Neal Wyatt

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi sees two new books onto the bestseller lists. De’Shawn Charles Winslow wins the 2019 First Novel Prize for In West Mills. More best-of lists—including cookbooks and essay collections—arrive. Malcolm Gladwell loves thrillers, revealing that he reads “Fifty, sixty, seventy” a year. He also has a classification system for them.

Bill Gates suggests 2019 books. The readers at PBS NewsHour do, too. And so does Nancy Pearl,  and many more. LitHub calculates that On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is the most popular “Best of Year” title. Michael Chabon's Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is headed to Showtime.

More best lists are out. Lois McMaster Bujold becomes the 36th Damon Knight Grand Master, named by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Jacqueline Woodson writes “Africa, America and Slavery’s Fierce Undertow” for the NYT. More on the Golden Globes.

Dog Man: Fetch-22: From the Creator of Captain Underpants (Dog Man #8) by Dav Pilkey  leads holds this week. #libfaves19 begins today. The January 2020 Indie Next booklist is out. The  John Leonard Prize for Best First Book announces its finalists. The Pulitzer Prize will create a new category for audio journalists (including podcasts). The Golden Globes nominations are out.

A new Apple TV adaptation arrives this week, as does a blast from the book-controversy past. Barnes & Noble names The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (HarperOne) as its Book of the Year. Bernardine Evaristo recommends her "Top 5 Reads of 2019.” Random House will publish the impeachment report.

The Rise of Magicks: Chronicles of The One, Book 3 by Nora Roberts leads the count of new bestsellers. The NYT book critics pick their top books of the year. Marilyn Stasio names the best crime books. LibraryReads releases its “Voter Favorites” for 2019 and LitHub offers “Our 50 Favorite Books of the Year.” Janet Evanovich lands two new TV series and there is more adaptation news as well.

NPR’s Book Concierge returns for 2019 with more than 2,000 titles broken into 34 categories. LitHub suggests “26 Books From the Last Decade that More People Should Read.” Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl is the December "Read with Jenna" book selection. Circe by Madeline Miller is the PBS NewsHour-NYT book club pick for December. The winners of the Reading Women’s Award are announced. Black Widow gets a trailer.

Many more "Best Of" lists arrive. YA, romance, and Chinese SF get features. There is new trouble for the Nobel prize for literature. In adaptation news, new trailers arrive and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women gets more coverage.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi leads holds this week. Six new books made the bestsellers lists. Reese Witherspoon picks Conviction by Denise Mina as her December book club title. In Costco Connection, Pennie Clark Ianniciello picks The Ambassador's Daughter by Pam Jenoff. There are many December booklists, along with more choices for the year and the decade. The NYT begins a new column on books for kids and teens.