Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs (This week in books)

This week! Books!

Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. In a week where the whole world struggled to digest the impact of America’s ever-changing tariff landscape, the American Booksellers Association has a helpful rundown on how this will impact the publishing industry and bookstores more holistically. Books themselves are exempt from tariffs, though the components of books (paper, pulp, ink, etc.) are not, not to mention bookstore ancillaries like coffee and shopping bags.

And Boris Kachka surveys the chilling effect the Trump administration’s executive orders had on the AWP Conference & Bookfair in Los Angeles, particularly on academics.

Such good writing posts this week:

• My talented friend Sarah McCarry has an amazing post on writing even when it feels pointless, as channeled through a young Leo Tolstoy.
• Dan Blank has a great newsletter about getting unstuck through collaboration.
• Charlie Jane Anders has excellent advice about writing believable characters even when they’re in very unreal situations.
• Randee Dawn learned some interesting things by dusting off some old manuscripts and getting them published.
• Agent Kate McKean urges writers not to get overly rigid with genre during the agent submission process.

And Bookshop.org collaborated with Alta Journal on a great list of 25 books that define California.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

1. Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
2. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
3. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
4. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
5. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. Fight by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes
2. I Am Maria by Maria Shriver
3. Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
4. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
5. Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

Young adult hardcover:

1. Wings of Starlight by Allison Saft
2. Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli
3. Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli
4. Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven
5. Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter

Middle grade hardcover:

1. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
2. The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids
3. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
4. A Risky Game by Alyson Gerber
5. River of Spirits by Shana Targosz

This week on the blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

• How to use hopes and dreams to make a character come alive

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Bluesky
• Check out the Bransforums

And finally, like me you may have dismissed “painter of light” Thomas Kinkade as over-commercialized schlock, but astute contemporary critics like Joan Didion noticed something dark in his work. They were definitely on to something, and he’s a much more complicated person than his reputation might suggest.

Have a great weekend!

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Photo: Peacock in Pasadena, CA