Decorating your bookshelves both stylishly and functionally can be a challenge. Too many books and objects can lead to a cluttered look, while too few can make the shelves look unfinished and boring.

Fixer Upper premiered in 2013 and ran for five seasons until 2018. In 2020, it was announced that the series would be revived for Magnolia Network, a sister channel to HGTV overseen by the Gaineses.

The challenge to “The Fixer,” an award-winning 1966 work by Bernard Malamud, came amid an ongoing flurry of attempts by conservative activists to take books out of schools. And this instance ...