(photo courtesy Humboldt Bay Fire)

A fire that broke out last Friday afternoon in downtown Arcata, Calif., in Northern California, has completely destroyed two bookstores--Northtown Books and Dandar's Boardgames and Books--as well as other businesses and apartments, Lost Coast Outpost reported.

So far the cause of the fire, which was whipped up by strong winds, hasn't been determined. The affected buildings were torn down not long after the fire was extinguished. All apartments and businesses, including the bookstores, were safely evacuated.

Northtown Books owner Dante DiGenova, who had been a longtime employee, bought the store in 2006 from Art Burton and Barbara Turner. Northtown Books was founded in 1965.

Arcata resident Jada Brotman has created a Giveahand fundraiser to help Northtown Books that this morning is near its goal of $90,000. Brotman wrote in part, "Dante will need money. That's for sure. Let's help him out."

Founded in 2019 by Dan and Doranna (Dar) Gilkey, Dandar's Boardgames and Books moved last year to the location that was destroyed.

Jeanne Marie Kirke has created a Gofundme campaign for Dandar's, which has raised nearly $15,000 toward its goal of $25,000. Kirke noted that with the move, "the store flourished... Gaming events were offered. Doranna left her day job to assist Dan in running the store. Hours were extended so more community game nights could be offered. Recently, Dan and Doranna were excited to welcome Corrina on board as their first employee."

Arcata resident Robin Paschall has created another fundraiser for Dandar's Boardgames and Books, on Giveahand, which has raised more than $14,000 toward its goal of $25,000. Paschall wrote in part, "They have lost everything to a fire. We buy all of our games from them. The owners and staff are so friendly and rooted in our community. I am devastated for them and wanted to help in some way."

Among the many supporters of the stores is fellow bookseller Solomon Everta, owner of Eureka Books, in nearby Eureka, who wrote on Facebook on Friday, "I can't even begin to express my sadness at the loss of Northtown Books and Dandar's Boardgames and Books in a tragic fire in Arcata today. It is a truly incomprehensible situation.

"I am glad no one was physically injured and we will all work to repair the injury to our community's soul that occurred today. We will begin by supporting the booksellers themselves and then work to rebuild their places in the community. Humboldt always comes together in tough times. We are here for our fellow booksellers."

Meadow Market Books hosted a soft opening over the weekend at 1514 E. 15th St. in Tulsa, Okla., with an official launch anticipated at the end of January, Tulsa People reported, adding that the shop features popular fiction and works by local authors, children's titles, used books, art, notebooks, and more. 

Co-owners Melodie and Jared Coulter share the bookshop's origin story on the Meadow Market Books website, noting, in part: "In 2020, a librarian and a post man fell in love. They shared book recommendations, marveled over excellent audiobook productions, and delighted in the way their personal book collections melded together to fill their lives with wonderful stories. They bonded over Indie Bookstore Day, spent nights at bookstore sleepovers, and committed to each other as life partners in a bookstore wedding officiated by their bookstore owner friend. 

"Just before their wedding, Melodie and Jared Coulter revived an old idea to open their own bookstore. Plans were made, things were purchased, and that dream sat patiently for a year and a half.... The waiting has paid off, and Meadow Market opens its doors in January 2026. We cannot wait to show you what we've been drafting."

Ink'd Pages, a fantasy- and romance-focused bookstore, will open soon in New Bedford, Mass., the Standard-Times reported. 

The bookstore will reside at 209 Union St. in a space that once housed Subtext Book Shop. Ink'd Pages owner Andrea Furtado, who is also a tattoo artist, plans to carry a wide array of romance and fantasy titles. Her event plans include book clubs, and she wants to emphasize special-edition titles.

"I've always wanted a bookstore or some kind of space where it's a safe space for everybody, especially for women in general," Furtado told the Standard-Times. "After I had my kids, I had very bad postpartum depression, and reading got me out of it, and I want to offer that to other people."

She added, "So many [of my younger clients] are reading, and are reading the books that I read, or just getting into reading... They're like, 'I've never read before, and I just started this year, and I can't put these books down.' "

Femme Fire Books in Jacksonville, Fla., closed December 28 after more than three years in business. Owner Vanessa Nicolle opened the physical bookstore in the summer of 2022 as an expansion of her previously online and pop-up event sales model for books written by women and people of color. 

Nicolle had shared her plans to close the bookshop earlier this fall, noting: "I have made a big decision to go back to school in 2026 and it is important to me to focus my energy towards my personal and educational goals. Opening this bookstore in 2022 gave me such a strong sense of purpose and is the proudest work I've ever done to date.... Bookselling is a challenging industry and despite everything FFB has always been so much more than just selling books. It has been a place of curiosity, connection, joy, and reclamation through diverse stories."

In a recent social media post, Nicolle wrote: "Closing the doors today feels a lot like finishing the best book I've ever read. All the emotions of the story still feel raw. I find myself missing all the characters from the book. And I'm so shook that it's ended that I don't know what to read next. That I loved this book so much that when I finish, it feels like there is no possible way another book could top it. 

"But there's always more stories to be read. And if I just keep reading the same story, I might not find that there's an even more exciting one waiting for me out there on the shelf. And if it's not on the shelf, maybe it just hasn't been written yet. Thank you all for being a part of our story at Femme Fire Books."

Dr. Jerome Lowenstein, founder of the Bellevue Literary Press and the NYU Program for Humanistic Aspects of Medical Education, as well as an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at NYU Medical School, died on December 8, 2025. He was 92. 

Jerome Lowenstein

In a tribute, Bellevue Literary Review noted that the eminent nephrologist "taught thousands of medical students and residents, including both BLR's editor-in-chief, Danielle Ofri, and founding publisher, Martin J. Blaser.... He understood deeply the valuable connection between medicine and literature. In addition to being one of the founders of BLR, he also was the founding publisher of Bellevue Literary Press, which is dedicated to publishing literary fiction and nonfiction at the intersection of the arts and sciences."

"Over the 20 years that I served as nonfiction editor of BLR, I never lost my passion for preserving the voice of our authors," Lowenstein observed in the review's 20th anniversary editor roundtable.

He was the author of six books, including The Midnight Meal and Other Essays About Doctors, Patients, and Medicine; the novel Henderson's Equation; and a nephrology classic, Acid and Basics.

"Jerry was a mensch extraordinaire, truly one-of-a-kind," said Ofri. "He cared deeply about the experience of the reader at every level. I remember sitting with him in my clinic office at Bellevue as we planned the first issue of BLR, weighing different samples of paper in our hands, trying to decide which would feel the nicest in our readers' hands. And, of course, I recall our many discussions about the importance of stories in medicine. The success of BLR led him to start the Bellevue Literary Press.... We owe Jerry a debt of gratitude for helping BLR as well as BLP get off the ground. He devoted his life to humanistic medicine, as all of his patients, his trainees, and his many readers can attest. He will be missed."

Blaser added: "In his own way, Jerry was a modern renaissance figure--physician, writer, teacher, scientist, outdoorsman, and with great joie de vivre. He was both sweet and humble. Wherever he went, he made friends--based on his intrinsic warmth and interest in other people. Jerry was an idealist, who loved his family, friends, the institutions he believed in, and the spirit of creativity. Even in old age, he kept his impish quality. To me, he was a true friend and a model of how to live a life well-spent."

Work to Do (University of Iowa, April 7, 2026) is the first novel by Jules Wernersbach, founder of Hive Mind Books, a queer independent bookstore in Bushwick, Brooklyn, N.Y. The book follows Eleanor, who established the Guadalupe Street Co-op in Austin, Tex., in the early 1980s, when she was in her mid-20s and madly in love with her girlfriend, Meg. But after only a year, Meg bolted, leaving Eleanor with a struggling business and an angry, unhealing wound.

Forty years later, Guadalupe Street Co-op has a loyal customer base, an antiquated business model, and a disgruntled staff. Roz, one of the store's senior managers, is too caught up stalking her ex-wife online to notice that her girlfriend, Molly, is plotting with her coworkers to unionize. Roz also doesn't see that Molly is not-so-secretly in a situationship with Randy, the dairy manager leading their collective.

Unfolding over the course of a single week during Texas hurricane season, Work to Do pings between the co-op's first year and the present day, as the unionization bid reaches fever pitch. The wind howls, the power goes out, and water creeps through the front door, as questions of who owns the grocery store and who has a right to its future are posed. And will the workers ever be paid enough to buy the organic groceries they shelve?

(Gina Pantalone Photograhy)

"Honored to have been the setting for Abbie & John's gorgeous engagement photoshoot! We love love and we love books. Stunning photography by @ginapantalonephoto (some photos had to be cropped to fit insta)," Brookline Booksmith, Bookline, Mass., posted on Instagram.

"Should we hire Roux? We heard she’s pawfect at retrieving books," Broadway Books in Portland, Ore., posted on Facebook. 

A Clean Hell: Anarchy and Abolition in America's Most Notorious Dungeon by Eric King (PM Press).

Today:
Good Morning America: Brad Meltzer, author of The Viper: A Zig & Nola Novel (Morrow, $32, 9780062892430). 

Also on GMA: Jenn Lueke, author of Don't Think About Dinner: Save Time and Money with 125+ Easy, Nourishing, Delicious Recipes for Every Meal (Morrow Cookbooks, $35, 9780063425798).

Fresh Air: Jacob Soboroff, author of Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster (Mariner Books, $30, 9780063467965).

Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Julia Ioffe, author of Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy (Ecco, $35, 9780062879127). 

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Robert Jobson, author of The Windsor Legacy: A Royal Dynasty of Secrets, Scandal, and Survival (Pegasus Books, $29.95, 9798897100927).

CBS Mornings: Harlan Coben, co-author of Gone Before Goodbye (Grand Central, $32, 9781538774700).

Universal has released a trailer for The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan's highly-anticipated "reimagining of the iconic Greek epic" by Homer, IndieWire reported. The film was shot entirely using IMAX cameras and will be released in theaters everywhere on July 17. 

The film stars Matt Damon (Odysseus), Tom Holland (Telemachus), Anne Hathaway (Penelope), and Mia Goth (Melantho). The cast also includes Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Benny Safdie, Charlize Theron, Jovan Adepo, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, and Elliot Page.
 
Earlier this year, Nolan told Empire magazine: "As a filmmaker, you're looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven't been done before. And what I saw is that all of this great mythological cinematic work that I had grown up with--Ray Harryhausen movies and other things--I'd never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do."

Author Richard Osman and Pan Macmillan CEO Joanna Prior were awarded OBEs in the U.K.'s New Year's Honours list, the Bookseller reported. Osman's award was for services to literature and broadcasting, and Prior's was for services to publishing and literacy.

Prior said in part, "Authors and illustrators have always been the heartbeat of my career. Everything I have done in publishing has been driven by a simple goal: to champion their creativity and bring their stories and ideas to the widest audience possible. Books have shaped how I see the world, and I want everyone--regardless of background or circumstances--to experience the joy that can be found within their pages."

Among the 1,155 other honours recipients were Lucy McCarraher, author and founder of the Business Book Awards, who was awarded an MBE for services to publishing and to diversity. She is also the co-founder of Rethink Press and Book Magic AI, an AI-supported book writing app.

McCarraher said in part, "This honour isn't just about me. It's about a movement. The importance of championing diverse voices with the support, community and confidence to step into authorship and share their extraordinary expertise. Thank you to everyone who has collaborated with me and amplified this message. Books truly have the power to change the world."

Math teacher, broadcaster, and writer Bobby Seagull was awarded an MBE for services to public libraries, and David Robinson, co-founder of the Discover Children's Story Centre, was awarded a knighthood for services to social innovation.

The Bookseller noted that arts awards recipients included Wicked star and author Cynthia Erivo, who received an MBE for services to music and drama; actor Idris Elba, who was awarded a knighthood for services to young people; and actor and comedian Meera Syal, who was awarded a damehood for services to literature, drama, and charity.

Avery Curran's Spoiled Milk is a gothic boarding-school tale of suspense filled with small and large horrors, schoolgirl skirmishes, lust, death, and the supernatural.

In the fall of 1928, Emily Locke is settling into her final year at Briarley School for Girls in the English countryside as one of a tight-knit group of seven upper-sixth girls. Emily's family life is unhappy--not unusual among her year, but perhaps especially so--and Briarley has been her effective home since she was 11. Her very best friend, the girl she loves, is Violet, "next to whom all others paled in comparison. She had always seemed more real, more vivid than the rest of us." The book opens on Violet's 18th birthday, when the whole school celebrates and fawns over her. "I hoped that later she might give me one of the silk ribbons that tied the parcels together, pressing it into my hand before bed like a mediaeval lady giving a knight a favour to tuck into his armour." It is also the night that Violet dies. When the girls gather after the funeral for a midnight feast to honor her in their own way, they find that the freshest milk on the school grounds has inexplicably gone bad. These are the first clues that more change is afoot than the girls' coming-of-age.

One of Violet's birthday gifts was a contraband book called Spiritualist Phenomena and Mediumship. "Supernatural exploration was the sort of thing one always hoped might happen at school," but Briarley has always been staid and safe, if a little boring, until now. With Violet gone, Emily and her remaining classmates determine to find out what happened--who or what killed her, and why the food at the school has begun to taste strange. They contact a medium in the village. They try a séance of their own. The relationships within their small group are strained by jealousies, conflicting priorities, and secret affections. Emily's chief rival is Evelyn, whom she finds both infuriating and fascinating. "Evelyn's people were Presbyterians," and she opposes their spiritualism as unchristian and wrong. But the oddities and accidents at Briarley intensify even as Evelyn's discomfort grows, and their experiments with the spirit realm feel ever more life-and-death, until it seems that no one will get out of Briarley alive.

Spoiled Milk contains echoes of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca in Curran's intimate, first-person, reflective voice for Emily, among other similarities. Tensions rise for the small group of girls in this closed-room thriller, as petty rifts give way to serious terrors, and readers will keep guessing until the final pages. Classic, but still surprising, Curran's first novel will satisfy gothic fans. --Julia Kastner, blogger at pagesofjulia

Shelf Talker: The horrors of coming-of-age meet ectoplasm and spiritual mediums in a boarding-school gothic that confronts fear, longing, authority, and death.