The country is facing "the most contentious, difficult, dispiriting moment since the 1850s," said historian, presidential biographer, journalist, and professor Jon Meacham, and booksellers are "vital" in whether or not "the American Republic is to long endure."

Meacham, whose new book, American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union, will be published by Random House in February, gave the opening keynote of the New England Independent Booksellers Association Fall Conference, which began yesterday in Manchester, N.H.

His talk was at times hilarious--he does a perfect, funny imitation of President George H.W. Bush, the subject of one of his biographies--grim, and ultimately hopeful.

In one of the most serious parts, he said, "We are at our best when we recognize that we voluntarily devoted a national experiment to the patriotic idea" contained in "the most important sentence ever originally rendered in English, that 'all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights,' " a sentence, Meacham continued, that "has changed more lives around the world than any other and continues to do so. That has to be the North Star." Each era in American history can be judged "by the degree to which we have lived up to that sentence or by the depths we've fallen from it."

Jon Meacham

The tension is always between nationalism--"broadly put, an allegiance to one's own kind, whether its skin color or geography or religion"--and patriotism--"an allegiance to an idea or creed," particularly of democracy. "Right now nationalism is beating the hell out of patriotism, but it doesn't have to be that way."

The present regime and its politics were "a choice that a dispositive number of American voters made," and "we can choose not to do this." Meacham pointed to the power of fear, defined by Aristotle as "the anxiety produced by the anticipation of the loss of something you love. Fear is elemental." By contrast, hope is "less elemental" and a "more difficult choice to make." When hope prevails, the best eras in American history occur, but it's always a struggle.

The country, he continued, needs to hear stories of hope, something that booksellers can do so well. "People don't want to be told what to think." Instead, "let's show them how other people have thought and what was produced....

"The stories you curate, the stories you sell, the stories you tell, will be part of any reclamation of or a recovery of the democratic experiment." Meacham noted, too, that "so many institutions in American life have bowed down to the sheer projection of power or the threat of that power, but so far publishing has not." (Although he did acknowledge that some self-censorship "might be occurring.")

Booksellers "didn't sign up" to fight for democracy "in wartime, but it's wartime," he went on. "You are soldiers in a cause of enlightenment, democracy, dissent, and in the classical sense, liberalism."

Meacham emphasized that even the heroes of democracy are flawed humans: "It's only human that if we're given a chance, we're more likely to grab as opposed to give." He called it "a reality" that goes back to the third chapter of Genesis. "The remarkable thing is that we managed to create a world that has incentives enough that we have the capacity to give a little bit.... A republic is the fullest manifestation of all of us," the best of us. "It's doing something that's not simply about fulfilling one's own appetite and ambition."

Meacham compared the state of the country today with the early 1920s, in the wake of a global pandemic; a horrible world war that "saw the rise of the technology of death" that made killing more efficient; and the Bolshevik Revolution, which sparked worldwide fears. In the U.S., there were crackdowns on civil liberties, suspension of due process, warrantless arrests, and the curtailing of free speech. The Scopes trial was "an attempt to disprove Darwin," and the expansion of the Ku Klux Klan was so great that 10 senators, 30 members of the House, and five governors were members. There were waves of vicious anti-Catholicism and antisemitism, and the passage in 1924 of the most restrictive immigration law "since 1798."

The reasons for those familiar trends are also familiar. Among them: in the early 1920s, there were huge demographic changes--for the first time more Americans lived in cities than on farms. Technological change was revolutionary and included the introduction of the radio, giving "people in Washington, New York, and Hollywood" a direct line into American homes and helped lead to the rise of Father Coughlin in the U.S. and "created the means by which Adolf Hitler could mesmerize the German people."

"History is division" and "it's okay to have arguments," he went on. Booksellers can provide "the infrastructure of that argument.... We fight and fight and fight as long as we do it with the rules, as long as one plus one equals two.... When you pick and choose which rule to follow and you suspend them, when you don't like the outcome, you break apart the covenant. That's what we have to stand against." Booksellers should tell the stories of "people who built and did not destroy, people who gave as opposed to people who took."

Meacham closed, "I believe that we have come through the darkness before. That is not a guarantee, but if we do, you will help light the way." --John Mutter

Blue Dog Books will host a grand opening celebration on September 21 at 245 S. Main St. in Springboro, Ohio. Dayton Daily News reported that co-owners Deb Covey and Josee Coyle "share the philosophy that a bookstore should be an inviting, inclusive gathering place for people of all ages." The store had its soft opening and ribbon-cutting last month. 

Blue Dog Books owners Deb Covey (l.) and Josee Coyle.

The bookstore offers a range of titles as well as gift items, including apparel and totes featuring Booker, the shop's bookseller dog and logo inspiration. Blue Dog Books plans to host numerous activities, including book clubs, young adult events, singles events, book signings, writing workshops, crafts, and private events.

Covey, who is a retired elementary school teacher, previously worked as a buyer for bookstores, including the former Books & Co. in Kettering.

"This is a very curated collection, and it's because of her love and passion for all of the literary genres," Coyle said.

The owners have always loved books, and "when Covey told her family she wanted to open a bookstore, they wanted her to get a partner. A friend told her about a former student, Coyle, who always wanted to have a bookstore. The pair met at Lovely's Farm Market in Springboro, found they had a lot of similar ideas and hatched their plan," Dayton Daily News wrote.

They chose the color blue because Springboro is long associated with the color and it is calming, Covey said, adding that a lot of bookstores have animals in their names, and dogs make good reading buddies.

Before naming the store, however, Covey reached out to the family of George Rodrigue, the southwest Louisiana artist known for his series "The Blue Dog," to get permission to use the name. "The family was very kind... they said 'if you want to (use the name) that's fine, that's great because we don't have a bookstore. We have coffee shops and we have diners and everything else.' "

Pagination Bookshop, a new and used bookstore in Springfield, Mo., will close, the Springfield Daily Citizen reported.

Store owner Jennifer Murvin, who founded the bookstore in 2019, wrote on Facebook: "Pagination Bookshop has been a dream come true since 2019, with incredible support from readers in the Ozarks and beyond. I am transitioning into (forgive me for this over-obvious image!) a new chapter in my life, and I'm excited to see what's next for this gorgeous space." 

While Murvin is not selling the bookstore itself, she is selling the historic building at 1150 E. Walnut St. in which it resides, and she intends to close the bookstore once the sale is final. She noted that she would love to see another bookstore open in the building, "as it's been an ideal space for it these past many years!"

Ann Saville, the founder of Taylor Books in Charleston, W.Va., died earlier this week following an extended illness, the Herald-Dispatch reported. She was 90 years old.

Ann Saville

"We are so grateful to have known you," wrote the Taylor Books team in a tribute posted to Facebook. "You had a tremendous effect on this world and on the lives of many. Thank you for bringing Taylor Books into existence. Your voice, your generosity, humor, intellect, perseverance, curiosity, and independent spirit will guide us forever. Thank you Ann. Thanks and condolences to the Saville family." 

Born in London, England, in 1934, Saville moved to the United States in 1958 with her husband, Dr. Paul Saville. They became U.S. citizens in 1964 and eventually settled in Charleston in 1975. In 1995, she purchased a neglected building in downtown Charleston and, with the help of her son, fixed it up and turned it into Taylor Books.

Per the Herald-Dispatch, the opening of Taylor Books "marked the beginning of Charleston's downtown renaissance," and the shop went on to become not only a cafe and bookstore but also an "art gallery, micro-cinema, bakery, and gathering place." 

Gina Puzzouli, the owner of an antique shop in Charleston and a friend of Saville, told the Herald-Dispatch that she "single-handedly changed the face of downtown Charleston with her 'little bookstore.' I honestly believe she did more for the downtown than any other one person. She was proof that retail spaces make a difference. She was my role model for living on Hale St. and opening my shop."

"Known for her unwavering dedication to the arts, local business, and the people of Charleston, Ann was a pillar of our Capital City and our downtown business community," said Amy Goodwin, mayor of Charleston. "Her legacy will live on in the countless lives she touched and the many ways she helped shape and strengthen our community."

In 2021, she sold Taylor Books to current owner Dan Carlisle, who started working at the store as a bookseller in 2009.

The two most popular books in August at Reading Group Choices were Familiaris by David Wroblewski (Blackstone Publishing) and Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein (The Dial Press).

Francie Crawford has been promoted to marketing manager at Blackstone Publishing.

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At Candlewick Press, Holiday House, and Peachtree:

Thomas Gengozian has joined the company as national account manager to Readerlink. He previously worked for Industry Print as key account sales manager.

Marion Jenkins has joined the company as senior national account manager to Amazon. She previously worked for Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing division as strategic partner manager.

Messi's Magic: How Lionel Messi Became the G.O.A.T. by Caroline L. Perry (Scholastic Press).

Today:
On the 75th anniversary of the publication of Henry Huggins, the first of Beverly Cleary's Henry Huggins books, All Things Considered considers the iconic children's book series.

Tomorrow:
CBS Mornings: Zosia Mamet, author of Does This Make Me Funny?: Essays (Viking, $28, 9780593490563).

photo: G2 Baraniak

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1983, Nino Haratischwili is a novelist, playwright, and theatre director. She is among the most widely read authors of contemporary German literature. Her third novel, The Eighth Life (for Brilka), was translated into 30 languages and became an international bestseller. It also won the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, the Anna Seghers Prize, and the Bertolt Brecht Prize, and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2020. The Lack of Light (HarperVia, September 9, 2025) centers on four women who formed a deep friendship in the turbulent years leading up to and after Georgia's independence from the Soviet Union. Haratischwili lives in Berlin.

Handsell readers your book in a handful of words:

It is a personal story about a dark time when I grew up and which had a lasting influence on me and which I have tried to tell as a story of female friendship and resilience.

On your nightstand now:

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Yevgenia Ginzburg, Varlam Shalamov--a lot of books about the Gulag system (researching for my new novel). It is very depressing, but at the same time very fulfilling and eye opening. It is sad that we humans learn so little from history.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. I loved that she was a girl and yet so fearless and brave, so "crazy" and different. It was the first book I read by myself, without anyone reading to me and maybe that's why it remains an important book for me to this day.

Your top five authors:

Homer
Marina Tsvetaeva
Mikhail Bulgakov
Philip Roth

And always the one who makes me read as if it were the first time and shatters me with the power of literature... Miranda July. The last book that really delighted me and made me want to read and read and read was All Fours.

Book you've faked reading:

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. Didn't fake it, just gave up, even though I really wanted to love it, but unfortunately it didn't work out.

Book you're an evangelist for:

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. For me, it's a masterpiece on so many levels! A testimony to the absurdity of the Soviet system, a philosophical treatise and at the same time one of the most beautiful, saddest and at the same time funniest books I have ever read. I remember going from tears to laughter from page to page.

Book you've bought for the cover:

I don't do that because I always read the text on the back!

Book you hid from your parents:

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. Because they would have said for sure that I was too young for the book and I probably was!

Book that changed your life:

There are a lot of them, because the books always find us at the right time, and I am convinced of that; at different stages of my life, there were very different books that opened my eyes. But Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex was groundbreaking for me as a woman.

Favorite line from a book:

There are so many, but what inspires me most are good poems that I never stop reading.

Five books you'll never part with:

Greek mythology: this is where my consciousness as a human being begins. And I love their logic and at the same time their boundless imagination. A wonderful way to approach the world!

Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva. She is a goddess of language and poetry and at the same time one of the most tragic and contradictory literary figures in the world.

Poems of Ingeborg Bachmann. She is also a master of language and a very ambivalent author, a kind of pioneer, if you like. A trailblazer for many women...

Why the Child Is Cooking in the Polenta by Aglaja Veteranyi. One of the most beautiful and saddest autobiographical books by a Romanian-Swiss author, which has accompanied me for 20 years and which I was allowed to bring to the stage myself in an adaptation two years ago.

Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth. For me, this is a highlight of Roth's work and such a merciless examination of life and death.

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

Love Life by Zeruya Shalev. I just love everything in and about this book!

This week the National Book Foundation is releasing longlists for the 2025 National Book Awards. Finalists will be announced October 7, and winners named November 19 at the National Book Awards Ceremony. This year's longlisted titles in the Young People's Literature and Translated Literature categories are:

Young people's literature
A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez by María Dolores Águila (Roaring Brook Press)
The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum (HarperCollins)
The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze by Derrick Barnes (Viking Books for Young Readers)
A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne (Crown Books for Young Readers)
A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff (Dial Books for Young Readers)
The Leaving Room by Amber McBride (Feiwel & Friends)
The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story by Daniel Nayeri (Levine Querido)
Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr (Amulet Books)
Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout (First Second)
(S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi (Versify)

Translated literature
On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) by Solvej Balle, translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell (New Directions)
The Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney (Two Lines Press)
We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated from the Spanish by Robin Myers (New Directions)
The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKay (New Vessel Press)
We Do Not Part by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris (Hogarth)
Sleep Phase by Mohamed Kheir, translated from the Arabic by Robin Moger (Two Lines Press)
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton (Hogarth)
We Computers: A Ghazal Novel by Hamid Ismailov, translated from the Uzbek by Shelley Fairweather-Vega (Yale University Press)
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated from the Italian by Sophie Hughes (New York Review Books)
Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer (Seven Stories Press)

Beloved British picture book author/illustrator Ruth Brown (Eye Spy) pays homage to 13 famous artists in her magnificent picture book A Gallery of Cats, in which she takes readers on an immersive and whimsical tour of an art gallery with a feline focus.

Readers are launched directly into the (quiet) action with a hushed "Wow!" A boy named Tom, who is visiting the museum with his grandmother, wanders alone in a side corridor. Large, framed paintings (rendered in acrylic and pen and ink) line the walls, each modeled after the work of famous artists like Gustav Klimt, Frida Kahlo, and Katsushika Hokusai. Each piece's heart, however, is a cat that Brown has cleverly inserted into the image. Readers see Tom from behind as he moves through the gallery, arms akimbo or hands in pockets, appreciating the art. Next to each work is a description placard; almost poetic in form, the text hints at the artist represented. One painting, reminiscent of Jackson Pollock's abstract expressionist style, has a placard that reads, "JACKSON/ (American Wirehair)/ Adventurous and curious.../ but messy--/ often scattering the contents/ of his food bowl and litter tray/ all over the floor." Jackson hops out of his painting and joins Tom on the walk through the gallery, leaving a white cat shape at the bottom of the painting. Edvard (Munch), who is "nervous/ and easily spooked," hisses at sky-blue and cloud-white "gentle dreamer" René (Magritte) when he joins the cat cavalcade. Jackson, the first cat to leap into the real world, accompanies Tom from beginning to end; the spattered paint patterns on Jackson's fur drip on the floor, resulting in both a paw-print trail and an almost-white cat.

Book illustrations are often children's first encounter with art, so exposing them to a baker's dozen of the world's most celebrated artists can be seen as a natural extension of the form. Brown is masterful in her tributes and her strict design structure--Tom on the left side, paintings on the right--allows marvelous little visual gifts to emerge, like the torn left ear on scruffy-looking Vincent (Van Gogh) or the cats scrambling to get back into their paintings at the surprise ending. If Brown's goal is to make readers of all ages curious to learn more about great artists, she should consider this goal achieved, spectacularly. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor

Shelf Talker: A splendidly designed picture book pays tribute to 13 great artists, fancifully incorporating cats into reproductions of familiar paintings.