News
The Hugo award finalists are announced. The Pulitzer Prize announcement is delayed. Many other awards make news as well. Oprah picks Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker. B&N makes news twice: the April book club title is Conjure Women by Afia Atakora and employees at one of their book distribution centers contract coronavirus.
The PEN/Faulkner award for 2020 goes to Sea Monsters by Chloe Aridjis. Also in award news, The Kitschies are announced. Pennie Clark Ianniciello picks The Yellow Bird Sings by Jennifer Rosner. J.K. Rowling tweets she has experienced coronavirus symptoms. Authors writing about their bucolic quarantine experience are experiencing backlash.
Looking for your next great read? Here’s a list of brand-new fiction, memoirs, cookbooks, and more, publishing this week—and all are available as ebooks.
Print book sales showed some significant shifts in the week of March 22–29, with the future unclear.
In this second part of this series aimed at helping non-librarians organize the books in their homes, we take a deep dive into genres and subgenres, and offer suggestions on shelving fiction.
Revenge by James Patterson, Andrew Holmes leads holds this week. Publication date shifts impact budgets, LibraryReads, Indie Next, and more. C Pam Zhang’s How Much of These Hills Is Gold gets some buzz. Normal People by Sally Rooney wins the 2020 Tournament of Books. Disney releases Artemis Fowl straight to Disney+. Black Widow is moving from April to November.
James Patterson is donating half a million dollars to indie bookstores to help them through the pandemic. LeVar Burton is starting a live-streaming reading series on Twitter. More book suggestions arrive, along with LJ’s list of starred reviews for April. Dav Pilkey announces Cat Kid Comic Club, coming December 1. Amazon will adapt Janelle Brown’s Pretty Things with Nicole Kidman to star and produce. Snowpiercer gets pushed forward, to May 17; there is a new trailer for it, too. NOS4A2 season two will premiere on June 1. A new Obi-Wan Kenobi series is set for Disney+.
The LJ/School Library Journal and Junior Library Guild staffers, joined by special guest author Caroline B. Cooney, talk about their corona comfort reads and watches.
Reese Witherspoon picks Untamed by Glennon Doyle as her April book club title. The Sinner by J.R. Ward leads eight new books onto the bestseller lists. J.K. Rowling launches Harry Potter at Home. The International Booker Prize shortlist is out. The Best Translated Book Awards longlist is out. Comics are suffering. Stephen King’s newest arrives earlier than previously scheduled. There are more April best book lists.