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Book Clubs & Awards

Reese Witherspoon picks L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón (Flatiron) for her book club. 

Jenna Bush Hager chooses Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang (Doubleday) for the Today Show book club. 

Rounding out September's Book Club choices, Barnes & Noble selects Matrix by Lauren Groff (Riverhead).

Nancy Pearl wins the National Book Foundation’s 2021 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service. 

The Women’s Prize for Fiction will reveal the winner later today. Watch live at 6:55 BST. 

The 2021 Mike Resnick Memorial Award Winner is announced. Locus has details.

DragonCon announced the Eugie Foster Memorial Award for Short Fiction, the 2021 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award Winner, and the 2021 Dragon Awards Winners, including Andy Weir. Locus has all the details along with the winners of the 2020 Otherwise Award.

The Wainwright prize for nature writing goes to James Rebanks for English Pastoral.The Guardian reports.

“International Booker Prize Announces a Change on Its Jury Panel.” Publishing Perspectives reports.

Reviews

USA Today reviews Matrix by Lauren Groff (Riverhead), giving it 4 out of 4 stars: “it’s a relentless exhibition of Groff’s freakish talent. In just over 250 pages, she gives us a character study to rival Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell or Robert Caro’s Robert Moses.”

NPR reviews Poet Warrior by Joy Harjo (Norton; LJ starred review): “More than an autobiography following a strict chronological progression and detailing all major events, this book focuses on the role of poetry, art, and music in Harjo's life and her development as an artist.”

The Washington Post reviews Keeping the House by Tice Cin (And Other Stories): “is, in many ways, the quintessential first work of fiction: ambitious yet uneven, with flashes that demonstrate the author’s considerable potential. The novel serves up a buffet of genres but never coheres into a satisfying whole.”

LA Times reviews Harrow by Joy Williams (Knopf): “How, though, is transcendence possible in this world we have made? The tension sits at the center of the novel, as it does in much of Williams’ previous work.” The NYT also reviews: “You skim ‘Harrow,’ as if it were a book of poems, for the author’s observations, threaded as they are with acuity and chagrin and strange harbingers and vestiges of old mythologies.”

The NYT reviews L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón (Flatiron): “a capacious book, chock-full of human drama set against the backdrop of a record-breaking California drought, and Escandón writes with a great deal of energy and love for her characters.” And, The Magician by Colm Toibin (Scribner): “overall, a satisfying and elegantly written novel. Its expansive and subtle rhythms carry the reader forward and backward in time, tracing an epic story of exile and literary grandeur, unpacking a major author’s psyche in such a way that the life of the imagination becomes, finally, the real and only tale worth telling.” Also, An Ordinary Wonder by Buki Papillon (Pegasus): “ends in a place of optimism: Oto has a chance to show her true self and begins to live as Lori. Her story highlights the limiting dangers of the gender binary, while also reminding us of the power storytelling has to help us envision a more expansive and inclusive world.” Plus, The Oracle of Night : The History and Science of Dreams by Sidarta Ribeiro, translated by Daniel Hahn (Pantheon): “makes a resounding case for the mystery, beauty and cognitive importance of dreams.”

Briefly Noted

NYT profiles Colson Whitehead and his new crime novel, Harlem Shuffle (Doubleday; LJ starred review).

USA Today talks with Rick Ross about his new book, The Perfect Day to Boss Up: A Hustler's Guide to Building Your Empire (Hanover Square Press).

The Millions has a Q&A with Karl Ove Knausgaard about his latest novel, The Morning Star (Penguin Pr.).

PopSugar talks with Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez, For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color (Seal Press), about “about being a first-time author, her urgency to democratize knowledge, and how she heals through writing."

The Hollywood Reporter talks with Hayley Mills, Forever Young: A Memoir (Grand Central), about her “early career, Walt Disney,and turning Down ‘Lolita’ role.”

T&C highlights Roar: into the second half of your life (before it's too late) by Michael Clinton (Atria), and his “roadmap for navigating the next chapter—at any age.”

Time has Andrea Constand, The Moment (Viking), on healing after Bill Cosby’s release from prison. 

The Atlantic has “The Writer Who Saw All Of This Coming,” about Lauren Groff’s canny forsight.

The Washington Post considers “How 9/11 altered the fiction landscape in 13 novels.”

Entertainment Weekly shares “The best comics from August.”

The NYT suggests 8 newly published books.

Bustle has "20 Books To Read If You Love Sally Rooney.”

Authors on Air

NPR’s Morning Edition talks with Alabama’s new poet lauriate, Ashley M. Jones about her new collection, Reparations Now! (Hub City Press).

NPR’s Fresh Air has an interview with by Joy Harjo about her new memoir, Poet Warrior (Norton; LJ starred review).

Hans Zimmers’ Dune Sketchbook Soundtrack is previewing now on Youtube. Tor has more.

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