'The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes' Is a Hit | Book Pulse

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins tops the bestseller lists this week, and sells more than half a million copies across formats. The James Beard Awards and Horn Book Awards are both announced. Author and activist Larry Kramer has died. More summer reading lists arrive. Day of Dialog is today. BookExpo’s Adult Book & Author dinner video is online.

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New Bestsellers

Links for the week: NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers | NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers | USA Today Best-Selling Books

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fiction

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel) by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press) debuts at No. 1 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list. The paper notes it has sold over half a million copies across formats to date.

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House) wins the vote at No. 8 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

Securing Avery by Susan Stoker (Susan Stoker) takes No. 10 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

On Ocean Boulevard by Mary Alice Monroe (Gallery: S. & S.) heads into summer at No. 13 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

Say Yes to the Duke: The Wildes of Lindow Castle by Eloisa James (Avon: Harper) closes the USA Today Best-Selling Books list at No. 15.

Nonfiction

The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir by André Leon Talley (Ballantine: Random House) walks the runway at No. 6 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free by Pete Hegseth (Center Street: Hachette) lands at No. 8 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

The World: A Brief Introduction by Richard Haass (Penguin) holds No. 10 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

Reviews

The NYT reviews Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake (Random): “This book may not be a psychedelic …but reading it left me not just moved but altered, eager to disseminate its message of what fungi can do.”

The Washington Post reviews In Praise of Paths: Walking through Time and Nature by Torbjørn Ekelund, translated by Becky L. Crook (Greystone Books): “a charming read, celebrating the relationship between humans and their bodies, their landscapes, and one another.”

NPR reviews Fairest by Meredith Talusan (Viking: Penguin; LJ starred review): “This nuance, this careful attention to looking and attempting to understand this journey not just from her own perspective, but also from those affected by it, gives a welcome maturity, depth and resonance to Talusan's memoir.”

Book Marks picks “5 Reviews You Need to Read This Week.”

Briefly Noted

The James Beard cookbook awards are announced. Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African-American Cooking by Toni Tipton-Martin (Clarkson Potter) wins the American category.

The Horn Book Award Winners are announced.

Jane Wagner wins the Lambda Visionary Award. Locus has details.

The Academy of American Poets announces the 23 recipients of the Poets Laureate Fellowships. The NYT has the story.

The Best Translated Book Award will be announced online via Zoom on Friday. It is open to the public.

Essence has “#SummerReads: 14 Books By Black Authors To Add To Your Bookshelf.”

People has “The 20 Best Books to Read This Summer.”

O: The Oprah Magazine picks Beach Reads.

The NYT has “13 Books to Watch For in June.”

Elle suggests “The Anti-Racist Reading List.”

The Washington Post asks 13 authors, including Salman Rushdie and Diana Gabaldon, to “reflect on the books they find most transporting.” The paper also writes about the idea of summer reading and suggests This Is a Book for People Who Love the National Parks by Matt Garczynski, illustrated by Brainstorm (Running Press: Hachette) for those who cannot travel this summer to a park, calling it “charming.”

The Washington Post showcases After London by Richard Jefferies (Dover).

The L.A. Times asks “Will China’s entry into U.S. publishing lead to censorship?

USA Today suggests “10 Perfect Pics For Your Online Book Club.”

Tor.com has original fiction: “The Tourist” by Alex Sherman.

Electric Lit has Claire Vaye Watkins recommend Parakeet by Marie-Helene Bertino (FSG: Macmillan; LJ starred review).

People excerpts Gentle on My Mind: In Sickness and in Health with Glen Campbell by Kim Campbell (Thomas Nelson: Harper). Also, there is a short piece on Ryan Serhant, Big Money Energy: How to Rule at Work, Dominate at Life, and Make Millions (Hachette Go).

BuzzFeed excerpts The Art of Showing Up: How to Be There for Yourself and Your People by Rachel Wilkerson Miller (The Experiment: Workman; LJ starred review).

Bitch Media features Fairest by Meredith Talusan (Viking: Penguin; LJ starred review). Vulture has an excerpt of the memoir. Electric Lit has an interview with the author.

The NYT’s “Inside the List” column features The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi (Mira: Harlequin). The “By the Book” figure this week is Jules Feiffer, Smart George (Michael di Capua Books: Harper).

Tor.com is starting a read-along for N. K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season.

Author and activist Larry Kramer has died. The NYT has an obituary as does NPR, Entertainment Weekly, and the L.A. Times.

American Book Award winner Robb Forman Dew has died. USA Today has an obituary.

Author Barbara Sher has died. The NYT has an obituary.

Coronavirus Reading and RA/Collection Development Resources

LJ’s Day of Dialog is today. Here is the scheduleHere is the Twitter feed.

The Adult Book & Author Dinner video from BookExpo is online for viewing. The Children’s Book & Author Dinner is tonight, look for the video to follow.

The Penguin Random House Author Breakfast (their 29th) is online this year. Here is the video.

The Frankfurt Book Fair announces it will have a smaller, but in person, event this October. The Bookseller reports.

Having trouble reading? Datebook reviews some of the different ways stories get told.

On a related note, the NYT offers "6 Steps to Become a Better Reader" for those losing focus.

The NYT writes that Robert Caro’s The Power Broker has become the “it” book prop.

Authors on Air

Apple teams up with Paramount to produce Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which will star Lonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. TV rights have sold for Juno Dawson’s YA book trilogy, Clean, Meat Market, and Wonderland. Warner Bros. Television plans an adaptation of The Forbidden Game trilogy by LJ Smith. Deadline reports.

The NYT focuses upon the new Perry Mason show and actor Matthew Rhys.

NPR’s Fresh Air interviews James Nestor, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art (Riverhead: Penguin).

Tayari Jones answers readers’ questions for the PBS NewsHour-NYT book club about The Street by Ann Petry (Mariner Books: HMH).

Entertainment Weekly has a bit on the scrapped Stephen King Dark Tower adaptation.

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