The board of directors of the Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation has created a year-end matching gift challenge that aims to raise $50,000 to be sure to every book and comic person gets the help they need. The effort, under which every donation, up to a total of $6,000, will be matched, is being made in honor of outgoing board member and Writers House literary agent Steven Malk, in recognition of his service and generosity to Binc.

Board vice-president Michael Jacobs said, "Steven's dedication to Binc and to book and comic book sellers has been of note and has inspired me and my colleagues on the Binc board to raise this matching fund in his honor. He is a terrific colleague and a bookselling industry beacon of hope and generosity."

This year Binc's average financial assistance grant has gone up nearly 12%, or $274, to $2,333. Costs are rising, and the need is, too. Every gift, no matter the size, will push Binc closer to its $200,000 year-end campaign goal. 

Libro.fm is also offering a challenge. Anyone who gives $50 or more gets one audiobook credit; give $100 or more and get two audiobook credits; give $250 or more and get three audiobook credits. The Libro.fm offer is available through December 31.

Birch Tree Bookery, Marion, Ohio, has added a second location, offering new and used books, a kids' room, a game room, and a trade-in credit program, at 1810 E. Mansfield St. in Bucyrus. The Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum reported that owners Justin and Crystal Bessler "were motivated to open their stores after noticing a lack of bookstores and school libraries in the area."

The Marion store launched in 2023. "We noticed the only used bookstore in Marion had closed during the pandemic and several area schools were shutting down their libraries," Justin Bessler said. 

They quickly outgrew the limited space, however. "By the end of the summer, we were ordering new books for customers," Crystal Bessler recalled. "We also received some incredible book donations and quickly ran out of room." Since then, they have moved twice and now occupy a space three times larger than their first location.

Adding the Bucyrus store was a decision made after realizing they were again maxing out on space. "We've been fortunate to be the bookstore hub for many Crawford County readers," Justin Bessler noted. "We frequent Bucyrus often, and the community has always been so welcoming and willing to try something new."

He added that bookstores in a community are important for several reasons: "We read by ourselves, but we want to talk about what we read with others. Bookstores bring people together to share, discuss and build relationships around their love of books."

Forget Me Not Fables bookshop has opened at 1986 Smith St. in North Providence, R.I. Owner Alexandria DiGregorio told the Valley Breeze that the "tiny but cozy store is meant to be a community gathering place, a place to read, study, or hang out with friends, all while enjoying a good used or new book."

The shop had its soft opening party on November 29, and a grand opening celebration December 13. DiGregorio cut the ribbon with Mayor Charles Lombardi, who said: "Small businesses are our salvation. This young lady doesn't know that we need her more than she needs to be here." DiGregorio also received a citation from Lombardi, wishing her and her new business all the best.

Though small, Forget Me Not Fables will feature a range of books, and she wants it to be more than a store: "I definitely want it to be a community meeting place," which might include hosting craft nights and book clubs. There will also be love seats, rocking chairs, puzzles, and games."

DiGregorio was an early childhood educator for six years, and during her time in special needs classrooms she began collecting books to share with her students. Before the physical store was in the planning stages, she was selling blind dates with books packages at several events throughout the state, and found that "many customers buying our blind dates with a book and other merchandise asked if we had a physical location."  

DiGregorio said she "wasn't expecting to find such a charming spot for her brick-and-mortar venture, and loves how the natural light floods in through the two large windows," the Breeze wrote. "She encourages anyone who loves books, or who just wants a quiet place to study or relax, to come take a break from the hustle and bustle of life and enjoy some time at Forget Me Not Fables."

Barbara Cerda, co-founder of La Revo Books, Milwaukee, Wis., attended the recent Guadalajara Book Fair as a Books Across Borders fellow. She has a special connection: as a child she visited family in the area regularly. Here is her report about an event that was simultaneously a homecoming, a celebration, an education, and more:

Barbara Cerda (far right) with Lisa Moser, Julia de Burgos Bookstore, Philadelphia, Pa., Thais Perkins, Reverie Books, Austin, Tex., and Stephen Krause, Alienated Majesty Books, Austin, Tex.

There is so much to say about my experience as a Books Across Borders fellow! I co-founded La Revo Books, Wisconsin's only Latine-focused bookstore in 2021, with my sister Valeria. I first heard about la Feria Internacional del Libro Guadalajara (FIL) in 2022 through our regional trade association, the Midwest Independent Bookseller Association. I was mostly interested in attending the fair because, ever since I can remember, as a child, my sister and I would travel to Jalisco (Guadalajara is the state's capital), to visit family, but I had never heard of this book fair! It became a bucket-list item for me.

Attending this fair allowed me to see the city I call home--in a different way. I, like many other people who love and know Mexico, see Guadalajara as a place where we can experience some of the most iconic elements of Mexican culture--beautiful folkloric dancing, the most delicious tequilas, and experience the best Mariachi groups. I've always known Mexico to be more than that. It is also the stories that people tell each other at the plaza, the senseless acts of feminicide across the country, and the stories of people who hustle every day to put food on the table. These stories are also Mexico. Attending this conference allowed me to learn about authors and books that can bring other people to understand the much more complex side of the country we all know and love. It was a place where my love for Mexico and my heart breaking for Mexico was understood and talked about through the panels, author presentations, and local folks I interacted with while there.

As a Mexican bookstore owner, I feel an incredible responsibility to paint a much richer picture of Mexico and Latin America to my "American" customers (by American, I mean people who are living in the U.S., regardless of their nationality/ethnicity). Because in elevating the charming parts of Mexico, I am doing a disservice. We must talk about the hard things, the injustice, and the heartbreak. I believe that it allows for readers to grapple with hard subjects that soften our hearts to others in these times. By informing our readers and community as a whole about the realities of what we face (book deserts, lack of accessible education, gender and LGBTQ+ violence, racism, corruption), my hope is to spark conversations that develop our readers' identities as Latines--conversations I wish I had when I was growing up.

Coming from this perspective, I finally worked up the courage to apply for the Books Across Borders scholarship, which I was ecstatic to receive. Attending the FIL was better than I imagined and it felt like a dream come true. The experience was kicked off with an exclusive tour by David Unger, who explained that la FIL was a "meeting point between North and South America," and now, due to the strong participation of book industry members internationally, more than 900,000 people are in attendance.

I attended panel discussions, chatted with publishers, met other amazing booksellers, and had the chance to tell people about the work we were doing in Milwaukee. One of the panel discussions I attended was an author conversation premiering the book Morras Malditas: Apaguemos la Luz y Entremos a la Noche by Janet Mérida and Erika Maldonado. They are podcasters who traveled to indigenous communities (where their families were from) in Oaxaca and Sonora to collect supernatural horror stories that have been passed down several generations. It was exciting to hear them speak about their work. I resonated with the way the authors explained that their book project was a "homecoming" to the communities they were part of.

My experience at the FIL was similar. It felt like I was coming home. As a Latina in the Midwest, I often feel like I have to compartmentalize different aspects of my identity to feel like I belong. In the United States, my sister and I are often the only Latina booksellers at conferences, and our identities are not represented in the bookselling world. We are also the first in our family to receive a college education. Sometimes, who we are and doing the work we do feels very lonely.

I thought about my family a lot, especially how special my grandmothers were. My abuelita Fidela lived her life without knowing how to read or write but knew how to tell an amazing story and raised my dad, Cuco, to be a great man (along with 11 other children). I also thought about my grandmother Juanita who was revolutionary in the way she navigated her disability and researched her family history using a telephone and a phone book. She also raised a wonderful woman, my mother, Sylvia. Representing our family in this space felt like an honor.

I wondered how many of my cousins had attended la FIL as students as I saw hundreds of them walking through the Expo. I thought about the accessibility of books, book centers, libraries and bookstores in the ranchos, where I was used to visiting. La FIL is a place where customers come to buy their books for the year. I imagined building a little free library in front of my abuelita's house so that the families in our rancho can access free books and build their own home library.

Being at la FIL, I felt like I could truly be my whole self. The authors on stage were people who looked like me, they spoke in the language my family speaks, and my culture was celebrated through the food, music, and libros. David Unger said that la FIL was the meeting point of people all over the world, and I felt like it was a fusion of my identities and culture in a place where being someone like me, was celebrated.

Sue Bender, whose bestselling book Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish (1989), became "one of the go-to texts of an anti-materialist movement of the 1990s known as voluntary simplicity," died on August 3, the New York Times reported, adding that her death was not widely reported at the time. She was 91.

In the 1980s, Bender's hectic life included working as a family therapist and a ceramist, along with being a wife and mother of two sons. In an art gallery, she "came across traditional Amish dolls without faces, and in their stripped-down, personality-effacing forms she felt a powerful challenge to her way of life," the Times wrote. 

She decided she would try to live among the Amish, and eventually found two farm families, in Iowa and Ohio, who agreed to let her live and work with them over the course of two summers. Bender "wrestled with the tension between being a woman who hated housework and defined herself by her artwork and professional achievements, and her desire to internalize the Amish sense of identity that came from community, godliness, and manual labor," the Times noted.

"Every step was done with care," she wrote. "The women moved through the day unhurried. There was no rushing to finish so they could get on to the 'important things.' For them it was all important."

Writing Plain and Simple took Bender five years. Despite tepid initial reviews, the book eventually found its audience, hitting the New York Times paperback bestseller list in 1992. She wrote two follow-ups: Everyday Sacred (1995), a journal of lessons from various teachers, and Stretching Lessons (2001), about spiritual growth.

Although Bender had hoped that living among the Amish would change her, she found it was not easy to integrate their values into her life in California. Her time with them did, however, have an effect on her art. The Times observed that her early ceramics "were nonfunctional; she made what she called 'precious objects' intended to be shown in a gallery or displayed in a home.... But after she returned from Amish country, where women made handsome quilts and dolls but did not consider themselves artists," she brought what she had learned from the Amish into her life.

"Now, for the first time," she wrote, "I began to make practical ceramics that our family could use every day," like dishes, bowls, and plates.

Matt Tavares wrapped up a 20-event holiday tour for his picture book Dasher and the Polar Bear (Candlewick) at Bridgeside Books in Waterbury, Vt., where he got to meet a reindeer friend. 

Former President Barack Obama shared a list of his favorite books from last year, noting: "As 2025 comes to a close, I'm continuing a tradition that I started during my time in the White House: sharing my annual lists of favorite books, movies, and music. I hope you find something new to enjoy--and please send any recommendations for me to check out!" Obama's favorite reads were:

Paper Girl by Beth Macy
Flashlight by Susan Choi
We the People by Jill Lepore
The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy
There Is No Place for Us by Brian Goldstone
North Sun by Ethan Rutherford
1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
And obviously I'm biased,
The Look by Michelle Obama

This is the time of year when indie booksellers celebrate the crucial role deliveries play in keeping their bookshelves full. Among the shops highlighting their delivery drivers:

Neighborly Books, Maryville, Tenn.: "Ho ho ho! 'Tis  the season! Many thanks to our delivery guys. You're the best!"

Bright Side Bookshop, Flagstaff, Ariz.: "Happy 250th Birthday Jane Austen, you would have loved hot delivery men. We couldn't get through this holiday season without him!"

Karen Bullock has joined Macmillan as senior manager, strategic projects, business development.

Today:
CBS Mornings: Mikel Welch, author of The Forever Home: Classic, Clever Design to Help You Put Down Roots (Clarkson Potter, $35, 9780593796931).

Jimmy Kimmel Live repeat: Matthew McConaughey, author of Poems & Prayers (Crown, $29, 9781984862105).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Jessica Secrest, author of Of Course It's Good!: Aggressively Delicious Meals Anyone Can Make and Everyone Will Love (Page Street, $26.99, 9798890033970).

Tamron Hall repeat: Priscilla Presley, co-author of Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis (Grand Central, $32, 9780306836480).

Jimmy Kimmel Live repeat: Michelle Obama, co-author of The Look (Crown, $50, 9780593800706).

Actor Richard Thomas is touring the U.S. with Mark Twain Tonight!, the solo show made famous by Hal Holbrook. Playbill reported that Thomas is "the first and only actor currently authorized to perform the play, written and originally performed by the legendary late actor (who won a Tony for playing Twain). In taking on the role, Thomas is expected not only to fill the formidable shoes of Twain, but also to keep Holbrook's magnum opus alive."

"This was Hal's life's work, absolutely," Thomas said. "He played Twain for more than 50 years. We had a wonderful collegial relationship, and we liked and admired each other very much, so I was thrilled when the estate reached out. It's important to keep it going, not just for Hal, but for Mark Twain as well....

"I saw Hal's 1967 PBS performance of it when I was 16, and I never forgot it. It echoes in my psyche all the time, Hal on one shoulder, and Twain on the other... and yet, when it comes time to be an actor and get out on stage and give your performance and make it your own, I can't really worry about all that. Becoming someone else like this, it's.... Well, it's certainly a challenge."

Thomas was two-thirds of the way through the national tour of To Kill a Mockingbird, based on Harper Lee's classic novel, when he first received the word from Halbrook's estate, Playbill noted. 

"People know Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, but not the full panoply of Twain's genius as a satirist, humorous novelist, nonfiction writer, travel writer and performer," Thomas said. "Twain is the great mirror up to our nature, warts and all, including himself. He doesn't exempt himself from any reproach. Twain is always relevant for Americans, because he reflects all of our complexity, our contradictions, our grand aspirations, how far short we fall, how we try to make it right, how we grow and learn and evolve emotionally and socially."

Longlists have been released for the 2026 PEN America Literary Awards, which honor writers and translators with awards totaling more than $350,000. Including fiction, poetry, translation, and more, the books "are dynamic, diverse, and thought-provoking examples of literary excellence," PEN America noted. Finalists for all award categories will be named before the 2026 Literary Awards ceremony, which will be held in March. The longlisted titles may be viewed here.

LibraryReads, the nationwide library staff-picks list, offers the top 10 January titles public library staff across the country love:

Top Pick
Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily Austin (Atria, $28, 9781668200230). "After she learns of the death of her ex-boyfriend, librarian Darcy has a mental breakdown and takes a leave from her job at a public library. With time, therapy, and support from her wife, Darcy returns to work while coping with guilt and book-banning protests. This reflective, heartwarming, and character-driven read delves into grief and identity with care and humor." -- Kristin Skinner, Flat River Community Library, Mich.

The Bookbinder's Secret by A.D. Bell (St. Martin's Press, $29, 9781250412645). "Lily is in limbo. She loves books and her binding trade, but her father is distant and her employer seems not to value her. Her life is turned upside down when she is given a burned book and the secrets it holds. This is truly a wonderful read full of mystery, love, and intrigue." --Susan Willis, Chanute Public Library, Kan.

All the Little Houses by May Cobb (Sourcebooks Landmark, $27.99, 9781464245794). "Cobb's latest gasp-out-loud read doesn't disappoint, bringing readers back to the East Texas town of Longview, where wealth, booze, secrets, sex, and very bad--some might even say murderous--behavior abound. Readers will not be able to take their eyes off this propulsive thriller." --Carol Ann Tack, Merrick Library, N.Y.

Anatomy of an Alibi: A Novel by Ashley Elston (‎Pamela Dorman, $30, 9780593834459). "This is a tale of two women: Wealthy Camille is living the high life, while Aubrey works as a bartender. Who is telling the truth? An unhappy marriage, skeletons in the closet, and a murdered husband make this a story worth reading!" --Jo Hic, Phillips Public Library, Wis.

Women of a Promiscuous Nature by Donna Everhart (Kensington, $18.95, 9781496740724). "In this stunning character-driven novel set in the 1940s, Everhart introduces the inmates and staff of the Industrial Farm Colony for Women. As readers are drawn into the life of the Colony, the lofty goals as well as the terrible cruelty and injustice of the place are slowly revealed. Highly recommended." --Vicki Nesting, St. Charles Parish Library, La.

No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah (Sourcebooks Landmark, $32.99, 9781464265129). "In this satirical book-within-a-book, the Lamberts' dog, Champ, is accused of biting the neighbor's daughter. The eccentric pet-obsessed matriarch Sally refuses to believe this, so the family goes on the run with Champ in tow. Twisty and puzzling." --Magan Szwarek, LibraryReads Ambassador, Ill.

It Should Have Been You: A Novel by Andrea Mara (Pamela Dorman, $30, 9780593832097). "When a woman accidentally sends a private message meant for her sisters to the entire neighborhood group chat, the ensuing chain of events exposes secrets and causes deadly anguish. This book was a wild ride that will captivate readers from the first page." --Debbie Frizzell, Johnson County Library, Kan.

How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder: A Novel by Nina McConigley (‎Pantheon, $26, 9780593702246). "When their uncle arrives from India, two sisters' adjustment to a dual culture life in small-town Wyoming in the mid-1980s becomes complicated. This debut hits on touchy subjects with grace, as the sisters choose to fight instead of being silent victims. Those of us who spent many hours at teen sleepovers will delight in the nostalgia scattered amidst the actual crime and justice served." --Kimberly McGee, Lake Travis Community Library, Austin, Tex.

Vigil: A Novel by George Saunders (‎Random House, $28, 9780525509622). "Saunders knows how to capture the essence of life in a story all about death. This message is wrapped in a Christmas Carol package about a ghost ushering a greedy, selfish man into the afterlife. This climate story effectively hammers home that climate change affects everyone and everything irreparably, but we must also carry on." --Sabrina Unrein, Mahwah Public Library, N.J.

The Elsewhere Express: A Novel by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Del Rey, $32.99, 9780593725023). "This enchanting, whimsical fantasy is a warm hug for the soul. A magical train that appears to those who are lost is absolutely charming, and creativity shines in the descriptions of the train's wondrous cars, from lily-pad picnics to jellyfish swimming through clouds. A journey not just through a magical world, but also of self-discovery, hope, and finding one's sense of purpose." --Lee V., New York Public Library, N.Y.

Tayari Jones (Silver Sparrow; An American Marriage) knows how to write the intricacies of intimate relationships; complex ties within families and marriages abound in her stories. With Kin, she gives voice to two young women, Annie and Vernice, not sisters but "cradle friends" who maintain an unshakable bond across years and distance. Jones also writes a pitch-perfect South, the culture of 1940s Louisiana rolling off the page through sharp-tongued dialogue or when Annie explains the meaning of the word "trifling."

Annie and Vernice grew up without their mothers, raised by their Granny and Auntie, respectively. When Annie runs away to Memphis in search of her mama and Vernice goes off to college in Atlanta, their two paths begin to diverge, physically and socially. Despite those widening differences, they stay connected, understanding that "What you have the same isn't what binds you. Hearts grow strings because of what you know that's the same, what happened to you that's the same."

Told in their alternating voices, Kin shows off Jones's considerable skill through strong pacing and a plot that is emotionally taut without feeling unnecessarily dramatic. Without fail, Jones delivers a brilliant turn of phrase, at turns witty and insightful. After Annie leaves, Vernice struggles to name her deep hurt: "I didn't have the word for this feeling. Abandoned was a school-word, borrowed from Miss Jemison's list. I wanted a word I had used before, some sound hatched from an egg of my own."

Both women struggle to find their way without the guidance of a mother, but both are helped along by women who step in with care, correction, and opportunities to grow. Still, they carry that sense of abandonment and loss into adulthood. Even on the verge of a highly favorable match that would launch her into Atlanta society, Vernice worries what might happen if Annie finds her mother: "Yes, we would always have our childhood in common. But what if Annie repaired the hole in her dam with concrete and straw, and I was still using my finger?" When Annie and Vernice reunite, they show their devotion to one another in ways both empowering and heartbreaking, proving that "Blood alone can't give you kinship." Especially as it spins to its difficult conclusion, Kin feels ambitious and accessible, emotionally challenging without pushing readers away. This is a moving story best shared between friends. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian

Shelf Talker: A beautiful depiction of the power of found family, Kin tells the story of two motherless girls, friends since birth, and their challenges as they face adulthood from very different perspectives.