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Book Clubs, Picks, & Events

Barnes and Noble selects The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (Atria; LJ starred review) for its June Book Club. This standout debut is also the June GMA Book Club selection.

Jenna Bush Hager picks Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine) for the June Read with Jenna Book Club.

Reese Witherspoon picks Seven Days in June by Tia Williams (Grand Central) as as the June Hello Sunshine Book Club pick.   

Roxane Gay’s June book club pick at Literati is Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia (Flatiron).

The Goop Book Club is reading The Ensemble by Aja Gabel (Riverhead).

The July Indie Next List Preview is out, with Falling by T.J. Newman (Avid Reader; LJ starred review) taking the #1 spot.

In the June Costco Connection, the buyers’ picks are The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel (Gallery Books), now out in paperback, and The President’s Daughter by James Patterson and Bill Clinton (Little, Brown & Knopf).

The 2020 Governor General's Literary Award winners have been announced. CBC has a story.

Jack Wang wins Danuta Gleed Literary Award. 

The 2021 Orwell Prize Shortlists are announced.

The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse shortlist is announced. The Bookseller has the story.

The next Earlyword GalleyChat will be held tomorrow, June 3rd, 4 to 5 pm ET (3:30 for virtual cocktails). Hash tag, #ewgc.

The 56th Annual Nebula Awards Ceremony will livestream Saturday, June 5 on Facebook and Youtube. View the trailer.

Reviews

NPR reviews House of Sticks by Ly Tran (Scribner): “Ostensibly an immigrant success story, Tran's narrative power lies in its nuanced celebration of filial devotion that withstands the enormous cost of the American dream.” Also, The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly Disease by Daisy Hernandez (Tin House): "reminds us that our work at balancing health inequities cannot stop with controlling COVID domestically."

USA Today reviews How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith (Little, Brown) giving it 3 1/2 out of 4 stars: “What he does, quite successfully, is show that we whitewash our history at our own risk. That history is literally still here, taking up acres of space, memorializing the past, and teaching us how we got to be where we are, and the way we are. Bury it now and it will only come calling later.”

The NYT reviews The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin (Little, Brown): “His story is a new old narrative: part revenge fantasy, part classic bloody tale of the Old West. In this book, things return — people, oceans, violence — but remembering is a choice and the body bears the cost.” Also, A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa (Biblioasis): “deeply attuned to the gaps, silences and mysteries in women’s lives, and the book reveals, perhaps above all else, how we absorb what we love — a child, a lover, a poem — and how it changes us from the inside out." A Sense of Self : Memory, the Brain, and Who We Are by Veronica O’Keane (W.W. Norton): “O’Keane’s roving, riverine inquiry into memory, experience, the brain — and how these elements come together to produce a self.”  Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel by Stephen Budiansky (Norton; LJ starred review): “It’s this emphasis on the human and humane implications of Gödel’s life and work that gives this book its mesmerizing pull.” The “New and Noteworthy” section has several short reviews.

The Washington Post reviews Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen (Farrar): “There’s real sorcery here, but it arises only from the way Galchen fuses ancient and modern consciousness.”

The LA Times pairs reviews of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith (Little, Brown) and Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth by Bryan Burrough & Chris Tomlinson & Jason Stanford (Penguin Pr; LJ starred review), both books that ask "When will America finally dismantle its racist myths?”

Briefly Noted

“Bookwire Buys Brazil’s Bok2; Ingram Sells VitalSource”, reports Publishing Perspectives.

Bitch interviews Ashley C. Ford, Somebody's Daughter (Flatiron: An Oprah Book) about redefining love.

People profiles Jean Beckerand her new memoir, The Man I Knew: The Amazing Story of George H. W. Bush's Post-Presidency (Twelve) highlighting her long time friendship with the former President. Also, an interview with Chris Bosh on the end of his career and the advice he gives in his new book, Letters to a Young Athlete (Penguin Pr.).

Vogue interviews Kristen Arnett, With Teeth (Riverhead), about her new novel, “queer parenting, and the importance of enthusiastic consent in LGBTQ+ spaces.”

Salon talks with Nicole Lynn Lewis, author of Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families (Beacon), about “the imperative to help young moms go to college.”

Bitch considers the everyday horrors of racism in The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (Atria; LJ starred review), and also offers an interview with the author.

OprahDaily highlights The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice by Scott Ellsworth (Dutton; LJ starred review), a revelatory look at the legacy of the Tulsa Massacre.

Popsugar recommends With Teeth by Kristen Arnett (Riverhead) along with One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (St. Martin’s Griffin; LJ starred review).

The Millions shares its “June Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month).”

CrimeReads has “10 New Novels You Should Read This Month.”

Bustle lists “44 New Must-Read Books Out This June.”

Bitch gathers “17 Books Feminists Should Read in June.”

Vogue offers “The Best Books to Read this Summer.”

The Atlantic’s “Books Briefing” suggests “What to Read this Summer.”

The Washington Post names “10 books to read in June.”

Authors on Air

PBS Newshour has an interview with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Notes on Grief (Knopf), about grief and the loss of her father. 

Vox considers the personality of Cruella de Vil, whose character was created in The Hundred and One Dalmations by Dodie Smith.

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (Celadon) will get a TV series adaptation, developed by Miramax and Stone Village, Deadline reports.

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