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Awards & Book Clubs

The winners of the 87th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards are named, including Percival Everett for The Trees (Graywolf), Donika Kelly for The Renunciations: Poems (Graywolf; LJ starred review), George Makari for Of Fear and Strangers: A History of Xenophobia (Norton), Tiya Miles for All That She Carried (Penguin Random House; LJ starred review), and Ishmael Reed, for Lifetime Achievement. Watch the announcement by Henry Louis Gates Jr. here.

Jenna Bush Hager selects Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow (Dial), for her April book club pick.

B&N selects Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf) for its April Book Club. Mandel discussed her book on the B&N Poured Over podcast and will appear at a live virtual event May 10th.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Doubleday), is the Good Morning America pick.

Book banning efforts surged in 2021, reports NYT.  The Seattle Times has coverage, and PBS Canvas has a feature.  

Reviews

NYT reviews Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain (Crown): “The best parts of Bittersweet lay out the 'tyranny of positivity' — that particular American obsession with highlighting happiness over sadness, at the expense of deepening our emotional connections or commitments.”  And, Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum (Grand Central): “One of the many wonderful things about Atomic Anna, a book about Chernobyl, yes, but also about comic books, the power of math, finding one’s truth, and love, both biological and found, is the core group of women who ground it.”  And, Memphis by Tara M Stringfellow (Dial; LJ starred review): “Contradictions aside, Memphis is a rhapsodic hymn to Black women.” Also, School Days by Jonathan Galassi (Other Press): “Improbabilities compound and betoken a deeper murkiness in the novel’s vision. Is this the story of a gay man’s coming-of-age? Is it about the rot that many venerable institutions cover up? Is it about the bafflements of love? For Galassi, it’s about all of these, without full commitment to any one.” And, The Wise Women by Gina Sorell (Harper): “This world is funnier and friendlier than our own; it’s a place where drama is offset by absurd family dynamics and housing crises are avoided with madcap solutions.” Also, Tasha: A Son's Memoir by Brian Morton (Avid Reader Pr: S. & S.): “With humility and grace, he tells us that he has failed his mother by not seeing her as a full and complete person, one with great courage, complexity and strength. But it is a gift of mature adulthood — and perhaps the work of writing memoir — to see our parents as people who exist outside of their centrality in our lives.”  Plus, I Was the President's Mistress!! by Miguel Syjuco (Farrar): “It’s a rare novel that leaves you reeling simultaneously with admiration, exhaustion, amazement at its author’s reach and skill, and desolation at the world it spreads out before you. Add to that a dose of borderline despair for the future of our species, and you have a sense of how you’re likely to feel by the end of Miguel Syjuco’s flawed but formidable political satire…” Lastly, The Lifeguards by Amanda Eyre Ward (Ballantine): “Sly humor and blithe musings — about weirdos on the greenbelt, bacteria levels at the swimming hole and a pricey bike trailer — aside, these are some seriously frightened women; and Ward, with her keen eye for detail and a terrific sense of exactly when to deliver a punchline, knows her characters well.”

The Washington Post reviews Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Doubleday): “Garmus manages to charm. She’s created an indelible assemblage of stubborn, idiosyncratic characters. She’s given us a comic novel at precisely the moment we crave one.” And, Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart (Grove; LJ starred review): “Stuart quickly proves himself an extraordinarily effective thriller writer. He’s capable of pulling the strings of suspense excruciatingly tight while still sensitively exploring the confused mind of this gentle adolescent trying to make sense of his sexuality.”

NPR reviews Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Pr.; LJ starred review): “Aesthetically complex yet emotionally accessible, Time is a Mother at once innovates and affirms the existing poetic tradition, bringing to mind John Ashbery's Paradoxes and Oxymorons.”

LA Times reviews Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf): “Mandel is less concerned with the mechanics of science fiction than with using its tropes to chart new courses through human relationships and their consequences.”

Slate reviews The Candy House by Jennifer Egan (Scribner; LJ starred review): "Egan opens windows on entrancing new worlds, in which what happened depends on who’s telling the story. A candy house, on the other hand, is just a trap. You think you’re going to eat it, but it ends up eating you."

Briefly Noted

The Hay festival returns with its first in-person event in three years featuring authors Bernadine Evaristo, Monica Ali, and Damon Galgut. The Guardian reports. The Bookseller has details.

The horror focused small press Silver Shamrock Publishing closed over the weekend. Locus posts a statement.

Elle talks with Rebecca Scherm about the influences on her new book, A House Between Earth and the Moon (Viking), and why speculative fiction matters.

USA Today has a Q&A with E. L. James, whose Fifty Shades of Grey, turns 10 with a limited anniversary edition from Bloom Books. Plus, an interview with Grant Ginder about his new political thriller, Let's Not Do That Again (Henry Holt & Co.).

Datebook shares “confessions of an occasional science fiction fan,” considering works from Emily St. John Mandel, Kazuo Ishiguro, Hervé Le Tellier, and more.

CBC offers 12 read-alikes for Canada Reads finalist, Life in the City of Dirty Water: A Memoir of Healing by Clayton Thomas-Muller (Allen Lane).

Gizmodo has an audio excerpt of Charlie Jane Anders’s new book, Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak (Tor Teen).

AVClub posts a primer on “How to catch up on the X-Men.”

The Atlantic showcases the work of nine nonfiction authors. Plus, the “Books Briefing” suggests that “lying is its own storytelling.”

AARP has “22 of 2022’s Top New Books (So Far).”

HipLatina highlights “15 Must-Read Poetry Collections by Latinas in Honor of National Poetry Month.”

LitHub has 16 new books for the week.

The Millions shares notable new releases for the week.

Sana Goyal, Norman Erikson Pasaribu and Guardian readers share their favorite books from March. 

BookRiot shares the 10 best romance books out this month.

Bitch has "10 Books Feminists Should Read in April.”

OprahDaily has 10 must-read books by Maya Angelou.

PopSugar has 76 thrillers and mysteries, and 150+ 2022 releases.

ElectricLit offers 7 books that show a different side of Appalachia, and 7 books set in the spring.

“Patricia MacLachlan, author of ‘Sarah, Plain and Tall,’ dies at 84.” The Washington Post has an obituary.

Authors On Air

Benjamín Labatut discusses his book, When We Cease To Understand The World (New York Review Books), with the Vox Book Club.

Bustle previews “Everything You Need To Know About Bridgerton Season 3.”

Lilly Singh, Be a Triangle: How I Went from Being Lost to Getting My Life into Shape (Ballantine), will be on The View tomorrow.

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