Book Pulse

Noah Baumbach will direct Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig in a feature adaptation of White Noise by Don DeLillo. In other adaptation news, there are first-look deals on The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw and Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. HarperCollins nabbed a three-book deal with Jeffrey Archer. First up this fall is the next book in his William Warwick series, Over My Dead Body. One Book, One Philadelphia at The Free Library of Philadelphia selects the Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of poems The Tradition by Jericho Brown. YALSA picks "2021 Great Graphic Novels for Teens."

PEN International honors activist and author Tsitsi Dangarembga, This Mournable Body, with its 2021 Award for Freedom of Expression. This week's new best sellers include Star Wars: Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule, Neighbors by Danielle Steel, The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins, and Keep Sharp by Sanjay Gupta. Connecticut is looking into whether Amazon engaged in anti-competitive behavior in its ebook distribution agreements. Plus, see the trailer for To All the Boys: Always and Forever, the film adaptation of Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han.

Sally Rooney's next book, Beautiful World, Where Are You, will be published Sept. 7. In other forthcoming book news, Billie Eilish announced a photobook and Margaret Josephs, one of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, has written a memoir. Learn even more about buzzy books during several virtual events at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. The 2020/21 finalists for The Story Prize are Likes by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans, and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw. Powell's Books closed early following protests surrounding a controversial upcoming book. Plus, Ben Affleck is set to direct the Disney adaptation of Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger.

The February Indie Next list is out, and The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles is the top pick. The American Library Association announces the winners of the I Love My Librarian Awards. A Promised Land by Barack Obama led book sales in 2020. The Millions, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, BuzzFeed, and others preview the best forthcoming books of the year. David E. Kelley is working on the TV adaptation of Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer series for Netflix.

Following the demise of BookExpo, new book fairs from Publishers Weekly and Edelweiss are launching later this year to fill the void. The Scorpion's Tail by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child leads holds this week. The People "Picks" book of the week is Walking with Ghosts by Gabriel Byrne. Senator Amy Klobuchar's new book, Antitrust: Taking on Monopoly Power From the Gilded Age to the Digital Age, will be out in April. Plus, in adaptation news, BCDF Pictures purchases the rights to adapt The Girl at Midnight series by Melissa Grey for TV, and there's a trailer for Cherry, based on the book by Nico Walker.

Simon & Schuster will no longer publish Senator Josh Hawley's forthcoming book, The Tyranny of Big Tech, which was due out June 22. U.S. print book sales were up 8.2 percent in 2020, according to the NPD Group, with A Promised Land by Barack Obama leading the sales numbers. New adaptations out this week include All Creatures Great and Small and the new season of American Gods. The English translation of Ask Iwata: Words of Wisdom from Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's Legendary CEO will be released on April 13. Merriam-Webster reports the top words searched for on its site on Wednesday included sedition, coup d'état, and fascism, and the NYT speaks with historians about the evolution of some terms.

Vulture previews 46 top reads for 2021, including The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins, My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee, and The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Wiley has acquired open access publisher Hindawi for $298 million. Danez Smith reviews The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. for the NYT. Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters is getting buzz, with a review in the L.A. Times and interviews in Vulture and Kirkus. Plus, Shelf Awareness has a look at how the chaos in Washington, D.C. impacted bookstores there.

January book club picks are out: The Read With Jenna selection is Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour, the GMA book club title is The Push by Ashley Audrain, and for Reese Witherspoon's book club, it's Outlawed by Anna North. Lit Hub, Electric Lit, Book Marks, Entertainment Weekly, and others preview some of the most anticipated books of 2021. Read memorials for author Eric Jerome Dickey, who has died at age 59. His final book, The Son of Mr. Suleman, is due out April 20. Plus, Vulture has an in-depth feature on the pre- and post-publication controversies of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.

Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson is the January Barnes & Noble book club pick. Recommendations for upcoming new releases come from The Millions, CrimeReads, Entertainment Weekly, Shondaland, Essence, and others. Buzzy reviews for The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr., Nick by Michael Farris Smith, Exercised by Daniel Lieberman, and more. Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud and other winners of the 2020 Costa Book Award winners are announced. Plus, Tiffany Haddish will star in an upcoming adaptation of Landscape with Invisible Hand by M.T. Anderson.