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Big Books of the Week

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner (Atria), leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday; LJ starred review)

Overboard by Sara Paretsky (Morrow)

By the Book: A Meant to be Novel by Jasmine Guillory (Hyperion Avenue)

Bad Actors by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

These books and others publishing the week of May 9, 2022 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Awards & Events

The 2022 Sheikh Zayed Book Award winners are announced.  

The Christian Book Award winners are announced. 

U.S. Selfies announces its shortlist. PW has the list.

Puerto Rican writer Giannina Braschi is awarded the 2022 Enrique Anderson Imbert Award.

Publishers Lunch and the American Booksellers Association are sponsoring a Fall/Winter Buzz Books Editors panel. Register for the free event here. 

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Three LibraryReads and four Indie Next selections publish this week:

The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday; LJ starred review)

“Set in 1964, a Hollywood starlet treats a select group of friends to a life changing experience on a safari in the Serengeti. It’s a wonderful experience until they are all kidnapped. Another good page turner from Chris Bohjalian that leaves readers mesmerized and horrified. For fans of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and A Touch of Stardust.”—Eileen Acosta, Cornwall Public Library, Cornwall, NY

By the Book: A Meant to be Novel by Jasmine Guillory (Hyperion Avenue)

“An enjoyable Beauty and the Beast inspired tale! Editorial assistant Isabelle has to handle a "cancelled" celebrity, Beau Towers, and moves into his mansion to help him with his memoir. Isabelle is likeable, and her relationship with Beau, though contentious at first, grows in a believably sweet way.”—Jill Rupp, Sun Prairie Public Library, Sun Prairie, WI

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom; LJ starred review)

“Luli Wei is a rising star in the golden age of Hollywood, when the business is full of literal horrors and she must earn her fame by playing monsters. Vo’s weaving of magical elements into an otherwise realistic story is arresting in the best way, and Luli is a strong and determined character. Highly recommended for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Alix E. Harrow.”—Kristine Magers, Metropolitan Library System, Oklahoma City, OK

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Nghi Vo’s vision of magic in 1920s Hollywood enriches the protagonist’s transformation and shows readers all that was at stake for those in the early film industry. Siren Queen reminds us of all that the term ‘movie magic’ implies.”—Katarina Diepholz, Charter Books, Newport, RI

Three additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

Saint Sebastian's Abyss by Mark Haber (Coffee House Press)

“Quietly hilarious, this slim novel encapsulates the absurdity of academia and honors the impact art has on our lives. From compulsive phrases to the judicious reveal of what imploded a friendship, Haber has crafted a marvelous book.”—Madeline Hausmann, BookPeople, Austin, TX

The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón (Milkweed Editions)

“Poems about feeling, and what it means to feel too much. Ada Limón has once again released a collection of work that will make readers think, feel deeply, and revisit her work time and time again. This beautiful body of work is not to be missed.”—Casey Zierler, Papercuts J.P., Boston, MA

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner (Atria)

“The Summer Place was my happy place. I saw a bit of myself in each character, and all of the drama a family can experience in a lifetime. I was laughing out loud, anxious about the characters and plot lines, and just could not put this one down!”—Tim Ehrenberg, Nantucket Bookworks, Nantucket, MA

In the Media

The People "Picks" book of the week is Vigil Harbor by Julia Glass (Pantheon). Also getting attention are Where the Children Take Us: How One Family Achieved the Unimaginable by Zain E. Asher (Amistad), and One Day I Shall Astonish the World by Nina Stibbe (Little, Brown and Co.). A “New in Nonfiction” section highlights Anna: The Biography by Amy Odell (Gallery), Chosen: A Memoir of Stolen Boyhood by Stephen Mills (Metropolitan), and Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live by Becca Levy, PhD (Morrow). The “Rock Pick” is Be My Baby by Ronnie Spector (Henry Holt and Co.).

The “Picks” section spotlights Shining Girls, based on the book by Lauren Beukes on Apple TV+, and The Staircase, basedon the book by Jean-Xavier De Lestrade, on HBO Max. There are features on Melissa Gilbert, whose new memoir, Back to the Prairie: A Home Remade, A Life Rediscovered (Gallery), publishes Tuesday, and Laurie Zaleski, author of Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals (St. Martin’s; LJ starred review). Plus, Daniel Holzman, Food IQ: 100 Questions, Answers, and Recipes to Raise Your Cooking Smarts, written with Matt Rodbard (HarperWave), shares a recipe.

Reviews

NYT reviews The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday; LJ starred review): “With so many different characters, each with a distinctive personality and back story, we are also likely to see at least parts of ourselves. This is the other danger lurking in the pages, and from this we cannot look away.”

NPR reviews The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón (Milkweed Editions): "Above all, The Hurting Kind asks for our attention to stay tender. To know that the world is here to both guide us and lead us astray.”

The Guardian reviews You Have a Friend in 10A: Stories by Maggie Shipstead (Knopf; LJ starred review): “It’s a rare writer who can create a world as convincingly over a few pages as in a 600-page novel; Shipstead’s fluency in both forms is testament to the skill she modestly casts as a work in progress.”

Briefly Noted

People reveals claims about President Trump from Mark Esper’s new book, A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times (Morrow), out tomorrow.

Salon highlights “legal page turner”, Lennon, the Mobster, & the Lawyer: The Untold Story by Jay Bergen (DeVault-Graves), about “untold story of John Lennon's legal war with a Mafia-connected label owner.” Also Salon gives an update on Geore R.R. Martin’s projects, teasing that The Winds of Winter could be the longest book yet.

The Atlantic highlights The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem by Julie Phillips (Norton; LJ starred review).

NYT features the work of Fernanda Melcho, one of the “most celebrated new voices in Latin American literature.”

The Millions explores “Reading as a Spiritual Practice."

Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Lavie Tidhar discuss books that defy categorization for The Washington Post.

Nicola Yoon sells first adult novel to Anchor, due to release in 2024. PW reports.

USA Today picks five books for the week.

CrimeReads suggests 10 books out this week.

GMA suggests 15 books for the month.

Vanity Fair lists 11 new books for May.

OprahDaily recommends “15 of the Best Mental Health Books.”

Tordotcom has new horror and genre-bending books for May.

Legendary comic book artist and writer George Pérez dies at 67. USA Today has an obituary.

Authors On Air

CBS This Morning shares an excerpt from Phil Rosenthal’s forthcoming travel diary and cookbook, Somebody Feed Phil the Book: Untold Stories, Behind-the-Scenes Photos and Favorite Recipes, written with Jenn Garbee (S.& S./Simon Element), due out October 18th. Rosenthal and comedian Ray Romano discuss the origins of the hit Netflix series and the book, with This Morning.

NPR’s Code Switch talks with Elizabeth Cummins Muñoz about her new book, Mothercoin: The Stories of Immigrant Nannies (Beacon Press).

Comedy writer Jessi Klein, I'll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife and Motherhood (Harper), talks with NPR’s Fresh Air, about “disorienting experience of new motherhood.”

NPR’s All Things Considered talks with former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper about his new book, A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times (Morrow).

NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday interviews Nury Turkel, No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs (Hanover Square Press), about “China's persecution of Uyghur people inside China and across the globe.”

Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Committed (Grove), offers his “Brief But Spectacular take” on writing and memory for PBS NewsHour.

Brendan Slocumb reflects on his experience in the classical music world and his debut mystery, The Violin Conspiracy (Anchor), with PBS Canvas.

Ncuti Gatwa is the new Doctor Who, becoming the first Black actor to take on the iconic role. Shadow&Act has the story. 

Norman Reedus, The Ravaged (Blackstone), will be on Live with Kelly and Ryan today. Tunde Oyeneyin, Speak: Find Your Voice, Trust Your Gut, and Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (Avid Reader Press), and Nyle DiMarco, Deaf Utopia: A Memoir-and a Love Letter to a Way of Life (Morrow; LJ starred review) will be on with Tamron Hall. Minnie Driver, Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays (HarperOne) visits with Kelly Clarkson. Diane Keaton, Saved: My Picture World (Rizzoli), chats with Ellen. Bob Odenkirk, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama (Random), visits Late Night with Seth Meyers. Shaquille O'Neal, Shaq's Family Style: Championship Recipes for Feeding Family and Friends (Ten Speed Press), visits with Stephen Colbert. Melissa Gilbert, Back to the Prairie: A Home Remade, A Life Rediscovered (Gallery), will visit Live with Kelly and Ryan tomorrow, and Jennifer Grey, Out of the Corner (Ballantine) will be on with Tamron Hall.

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