded the Mid-State Alabama Officials Association, an organization for high school sports officials, and was inducted by the Alabama High School Athletic Association into its Hall of Fame in 2012. Jones also served as the University of Alabama at Birmingham's first football line coach when the university launched its football program.

The next Shelf Awareness Presents webinar is taking place tomorrow at 2 p.m. Eastern. The subject is Timely Topics, and will feature a conversation about selling books to a polarized customer base. Guest booksellers are Catherine Weller of Weller Book Works in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Kelly Justice of Fountain Books in Richmond, Va. Beaming Books, Broadleaf Books, and Familius will each present a conversation with key authors about their books. A recording will be sent to all who register (allowing viewers to watch at a time of their own choosing), and the session is free. Register at this link. 

Horizon Books in Traverse City, Mich., hosted the launch for Bryan Gruley's novel River Deep (Severn House). Gruley (pictured) won a Pulitzer Prize for his Wall Street Journal coverage of the 9/11 attacks. His novel is set in a Michigan town where a minor league hockey team, the Ice Kings, is an important part of the characters' lives. Gruley (who at age 68 still plays in a weekly league) is wearing a T-shirt celebrating the fictional team.

For an extensive and entertaining overview of book publishing in mid-century America, check out the latest Open Book with David Steinberger podcast, in conversation with Gayle Feldman, author of Nothing Random: Bennett Cerf and the Publishing House He Built (Random House).

"Attention readers and fashionistas: DRESS UP DAY at the bookstore is coming to you this July 22nd!" Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Mass., posted on Instagram. "Show up in your best outfit to receive a free advanced reader's copy ('ARC') of a soon-to-be-published book. Dress Up Day will be in full swing all day at both of our store locations, in anticipation of our upcoming Reader Prom! Tickets for Prom are still for sale at portersquarebooks.com (but no purchase necessary in order to participate in Dress Up Day)."

Joseph Benincase, most recently associate director of advertising, has voluntarily resigned from Hachette Book Group after 12 years to pursue new opportunities. His last day will be July 15. He can be reached at josephbenincase@gmail.com.

Keep the Ghost Light On by Kate Messner (Bloomsbury Children's Books), a trailer that brings music from the book to life, with lyrics written by Messner for her character Daphne's "I Want" song, which takes place early in the novel when Daphne is trying to write a piece for her musical theater elective portfolio. Messner has collaborated with Broadway music director and composer Haley Bennett, with vocals by Gianna Harris currently starring in & Juliet, and sound by recording engineer Derik Lee of Renaissance Recording.

Today:
Good Morning America: Daniel Silva, author of Ransom: A Novel (Harper, $32, 9780063384224).

Also on GMA: Dana Suskind, author of Human Raised: Nurturing Connection, Curiosity & Lifelong Learning in the Age of AI (Dutton, $32, 9798217180899).

Today: Elin Hilderbrand, author of The Five-Star Weekend (Little, Brown, $19.99, 9780316259187). 

Here & Now: Paul Tremblay, author of Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep: A Mind-Bending Horror of the Near Future (Morrow, $30, 9780063398467).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: I.V. Marie, author of Ruinous Ends (Delacorte, $21.99, 9780593898840). 

Tamron Hall repeat: Lisa Rinna, author of You Better Believe I'm Gonna Talk About It (Dey Street, $29.99, 9780063425330).

Elle Fanning and Julianne Moore will star in Moonsong: A Life in Seven Verses, a new film from Rebecca Miller (Maggie's Plan, She Came to Me). Deadline reported that the film, based on the book Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon by Leonard S. Marcus, tells the story of the beloved children's book author whose classic books include Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, originally published in the 1940s.  

Miller is writing the script and will direct the project, which was brought to her and her Round Films producing partner Damon Cardasis by Amanda Goodwin, Keri Selig, and Sasha Alexander. Martin Scorsese will executive produce, with production to begin in spring 2027. 

Asli Jensen and her editor, Shalini Vallepur, won the 2026 Branford Boase Award for Love on Sight. The award honors the author and editors of a debut novel for young people. The author gets £1,000 (about $1,340) for the win, and she and the editor receive engraved trophies.

Julia Eccleshare, chair of judges and co-founder of the award, said: "Once again, the shortlist for the Branford Boase Award was extremely strong and we look forward to reading what all seven authors write next. Not for the first time a contemporary story of Britain's multi-cultural young community has won the award, and we are delighted to highlight and celebrate these vital new stories."

Jensen commented: "Love on Sight has been living in me for a long time. I've always wanted to write a love story that draws on real teen experiences and dives deep into issues that linger in my heart. If I'm being honest, I wasn't always confident that it would land with people, and I'm so grateful that it did. This book is rooted in culture and complexity, and it's there to shine a light on communities that don't always get to see themselves at the center of a love story. I am truly blessed to have both myself and my editor Shalini recognized for the hard work and love we poured into this book."

Vallepur added: "The story is important and authentic, offering a view into complicated teen lives and the hopes and dreams of youth today. From the Times/Chicken House competition in 2023 all the way to now, Asli and I have been on an incredible journey to bring her voice to the world and I'm so proud for all our hard work to be recognized by the judges."

Emily St. John Mandel (Sea of Tranquility; The Glass Hotel; Station Eleven) ponders the fine line between chaos and control--and between one world and another--in Exit Party, a smart and complex mind-bender of a novel.

In a near-future Los Angeles, Ari reluctantly agrees to accompany her roommate, Gloria, to a nearby house party. This would be routine enough, except the party is Ari's first after serving 18 years in prison; Gloria has a touch of agoraphobia after being severely injured in a bombing; and house parties have been an impossibility for years because of citywide curfews following the collapse of the former United States. Even amid all that, the party still feels off: doubles of some partygoers appear without explanation and the party's host, Kareem, vanishes without a trace.

After this one party comes an unraveling and untangling, with Ari "skirting the edges of some incomprehensible mystery that she'd entirely failed to notice at the time." Her journey takes her across the fractured states. She works for a militia in the Republic of Ohio, runs guns through the big-box Staplestown in Phoenix down to Texas, takes off to the shores of Greece on a fake passport, then lands, thrice-widowed and mourning, in a ritzy apartment in Paris. "We don't get to choose the world we're born into. But you either learn to navigate that world, or you don't."

This theme of resilience runs through the heart of Exit Party, asking how people hold on--as individuals and as collectives--through upheaval, change, and loss. But Mandel probes further with such stimulating and thorny questions as: What if this is not the only world grappling with these questions? What if that years-ago party was not just a party but somehow a door--one that opened one way and spit out two doppelgängers before disappearing Kareem into a parallel place. In this alternate United States, "the difference between mayhem and order is control." There are no private militias or independent states; instead, there is a unified, fascist force with a powerful surveillance network, two Kareems, and a missing physicist or two. ("I was in the other place, then there was a feeling like plucking of the string of a guitar, but I was the string. Then I was in a kitchen, at a party.")

These layers upon layers of what-ifs and what-could-bes make Exit Party as challenging and thought provoking as it is immersive. With her characteristic literary skill, Mandel invites readers to consider whom they each might choose to be at the end of the world as they know it--and at what cost to their individual and shared humanity. --Kerry McHugh, Textus Collective

Shelf Talker: With her characteristic literary skill, Emily St. John Mandel ponders the fine line between chaos and control in a post-collapse United States in her mind-bending, immersive novel.