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Awards & Summer Book Lists

The 2021 Nebula Awards Winners are announced. Locus reports. Mercedes Lackey was removed from the conference.

The 2022 Australian Book Industry Awards shortlists are announced.

Mohammed Alnaas wins the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Publishing Perspectives has details.

Fijian writer Mary Rokonadravu wins the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize in the Pacific category. Books+Publishing has details.

NYT has a Summer Books Preview, including three “writers to watch”: Leila Mottley, Nightcrawling (Knopf; LJ starred review), Zain Khalid, Brother Alive (Grove), and Adam Levin, Mount Chicago (Doubleday). Plus, a look at what we want from vacation reading.

NPR’s Fresh Air suggests four books to start off summer.

USA Today has “20 sizzling summer books.”

Time has 27 new books for summer.

Big Books of the Week

Nightwork by Nora Roberts (St. Martin’s) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone (MCD)

The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Blue Box Pr.)

The Honeymoon Cottage by Lori Foster (HQN)

Clive Cussler's Dark Vector by Graham Brown (Putnam)

These books and others publishing the week of May 23, 2022 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

One LibraryReads and five Indie Next picks publish this week:

Hide by Kiersten White (Del Rey)

“The premise: fourteen strangers are invited to compete in a game. The setting: an abandoned theme park. The goal: remain hidden for 7 days. The payoff: $50,000. As the contestants are found by "seekers," and the group gets smaller, it becomes a wild, blood-pumping ride. Soon, the line between competition and survival begins to blur. For fans of Survive the Night and The Final Girls Support Group.” —Lindsey Colon, Charleston County Public Library, Charleston, SC

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“The Hunger Games meets Something Wicked This Way Comes meets Occupy Wall Street. A scathing allegory of the senselessly dangerous world we live in that will consume you, leave you in a daze and constantly checking over your shoulder.”—Charlotte Martin, Mystery to Me, Madison, WI

Four additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone (MCD)

“An edge-of-your-seat trip with Ariel Pryce, who wakes up one morning in their Lisbon hotel room to find that her husband John has disappeared. Your ideas on what is happening and who is involved will fly right out the window! Intriguing!”—Nona Camuel, CoffeeTree Books, Morehead, KY

Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon (Henry Holt and Co.)

“Sleepwalk is an addictive and wholly original novel. Despite how deeply, deeply weird the near-future America of Sleepwalk is, this is a hopeful and timeless story of lost people seeking the connection and healing that we all need!”—Lane Jacobson, Paulina Springs Books, Sisters, OR

The Shore by Katie Runde (Scribner)

“Katie Runde’s debut novel played my heartstrings like a harpsichord. I was yanked from my life to this beachside town and this kindhearted family’s experiences with love, loss, and resilience! I am anxiously awaiting her next release.”—Katy Herbold, Sidekick Coffee & Books, University Heights, IA

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi (Atria)

“I love a book that gets under my skin. This is one such book, of a woman trying to hold her grief without letting it engulf her, messy and lovely in its rawness. If you want to read something to make you feel grateful to be alive, pick this book.”—Emma Nichols, Norwich Bookstore, Norwich, VT

In the Media

The People "Picks" book of the week is Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner (St. Martin’s). Also getting attention are The Mind and the Moon: My Brother's Story, the Science of Our Brains, and the Search for Our Psyches by Daniel Bergner (Ecco), and Lucky Turtle by Bill Roorbach (Algonquin; LJ starred review).

A “New in Nonfiction” section highlights The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life by A.J. Jacobs (Crown), Two Wheels Good: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle by Jody Rosen (Crown), and Serious Face by Jon Mooallem (Random). The “Coffee Table Pick” is Walk With Me: New York by Susan Kaufman (Abrams Image). There is a feature on Colton Haynes and his memoir, Miss Memory Lane (Atria; LJ starred review), and a Summer TV Preview.

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews The High Sierra: A Love Story by Kim Stanley Robinson (Little, Brown): “‘The map is not the territory,’ Robinson writes, but neither is a territory always useful without the anchor of a good map — a strong argument for dipping into The High Sierra, rather than journeying through it end-to-end.” And, Sportin' Life: John W. Bubbles, An American Classic by Brian Harker (Oxford University Pr.): “Harker’s book is not only vivid history but a poignant rumination on what might have been — what greater art Bubbles might have made, if only the world that applauded him hadn’t also hemmed him in.” Plus, short reviews of three literary retellings: Elektra by Jennifer Saint (Flatiron), How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann (Little, Brown), and Darling Girl: A Novel of Peter Pan by Liz Michalski (Dutton).

LA Times reviews Who Killed Jane Stanford?: A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits and the Birth of a University by Richard White (Norton): “White writes with clarity, precision and a bone-dry sense of humor. He was aided by his brother Stephen White, an author of crime fiction, in shaping the narrative, and the book sustains momentum through plots, counterplots and diversions.”

NYT reviews Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington by James Kirchick (Henry Holt and Co.; LJ starred review): “is a sprawling and enthralling history of how the gay subculture in Washington, D.C., long in shadow, emerged into the klieg lights. But it’s also a whodunit to rival anything by Agatha Christie.” And, We Had To Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets (Harper): “appears at first to be the story of a tech workplace gone terribly awry, but it quickly shape-shifts into something more surprising and enigmatic.” Also, Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera (Ballantine): “avoids pat answers, but tenderly and thoughtfully invites readers to weigh our own obligations to the places and people who made us.” And, What the Ermine Saw: The Extraordinary Journey of Leonardo da Vinci's Most Mysterious Portrait by Eden Collinsworth (Doubleday): “traces the tumultuous history of Leonardo’s painting, from Sforza’s Renaissance court to Enlightenment-era Poland to the portrait’s theft by Nazi looters during the Second World War.” Plus, The Evening Hero by Marie Myung-Ok Lee (S. & S.): "This is a soulful, melodic, rhapsodic novel. Yungman Kwak is a survivor, who finally realizes in the evening of his life how truly respected he is — by his wife, by his long-lost family and community. This story of daily, voiceless sacrifice has come, like the babies he delivers, not a moment too late, or too soon."

The Guardian reviews Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri (Princeton Univ. Pr.): “Lahiri writes in Italian to 'feel free' but also values how it makes her slow down…”

Briefly Noted

Craig McNamara tells People about playing with the Kennedy children following JFK’s assassination and shares details from his memoir, Because Our Fathers Lied: A Memoir of Truth and Family, From Vietnam to Today (Little, Brown).

Jack Carr talks with FoxNews about his military service and his new book, In the Blood (Atria/Emily Bestler).

Alan Weisman, The World Without Us (Picador), calls increasing gas and oil production “a disastrously bad idea” in an essay for Salon.

Belarus bans Orwell’s 1984. LitHub reports.

Entertainment Weekly writes about the left behind Legends of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

The Atlantic’s “Books Briefing” looks at “Motherhood’s Impossible, All-Consuming Demands.” Plus, more from the newly expanded books section.

Buzzfeed suggests what to read after watching Conversations with Friends and HBO’s Our Flag Means Death.

Tor has a preview and cover reveal for TJ Klune’s forthcoming novel, In the Lives of Puppets, due out from Tor Books in March, 2023.

USA Today picks five books for the week.

CrimeReads suggests 10 books out this week.

Bustle has 20 relaxing audiobooks.

Roger Angell, editor, baseball writer at the New Yorker, died at 101 over the weekend. The Washington Post has an obituary. NYT  looks back on the author’s most beloved books.

“Amanda Claridge, Archaeologist of Ancient Rome, Dies at 72.” NYT has an obituary.

Authors On Air

NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour recommends books about identity and culture.

Netflix greenlights two additional seasons of Heartstopper, based on the graphic novels by Alice Oseman. The Verge reports.

Doctor Strange 2, with assoc. titles, is now the No. 2-grossing title of the pandemic era. The Hollywood Reporter has details.

Oprah visits the set of The Color Purple, OprahDaily reports.

Sophie Liard, The Folding Lady: Tools and Tricks for Making the Most of Your Space Room by Room (Harper Design), will be on Live with Kelly and Ryan tomorrow. Kellyanne Conway, Here’s the Deal (Threshold Editions), will be on The View. Kwame Onwuachi, My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef written with Joshua David Stein (Knopf), will be on Seth Meyers.

Van Lathan Jr., Fat, Crazy, and Tired: Tales from the Trenches of Transformation (Legacy Lit), will visit Jimmy Kimmel. Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There (Dey St.), will be on Kelly Clarkson. Plus, David Sedaris, Happy-Go-Lucky (Little, Brown and Co.), will visit Stephen Colbert.

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