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Awards & News

The December Loan Stars list is out, with A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley (Knopf) in the #1 spot. 

Christian Léourier wins the seventh annual Prix Joël-Champetier Award. Locus has details.

LitHub interviews the 2022 National Book Award finalists. 

A U.S. judge explains why she blocked the PRH/S.&S. merger. USA Today has the story.  PW has details. 

World Food Championships enters into an exclusive cookbook partnership with Fox Chapel Publishing. 

Columbia University Press will distribute Floating Opera Press. Shelf Awareness reports. 

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews Galatea: A Short Story by Madeline Miller (Ecco; LJ starred review): “Miller’s Galatea is as matter of fact as the stone she came from. She is keenly aware of the motivations of those around her in the way that children, unencumbered by preconceptions or politesse, sometimes pierce the heart of things, to our discomfort.” And, Dr. No by Percival Everett (Graywolf; LJ starred review): “having recently read The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, I wish that Dr. No zeroed in on America’s racial environment with the same comic intensity. Defanged by its own silliness, this new novel merely hints and feints.” Also, G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage (Viking): “This book is an enduring, formidable accomplishment, a monument to the power of biography.”

NYT reviews Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants by James Vincent (Norton): “Vincent conveys how measurement developed as a ‘scaffold for knowledge,’ encouraging us to categorize and make comparisons.”

LA Times reviews Flight by Lynn Steger Strong (Mariner): “the toughest lesson Strong shares in Flight is that not every story can have a satisfying conclusion. True reconciliation, safety, stability, fulfillment: These are destinations along a flight path forever uncertain — though shot through, like this novel, with moments of transcendence.”

Tordotcom reviews Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk (Tordotcom; LJ starred review): “The mystery is a little too easy to figure out and the ending is a little too pat, but overall it’s a thrilling, charming novella.”

Buzzfeed reviews Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century by Roseanne Montillo (Atria): “In some ways, Deliberate Cruelty highlights the problem with meta true crime. People are often drawn to crime stories because murder mysteries provide voyeuristic glimpses into marriages and allow us to endlessly interpret motivations. But to repeat the lore about Woodward without addressing the gendered dynamics at play is to miss a huge piece of the puzzle.”

Briefly Noted

LibraryReads and LJ offer read alikes for Desert Star by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown; LJ starred review), the top holds title of the week. 

Joanna Gaines,The Stories We Tell: Every Piece of Your Story Matters (Harper Select), tells Today she lied about her middle name to avoid bullying while growing up. People has the story. 

Dani Shapiro, author of Signal Fires (Knopf), talks about secrets and spirituality with Seattle Times. 

The Millions interviews Joe Meno about his new novel, Book of Extraordinary Tragedies (Akashic; LJ starred review).

LA Times profiles author Percival Everett, whose latest book is Dr. No (Graywolf; LJ starred review).

The Rumpus talks with J. Hope Stein about her new poetry collection, little astronaut (Andrews McMeel Publishing). 

Author Tana French leads a literary tour through Dublin for NYT. 

Tracy Deonn, Bloodmarked (S. & S. Books for Young Readers), discusses the “importance of Black characters in the fantasy genre,” with Shondaland. 

Shondaland’s Authors to Watch series spotlights Sussie Anie and her debut novel, To Fill a Yellow House (Mariner). 

Stephanie McCarter, whose new translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Penguin Classics) publishes this week, pens a perspective on translating sexual violence in Classical poetry at The Washington Post. Plus, McCarter asks: “Does Ovid Still Matter Today?” at ElectricLit. 

Kevin Wilson, Now Is Not the Time To Panic (Ecco), takes Entertainment Weekly’s pop culture questionnaire. 

Doing NaNoWriMo? Slate says: “Don’t Just Write a Novel This November. Write a Bad Novel. It’s good for you!”

Vulture considers how “The Velveteen Rabbit Was Always More Than a Children’s Book.”

N. K. Jemisin, The World We Make (Orbit; LJ starred review), offers book recommendations at Elle.

The Washington Post recommends 5 new thrillers and mysteries. 

USA Today shares “12 inclusive histories for Veterans Day.”

BookRiot lists 22 must-read indigenous authors, 8 WWII books about books and libraries, and 8 books about perfumery. 

Authors on Air

NPR’s All Things Considered talks with Andrew Weiss about his graphic novel, Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin, illus. by Brian "Box" Brown (First Second).

Matthew F. Delmont, Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad (Viking; LJ starred review) discusses “how Black WWII servicemen were treated better abroad,” on NPR’s Fresh Air.

Vulture highlights the new trailer for the TV series The Lying Life of Adults, based on the novel by Elena Ferrante (tr. from Italian by Ann Goldstein; Europa), which premieres on Netflix January 4.

Netflix will adapt Seesaw Monster, a 2019 book by Kotaro Isaka, as a feature film. Deadline reports. 

Joanna Gaines, The Stories We Tell: Every Piece of Your Story Matters (Harper Select), will be on with Drew Barrymore tomorrow. 

George Saunders, Liberation Day: Stories (Random House), will visit Stephen Colbert tomorrow. 

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