[java] how to insert a new line character in a string to PrintStream then use a scanner to re-read the file

The linefeed character \n is not the line separator in certain operating systems (such as windows, where it's "\r\n") - my suggestion is that you use \r\n instead, then it'll both see the line-break with only \n and \r\n, I've never had any problems using it.

Also, you should look into using a StringBuilder instead of concatenating the String in the while-loop at BookCatalog.toString(), it is a lot more effective. For instance:

public String toString() {
        BookNode current = front;
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        while (current!=null){
            sb.append(current.getData().toString()+"\r\n ");
            current = current.getNext();
        }
        return sb.toString();
}