Nominees for the 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Awards are out, and include When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole, These Women by Ivy Pochoda, Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country by Sierra Crane Murdoch, and many more. See the winners of the Alex Awards, the Printz Award, and all the other 2021 ALA youth media award honorees. Forthcoming book news includes an essay collection edited by Tarana Burke, an instructional tome on talking dogs, and the Dragonlance trilogy. Plus, HBO Max is looking to develop a live-action Harry Potter series.
Finalists for the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards are out and include Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, Memorial by Bryan Washington, Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, and more. The Russian by James Patterson and James O. Born leads holds this week. The People "Picks" book of the week is American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption by Gabrielle Glaser. Plus, reviews and more buzz for Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion.
HBO is working on a series adaptation of Tales of Dunk and Egg by George R. R. Martin, a prequel to Game of Thrones. The 2021 Rathbones Folio Prize longlist is out and includes Just Us by Claudia Rankine, The Actual by Inua Ellams, Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, among others. The White Tiger, Penguin Bloom, and Resident Alien are some of the adaptations premiering this week. In more adaptation news, Bridgerton, based on the series by Julia Quinn, is getting a second season.
22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman made headlines—and book sales—following her reading at Joe Biden's inauguration. New releases on the NYT and USA Today bestsellers lists include The Scorpion's Tail by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders, and more. Nominees for the 2021 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize and the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award are out. Plus, buzz for The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Nimura, Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor, and others.
The February LibraryReads list is announced, and the top choice is The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. The Gotham Book Prize announces the finalists for its first $50,000 award, which honors New York City-based books. After becoming friends with fellow stutterer Joe Biden, 13-year-old Brayden Harrington now has a book deal, with the picture book Brayden Speaks Up due out in Aug. See the trailer for The Luminaries, based on the book by Eleanor Catton, which premiers Feb. 14. Books set for TV and film adaptations include The Whistler by John Grisham, Libra by Don DeLillo, The Walled City by Ryan Graudin, and more.
22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman will read at Joe Biden's inauguration. Meanwhile, more than 250 authors, editors, agents and others signed an open letter opposing any book deals for Donald Trump and members of his administration. Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner leads holds this week. A class-action lawsuit accuses Amazon of colluding with the "Big Five" publishers to inflate ebook prices. CNN anchor Don Lemon announced his forthcoming book, This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism. Plus, Netflix is developing three anti-racism projects that will be executive produced by Ibram X. Kendi and based on his books Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, and Antiracist Baby.
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.
Neighbors by Danielle Steel tops library holds lists this week, and other popular titles include All the Colors of Night by Jayne Ann Krentz, The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins, and Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age by Sanjay Gupta. Future First Lady Dr. Jill Biden will address the ALA Midwinter virtual meeting on Jan. 25. See previews for books coming out this year from Autostraddle, Kirkus, Electric Lit, and more.
Barnes & Noble lists forthcoming books already getting a lot of buzz, which include The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins, The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr., and Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia. Adaptations out this week include Elizabeth Is Missing, based on the book by Emma Healey, and The Watch, based on the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. The Audacious Book Club from Roxane Gay launches in January, and will be accessible via a newsletter. Plus, following the success of the biopic Mank, the biography Competing with Idiots by Nick Davis about brothers Herman and Joseph Mankiewicz is coming next year.
Will the popularity of the new Shonda Rhimes's Bridgerton series eliminate some of the obstacles that have kept more mass-market romance books from being adapted into TV shows and movies? Lit Hub highlights some of the best but lesser-hyped books of 2020, while AARP and Bustle preview books that will be released in the months ahead. Nurturing Healing Love by Scarlett Lewis, a memoir about the loss of her son in the Sandy Hook massacre, is set to be adapted as a TV movie.
Hush-Hush by Stuart Woods tops library holds lists this week. More best-of 2020 books lists are out from The Atlantic, HuffPost, and Vogue. Time offers a look at what happens when copyright on The Great Gatsby expires Jan. 1. The Night Agent by Matthew Quirk will be adapted by the creator of The Shield, and a limited series of Sex and the City may be in the works. Plus, remembering author Barry Lopez, who died at age 75.
The longlists for the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards are out. Finalists will be announced in Feb. A film adaptation of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is in the works. Adaptations being released this week include The Midnight Sky, News of the World, Wonder Woman 1984, and Bridgerton. Plus, The New Republic looks into ebook licensing at school libraries.
Roxane Gay is launching The Audacious Book Club in 2021. The first read for January is Black Futures edited by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham. More best-of 2020 book lists are out from CrimeReads, BuzzFeed, the CBC, and others. Read excerpts of Serpentine by Jonathan Kellerman and Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe by Dr. Bonnie Henry and Lynn Henry. Plus, adaptation news about The School For Good And Evil series by Soman Chainani.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett leads 2020 checkouts at the New York Public Library. Toaster Oven Perfection by America's Test Kitchen tops library holds lists this week. The January issue of Entertainment Weekly is out, featuring reviews of The Push by Ashley Audrain and Girl A by Abigail Dean. Above the Ether by Eric Barnes wins the best novel category for the 2020 Darrell Awards. Sarah Polley will direct and Frances McDormand will produce and star in the film adaptation of Women Talking by Miriam Toews.
Barack Obama's 17 favorite books of the year include Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, Deacon King Kong by James McBride, and Jack by Marilynne Robinson. BOMB looks at new titles released by small and independent presses during 2020, plus other best-of lists from the L.A. Times, CrimeReads, Book Riot, and more. The audiobook version of A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders has a star-studded narration. Jennifer Lopez is producing and starring in a feature adaptation of The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado for Netflix.
Paul Farmer, Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History, wins the $1 million 2020 Berggruen Prize. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's new book, Persist, will be out April 20, 2021. More lists of the best books of the year arrive from Town & Country, CrimeReads, Entertainment Weekly, and more. Read excerpts of Godspeed by Nickolas Butler and This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron. Plus, adaptation news about His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy, and more.
Jay-Z's Roc Nation is partnering with Random House on the new imprint Roc Lit 101, and the first releases will be memoirs by former Yankee CC Sabathia and music journalist Danyel Smith. The January Library Reads list is out, with The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins as the number one pick. More lists of the best books of 2020 arrive from the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, The A.V. Club, Slate, Vox, and more. MLA gives its 2020 First Book award to The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States by Derrick R. Spires. Plus, news on adaptations of Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution by P. W. Singer and August Cole, and more.
Lit Hub looked at 41 best-of lists that recommended 952 books to calculate "The Ultimate Best Books of 2020 List," and The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett takes the top spot. More best-of lists are in from Vulture, CrimeReads, and BookPage. There's forthcoming book news from DC about a Batman anthology series, and from Henry Holt on Gabriel Debenedetti's book about the relationship between Joe Biden and Barack Obama. Also, see new trailers for Nomadland and Bridgerton.
John le Carré, author of Cold War thrillers such as The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, died of pneumonia on Saturday at the age of 89. NYPD Red 6 by James Patterson and Marshall Karp leads holds this week. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett tops LibraryReads' Voter Favorites 2020 list, and more of the year's best-of lists are out from USA Today, BuzzFeed, Autostraddle, and others. The NYT examines fiction published between 1950 and 2018 to investigate just how white the book industry is. Plus, adaptation news about The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan and Reagan at Reykjavik: Forty-Eight Hours That Ended the Cold War by Ken Adelman.
The Stand, based on the book by Stephen King, will be available next week on CBS All Access. Disney+ plans to release about 10 Marvel series and 10 Star Wars series in the next few years. More best-of 2020 book lists arrive from the L.A. Times, The Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, and CrimeReads. Current Deputy Director of the National Book Foundation Jordan Smith will serve as its Interim Executive Director. Anthony Veasna So, whose debut short story collection Afterparties is due out Aug. 2021, has died at age 28.
Kid Cudi is producing and will star in the adaptation of Real Life by Brandon Taylor. Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker tops People's best books of the year list, and The Undocumented Americans: A Homecoming by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio tops Vulture's list of 10 best books of the year. Cat Kid Comic Club: From the Creator of Dog Man by Dav Pilkey is the only new bestseller this week. "Muslim" by Zahia Rahmani, translated by Matt Reeck, wins the 2020 Albertine Prize. Vanity Fair hosts a conversation between Jesmyn Ward and Barack Obama. Kellyanne Conway has received a multi-million dollar deal for an upcoming memoir. Melville House's Dennis Johnson calls for the Department of Justice to stop the consolidation of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster.
Bill Gates shares the books that inspired him this year, including Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein and The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. More 2020 best-of lists are out from Audible, Wired, and the New York Public Library. See the PEN America annual gala, which took place virtually this year and honored Patti Smith and Barack Obama, among others. There's news of several adaptations in the works, including Ring Shout by P. Djéli Clark, The Poppy War series by Rebecca F. Kuang, Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, and Dying to Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing by Anita Moorjani.
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel tops Entertainment Weekly's list of the 10 best books of the year. More 2020 best-of lists are out from Vanity Fair, Goodreads, Smithsonian magazine, and more. The 2020 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant winners are announced. Bob Woodward is working on another book about the Trump presidency. Plus, the filmmaker behind The Queen's Gambit has several adaptations in the works, including Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov.
The Last Days of John Lennon by James Patterson with Casey Sherman leads holds this week. The January Indie Next list is up, and the top pick is The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. Luster by Raven Leilani wins the 2020 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Roald Dahl's family issues an apology for anti-Semitic comments he made. Plus, DC Comics says Ava DuVernay will adapt its Naomi series for TV.
Barnes & Noble booksellers pick World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, as the book of the year. Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy wins the the Bard Fiction Prize, and Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend wins the Cundill History Prize. Reality TV star Shep Rose of Southern Charm is writing a memoir called Average Expectations: Lessons in Lowering the Bar. Adaptations out this week include Nomadland and The Hardy Boys. Plus, a TV series based on Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart is in the works.
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline is No. 1 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list and the NYT Audio Fiction list, and starts at No. 2 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list. Forthcoming book news is out about A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins and Life After Death by Sister Souljah. Adaptations are in the works for Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir by Natasha Trethewey and The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore.
ReedPop announces it is "retiring" BookExpo, BookCon, and UnBound. The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell'Antonia is the December book club pick from Reese Witherspoon, and This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens is the GMA December Book Club pick. Nalo Hopkinson is the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's 37th Damon Knight Grand Master. Forthcoming book news arrives about The Reckoning by Mary Trump and Matrix by Lauren Groff. Plus, more best-of 2020 lists from editors of The New York Times and The New Yorker.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is the December Read with Jenna pick, honoring the 50th anniversary of its publication. AudioFile’s December Earphone Award winners are up. More lists of the year's best books are out. Journalist John Heilemann is writing a book on Joe Biden's campaigns, and screen rights have already been acquired by Showtime. The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish will be adapted as well. Ben Bova, the prolific sci-fi author and editor, has passed away.
A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir leads library holds lists this week. The top LibraryReads pick of the month, How to Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams, comes out this week. Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson and A Promised Land by Barack Obama top the bestseller lists. Catch up on analysis of the sale of Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House. Plus, interest in chess books and chess sets has spiked following the recent premier of The Queen's Gambit.
New York Public Library selects their favorite books of the year. Nominations for 2021 Grammy Awards include audiobooks narrated by Rachel Maddow, Ronan Farrow, and Meryl Streep. The Costa Book Awards shortlist is out. A Promised Land by Barack Obama breaks sales records for presidential memoirs. The new series The Flight Attendant and an updated Black Beauty debut this week. Plus, adaptations of Dinner at the Center of the Earth by Nathan Englander and Forty Acres by Dwayne Alexander Smith are in the works.
The New York Times lists its top 10 books of the year. Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code by Ruha Benjamin wins the Brooklyn Public Library 2020 Nonfiction Prize and On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong wins the 2020 Fiction & Poetry Prize. Charlaine Harris and Jeffery Deaver are the 2021 Mystery Writers of America Grand Masters, and Malice Domestic receives the 2020 Raven Award. In forthcoming book news, 2021 will see Better, Not Bitter: Living on Purpose in the Pursuit of Racial Justice by Yusef Salaam and Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life by Jordan Peterson. Also, there's a video game treasure hunt for Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline.
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline leads holds this week. Time lists the 10 best nonfiction books of 2020, with Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson in the top spot, while Lit Hub shares the best short story collections of the year. In Vanity Fair, Jesmyn Ward interviews Barack Obama to discuss A Promised Land. Historian and travel writer Jan Morris has died at age 94.
Shuggie Bain, the debut book by Douglas Stuart, wins the 2020 Booker Prize. Everywhere You Don't Belong by Gabriel Bump wins the 2020 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Amazon selects A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom by Brittany K Barnett as the best book of the year, and The New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, and O: The Oprah Magazine have their 2020 best-of lists, as well. Never-before-seen work from J.R.R. Tolkien is coming next year in The Nature of Middle-earth. Plus, Between the World and Me, Hillbilly Elegy, and more new adaptation releases.
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu and The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne are among the winners of the 2020 National Book Awards. The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly tops both the NYT and USA Today Bestsellers lists. The Washington Post unveils multiple best-of 2020 lists. The 2020 Writers’ Trust awards winners are out. Joy Harjo will serve a rare third term as U.S. poet laureate. Wonder Woman 1984 will be released in theaters and HBO Max on Christmas Day.
Publishers, authors, and agents ponder the impact a Donald Trump book deal might have. Quentin Tarantino is writing the novelization of his own film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which will initially be published as a mass market paperback. Rebecca Carroll is adapting her upcoming memoir, Surviving the White Gaze, as a series. Read an excerpt from Later by Stephen King. Plus, starting in 2022 Yale University Press is publishing a series of brief biographies called Black Lives.
The December Library Reads list is out, and the number one pick is How to Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams. Barack Obama's memoir, A Promised Land, is out today, and continues to generate substantial buzz. The shortlist for ALA's 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence is out. The CW is at work on the series Wonder Girl, which will feature a Latina lead. Also, Penguin Random House and News Corp, which owns HarperCollins, are leading the bids to purchase Simon & Schuster.
A Promised Land by Barack Obama leads holds this week, and audio excerpts read by Obama are available. Kirkus picks the best fiction of 2020. Forthcoming book news arrives about The Other Emily by Dean Koontz, Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen, and Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe. The 2020 Christy Award winners are named.
Read excerpts and reviews of A Promised Land by Barack Obama, including an in-depth review by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The former president will also participate in the 2020 Booker Prize ceremony. Barnes & Noble lists its Book of the Year Finalists. Buzzy adaptations releasing this week include The Life Ahead, Alex Rider, and The Personal History of David Copperfield. Buzzy adaptations in the works include modern-day reimaginings of Jane Austen novels and The Island of Dr. Moreau, plus a feature adaptation of Jonathan Lethem's As She Climbed Across the Table that will be directed by Michel Gondry.
Time picks 100 must-read books for the year. Fortune and Glory by Janet Evanovich tops this week's bestsellers lists. The 2020 Dayton Literary Peace Prize honors The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman and Know My Name by Chanel Miller. The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison wins the 2020 Goldsmiths Prize. Forthcoming book news arrives from NYT reporter Maggie Haberman and Sen. Tammy Duckworth. Barack Obama has TV appearances lined up ahead of next week's release of his memoir, A Promised Land.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam, and Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi are among the 15 books on the 2021 Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist. A film adaptation of The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates is set to be produced by Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt, with Coates writing the screenplay. Cameran Eubanks, former star of Bravo's Southern Charm, is working on the memoir One Day You'll Thank Me. Also, EarlyWord’s GalleyChat for November is posted.
The short stories collection How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa wins the $100,000 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Blue Ivy Carter, daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, narrates the audiobook Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, which is also headed to HBO Max as a series. The Con Queen of Hollywood, based on a Hollywood Reporter article by Scott Johnson, has been picked up by HarperCollins. Plus, print books sales were up for the last week of October, compared to the same week last year, with the newest Wimpy Kid title leading the rise.
The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly tops holds this week, and LibraryReads and Indie Next offer several recommendations for additional buzzy new releases. Infinite Cities: A Trilogy of Atlases—San Francisco, New Orleans, New York by Rebecca Solnit, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, and Rebecca Snedeker wins the 2020 Alice Award. This weekend saw increased interest in books by Kamala Harris and Stacey Abrams. The Three-Body Problem adaptation is encountering problems for comments by its author, Liu Cixin.
Luster by Raven Leilani, Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream by Mychal Denzel Smith, and I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James, win the 2020 Kirkus Prize. Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May tops the December Indie Next List. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media is up for sale. Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer, due out April 2021, will be adapted as a series for Netflix.
The Sentinel: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child and Andrew Child and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End by Jeff Kinney top the fiction bestsellers lists this week. The best-selling audiobooks of the month are A Time for Mercy by John Grisham, read by Michael Beck, and Greenlights, written and read by Matthew McConaughey. R.B. Lemberg, The Four Profound Weaves: A Birdverse Book, is the 2020 Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellow. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman wins the 2020 WHSmith Book of the Year. The estate of Truman Capote has filed a lawsuit over rights to develop prequels, sequels, or series related to Breakfast at Tiffany's.
The Waterstones Book of the Year shortlist is out, and the first round of the Goodreads Choice Awards is open. More new lists of buzzy November releases arrive and Nicole Krauss' short story collection, To Be a Man, earns strong praise. Excerpts of Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson will arrive each week through its release later this month. After a reversal, a monument to Maya Angelou will go up in San Francisco.
White Ivy by Susie Yang is the November Read with Jenna pick. The NYT offers an excerpt of its first chapter. The novel shortlist is out for the 2020 Staunch Book Prize; the winner will be announced next week. There is news on the ensemble cast of the film adaptation of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. The first trailer for Bridgerton, based on the series by Julia Quinn, arrives. Plus, lots of lists of recommended new releases for the month.
Fortune and Glory by Janet Evanovich leads holds this week. Winners of the World Fantasy Awards 2020 are announced. Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce and White Ivy by Susie Yang are getting a lot of buzz from librarians and booksellers. Lists of the best books of November are out from The Washington Post, Barnes & Noble, The Millions, and more, and the November Earphone Awards are released by AudioFile.
Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life by Christie Tate is Reese Witherspoon's November book club pick. The second book in the Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy, Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good by Timothy Zahn will be released on Star Wars Day, May 4, 2021. Hachette's new imprint, Legacy Lit, will focus on social justice. Renée Paquette announced her new cookbook, Messy In The Kitchen. Plus, details on the feature adaptation of White Bird: A Wonder Story by R.J. Palacio.
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey tops both the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list and the USA Today Best-Selling Books list. The Silence by Don DeLillo takes No. 1 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list. The anonymous author of A Warning reveals himself. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner will be adapted for HBO Max, with Mindy Kaling starring and producing.
Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands by Hazel V. Carby Bryan wins the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. Memorial by Bryan Washington is getting a lot of buzz this week, including being picked as the Good Morning America November book club choice. For its book club, Barnes & Noble chooses The Cold Millions by Jess Walter. Plus, see the first trailer for The Midnight Sky, based on Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton and directed by and starring George Clooney.
Read an excerpt from President Barack Obama's memoir, A Promised Land, coming Nov. 17. Raven Leilani's Luster, Bryan Washington's Memorial, and Isabel Wilkerson's Caste are among ALA's longlist for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. The shortlist for the British Fantasy Awards 2020 includes The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow and The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Oprah selects seven "Books That Help Me Through" for the upcoming month.
The Sentinel by Lee Child and Andrew Child leads holds this week. People’s "Book of the Week" is The Cold Millions by Jess Walter. Publishers Weekly reveals its "Best Books 2020" choices. Hello Friend We Missed You by Richard Owain Roberts wins The Guardian's 2020 Not the Booker Prize. The Air Year by Caroline Bird is among the winners of the Forward Prizes for Poetry 2020. Please welcome Book Pulse's new writer, Mary Bakija!
Anna Burns wins the International Dublin Literary Award for Milkman. The 2020 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize shortlist is announced. The CWA Dagger Awards are announced. Michael Robotham wins the Gold Dagger for Good Girl, Bad Girl. Agatha Christie and chess take center stage as a number of adaptations arrive.
Bernardine Evaristo will chair the judging panel for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021. Molly Stern, who was publisher of Crown before the shake-up at PRH, creates a new publishing company called Zando. Margaret Busby, an important voice in UK publishing, takes center stage. A Time for Mercy by John Grisham tops the bestseller list. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson soars to the top of the NYT nonfiction list. Suzanne Palmer wins the Theodore Sturgeon Award for “Waterlines.” There is a second trailer out for The Underground Railroad.
Vincent Brown, Camilla Townsend, and William Dalrymple are the 2020 finalists for the Cundill History Prize. The Millions selects “Must-Read Poetry” for October. Tor.com has a piece on Alternate History by Alaya Dawn Johnson and announces a new five-book contract with Tamsyn Muir. HBO is adapting Jo Nesbø’s The Son. The Game of Thrones TV sequel, House of the Dragon, has started casting.
The Anthony Awards and The Barry Awards are announced. The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation announces the winners of its 2020 Legacy Awards. Michael Kleber-Diggs wins the 2020 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. Bill Gates has a book forthcoming in February, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need. Some copies of A Time for Mercy by John Grisham contain printing errors. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas is headed to the movies. A teaser trailer is out for The Underground Railroad.
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren leads holds this week. People’s “Book of the Week” is Eleanor by David Michaelis. The November issue of Entertainment Weekly has published. It has a fair amount of book coverage and a great deal of adaptation news. The L.A. Times writes about paper’s Festival of Books, the lineup and ways to watch. There are additional virtual book events for the week and two guides detail the highlights. Big Sky, based on the C. J. Box novels, gets a trailer, which is going viral.
Time picks “The 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time.” N.K. Jemisin has an introduction to the list with “The Timeless Power Of Fantasy.” Rebecca, based on the book by Daphne du Maurier, and The Witches, based on the book by Roald Dahl, lead a host of new adaptations for the week. The November LibraryReads and Indie Next picks are announced.
The Goldsmiths Prize, the TS Eliot Prize, and the Baillie Gifford Prize all announce their shortlists. The winners of the first Disability Futures initiative are also announced. Rick Riordan, Elin Hilderbrand, Rumaan Alam, V.E. Schwab, Tana French, and Alice Hoffman make the bestseller lists. B&N has been hacked. There is plenty of forthcoming book and adaptation news including that Stacey Abrams has a political thriller due out in May and Ava DuVernay is adapting Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.
More lists arrive for Crime, SFF, and Audio, plus genre guides addressing Cyberpunk and Western Gothics. The Brave New Words award and the Dos Passos Prize are announced. A new Stan Lee superhero is on the way. The Justice Department sues author Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. Bryan Washington’s Memorial is headed to TV.
More October book picks arrive, as do new Horror suggestions and Halloween reads. The Silence by Don DeLillo is getting rocky reviews while The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi by Ngugi wa Thiong'o is getting buzzy.
A Time for Mercy by John Grisham leads holds this week. People’s “Book of the Week” is The Searcher by Tana French. The L.A. Times offers a fall books special that ties authors and titles to the social and political events of 2020. The NYT features young Black poets with a message. There is much virtual book programming, including the forthcoming “The True Monsters of Lovecraft Country,” part of #LJReads. Former LJ editor John Berry has died.
There is much more coverage of Louise Glück’s Nobel win, including interviews and suggested readings. A host of adaptations arrive today and through next week, including The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Right Stuff, and The Spanish Princess. James Patterson is going to adapt his forthcoming novel The Noise. The 2020 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards go to Cadwell Turnbull for The Lesson and Ted Chiang for Exhalation. EarlyWord posts its October GalleyChat Roundup. More on Skyhorse publishing.
Poet Louise Glück wins the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Return by Nicholas Sparks tops the bestseller lists. HarperCollins has a new imprint with Fox News. News of the World gets a trailer.
The National Book Award finalists are announced. The MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipients include a number of authors, including N. K. Jemisin, Jacqueline Woodson, and Tressie McMillan Cottom. More book, and audio, picks arrive. In adaptation news, Barbarian Days by William Finnegan is headed to Amazon and an animated version of The Lumberjanes comic is set for HBO Max.
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam is the October Read with Jenna pick. The Millions issues its Most Anticipated October preview. Predictions are out for the Nobel prize for literature, which will be announced on Thursday. Reflecting the huge fall book season, more than twenty reviews arrive today.
Troubles in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand (Little, Brown: Hachette) leads holds this week. People’s "Book of the Week" is Just Like You by Nick Hornby. The 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist is announced. Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam is the B&N October book club selection. The Women’s Prize defines entry requirements. Terry Goodkind has died. His The Sword of Truth books became key titles in the Fantasy genre. His newest work, The Children of D'Hara, is due out in February.
The shortlist for the First Novel prize is out. His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie is the October book club pick from Reese Witherspoon. LJ’s Romance Preview arrives and the October Earphone Awards are announced by AudioFile. Plenty of adaptations are set for today and through next week, including The Good Lord Bird and Books of Blood. The Obamas are adapting Ada Twist, Scientist for Netflix. J.J.Abrams and Warner Bros. plan a Dr. Seuss universe of films.
The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult leads nine new titles onto the bestseller lists. There are more October book lists out and the November Indie Next List has arrived. Memorial by Bryan Washington is the top choice. Pennie Clark Ianniciello picks The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali while the Costco book club suggestion is The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett. Jamia Wilson is named Vice President and Executive Editor at Random House. The poet and author Kevin Young is named the new director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The Booker Prize announcement is rescheduled in light of Obama’s forthcoming memoir. New fall and October booklists arrive. The Good Morning America October book club pick is The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The National Book Foundation announces the titles for the Literature for Justice program. The NYT puts the back issues of the Book Review online. Stephen King’s Firestarter and Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies are getting adapted.
More reading suggestions arrive and the Davitt Awards are announced. Shondaland calls Bestiary by K-Ming Chang “the Book of the Fall.” Latino representation and Indian OwnVoices romances get focused attention.
The Return by Nicholas Sparks leads holds this week. People’s “Book of the Week” is The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Celebrate “The Women Who Shaped The Past 100 Years of American Literature.” ALA releases the top 100 most censored titles of the decade. CBS Sunday Morning has an overview of the fall book season. The film based on Nico Walker’s Cherry sells to Apple for over 40 million.
LJ’s Day of Dialog is today. The Comey Rule debuts, as does a new biopic about Gloria Steinem and a documentary about some very fancy cakes. Author Mary Trump sues President Trump and other family members for fraud. Sir Harold Evans has died.
Namwali Serpell wins the Arthur C. Clarke award for The Old Drift. Nikky Finney wins the Wallace Stevens lifetime achievement award. David McKee, the author of the Elmer books, wins the BookTrust lifetime achievement award. The shortlist is out for the Financial Times/McKinsey & Company Business Book of the Year. The Time 100 list includes Ibram X. Kendi and Tomi Adeyemi. The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett and Rage by Bob Woodward lead ten titles onto the bestseller lists.
The National Book Foundation names the 2020 5 Under 35 honorees. For the first time in 5 Under 35 history, all of the honorees are women of color. The Cundill History Prize shortlist is out. The longlists are announced for the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize. Vanity Fair has a long piece about Skyhorse Publishing. The NYT offers some details about how they create the bestseller lists.
Jack by Marilynne Robinson gets a sharp look, while Anne Helen Petersen, Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation gets focused attention. Ibram X. Kendi's next book will be Four Hundred Souls A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, cowritten with Keisha N. Blain. Sam McBratney, author of Guess How Much I Love You, has died. There are more reading suggestions for books on and by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, booklists for Spanish-speaking writers of SFF, and essential titles by Iranian writers.
The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult leads library holds this week. Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh is People’s “Book of the Week.” Entertainment Weekly issues its Fall Book Special. Ruth Bader Ginsburg leaves a legacy of titles she has penned and others have written about her. The NYT profiles Madeline McIntosh, the U.S. chief executive of Penguin Random House. The National Book Award longlist, of 50 titles, is now complete. Watchmen leads a short list of book-based Emmy winners.
Bryan Washington wins the 2020 Young Lions Fiction Award for Lot: Stories. The National Book Awards longlists are announced for nonfiction and poetry. The longlist is also announced for the CBC Nonfiction Prize. Lit Hub releases its Fall Preview list. Fantasy author Terry Goodkind has died.
Barack Obama’s memoir will publish on Nov. 17 and will be titled A Promised Land. The National Book Foundation announces the longlists for the Translated Literature category and the Young People’s Literature category. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman and Disloyal by Michael Cohen top the bestseller lists. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke remains buzzy.
The Booker Prize shortlist is announced. It is a diverse and notably new gathering of authors. The Justice Department has opened a criminal inquiry into John Bolton and has subpoenaed his publisher and literary agent. The National Book Festival takes place online and on TV this year. The controversy over J.K. Rowling continues to grow. The October LibraryReads list arrives. A new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion is on the way and Black Widow gets moved due to the pandemic.
Barack Obama’s next memoir could publish in mid-November; a release date might be announced this Thursday. Nina Stibbe wins the Comedy Women in Print Prize for Reasons to Be Cheerful. The American Book Award winners are announced. BookPage picks their most anticipated books for the fall and EarlyWord posts the September GalleyChat Roundup. Ken Liu announces that the last book in The Dandelion Dynasty trilogy will actually be two books. Next April, PBS will air a film about Ernest Hemingway by Ken Burns.
Rage by Bob Woodward leads holds this week. People’s "Book of the Week" is Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria (W.W. Norton) and One Vote Away: How a Single Supreme Court Seat Can Change History by Ted Cruz (Regnery: S. & S.) see strong sales bumps. There are new booklists for the fall and much award news. Also, an ode to mail-order book clubs and a look at Space Cat.
Walter Mosley will be honored with the 2020 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation. The New York Public Library celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the Young Lions Fiction Awards on September 13. Three adaptations arrive for the week ahead and new TV series based on books are in the works. Monsterland and The Spanish Princess, part 2 get trailers. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has an essay entitled "Notes on Grief." Sarah Perry has one about risk. Rage by Bob Woodward continues to dominate TV news coverage.
Maggie O'Farrell wins the Women's Prize for Fiction for Hamnet. Isabel Wilkerson, Elena Ferrante, James McBride, Raven Leilani, Ibram X, Kendi, and Jason Reynolds headline the nominees for the Kirkus Prize. After co-winning the Wainwright prize, Dara McAnulty is now the youngest finalist ever for the Baillie Gifford prize, the UK’s highest nonfiction award. There are sixteen new bestsellers this week. Rage by Bob Woodward is topping the news.
There is much award news, including the winners of the Wainwright prize for nature writing and the longlist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Viet Thanh Nguyen has joined the Pulitzer Prize Board. Carolyn Reidy, the late President and CEO of Simon & Schuster, will be honored with the Literarian Award. Ayad Akhtar, Homeland Elegies, is tapped as the next president of PEN America. The Frankfurt Book Fair goes virtual and now includes a free, global book festival day. Oprah is turning her book club into an Apple Podcast, to discuss Isabel Wilkerson's Caste over eight different episodes. Three forthcoming books get sales bumps.
One by One by Ruth Ware leads holds this week. The October Indie Next List is out. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab is the No. 1 pick. Two of the big fall political books arrive today, Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump by Michael Cohen and Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump by Peter Strzok. On top of those buzzy titles, Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine and Everything Beautiful in Its Time: Seasons of Love and Loss by Jenna Bush Hager are also getting focused coverage. The 2020 Dragon Awards are announced.
The Dublin Literary Award shortlist is out and The National Translation Awards longlists are announced. Mulan comes to Disney+ and Get Organized With the Home Edit debuts on Netflix. Debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé gets a seven-figure deal for two YA novels with Feiwel and Friends. Disloyal by Michael Cohen, NRA: A Tell-All Account of Corruption, Greed, and Paranoia within the Most Powerful Political Group in America by Joshua L. Powell, What Can I Do? My Path from Climate Despair to Action by Jane Fonda, and Melania and Me by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff are in the spotlight.
Thick as Thieves by Sandra Brown leads nine new books onto the bestseller lists. The NYT celebrates the 100th week Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates has remained on the bestseller list. The Washington Post reports on their survey of what readers are turning to during the pandemic. More Fall and September booklists arrive.
The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim and Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi top September book club picks. Jesmyn Ward writes an essay for Vanity Fair about the death of her husband. Elena Ferrante and The Lying Life of Adults gets the spotlight. Vulture calls Susanna Clarke, Piranesi, “one of our greatest living writers.” Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, along with Alexander Woo, are adapting The Three-Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin for Netflix. Emma Roberts has a first-look deal with Hulu to adapt books for television. Her first project is Carola Lovering’s Tell Me Lies.
NPR’s Summer Reading Poll has produced “100 Favorite Books For Young Readers.” September book picks arrive, as do fall favorites. The NYT writes about the flood of political books and Michael S. Schmidt proves he has good timing with Donald Trump v. The United States: Inside the Struggle to Stop a President (Random House). The Sunburst Awards for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic are announced.
All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny leads library holds this week and is also People’s Book of the Week. The September issue of Entertainment Weekly is out; top book picks include The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante and Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. LJ highlights 42 exceptional titles for September. Melania and Me by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff is still very buzzy. Liberal Privilege by Donald Trump Jr is now on sale and doing well. Elena Ferrante, The Lying Life of Adults, has two new interviews.
Publication dates are shifting again. The New Mutants finally makes it to screen and The Personal History of David Copperfield charms. Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff is getting strong attention, as are Yaa Gyasi and her new novel Transcendent Kingdom. There are plenty of new booklists, and The Poetry Foundation and The National Book Awards have announcements.
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