Federal district court judge Alan D. Albright has issued a permanent injunction against sections of Texas's READER Act (HB 900) that affect booksellers, particularly provisions that would require sellers of library materials to school districts to assign "sexual content" ratings to books to be sold or still in active use, as well as have the state of Texas publicly list sellers' ratings and force them to change the ratings if the state disagreed--and potentially forbid some vendors from selling materials to school districts.

As the Association of American Publishers noted, the law "would have required independent bookstores, national chain bookstores, large online book retailers, book publishers and other vendors to review and rate millions of books and other library materials according to sexual content if those books are sold to public school libraries, and to do so according to vague labels dictated by the state without any process for judicial review."

The judge had issued a preliminary injunction in 2023 that was upheld by an appellate court. The state can appeal the permanent injunction.

Judge Albright determined that the READER Act unconstitutionally compels speech, forcing library material vendors to assign ratings they may not want to assign without a mechanism for appeal. He found that irreparable harm to the plaintiffs would occur without a permanent injunction.

The suit was brought in 2023 by two Texas bookstores--BookPeople in Austin and Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston--the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

ABA CEO Allison Hill said, "ABA applauds Judge Albright's decision in BookPeople v. Morath and his reaffirmation of the First Amendment rights of booksellers. Judge Albright's ruling against the READER Act is good news for Texas readers, schools, and bookstores."

The plaintiffs also issued a joint statement: "Today's decision affirms the constitutional rights of authors, booksellers, publishers, and readers, and protects bookstores from the imposition of an unreasonable law that would have threatened their viability, making it a huge win for Texas businesses. We thank Judge Albright for a critically important ruling that is clear, concise, and extremely well-reasoned."

As Bookselling This Week observed, the judge did not, however, address "plaintiffs' request to consider the constitutional implications of the READER Act's definitions, which have since been echoed in library legislation in Texas (HB 183). Finding that the compelled speech argument prevails on its own, the District Court declined to address arguments that the Act 'facially violates the First Amendment,' is 'substantially overbroad,' and 'unconstitutionally delegates government authority to regulate speech to private entities.' "

The Velvet Bookmark, with a mission "to create a safe, welcoming space where people can gather, read, and connect," opened last month at 50A Main St. in Tonawanda, N.Y. Step Out Buffalo reported that for co-owners and lifelong friends Lindsay Amico, Jessica Amico, and Lauren Gately, "this is not just a BookTok rec, it's their reality."

"We've loved reading for as long as we can remember," Lindsay Amico said. "Our vision is to build a space where people feel at home--where they can slow down, explore stories, and feel part of a community."

The bookstore's website notes that they "found the perfect little space in the small city we grew up in--it's like the plot of a cozy novel!... If BookTok is your thing, you’re in luck. We are hoping to stock our store with the latest and greatest books from your favorite authors. Everything from fantasy to romance to queer enemies to lovers."

Grump & Sunshine, a romance-focused bookstore that opened in Belfast, Maine, in 2023, has relocated its operations to 40 Free St., Suite B, in Portland, Maine, about 100 miles southwest of Belfast. The original store closed October 2 and hosted a grand reopening celebration for the new space on October 18.

Owner Cassidy James Taylor told Mainebiz that after operating the business for two years in Belfast, she realized she had "reached the ceiling of what we could do in that location.... I can't wait to build a romance-loving community in Portland. My dream has always been to create a space where readers feel safe, celebrated and inspired. Whether you're a lifelong romance fan or just curious about trying the genre, there's a place for you here. I know we're going to have so much fun together."

She added that the 1,300-square-foot space does not need major renovations, but "a splash of pink" is being added to the walls to make it feel more like its original home. "The Portland store will offer romance reads, merchandise, book clubs, craft nights and author events. Taylor also plans to add more community-focused gatherings," MaineBiz wrote.

"My hope is that it's not just a store, but a space where people can meet other readers, make friends and celebrate their love of romance together," said Taylor. "It's bittersweet--I'll miss being part of that community every day--but I know we're carrying the spirit of what we built there into Portland."

Barnes & Noble is opening a new bookstore in Palm Harbor, Fla., in the Highland Lakes Plaza at 33591 US Highway 19 N., on Wednesday, October 29. The 20,000-square-foot store includes a B&N Café. The official opening will feature author Sarah Penner cutting the ribbon and signing copies of her books.

"We are very pleased to be opening this beautiful new bookstore in Palm Harbor, our sixth Barnes & Noble to open in Florida this year--so far," said B&N. 

Also on October 29, B&N will have a grand opening for its new bookstore in Cheshire, Conn., in the Shops at Stone Bridge at 1991 Highland Ave. Author Amity Gaige is cutting the ribbon and signing copies of her books. The 18,000-square-foot store also features a B&N Café. 

"We are very pleased to open this beautiful new Barnes & Noble in Cheshire, our third new bookstore in Connecticut to open this year," B&N said. "When looking to expand our presence in this area, Cheshire was at the top of our list and the Shops at Stone Bridge is a natural fit." 

Ruth Weiss, a South African journalist "forged by the Nazi persecution she experienced as a child in Germany, who covered the malignant flowering of apartheid in the early 1960s and later wrote about the brutal white regime in Rhodesia before being expelled from the country," died September 5, the New York Times reported. She was 101.

Her life, articles, and many books "were shaped by twin experiences of discrimination: first, as a girl, when her life was upended after the Nazis came to power in 1933, and then, three years later, when her family immigrated to Johannesburg on one of the last refugee boats allowed into South Africa. From being an object of exclusion and persecution, she became a witness to it. And like many other refugee Jews, she became a determined opponent of apartheid," the Times wrote.

"Blacks under apartheid--Jews under the swastika. Was it all that different?" she asked in 1979 during a lecture in Nuremberg, Germany, recounted in her 2014 memoir, A Path Through Hard Grass: A Journalist's Memories of Exile and Apartheid. In the introduction, her friend Nadine Gordimer, the Nobel Prize-winning South African novelist, praised Weiss's "natural modesty." 

During the early 1960s, she became the business editor of the South African magazine News Check and later was a correspondent for the country's leading business weekly, Financial Mail. In 1966, she was offered a job by the Financial Mail as bureau chief in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe). By 1968, she was living in London and working at the Guardian. "I was not allowed to return to Rhodesia, nor indeed to South Africa," she wrote. "I received the order forbidding my entry with the threat of instant arrest if I as much as set a foot on Rhodesian soil while I was working at the Guardian."

After her stint at the Guardian, Weiss returned to Africa in 1970 as business editor of the Times of Zambia, and five years later, she moved to Germany to serve as the Africa expert at Deutsche Welle. By the late 1970s she was back in London, working as a freelance journalist, and in the 1980s was training journalists in the newly independent Zimbabwe.

Weiss spent much of the 1990s living on the Isle of Wight in England, where she wrote novels, children's books, and nonfiction. Her books translated into English include Zimbabwe and the New Elite (1994); Sir Garfield Todd and the Making of Zimbabwe (1999, with Jane Parpart); and Peace in their Time: the Peace Process in Northern Ireland and Southern Africa (2000).

In the introduction that Gordimer wrote for A Path Through Hard Grass, she lauded Weiss's "innovative intelligence, political acumen and courage to take risks," adding that she was "the most humane woman I have ever met."

HarperCollins Publishers hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its 1.6 million-sq-ft. supply chain logistics facility in Brownsburg, Ind. Indiana Governor Mike Braun joined Brian Murray, president and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers, for the event, which was also attended by officials from the Indiana Office of Commerce and the Town of Brownsburg. The facility is set to open in 2028.

"Working in an indie bookstore is the best job in the world," the Stacks Bookstore, Savannah, Ga., posted on Instagram, where the shop shared  "some highlights from this week," and concluded: "The thing that makes this job so wonderful is, hands down, without a doubt, the people, and we have the best customers in the world. Thank y’all for making this such a dream job."

"Hey readers--the chill in the air means reading books, a comfy chair, and a warm drink. Come find the perfect book for your fall cozy reading," the Green Dragon Bookshop in Fort Dodge, Iowa, posted on Instagram.

At Sourcebooks:

Cristina Arreola has been promoted to director of publicity & marketing for Sourcebooks Landmark and Cosmo Reads.

Philippa Roberts has joined the company as marketing & publicity assistant, Poisoned Pen Press.

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Toni Chapman, author of Everything's Good: Cozy Classics You'll Cook Always and Forever (Clarkson Potter, $35, 9780593800782). 

The View: Roy Wood Jr., author of The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir (Crown, $32, 9780593800072).

Also on the View: Deborah Roberts, author of Sisters Loved and Treasured: Stories of Unbreakable Bonds (Hyperion Avenue, $26.99, 9781368115810).

Drew Barrymore Show: Brie Larson and Courtney McBroom, authors of Party People: A Cookbook for Creative Celebrations (DK, $35, 9780593970027).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Sunday, October 26
8 a.m. Kevin Sack, author of Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church (‎Crown, $35, 9781524761301). (Re-airs Sunday at 8:30 p.m.)

9:15 a.m. Sean Oliver and Ricardo Morales, Jr., authors of Monkey Morales: The True Story of a Mythic Cuban Exile, Assassin, CIA Operative, FBI Informant, Smuggler, and Dad (‎Post Hill Press, $22, 9798888458594). (Re-airs Sunday at 9:45 p.m.)

1 to 7 p.m. Coverage of the 2025 Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago, which took place in September. Highlights include:

• 1 p.m. Gioia Diliberto, author of Firebrands: The Untold Story of Four Women Who Made and Unmade Prohibition, and Dawn Tripp, author of Jackie: A Novel.
• 1:43 p.m. Bill Ayers, Keisa Reynolds, Anya Tanyavutti, and Maya Schenwar, co-authors of We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition (Haymarket Books, $19.95, 9798888902554).
• 2:28 p.m. Gloria Browne-Marshall, author of A Protest History of the United States, Cedric De Leon, author of Freedom Train: Black Politics and the Story of Interracial Labor Solidarity, and Elizabeth Todd-Breland, author of A Political Education: Black Politics and Education Reform in Chicago Since the 1960s.
• 3:14 p.m. Maureen Dowd, author of Notorious: Portraits of Stars from Hollywood, Culture, Fashion, and Tech.
• 4 p.m. Edda Fields-Black, author of Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War.
• 5:25 p.m. Bill Adair, author of Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy, and Barbara McQuade, author of Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America.
• 6:12 p.m. Andrea Freeman, author of Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to School Lunch.

Becky Manawatu (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, Waitaha) won the 2025 Keri Hulme Award for Kataraina as part of the biennial Pikihuia awards, Books+Publishing reported. The prize recognizes a mid-career Māori writer who represents the values Keri Hulme embodied through her work and storytelling. The winner receives NZ$5,000 (about $2,865) and guardianship of the Keri Hulme Award taonga for two years.

The awards are presented by the Māori Literature Trust Te Waka Taki Kōrero and celebrate emerging Māori writers in te reo Māori and English. Check out the other award winners here. 

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, October 28:

The Black Wolf: A Novel by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books, $30, 9781250328175) is the 20th Chief Inspector Gamache mystery.

Fox and Furious: A Novel by Rita Mae Brown (‎Bantam, $30, 9780593874110) is a cozy mystery starring anthropomorphic animals. 

The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding by Joseph J. Ellis (Knopf, $30, ‎9780593801413) reckons with the failure of country's founders to end slavery or Indian removal.

Dead and Alive: Essays by Zadie Smith (‎Penguin Press, $30, 9780593834688) collects essays on pop culture and social issues.

Coyote Hills: A Novel by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman (Ballantine, $30, 9780525620174) is the latest in the Clay Edison series by the father-and-son writing team.

Wreck: A Novel by Catherine Newman (Harper, $26.99, 9780063453913) is the sequel to Sandwich.

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor Books, $29.99, 9781250799081) is a romantasy time travel tale.

Tom's Crossing: A Novel by Mark Z. Danielewski (Pantheon, $40, 9781524747718) is a literary adventure set in 1980s Utah.

Moth Dark by Kika Hatzopoulou (Putnam, $19.99, 9780593859377) is a YA time travel dark romantasy in which a young woman falls in love with the Dark. 

Pushing Hope by Raymond Santana, illus. by Keith Henry Brown (Astra/Calkins Creek, $24.99 hardcover, 9781662680397) is a YA illustrated memoir about one of the Central Park Five's wrongful conviction and fight for exoneration.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks--The Essential Recipes: 120 Greatest Hits, New Twists, and Perfected Classics by Ree Drummond (Morrow Cookbooks, $32.50, 9780063276635) is the ninth Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook.

‎The Uncool: A Memoir by Cameron Crowe (Avid Reader Press, $35, 9781668059432) is the memoir of the music journalist and filmmaker.

That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You by Elyse Myers (Morrow, $30, 9780063381308) contains stories and sketches from an internet personality.

Paperbacks:
Witches of Dubious Origin by Jenn McKinlay (Ace, $19, 9780593819753).

Some Kind of Famous by Ava Wilder (Dell, $19, 9780593871690).

The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell (‎Del Rey, $19, 9798217091799). 

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead, $19, 9780593418925).

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
Exiles by Mason Coile (Putnam, $28, 9780593851630). "Three exiles are making their way across the galaxy, the first colonists on their way to Mars. All the planning, teamwork and bravado in the galaxy cannot prepare them for the horrors they will encounter on this forsaken outpost." --Deborah Magness, Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, Wash.

Good and Evil and Other Stories by Samanta Schweblin, trans. by Megan McDowell (Knopf, $27, 9780593803103). "Schweblin is the master of the short story. Piercing, cutting, nearly diabolical in such few words. Each story in this collection is a work of art. This will make you ditch your epic 900 pager." --Rachel Brewer, Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville, Ky.

Paperback
In a Distant Valley by Shannon Bowring (Europa Editions, $19, 9798889661405). "This is such a perfect way to wrap up the Dalton Trilogy. Shannon's novels completely immerse me in their time and place. I have loved watching these characters develop over the course of these three books, and can't wait to see what she does next!" --Rebecca Pimsler, Bear Pond Books, Montpelier, Vt.

Ages 4-8
Cat Nap by Brian Lies (Greenwillow Books, $19.99, 9780062671288). "A simple chase between a curious cat and a clever mouse quickly spirals into an extraordinary journey through the world of art and history. This whimsical tale is perfect for readers with a passion for art history and a love for the unexpected." --Kassandra McKenna, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.

Ages 6-9
Cabin Head and Tree Head by Scott Campbell (Tundra Books, $13.99, 9781774885055). "The best thing about Cabin Head and Tree Head is that there is no reason they have a cabin and tree on their heads! And yet, it's exactly right that they DO have a cabin and tree on their heads! This absurd best-friend duo will make young readers (and their grown-ups) laugh!" --Betsy Haberl, Booked, Evanston, Ill.

Ages 13+
Morgana and Oz, Vol. 3 by Miyuli (WEBTOON Unscrolled, $18.99, 9781998341450). "A fantastic fantasy romance graphic novel. I've loved reading this series so much. It's a slow burn romance and the mystery is so intriguing. A series for fans of great stories, fun romances, and magic!" --Ashley Dang, The Ripped Bodice, Culver City, Calif.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Trent Preszler (Little and Often), a professor of practice in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, offers readers a captivating history of the evergreen (and other trees) and its role in the development of the physical territory and culture of the United States.

Throughout history, even before the United States existed, lumber was a definitive resource in many aspects of life--including military campaigns from ancient Rome to colonial Britain--and civilizations consumed it as though it were limitless. "When the Western Roman Empire collapsed in the fifth century, southern Europe was mostly deforested, its vibrant landscapes reduced to barren hills and eroded soils."

Evergreen is particularly insightful in its examination of the foundational role of timber in the early United States. For the first colonists, the vast forests were a formidable challenge, as they hindered the development of agriculture lands and transportation of people and goods. Logging was, and remains, a singularly dangerous occupation, which Peszler likens to whaling in its lethalness: "Workers in the industry face odds of being killed on the job more than thirty times greater than the typical American worker." But the forests were also an immense opportunity. The timber trade provided the essential materials for shipbuilding, construction, and the growth of towns. Preszler recounts how the towering white pines of New England became critically important for the masts of the British Royal Navy, a reliance that led to substantial political friction and contributed to the lead-up to the Revolutionary War.

One of the book's most compelling sections is a detailed chronicle of the tree's gradual assimilation and subsequent prominence within the Christian tradition. Preszler lays out the custom's pre-Christian origins in Germanic cultures, where evergreen boughs were venerated during the winter solstice as a symbol of life's endurance. This practice was initially regarded with deep suspicion by many early Christian communities, including the Puritans in America, who condemned them as "pagan mockery." It took a huge influx of German immigrants in the 1800s to popularize the Christmas tree through their sheer numbers. By 1889, the White House set up its first Christmas tree, although there wasn't a Christmas tree in the Vatican until 1982, during the papacy of John Paul II.

Readers of canonical "history through an object" such as Mark Kurlansky's Salt or Coal: A Human History by Barbara Freese will be spellbound by Preszler's narrative skill as he adroitly makes the various historical eras and their forests feel vibrant and alive. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash.

Shelf Talker: An in-depth, expansive, and poignant exploration of the history of trees and forestry that makes the reader to see the world in a fresh way.

Did you ever notice how books track you down and hunt you out? They follow you like the hound in Francis Thompson's poem. They know their quarry!... Words can't describe the cunning of some books. You'll think you've shaken them off your trail, and then one day some innocent-looking customer will pop in and begin to talk, and you'll know he's an unconscious agent of book-destiny.

What do you get when you cross Morley's novels The Haunted Bookshop with Parnassus on Wheels? I thought of this when I learned about The Grim Reader Bookshop, a mobile bookstore located in the back of a decommissioned 2004 Cadillac DeVille hearse. It haunts the Atlanta, Ga., area, "stopping at cool events, coffee shops, markets, and more," Secret Atlanta reported.

"Remember the magic of the school book fair?" The Grim Reader asks on its website. "The squeaky tables, the smell of new paperbacks, the one kid who always bought every eraser shaped like food? The Grim Reader Bookshop is that feeling, resurrected, with more ghosts. We're a mobile bookshop in a hearse, serving up horror, dark fantasy, and strange little stories for the grown-up weirdos in (and around) Atlanta who never stopped chasing that book fair buzz. Come find something strange and spellbinding."

So why shouldn't my mind drift, especially this time of year, to Mr. Morley, one of my bookselling heroes? Halloween is, after all, a bookseller's dream. What holiday is more appropriate for a national celebration honoring (and capitalizing on) the literary dead, especially those whose undead books still pay a significant portion of our wages? Publishing houses may not be haunted houses--as a rule--but storytelling has a distinguished spectral pedigree.

I've long been haunted by Morley and his fictional bookshops. In The Haunted Bookshop ("haunted by the ghosts of great literature," as he describes it), we are informed that in Brooklyn, "that borough of superb sunsets and magnificent vistas of husband-propelled baby-carriages," there is "a very remarkable bookshop" doing business under the unusual name of Parnassus at Home. It "is housed in one of the comfortable old brown-stone dwellings which have been the joy of several generations of plumbers and cockroaches. The owner of the business has been at pains to remodel the house to make it a more suitable shrine for his trade, which deals entirely in second-hand volumes. There is no second-hand bookshop in the world more worthy of respect."

Over the entrance of the bookshop is this sign:

PARNASSUS AT HOME
R. AND H. MIFFLIN
BOOKLOVERS WELCOME!
THIS SHOP IS HAUNTED

Venturing inside, one encounters a "large placard in a frame" that reads:

This shop is haunted by the ghosts
Of all great literature, in hosts

Aren't we all haunted by the books we've read and the authors who've possessed us. We're mediums by avocation and, if lucky, vocation, channeling the eloquently dead. Then there are those other book ghosts, the unread ones who whisper from the shelves: "Read us... Read us... Why won't you read us?" A chill runs up spines of various kinds.

"That's why I call this place the Haunted Bookshop. Haunted by the ghosts of the books I haven't read," the proprietor, Roger Mifflin, says. "Poor uneasy spirits, they walk and walk around me. There's only one way to lay the ghost of a book, and that is to read it."

In 1959, the New York Times featured an obituary for Max M. Maisel, owner of a bookshop on the lower East Side for 60 years before his retirement. He opened his shop in 1892 at 424 Grand Street, on the corner of Attorney St. "It became the meeting place of intellectuals around the time of World War I," the obit noted, adding that "Christopher Morley used it as the setting for his novel The Haunted Bookshop, published in 1919." The site seems to be an empty lot now, surrounded by apartment buildings. Could still be haunted, though. Probably is.

Christopher Morley

Morley died in 1957. In his obit, the Times wrote: "Surrounded by dozens of the newest books, which had spilled from several bookcases, Mr. Morley wrote literally to the accompaniment of the running sands of time. Prominent on the big dining table he used as a work table stood an hour glass that ran sixty-two and a half minutes to the hour. Mr. Morley dictated while the sand ran through in long measurement, a system, he said, that kept him to his writing chores for the full time he had previously allotted." He wrote more than 50 novels, essay collections, and volumes of poetry. Writers, get yourself an hour glass.

The obit also noted he "boasted that his best-loved private associations were with 'people devoid of conventional culture, such as booksellers, shipmasters, traveling salesmen, headwaiters, and occasional professors of English literature.' Mr. Morley grew a beard some years ago as a memorial to a man who, in his turn, had grown a beard as a memorial to Herman Melville." #LiteraryGhostBeards!

The Grim Reader knows: "She once carried the dead. Now she carries stories. Winnie is a 2004 Cadillac DeVille hearse and a local Atlanta lady. Named after the Winchester from Shaun of the Dead, a nod to the classics, Winnie is more than just a vehicle. She is a rolling crypt of strange tales, shadowy characters, and the kind of magic you only find between pages."