Carla Hayden

"I salute Dr. Carla Hayden, a wise and faithful steward of the Library of Congress--the library she has called our 'national treasure.' Dr. Hayden's abrupt and unjust dismissal is an insult to the scope and breadth of work Dr. Hayden has undertaken in her role leading the Library of Congress....

"By throwing open the doors of the venerable Library of Congress to welcome everyone, Dr. Hayden has revealed what the highest library in the land, and what every library, is: a bastion of knowledge and a beacon of opportunity.... We offer our thanks for Dr. Hayden's exceptional leadership with our words and our actions. Now is the time to urge Congressmembers to publicly show their support for our nation's libraries."

On Friday, the Defense Department expanded its program of book banning by ordering all military academies and war colleges to go through their libraries and pull material "promoting divisive concepts and gender ideology [that] are incompatible with the Department's core mission," as was stated in a memo quoted by the Associated Press. Officials need to "promptly identify" the books and "sequester" them by May 21, according to the memo. Guidance will be provided by a temporary Defense Department Academic Libraries Committee, which has already given 20 search terms to use to identify offending books. The search terms include "affirmative action, anti-racism, critical race theory, discrimination, diversity, gender dysphoria, gender identity and transition, transgender, transsexual, and white privilege."

PEN America is loudly protesting the directive, which it calls "a sweeping escalation of ideological censorship.... The memo comes amid ongoing reports of book bans, cancelled speakers, and curricular censorship at Department of Defense schools, the Naval Academy, and West Point, among others." [See the list of books pulled from the Nimitz Library at the Naval Academy here, and see our story about a local bookstore and Academy alumni providing midshipmen with free copies of pulled books here.]

Jonathan Friedman, managing director of U.S. free expression programs at PEN America, called the effort "an ideological dragnet. Despite the appointment of a committee and the appearance of a review process, nothing about a government edict to yank books off library shelves in places we are supposed to be opening minds is either routine or appropriate. The United States military needs future officers who can think critically, informed by a full understanding of the world's challenges and its complex battlefields. Restricting access to ideas by purging books is designed to do the opposite--to narrow the lens through which people see the world, and curb the freedom to read and think."

Hidden Barn Books will open next month in a renovated barn in downtown Bar Harbor, Maine. Owner Genie Thorndike told Bangor Daily News that the barn, at 31 Kennebec Place, was built in 1883, and has approximately 1,800 square feet of retail space, not including a "spacious and beautiful" loft she hopes will serve as a community gathering space. The bookstore is expected to open on June 14.

"I think there's room in any community for a local bookstore, where there is a desire to be in a community space and share a love of books," Thorndike said, adding that the continued existence of owner-operator retail booksellers nationwide shows that there is a demand for community-oriented bookstores.

Thorndike will focus exclusively on selling books and have a designated room for children's titles. Bangor Daily News noted that she "does not plan to sell coffee--there are already plenty of coffee shops in town, she noted--customers will be welcome to bring it with them to enjoy while they browse."

"Independent bookstores are opening up all over the country," she said. "They are making a comeback, and I'm going to try hard to make it work."

On Saturday, Thunder Road Books, Spring Lake, N.J., reopened in its new location after several months of construction and remodeling. Thunder Road's new location is several doors down in the same building and is double the size of the store's previous space. It now offers a large children's section with seating, bigger browsing areas, and seating overlooking picturesque Spring Lake. The store swapped locations with a furniture store that was looking to downsize.

Manager and event coordinator Kate Czyzewski added that while the store was closed as construction took place, it offered pop-up shopping opportunities throughout town, in partnership with local businesses. Thunder Road Books was founded in 2021.

Barnes & Noble is opening a new store in Stamford, Conn., this Wednesday, May 14.

It will be located in Stamford's High Ridge Center, at 1145 High Ridge Rd., and feature a B&N Cafe and updated store design. The store will open to the public at 9 a.m. on Wednesday with a ribbon cutting featuring authors Lynne and Valarie Constantine, who write under the pen name Liv Constantine. They will then sign copies of their books.

The Stamford store is one of three new B&N locations opening this month. The company plans to open more than 60 new stores this year.

Hervé de La Martinière, founder of Les Éditions de La Martinière and a principal of Les Éditions de La Martinière and the Média-Participations group, owner of Abrams, died on May 8 at age 78.

He dedicated his life to publishing, beginning at Hachette, which he joined at age 25 and where he spent 15 years in commercial management for several publishing houses, including Grasset, Fayard, and Chêne, before becoming a publisher of other subsidiaries in the group and later taking the helm of Nathan in 1987.

In 1992, he launched his own publishing house, Les Éditions de La Martinière, specializing in art books and illustrated books. He quickly expanded through ambitious acquisitions, most notably with the purchase of Abrams Books in 1997. Other acquisitions included Knesebeck, Delachaux, and Niestlé. Then, in 2004, he acquired Le Seuil and its associated houses, including Points, Métailié, and L'Olivier, which made the La Martinière group a major player in French publishing.

In 2018, de La Martinière integrated his group into Média-Participations, where he became vice-president and contributed to the success of the new entity.

As his colleagues remembered, Hervé de La Martinière was "a man of challenges and battles, even when the opponent seemed like Goliath: such was the case with the lawsuit he initiated alone against Google in 2006, soon joined by the French Publishers Association and fellow publishers, which concluded with a historic agreement. But above all, he was a fervent admirer of his authors, to whom he showed unwavering loyalty and friendship, such as Yann-Arthus Bertrand, Hans Silvester or Matthieu Ricard; a lover of literature who was keen to create a literary department named after his house; a defender of bookstores and a certain idea of publishing."

Vincent Montagne, chairman of Média-Participations, said, "As Hervé de La Martinière himself said, we started building our two houses almost at the same time. And for over 30 years, I had the opportunity to meet Hervé as a colleague first, sometimes a competitor, and then regularly within the Bureau of the French Publishers Association. It was at his initiative that we decided to bring our two groups closer.

"And for over seven years, he has been an effective and demanding partner, with absolute loyalty. Our group's success owes much to him. He was a talented publisher and a bold entrepreneur. A remarkable figure in publishing leaves us today, but it is the friend he became that we already miss. His departure leaves us infinitely sad but also very proud to continue growing a house that bears his name."

"We've been working hard getting our windows ready for the decorating contest this Saturday, and even Gus is 'helping!' " A Novel Escape, Franklin, N.C., posted on Facebook. "Come downtown this Saturday for our once-a-year sidewalk sale and vote for your favorite window!"

Lily DeTaeye has been promoted to publicist at Soho Press. Previously she had been associate publicist.

Your Extraordinary Mind: Psychedelics in the 21st Century and How to Use Them by Zach Leary (Sounds True).

Today:
CBS Mornings: Kennedy Ryan, author of Can't Get Enough (Forever, $17.99, 9781538706855).

Good Morning America: Tia Williams, author of Audre & Bash Are Just Friends (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $19.99, 9780316511087).

Today: Jimmy Fallon, author of Papa Doesn't Do Anything! (Feiwel & Friends, $18.99, 9781250393975). He will also appear tomorrow on the View.

Also on Today: Emily Henry, author of Great Big Beautiful Life (Berkley, $29, 9780593441299).

Kelly Clarkson Show: Misty Copeland, author of Letters to Misty (S&S/Aladdin, $19.99, 9781534443037).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Robin Roberts discusses a book about her mother called Lucy Sings on Lucy Street with the authors (her siblings) Lawrence Roberts and Sally-Ann Roberts (HarperCollins, $19.99, 9780063222540).

CBS Mornings: Prabal Gurung, author of Walk Like a Girl: A Memoir (Viking, $32, 9780593493274). He will also appear on Today.

Today: Peter Som, author of Family Style: Elegant Everyday Recipes Inspired by Home and Heritage (Harvest, $40, 9780063347304).

A trailer has been released for The Long Walk, a movie based on Stephen King's novel The Long Walk, which he published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Variety reported that the project will be directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games franchise), and stars Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza). Lionsgate will release The Long Walk in theaters on September 12.

The cast also includes Judy Greer, Mark Hamill, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Jordan Gonzalez, Joshua Odjick, and Josh Hamilton. J.T. Mollner adapted King's book, which was written in 1979. 

"Anything that has a contest with death as the stakes and some sort of big prize if you win can be connected in some way," Lawrence told Vanity Fair. "But in The Hunger Games, everybody's competing in a very different kind of way. There are alliances and you are trying to kill one another. Here, you're not actually trying to kill one another. It's a very different dynamic, in terms of relationships.... I thought the opposite. I'm, like, 'I don't want this to feel like The Hunger Games.' "

The Long Walk is produced by Lawrence, Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, and Cameron MacConomy. The film is presented by Lionsgate in association with Media Capital Technologies, and is a Vertigo Entertainment production.

Winners of the 2025 Agatha Awards, which celebrate the "traditional mystery--books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie," were honored at the Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda, Md. This year's winners are:

Contemporary novel: A Midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian
Historical novel: To Slip the Bonds of Earth by Amanda Flower 
First novel: You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen
Nonfiction: Writing the Cozy Mystery: Authors' Perspectives on their Craft, edited by Phyllis M. Betz. 
Children's/YA novel: The Sasquatch of Harriman Lake by Kate "K.B." Jackson 

In addition to the Agatha Awards, the William F. Deeck--Malice Domestic Grant was presented to D.S. Mori. This year's honorees were Donna Andrews (Lifetime Achievement), Marcia Talley (Guest of Honor), Les and Leslie Blatt (Fan Guests of Honor), and Lucy Worsley (Poirot honoree). 

The universality of grief makes it a popular subject for fiction, but by the same stroke it's challenging to approach with a fresh eye. Both humane and darkly comic, Peter Mendelsund's novel Weepers--the story of a group of professional mourners and the young man whose arrival casts their work in a dramatic new light--meets that standard.

Set in a dying small town in the hot, dusty American Southwest, Weepers's wry narratoris Ed Franklin, an aging and ailing cowboy poet whose dominant state of mind appears to be a wise world weariness. When he's not passing the time at his mobile home or with his girlfriend, Chantal, this self-described "ramshackle old gooch" is part of the cohort of Local 302, an organization that "began as a novelty service--like singing telegrams or birthday clowns." Its members are paid to appear at funerals and weep copiously in order to inspire the grief of the true mourners.

One day, from out of state, a young man known to Ed only as "the kid" arrives with no belongings other than the suit on his back, and soon attaches himself to the ranks of this decidedly informal union. But what differentiates him from Dill, J-Man, Lemon, and the rest of the crew is his uncanny ability to evoke effusive displays of emotions from people, both at funerals and elsewhere, without shedding a single tear of his own, or seemingly even speaking a word. And with the passage of time, a few strange, occasionally violent, encounters between the kid and townspeople hint at a dark past. As he observes these events, Ed undergoes a crisis in his own practice, finding it increasingly difficult to summon up tears on demand.

Ed struggles to solve the enigma of the kid's "large, unignorable, unrivaled gift, no matter how dangerously high-octane"--and to understand why he "simply could not shake that there was something extra-special in the boy." At the same time, he continues to deal with memories of his abusive father, a man who persistently haunts his dreams and reminds him that he's never come to terms with the legacy of that violence.

Throughout, Mendelsund (The Delivery; What We See When We Read) raises often unanswerable questions, but though Weepers is the sort of novel that resists the easy consolation of a neat ending, that doesn't detract from its appeal. Reflective and atmospheric, it's a meaningful expression of our attempt grapple with some of life's most profound mysteries. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer

Shelf Talker: The humane and darkly comic story of a group of professional mourners and the enigmatic character who enters their midst provides the backdrop for a meditation on grief and loss.