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Reading and Listening Lists for Crime, SFF, and More

The L.A. Times picks the “7 best crime-series novels of fall 2020” and “four thrillers you won’t forget.”

The Otherworldly SFF column is out from the NYT. Also in the paper, “New & Noteworthy Audiobooks, From Jack Kerouac to Black Lives Matter.”

Electric Lit lists “10 Contemporary Books by Korean American Writers.”

The November Loan Star picks are announced.

The Washington Post has audiobooks to add to “your pandemic playlist.”

CBC suggests “24 Canadian books to read during Women's History Month.”

Tor.com picks “5 SFF Books About Flawed Gods.”

Tor.com offers “Your Guide to Rebecca Roanhorse’s Fantastical Worlds.”        

Cory Doctorow writes “Beyond Cyberpunk: The Intersection of Technology and Science Fiction” for Tor.com. His newest book is Attack Surface (Tor Books: Macmillan).

Book Riot offers “A Beginner’s Guide to the Western Gothic Genre.”

Reviews

The NYT reviews A Time for Mercy by John Grisham (Doubleday: Random House): “I was reminded, oddly enough, of the great Danish political TV drama “Borgen,” which derives excitement not from soap opera-ish, “House of Cards”-style developments but from the viewers’ investment in the outcome of carefully crafted, un-showy plotlines.” Also, The Wind Traveler by Alonso Cueto, translated by Frank Wynne and Jessie Mendez Sayer (Univ. Texas): “This installment feels more like two novels. The larger part is rote exercise and bald suspense. Within this, there is a more nuanced, and thus more mesmerizing, consideration of purpose and atonement, but because it’s subsumed by Cueto’s flailing prose and tiresome stereotypes, in the end, it doesn’t amount to much.” There is a dual review of books that address “Finding Love in Irreconcilable Times.”

The L.A. Times reviews The Searcher by Tana French (Viking: Penguin; LJ starred review): “French finds interesting angles and dynamics, and her cast is, as always, wonderfully drawn. “The Searcher” contains a meaningful contemplation of masculinity and gender roles in a small town, with the kind of strong female characters that male authors are always writing so poorly.”

The Washington Post reviews Attack Surface by Cory Doctorow (Tor Books: Macmillan): “Doctorow’s allegiances lie with the rebels and underdogs — he sketches the heroics of the protesters and the kinetic tumult of the riots with evident verve and sympathetic exegesis.”

Briefly Noted

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color by Nisi Shawl (Solaria: S. & S.) wins the Brave New Words Award. Locus reports.

Aleksandar Hemon wins the 2020 Dos Passos Prize.

In forthcoming book news, Tor.com reports that a new Stan Lee superhero series is on the way, The Devil’s Quintet, co-written by Jay Bonansinga. Also, Serial Box is creating new audio and e-books featuring Batman and Wonder Woman. Variety has that story. Fox writes that Tara Reade is writing a memoir, Left Out: When The Truth Doesn't Fit In. It is slated for release on Oct. 27 by TVGuestpert Publishing.

Entertainment Weekly excerpts An Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi (Harper).

Vulture excerpts Cary Grant, the Making of a Hollywood Legend: The Making of a Hollywood Legend by Mark Glancy (Oxford). Also, an excerpt of Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld (S. & S.).

USA Today features American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic by Andrew Cuomo (Crown: Random House). People has coverage as well.

People spotlights Finding Your Harmony: Dream Big, Have Faith, and Achieve More Than You Can Imagine by Ally Brooke (Dey Street Books: Harper).

The NYT features Matthew McConaughey, Greenlights (Crown: Random House).

Shondaland showcases Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy by Talia Lavin (Hachette).

Stylecaster.com has “Black Book Clubs & Content Creators on What Anti-Racist Readers Got Wrong.”

USA Today writes about Little Free Libraries and diversity.

Reuters reports “The Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel literature prize, named two new members on Tuesday to fill remaining vacancies on its 18-strong panel … author and journalist Ingrid Carlberg and writer, critic and translator Steve Sem-Sandberg.”

The L.A. Comic-Con is canceled. It will return in 2021. Deadline reports.

The Justice Department sues Stephanie Winston Wolkoff over Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady (Gallery: S. & S.). USA Today and the NYT report.

Authors on Air

Bryan Washington’s Memorial is headed to TV. Pride by Ibi Zoboi is headed to HBO. His Dark Materials, season two, will air on November 16. Michael Morpurg’s Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story of the Wizard of Oz is getting adapted into a musical by Warner Bros. Deadline reports.

NPR’s Fresh Air interviews Fareed Zakaria, Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World (W.W. Norton).

Fox covers Meghan and Harry: The Real Story by Lady Colin Campbell (Pegasus Books:  S. & S.).

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