Closing the Books

Hachette Book Group logged 11% sales growth in 2025, thanks partly to Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid and Reese Witherspoon’s suspense collab with Harlan Coben, Gone Before Goodbye. The Supreme Court has ruled that President Trump’s aggressive global tariff policy is unconstitutional, offering some respite for the publishing industry after months of supply chain uncertainty. In its latest move to attract public library clients post-Baker & Taylor, Follett has hired a team of library experts and announced a range of tech infrastructure investments. British author and historian Andrew Lownie is suing Simon & Schuster for breach of contract after the publisher dropped his biography of Prince Andrew in May, per the Bookseller. Amazon has overtaken Walmart as the world’s largest superstore, per NPR. Former Washington Post Books section editor John Williams reflects in the Atlantic on the importance of the now-shuttered Book World to the paper’s readers. The New Yorker spotlights Alabama Booksmith and its 90 year-old owner Jake Reiss, who exclusively sells rare books. The New York Times compares the many movie treatments Wuthering Heights has received over the years. And George R.R. Martin’s much-anticipated “Game of Thrones: The Mad King” play is opening at the Royal Shakespeare Theater this summer, per the Hollywood Reporter.