Book Pulse
Deadlock by Catherine Coulter leads five new books onto the bestseller lists. Luster by Raven Leilani continues to get focused attention. A number of outlets mark the anniversary of Toni Morrison's death. Trump books are in the news.
Oprah picks Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson as her next book club title. Many more August booklists arrive. Raven Leilani and Luster get more buzzy coverage. Ta-Nehisi Coates will guest-edit the September issue of Vanity Fair. Disney is taking the live-action Mulan to Disney+ rather than theaters, but subscribers will still have to pay extra to watch it. Ratched gets a trailer.
Book club picks make the news as Reese Witherspoon selects Everything Inside: Stories by Edwidge Danticat. Jenna Bush Hager names two for the month: The Comeback by Ella Berman and Here for It: Or, How To Save Your Soul in America; Essays by R. Eric Thomas. Vox's group will read The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. More top reading choices for August arrive as well and Luster by Raven Leilani and The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi get buzzy coverage. Stephen King has a new book for next March.
The Hugo Awards are announced. A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine wins for best novel. The Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer were announced as well. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer leads holds this week. Pennie Clark Ianniciello picks a much older title, Last Orders by Graham Swift, as her August title. More book picks for August arrive and Chicago will host the 80th World Science Fiction convention.
The Umbrella Academy, Ann Rule, and Martha Stewart feature in this week’s bookish screen offerings. The 1945 Retro Hugo Awards Winners are announced. The L.A. Times features Dana Canedy and Lisa Lucas as they take on their new roles at the top of the publishing hierarchy. Emma Straub discusses the future of indie bookstores. Amazon and other big tech companies appear on Capitol Hill.
Near Dark by Brad Thor leads six new titles onto the bestseller lists. Booklists for August and best audio for July arrive. Rocket Says Look Up! by Nathan Bryon, illustrated by Dapo Adeola wins the Waterstones children’s book prize. Authors including Emily M. Danforth, Tiffany McDaniel, and Sara Seager discuss “bringing their books into the world during cultural upheaval.” The NYT considers how “Noname and other Black thought leaders have taken what Oprah built and made something new.” Michelle Obama’s podcast began yesterday.
Watchmen sweeps the Emmy nominations. The finalists for the World Fantasy Awards are announced. The Ladies of Horror Award winners are out as well. Adrian McKinty wins the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award for The Chain. Ex-FBI agent Peter Strzok has a book due out in early September, Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump. Natasha Trethewey continues to get buzzy coverage for Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir.
The longlist for the Booker Prize is announced. Hilary Mantel is in the running for a third, and potentially record win, but there are plenty of debut authors in the mix too. Nine of the 13 who made the cut are women. CrimeReads writes, “True Crime Has Been Having a Moment for Three Centuries. But the New Era Is Different.” Oprah Winfrey is starting a new Apple TV+ interview series. Her first guest will be Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist. Didn't See That Coming: Putting Life Back Together When Your World Falls Apart by Rachel Hollis is the hot book of the morning. The Witcher gets a prequel series, set 1,200 years earlier. The Emmy nominations will be announced later today.
The Eisner awards are announced. Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden wins Best Graphic Album – New, while Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki, Rosemary Valero and the Invisible Kingdom series by G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward win the most categories. Deadlock by Catherine Coulter leads holds this week. People’s “Book of the Week” is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. The nominees for the 2020 Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards are announced. Comic-Con@Home gets wide coverage. O: The Oprah Magazine will cease regular print publication as of December 2020. George Clooney is in negotiations to direct the Amazon Studios's adaptation of J.R. Moehringer’s The Tender Bar. A stage musical adaptation of Hidden Figures is on the board at Disney.