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Awards, News, and Black History Month Reads

The 2022 PEN/Faulkner longlist is announced.

The 2022 Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize longlist is announced.

“21 Best Books by Black Authors You Should Read in Your Lifetime” from Oprah Daily.

“22 New Releases by Black Authors to Keep You Reading All Year Long” shared by CrimeReads.

Recommendations for “6 Classic Books That Depict Black Girlhood” from Lit Hub. 

Lit Hub has more news on “the great wave of American book-banning.”

New Title Bestsellers

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

Fiction

Savage Road by Christine Feehan (Berkley) starts at No. 5 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Devil House by John Darnielle (MCD) opens at No. 7 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

Violeta by Isabel Allende (Ballantine; LJ starred review) debuts at No. 8 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis (Dutton; LJ starred review) blooms at No. 9 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

Quicksilver by Dean Koontz (Thomas & Mercer: Amazon) begins at No. 9 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Munro by Kresley Cole arrives at No. 12 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Nonfiction

Red-Handed by Peter Schweizer (Harper) debuts at No. 1 on both the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list and on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur (S. & S.) shines at No. 2 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

South to America by Imani Perry (Ecco) arrived at No. 6 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

Emma and Other Narco Women by Anabel Hernandez (Grijalbo) cuts to No. 10 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

I’ll Be There (But I’ll Be Wearing Sweatpants) by Amy Weatherly and Jess Johnston (HarperChristian) climbs to No. 11 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

American Muckraker by James O’Keefe (Post Hill: S. & S.) cleans up to No. 14 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb (Anchor): “Slocumb is equally adept at suspense, whether he’s conveying the ticktock of the main mystery or the heart-pounding, fist-clenching realities Ray has to face as a young Black man in America. This novel, which will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very last page, is sure to be a favorite in 2022.” Also, The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont (St. Martin’s): “richly imagined; inventive and, occasionally, poignant; and about as true-to-life as Christie’s own tales of quaint villages with their staggering murder rates.”

NYT reviews Vladimir by Julia May Jonas (Avid Reader: S. & S.): “Jonas is an acidic observer of the body’s torments, and in dramatizing the perils of appetite she channels a story as potent (and ancient) as that of Adam and Eve.”

NPR reviews The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang (Norton): “a riveting character-driven novel that delves beautifully into human psychology; Dostoevsky himself would surely approve.”

Locus Magazine reviews AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future by Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan (Currency: Penguin Random House): “While much of AI 2041 seems designed to cel­ebrate the possibilities of AI in a wide variety of applications, both Chen and Lee also seem eager to let us know that they’re aware of its limitations as well.”

Tor.com reviews Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom; LJ starred review): “is slightly different from some of the other installments in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. Unlike most of the six novellas before it, we spend little time in the magical worlds found behind the children’s doors.”

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

Briefly Noted

Charmaine Wilkerson, Black Cake (Ballantine), chats about the “unbreakable connection between our stories and the things we eat.”

Paul Vidich, author of The Matchmaker (Pegasus: S. & S.), discusses “the pleasures of the literary spy novel and the ethical ambiguities of the late Cold War.”

NFL reporter Jay Glazer talks about “his lifelong anxiety and depression, and shares tips to help others” with his book Unbreakable (Dey Street: HarperCollins) with People. Also, Chrishelle Stause, Under Construction (Gallery: S. & S.), speaks about how she is “keeping her options open for starting a family.”

Bernardine Evaristo, Manifesto: On Never Giving Up (Grove), chats about the important writing lessons she learned from Toni Morrison.

NYT features Sheila Heti, author of Pure Colour (Farrar), and how “love and art can heal.” Also, Valerie Bertinelli’s newest, Enough Already (HarperCollins), and how she likes to “keep it real” for Inside the Best-Seller List. 

Vladimir author Julia May Jonas (Avid Reader: S. & S.) discusses “the intersection of motherhood and art” in an interview with Lit Hub.

Andrew Neiderman explores the chronic, hidden pain of author V.C. Andrews and how it influenced her work for Lit Hub. 

Entertainment Weekly shares an excerpt from What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris (Tiny Reparations: PRH).

Tom Cooper, author of Florida Man (Random), fills out the Book Marks Questionnaire. 

Lit Hub has “20 new books to hunker down with this week” and “February’s Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books.”

Authors on Air

PBS News Hour interviews Imani Perry, South to America (Ecco), about how “the American South has done the dirty work of the nation.”

Art Spiegelman, creator of Maus (Pantheon), claims that he “won’t sell the rights to his Pultizer-winning graphic novel” despite it selling more copies due to controversy. The Hollywood Reporter has more information.

CrimeReads explores the adapation of Lee Child’s Killing Floor (Berkley) into the Reacher series.

Raymond E. Feist’s “Riftway Cycle” book series will be adapted into a television series by Six Studios, according to Deadline. Also, Roxane Gay will be adapting her graphic novel, The Banks (TKO Studios: S. & S.) for television.

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