After falling for two consecutive months, retail bookstores bounced back in October, rising 4.0% to $978 million, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. For the first 10 months of the year, bookstore sales were up 2.8% to $10.68 billion. The bookstore gains fell short of the sales increases posted by the entire retail sector, where sales were up 6.9% in October and 8.6% for the year to date.