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News, Summer Preview & Canada Reads

A U.S. court rules against the Internet Archive in a closely watched copyright case. Publishing Perspectives has details. PW reports on the decision, and Publishers Lunch calls it a “significant victory for authors and publishers.”

Canada Reads returns for its 22st season, featuring Ducks by Kate Beaton (Drawn & Quarterly), Greenwood by Michael Christie (Hogarth; LJ starred review), Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah (Esplanade), Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey), and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf; LJ starred review). CBC has details. 

Publishers Weekly releases its 2023 Summer Reads preview. 

Big Books of the Week

Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea by Dav Pilkey leads library holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Loyalty by Lisa Scottoline (Putnam)

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls (Scribner)

The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi (Mira: Harlequin)

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia, MD, written with Bill Gifford (Harmony)

These books and others publishing the week of Mar. 27, 2023, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Five LibraryReads and six Indie Next picks publish this week:

The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley (Berkley)

“After a freak accident derails Tanner’s college soccer career, she moves in with Louise, an older woman whose family thinks she needs a caregiver. But there’s more to Louise than Tanner expects—and when Louise’s past comes to light, the two go on the lam. Great for fans of lively intergenerational fiction and A Thousand Miles to Graceland.”—Nanette Donohue, Champaign Public Library, Champaign, IL

Loyalty by Lisa Scottoline (Putnam)

“Franco Fiorvanti dreams of owning his own lemon grove. Determined to secure a better future, he will do anything to prove his loyalty to the baron. When asked to kidnap a little boy, Franco makes a decision that changes his life and alters Sicily forever. It takes a bit for the main characters to come together but this quickly becomes an emotional, action-packed epic of love and justice, set during the rise of the Mafia.”—Karen Troutman, Peru Public Library, Peru, IN

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (Tor Nightfire; LJ starred review)

“Readers should eagerly await this phenomenal book. It’s deliciously creepy with a shocking twist, but also has incredibly sweet family dynamics (not including the haunting grandmother), an excellent level of humor to balance the tension, and, as a former archaeologist, I can say it has one of the best fictional portrayals of an archaeologist that I’ve come across.”—Matthew Galloway, Anythink Libraries, Thornton, CO

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Kingfisher does horror in her own wonderful way. A House With Good Bones is a witty, clever, and fresh take on the haunted house sub-genre of horror. I especially loved Hermes, what a good boy!”—Hannah Cloutier, The Bookery Manchester, Manchester, NH

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls (Scribner)

“Walls’s latest coming-of-age novel about love, loss, and the grey areas of the law is set in Prohibition-era small-town Virginia. This is a must-read for anyone who craves fiction that has unforgettable characters, a relatively quick pace for literary fiction, and a well-researched background. For fans of Sue Monk Kidd and Kaye Gibbons.”—Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier Public Library, Warrenton, VA

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“A rollicking adventure set in the Virginia mountains during Prohibition, starring the unforgettable Sallie Kincaid. To say she is bold and fearless would be unjust to her wit and vulnerability. This is a fun and thrilling read.”—Sarah Goddin, McIntyre's Fine Books, Pittsboro, NC

Lone Women by Victor LaValle (One World)

“A homestead far from prying eyes offers Adelaide a fresh start in 1915 Montana. She makes a few female friends—after all, lone women need to stick together. But a secret that won’t be contained or silenced soon threatens her new life. Horror mixed with resilient characters in complex relationships make this a must-read for fans of A Dangerous Business and When Women Were Dragons.”—Kimberly McGee, Lake Travis Community Library, Austin, TX

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“This book was absolutely amazing. Adelaide is a superbly drawn protagonist. You feel for her and the growth of her character was beautiful to read. The novel reads like a wonderful character study, with a shade of horror mixed in.”—Trina Ortiz, Arts & Letters Bookstore, Granbury, TX

Three additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

White Cat, Black Dog: Stories by Kelly Link (Random)

“Kelly Link doesn’t write a bad sentence. Each story is eerie, compelling, and beautiful. Link takes a crumb of each folk tale and twists it until it is nearly unrecognizable, creating entirely new fables that discomfort and provoke.”—Fisher Nash, Carmichael’s Bookstore, Louisville, KY

Community Board by Tara Conklin (Mariner)

“This is a totally unique story about finding your community—whether that’s a couple people you meet or a whole town. It is laugh out loud funny and completely relatable. Highly recommended for those looking for a delightful and funny read.”—Kristen Beverly, Half Price Books, Dallas, TX

The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng (Riverhead)

“An epic historical fiction in an area most Americans know little about. Ah Boon and Siok Mei’s paths diverge between fighting oppression and moving Singapore into the ‘modern’ world. So many relevant issues in this thought-provoking read.”—Audrey Huang, Belmont Books, Belmont, MA

Reviews

NYT reviews This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs (Little, Brown): “The odd cliché here, an extraneous adverb there. Who cares, when you’re having this much fun? This Bird Has Flown is the smart, ferocious rock-chick redemption romance you didn’t know you needed”; Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel; New, Complete, Uncensored Version by Anatoly Kuznetsov and A. Anatoli (Picador): “The book does not read like an account of an event by someone who thinks the worst is over; Kuznetsov writes with a certainty about the future, a sureness that his words will resonate again”; How Not To Kill Yourself : A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind by Clancy Martin (Pantheon): “Swirling with anguish and argument, tempered by practicality, it airs an often taboo topic with the authority of someone writing what he knows—all too gruesomely well”; The New Earth by Jess Row (Ecco): “This is a book of warty, messy things, intractable and strange—but stumbling, maybe, toward a state of grace”; and Lone Women by Victor LaValle (One World): “LaValle’s Lone Women deftly weaves history, horror, suspense and the perspectives of those rarely recorded in the West.” The Washington Post also reviews: ”By replanting this narrative with small-town Southern roots into a Western self-reliance tale, while mixing in the deranged, the author has fashioned an eccentrically satisfying literary mash-up.”

The Washington Post also reviews Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America by Abraham Riesman (Atria): “Riesman’s book is a captivating dive into a spectacle that cannot genuinely be categorized as a real sport but that nonetheless relies on the talents of world-class athletes.”

WSJ reviews William F. Buckley Sr.: Witness to the Mexican Revolution, 1908–1922 by John A. Adams (Univ. of Oklahoma Pr.): “Among the book’s greatest strengths is the depth and quality of its research.”

Briefly Noted

HarperCollins will publish new illustrated edition of Tolkien’s The Hobbit featuring the author’s “home manuscript.” The Bookseller reports.

Victor LaValle discusses his new “feminist horror western,” Lone Women (One World), with LA Times. 

LA Times previews Stranger Things actor Millie Bobby Brown’s forthcoming debut novel, Nineteen Steps (Morrow), due out in September. Deadline also has coverage.

USA Today shares 5 books for the week.

CrimeReads suggests 10 new books this week. 

WSJ shares “15 Books We Read This Week.”

The Atlantic explores learning about family history in this week’s “Books Briefing.”

Bill Zehme, author of Frank Sinatra and Andy Kaufman biographies, dies at 64. Deadline has more on his life. 

Authors On Air

Ari Tison discusses her debut YA novel, Saints of the Household (Farrar), with NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday. 

T&C previews FX’s Great Expectations, based on the novel by Charles Dickens, which streams on Hulu. 

Kate and Charlie Gibson make book recommendations on The Book Case podcast.

NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour suggests books for “for people who love show business.”

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