"It was a lifelong dream to open my own bookshop," said Lauren Cardick, owner of the soon-to-open Matchmaker Bookshop in Highland Park, Ill. "It seemed like a natural fit." 

Located at 1891 Second St., Matchmaker Bookshop spans about 1,900 square feet and will debut next month with a grand opening on September 13. The shop will sell new titles for all ages, and within that generalist umbrella, Cardick and her team "want to make sure we have a robust children's section," as the area has lots of young families. They've also put a lot of emphasis on the romance and horror genres, among others. Alongside books, there will be a "large and rotating selection" of gifts and sidelines, including wrapping paper, stationery, candles, and stuffed animals. 

Elissa Smith, Matchmaker's events coordinator, said the team wants to make the store "a big destination for authors on the North Shore" as well as a "big local events space." In addition to author events, the team plans to host craft workshops, story hours, and book clubs, with Smith noting that the team "really wants to hear what the community is looking for" and host events that cater to those needs.

The store's upstairs space will be available for community members to rent and has a conference room and classroom for meetings and workshops. Matchmaker also has a lounge area, a children's play space, and a large back patio that will feature tables, chairs, and umbrellas. Cardick and her team hope that community members will "come and spend time" and "come hang out with us." She said: "We want this to be a true third space in the community."

Owner Lauren Cardick

The store's name, Cardick explained, was inspired by the book The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson, in which "the theme of matchmaking kept coming up." A friend gave Cardick a copy of the book on the same day she made an offer on the bookstore's future home, and she was struck by the book's discussion of "that special alchemy of pairing the right book with the right reader."

Smith remarked that Matchmaker's name "really lines up with what we want to do," and Cardick added that the store's motto is "where readers and books live happily ever after."

Matchmaker is Cardick's "first foray into the publishing and bookselling world"; prior to launching the bookstore, she had a career in public health and consulting. When she decided to go back to work after about eight years of being a stay-at-home parent, Cardick felt that she "didn't want to go back to the corporate world again." Opening a bookstore seemed very appealing, and she decided to do the Paz & Associates course, figuring it would "either talk me out of it or convince me. And here we are."

Touching on the grand opening festivities scheduled for September 13, Cardick said exact plans are still being finalized, but a local coffee and flower cart called Bloom and Brew will be on hand to serve coffee and sell bouquets. There will also be activities for children and some form of incentive for the first 25 customers. Prior to the grand opening, there will be a family and friends night on September 6 and, in general, Cardick intends to soft open "as soon after Labor Day as possible."

Asked how the Highland Park community has responded to the bookstore, Cardick reported that "everyone has been unbelievably generous and welcoming." Cardick was in the town's 4th of July parade with a coming soon sign to advertise the bookstore, and enthusiasm has been building throughout the summer. "Excitement is palpable," she said. --Alex Mutter

Double Dog Bookshop, a mobile bookstore based in Wentzville, Mo., opened last spring to serve St. Charles County from a refurbished trailer. Owner Kelley Hartnett has been spending the summer getting to know the area's bookish community.

"We're bringing the joy of browsing and discovery to sidewalks, parking lots, and markets," she said. "Not everyone has a neighborhood bookstore anymore, and it's so fun to watch people's eyes light up when they realize we've delivered one to them."

Hartnett purchased the 7'x14' trailer when a storefront location proved difficult to find. She and her husband spent six weeks renovating it and outfitting the space with shelves to house the 1,200 books. The business is named in honor of Hartnett's two rescue dogs, Murphy and Whiskey, and is the result of a decades-long dream of owning a bookstore. 

For Hartnett, her shop is about more than selling books: "Many of us spend a lot of time consuming whatever content algorithms suggest to us. I want Double Dog to be a place where we can have real conversations and build true community with the people right around us."

The shop carries new books of all genres "for humans of all ages." With pop-up appearances across the St. Louis metro area, Double Dog brings the independent bookstore experience directly to local neighborhoods and events. The mobile bookstore currently has no fixed route, but regularly updates its calendar and social media with information about upcoming appearances. 

Hearts on Fire Books, a romance-focused bookstore, will open this fall in Boise, Idaho, BoiseDev reported.

The store will reside at 218 N. 9th St. and carry a wide variety of romance titles. Owner Samantha Haroian, a former accountant, will also sell nonbook items like bookmarks and candles, and her event plans include book clubs and author talks.

"Our little tagline is 'a place for the curious romantic,' meaning, we want people who are curious about the genre to feel comfortable coming in and learning more about romance and what the genre is all about," Haroian told BoiseDev. She also hopes the store becomes a hub for the romance community.

Haroian said she's always dreamed of owning a bookstore, and she wanted to "get out of the accounting and corporate side of things and work for myself." She's aiming for an October opening.

This fall, C-SPAN is launching America's Book Club, a weekly primetime TV series hosted by David M. Rubenstein. C-SPAN will tape America's Book Club before audiences at major public libraries and cultural landmarks, including the Library of Congress, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Enoch Pratt Library, and the National Archives. 

Rubenstein is an author, lawyer, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, principal owner of the Baltimore Orioles, former chairman of the Kennedy Center, chairman of the National Gallery of Art and the Council on Foreign Relations, a TV and podcast host, among other positions. He will interview "leading authors, policymakers, business innovators, and cultural figures--exploring the ideas that shaped America's past, challenge the nation's present, and inspire our future," C-SPAN noted. Guests and historic venues for the initial season include:

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the Library of Congress 
John Grisham at the Library of Congress
Henry Louis Gates at the Library of Congress
David Grann at the Folger Shakespeare Library
Arthur Brooks at the Library of Congress
Walter Isaacson at the National Archives
Stacy Schiff at the National Archives
José Andrés at the Library of Congress

"Books provide the foundation of American ideals, progress, and vision," said Rubenstein. "Since I was a youngster growing up in Baltimore, books have fueled my imagination and knowledge. I look forward to sharing these ideas with others."

"C-SPAN is taking an ambitious step forward with America's Book Club," said CEO Sam Feist. "We are proud to launch a flagship series featuring guests of the highest stature in American letters and public thought, interviewed by David Rubenstein, a lover of history and an engaging interviewer. This program is a landmark cultural initiative designed to inspire, inform, and engage viewers with the ideas and thought leaders shaping our nation's future."

Senior executive producers of America's Book Club are Peter Slen, who has been senior executive producer of Book TV for nearly two decades; and Marie Arana, author, former editor of the Washington Post Book World, as well as inaugural literary director of the Library of Congress. Brian Rokus, a 25-year CNN veteran, is senior producer on the program.  

Posted on Instagram by Green Heron Bookshop in San Marcos, Tex.: "My heart is full. I love this space, this time, and who we are with you. Thank you. --Wade (Owner)."

Audrey Diestelkamp has joined Macmillan Children's Publishing Group as executive director, marketing. Previously, she was senior director, marketing at Harper Collins Children's Books.

The True Gifts of Christmas: Unwrapping the Meaning Behind Our Most Cherished Traditions by Megan Alexander (Loyola Press).

Tomorrow:
The View repeat: Zarna Garg, author of This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir (Ballantine, $30, 9780593975022).

Hulu has greenlit a pilot order to Foster Dade, a mystery YA drama based on Nash Jenkins' debut novel, Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos. Deadline reported that the project is from You co-creator Greg Berlanti, Bash Doran (Life After Life), and Warner Bros. Television, where Berlanti Productions is under an overall deal. Last April, Hulu bought Berlanti and Doran's spec script for the project.

Set in 2008 and present day, Foster Dade is "a sophisticated mystery set at an East Coast boarding school that explores privilege, scandal, sexuality and masculinity amid the rise of social media, millennial anxiety, and pharmaceuticals," Deadline noted.

Jenny Brown Associates literary agency has named Juliet Thomas winner of the 2025 JBA Debut Writers over 50 Award for her crime novel, 31 Milton Road, the Bookseller reported. Thomas receives £1,000 (about $1,345) and a week's residential course at Moniack Mhor, Scotland's Creative Writing Centre.  

The award was created in 2023 to "address the lack of literary opportunities available to older writers eager to break into the publishing industry and to celebrate and value their collected, distilled wisdom and a lifetime of reading and experience," the Bookseller noted. Also shortlisted were Sarah Drummond's Soup, Ali Morrison's The Wake, Sita Schutt's Whorl, Margherita Still's Alex Anderson Is Not Dead, and Catherine Strong's The Hostess. Susan Kemp's Greenwash was highly commended.

After skillfully exposing global voyeurism in The Disaster Tourist (2020), award-winning Korean writer Yun Ko-eun, gratifyingly paired again with agile translator Lizzie Buehler, brilliantly skewers the art industry in Art on Fire. Nine years ago, the photo Canyon Proposal transformed the art world when the photographer was revealed to be canine--a Papillon named Robert. The photo caught the late daughter of octogenarian businessman Mr Waldmann, understandably sparking his interest in Robert. Mr Waldmann invites Robert to his Palm Springs, Calif., villa where Robert becomes a "permanent guest." Man and dog publicly enjoy art museums together. Upon Mr Waldmann's death, Robert is installed as head of the Robert Foundation.

Over the past seven years, the foundation has supported 20 artists with generous, four-month residencies at the Robert Museum of Art in Palm Springs. It's become "one of the most impressive lines in [artists'] resumes." An Yiji, whose art career has stagnated while she struggles with low ratings working for a delivery app in Seoul, receives the latest invitation. Skeptically shocked, she needs "a few Google searches... [to realize] my dream had come true." Let the surreality begin.

Getting to Palm Springs is rather an ordeal: her airport pick-up never shows, Los Angeles fires cause extensive delays. Losing patience, Yiji manages to secure her own ride, but is chastised when she arrives--and inexplicably treated like "an uninvited guest." Even Robert joins in the rebuke in a not-welcome letter, signed in gold-inked pawprint. At least he's more affable when Yiji meets him at dinner, complimenting her orange dress and teal shoes. Communication isn't exactly direct between dog and artist, requiring a black box and three intermediary interpreters, and still "phoenix" somehow becomes "a mythical Korean pigeon." Between command meals with Robert, trail runs with rentable canine companions, scouting inspirational locations in a foundation-supplied Lamborghini, Yiji creates her art. Always looming is the residency's draconian demand: the "incineration of one piece by artist, to be chosen by the Robert Foundation," on the last day of the exhibition. Yiji may have signed her contract, but she isn't ready to comply.

Yun's quotables are countless, her exposés relentless, not the least of which is, of course, that art's ultimate gatekeeping has gone to the dogs. The most valuable piece here turns out to be literal shit (microwaved, formaldehyded, resined, varnished). Yun's clever layers are many, producing a biting demand to confront the deification (and commodification) of art, and the unchallenged assumptions of (mis)communication. --Terry Hong

Shelf Talker: Yun Ko-eun gloriously takes on the art world, hysterically, delectably, thoroughly exposing its gatekeepers, makers, and audiences.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. The Multiply Method by Sarah Robbins
2. Lights Out by Navessa Allen
3. Caught Up by Navessa Allen
4. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
5. No Woman Left Behind by Kate Grant
6. Handsome Devil by L.J. Shen
7. Dream On by Jennifer Hartman
8. Scarred by Emily McIntire
9. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
10. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros 

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]