[sql-server] Subquery returned more than 1 value.This is not permitted when the subquery follows =,!=,<,<=,>,>= or when the subquery is used as an expression

Use In instead of =

 select * from dbo.books
 where isbn in (select isbn from dbo.lending 
                where act between @fdate and @tdate
                and stat ='close'
               )

or you can use Exists

SELECT t1.*,t2.*
FROM  books   t1 
WHERE  EXISTS ( SELECT * FROM dbo.lending t2 WHERE t1.isbn = t2.isbn and
                t2.act between @fdate and @tdate and t2.stat ='close' )