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Awards & News

The National Book Awards announces its longlists for fiction. Washington Post rounds up all the books longlisted for the National Book Awards. NYT also has coverage. The shortlists will be announced on October 3, and winners will be named on November 15.

The 2023 winners of the McIlvanney Prize and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize are announced.

Jann S. Wenner, The Masters: Conversations with Dylan, Lennon, Jagger, Townshend, Garcia, Bono, and Springsteen (Little, Brown), has been removed from the board of directors of the Rock Hall of Fame after an inflammatory interview with NYT about his book. Wenner issued an apology for his remarks.

Drew Barrymore reverses course and will postpone resuming her show amid Hollywood strikes, PBS Canvas reports. Barrymore drew backlash last week for her announcement to resume her talk show and was also dropped from the National Book Awards ceremony.

Big Books of the Week

The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman: Viking; LJ starred review) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Blessing of the Lost Girls by J.A. Jance (Morrow)

Starter Villain by John Scalzi (Tor; LJ starred review)

The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall (Alcove Pr.)

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (S. & S./Marysue Rucci; LJ starred review)

These books and others publishing the week of September 18, 2023, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Seven LibraryReads and six Indie Next picks publish this week:

Hall of Fame pick Starter Villain by John Scalzi (Tor; LJ starred review), is also an Indie Next pick:

“Scalzi makes the absurd feel completely normal. Charlie is a down on his luck guy who gets thrust into the world of super villains and genetically-engineered cats. Fans of the spy genre will love the subverted super villain clichés.”—Scott Patnesky, Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, CO

The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman: Viking; LJ starred review) and Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison (Berkley; LJ starred review) are also Hall of Fame Picks. Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by Sy Montgomery (text) & Matt Patterson (illus.) (Mariner) is the notable nonfiction pick. 

The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall (Alcove Pr.)

“A light, witchy novel where the relationships aren't just romantic—there are family issues for the main character to work through as well. The magic system is a favorite cozy trope—herbs and baking—and there are lots of tasty-sounding recipes to try throughout. Readers will look forward to more to come from Randall.”—Josephine Incolla-Moore, Frederick Cty Urbana Branch, MD

Hall of Fame pick Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner (St. Martin’s Griffin), is also an Indie Next pick:

“Meryl Wilsner is a must-read author! Grace and Phoebe’s sexy sapphic love story centers around their training as members of the US Women’s National soccer team. Spicy and sweet, you'll fall in love so fast and be sad when the book is over.”—Andrea Richardson, Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, VA

A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles (Sourcebooks Casablanca; LJ starred review)

“Rufus is the new Earl of Oxney, much to the consternation of his uncle. But another possible claimant steps forward, Luke. As Rufus and Luke work together to get the estate organized, it becomes impossible for them to ignore their mutual attraction. This fun historical LGBTQ romance set 13 years after the first in the series is an ideal beach read.”—Nancy Eggert, Chicago Public Library, IL

Four additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

The Book of (More) Delights: Essays by Ross Gay (Algonquin)

“Oh, to have delights again! No one writes about the dearness of our human frailty with the generosity and good humor of Ross Gay. I can’t wait to wear these delights out to the same degree as the first, and become more present in doing so.”—Abbey Paxton, Storyhouse Bookpub, Windsor Heights, IA

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (S. & S./Marysue Rucci; LJ starred review)

“We all know the names of serial killers, but not the victims. Jessica Knoll tells their stories with compassion and respect. You’ll be shocked by the multiple miscarriages of justice that cut short the lives of so many bright young women.”—Susan Kehoe, Browseabout Books, Rehoboth Beach, DE

Wellness by Nathan Hill (Knopf: LJ starred review)

“Wellness will capture your heart from the very beginning. Heartbreaking, funny, thoughtful, endearing—readers will be entranced by Jack and Elizabeth’s story as they struggle for the elusive life of family, truth, and true love.”—Betsy Von Kerens, The Bookworm of Omaha, Omaha, NE

North Woods by Daniel Mason (Random; LJ starred review)

“North Woods is a novel about a house, its inhabitants, and the land over four centuries set in the hills of western Massachusetts. A gorgeous, layered tapestry in which the house and the woods play into the lives of those who live there.”—Fran Keilty, Hickory Stick Bookshop, Washington Depot, CT

In the Media

People’s book of the week is Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (S. & S./Marysue Rucci; LJ starred review). Also getting attention are The Wren, the Wren by Anne Enright (Norton) and Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips (Knopf). There is a Q&A with Queer Eye’s Bobby Berk about his new book, Right at Home: How Good Design Is Good for the Mind (Clarkson Potter). 

The “Picks” section spotlights A Haunting in Venice, based on the novel Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie. There are features on Anderson Cooper and his new book Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune, written with Katherine Howe (Harper), and Leslie Jones and her new memoir, Leslie F*cking Jones (Grand Central). Marianne Wiggins and her daughter go on tour for Properties of Thirst (S. & S.; LJ starred review). Read the article online. Plus, Alex Guarnaschelli and Ava Clark, Cook It Up: Bold Moves for Family Foods: A Cookbook (Clarkson Potter), share a recipe.

Reviews

NYT reviews Wellness by Nathan Hill (Knopf: LJ starred review): “As in The Nix, though, Hill is less interested in getting to the bottom of the modern predicament than he is in constructing an elaborate, back-story-laden plot machine that will, after hundreds of pages, solve all its characters’ problems with a series of satisfying clicks.” LA Times also reviews: “The story of Elizabeth’s wealth has the fine-grain detail of a Richard Powers novel, and Jack’s background in Kansas is a well-turned tale of pathos, familial cruelty and the brutal heartland landscape.”

NYT also reviews Mr. Texas by Lawrence Wright (Knopf): “The novel is a fiery sample of the chili of Texas politics: equal parts tragedy, comedy and farce”; The Wren, the Wren by Anne Enright (Norton): “This is a powerful, thoughtful book by one of the great living writers on the subject of family, about how very long it takes to make peace with cruelty and loneliness, about being a woman living in the shadow of a man who wrestles with Ovid, doing the nonpoetic work of raising children and defrosting the freezer”; Father and Son: A Memoir by Jonathan Raban (Knopf): “This is really two books that are stacked, like mozzarella and tomato, in one pile. The first is a sharp memoir about illness and recovery…. The second book is an account of his parent’s marriage, and of his father’s experience in World War II”; Move Like Water: My Story of the Sea by Hannah Stowe (Tin House): “Move Like Water is above all a sensuous book, more felt than described, more described than explained, more painted than penned: part memoir, part journal and—with each chapter named for a creature the author encountered either in real life or in dreams—part natural mystery tour”; The Wolves of Eternity by Karl Ove Knausgaard, tr. by Martin Aitken (Penguin Pr.): “The Wolves of Eternity, like some 19th-century Russian novel, wrestles with the great contraries: the materialist view and the religious, the world as cosmic accident versus embodiment of some radiant intention”; and The Box by Mandy-Suzanne Wong (Graywolf): “Wong’s challenge is in sustaining this embodiment for nearly 250 pages. There’s suspense in seeing whether the author will pull it off that’s not unlike the experience of watching a tightrope walker.”

Washington Post reviews Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips (Knopf): “She leaves readers with a rueful yet doggedly hopeful maxim that could easily serve as an epigraph for Night Watch as a whole: ‘Endurance was strength’”; The Traitor by Ava Glass (Bantam): “James Patterson declared Emma Makepeace a ‘worthy heir to the James Bond mantle.’ Perhaps. But like most risk-takers, Ava Glass and Emma Makepeace are venturing into new, uncharted territories”; and This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America by Navied Mahdavian (Princeton Architectural): “Mahdavian’s effortlessly fluid lines, breezy storytelling and lighthearted humor foster an easy intimacy with the reader.”

The Guardian reviews The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff (Riverhead): “As a study of the human capacity to endure solitude and hardship, it offers insight, but it’s hard to escape a sense of being underwhelmed by the novel’s climax”; and Rouge by Mona Awad (S. & S./Marysue Rucci): “Rouge provokes the befuddled headiness you get from inhaling nail polish remover. Awad has true commitment, a unique register and a great ability to synthesise her influences. But readers might not enjoy being trapped inside a 384-page Lana Del Rey song.”

Briefly Noted

Elton John’s lyricist Bernie Taupin reveals details from his new book, Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, and Me (Hachette; LJ starred review), with FoxNews.

Leslie Jones, Leslie F*cking Jones (Grand Central), discusses her collegues and experiences as a Black woman on SNL, with People.

CrimeReads has 10 new books for the week. 

Chip and Joanna Gaines’s iconic Texas Magnolia House is on the market for just under $1 million. GMA has details.

Authors on Air

Anderson Cooper discusses his new book, Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune, written with Katherine Howe (Harper), with CBS Sunday Morning. BET cofounder Sheila Johnson talks about her memoir, Walk Through Fire (S. & S.). Plus, Washington Post book critic Ron Charles recommends new books for the week.

NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday talks with Rachel Harrison about her new horror novel, Black Sheep (Berkley; LJ starred review). 

American Fiction, based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett, takes Toronto Film Festival’s top prize.  USA Today reports.

NPR’s Morning Edition celebrates the 25th anniversary of Valorie Lee Schaefer’s The Care and Keeping of You.

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