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Big Books of the Week

City on Fire by Don Winslow (Morrow; LJ starred review) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Shadow Fire by Christine Feehan (Berkley)

The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani (Dutton; LJ starred review) 

Finding Me by Viola Davis (HarperOne)

The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor--the Truth and the Turmoil by Tina Brown (Crown)

These books and others publishing the week of Apr. 26th, 2022 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Awards & LA Festival of Books

The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced at the LA Times Book Festival this weekend. Winners included Paul Auster, Deborah Levy, Jackie Polzin, Adam Schiff, Megan Abbott, and more.  

Zen Cho won the 2022 Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction for Spirits Abroad: Stories (Small Beer Pr.). More on the prizes here. 

The 2022 European Union Prize for Literature is announced. 

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Two Library Reads and six Indie Next picks publish this week:

The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon (Gallery/Scout Pr.)

“Switching between two children in 1978 living with their grandma, who brings home a strange girl, and now when podcaster Izzy goes to a town dealing with a missing girl and monster sightings, this modern take on Frankenstein has a delicious twist at the end. This novel is an all nighter!”—Terri Smith, Cornelia Habersham County Library, Mt. Airy, GA

I'll Be You by Janelle Brown (Random)

“Sam and Elli, identical twin sisters and former television stars, have their issues. Sam is a recovering addict, and Elli has been taken in by a cult. But they are quite likable, and the story is totally engaging, a bit suspenseful, and includes well developed plot points. Give to fans of The Good Sister and The Girl in the Mirror.”—Evelyn Cunningham, Norwalk Public Library, Norwalk, CT

Six Indie Next picks publish this week:

City on Fire by Don Winslow (Morrow; LJ starred review)

“Winslow’s latest lights a fuse on what is sure to be a stand out trilogy in modern crime writing. That he goes back to the classics gives it a strong foundation, but this is vintage Winslow through and through. I can’t wait for the follow up!”—Jason Hafer, Reads & Company, Phoenixville, PA

Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close (Knopf)

“This will top the list of family stories! I adored every minute with the Sullivans. The Chicago setting, baseball, the aftermath of the 2016 election, and the family restaurant at the heart of it all created an unforgettable experience.”—Amy Traughber, pages: a bookstore, Manhattan Beach, CA

Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases by Paul Holes (Celadon)

“Cold case investigator Paul Holes takes us behind the crime scene tape as he revisits some of his most notorious cases. Riveting and at times unsettling, Unmasked adeptly straddles the line between personal memoir and tell-all.”—Tarin Paradise, Naughty Dog Books, Nashville, IN

A Thousand Ways to Pay Attention: A Memoir of Coming Home to My Neurodivergent Mind by Rebecca Schiller (The Experiment)

“Rebecca Schiller’s poignant insider view of life with ADHD will be a revelation to many, especially women. The definition of neurodivergence continues to expand, and A Thousand Ways to Pay Attention is a groundbreaking addition.”—Pamela Klinger-Horn, Valley Bookseller, Stillwater, MN

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (Tor; LJ starred review)

“I don’t know how I lived this long without T. Kingfisher. Nettle & Bone has everything: a princess on a quest, a goblin market, a fairy godmother, a demon chicken (wait, what!). It’s fresh, funny, touching, and wonderfully well written.”—Kathy Magruder, Pageturners Bookstore, Indianola, IA

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel (Redhook)

“I was swept away in this richly told story of Kaikeyi. A fresh, feminist, and powerful depiction of the vilified queen of the Ramayana, full of mythology and utterly captivating. Kaikeyi is a fiercely told story of power, fate, and love.”—Kelly Orazi, Mysterious Galaxy Books, San Diego, CA

In the Media

The People "Picks" book of the week is Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf). Also getting attention are Playing With Myself by Randy Rainbow (St. Martin’s), and The Patron Saint of Second Chances by Christine Simon (Atria). A “New in Nonfiction” section highlights Lies My Mother Told Me: Tall Tales from a Short Woman by Melissa Rivers (Post Hill Press), True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson by Kostya Kennedy (St. Martin’s; LJ starred review), and Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott (Atria). Plus, the “Pick-me-up-pick!” is Things to Look Forward To: 52 Large and Small Joys for Today and Every Day by Sophie Blackall (Chronicle Books). 

The “Picks” section spotlights the movie The Northman, based on associated titles, and HBO’s We Own This City, based on the book by Justin Fenton. Jennifer Grey is featured along with her new memoir, Out of the Corner (Ballantine). Plus, Adrienne Cheatham, Sunday Best: Cooking Up the Weekend Spirit Every Day, written with Sarah Zorn, Alton Brown, Good Eats: The Final Years (Abrams), and Shaquille O’Neal, Shaq's Family Style: Championship Recipes for Feeding Family and Friends (Ten Speed Press), share recipes.

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor--the Truth and the Turmoil by Tina Brown (Crown): “The Palace Papers is still the most essential book of the Markle interregnum, although it’s admittedly not a distinguished group. Brown’s powers of royal observation remain exquisite.” The Guardian also reviews: “Anyway, this bit of the book fairly rips along, the bastard child of Jilly Cooper and Tom Wolfe. Like Queen Mary, who once said to a relative: ‘We [the royal family] are never tired’, Brown is quite inexhaustible. But as for what all this hard labour has been for, exactly, I don’t know.” Plus, NYT weighs in: “The Palace Papers isn’t juicy, exactly, nor pulpy — there’s just not enough new extracted from the whole royal mess. It’s frothy and forthright, a kind of Keeping Up With the Windsors with sprinkles of Keats, and like its predecessor will probably float right up the charts.”

USA Today reviews City on Fire by Don Winslow (Morrow; LJ starred review), giving it 3.5 out of 4 stars: “Winslow leaves this story ripe for further chapters – it feels like the first part of a trilogy – and, as usual, he leaves the reader wanting more. You wouldn’t want to spend time with these gangsters in real life, but they’re top-notch company on the page.” 

The Washington Post has paired reviews of two books of pet decor: Where They Purr: Inspirational Interiors and the Cats Who Call Them Home by Paul Barbera (Thames & Hudson), and For the Love of Pets: Contemporary Architecture and Design for Animals, ed. by The Images Publishing Group (ACC Art Books).

NYT reviews Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close (Knopf): “This dance between the personal and the political, and the way the latter impacts the former, is the most interesting thematic elementof Marrying the Ketchups.”  Plus, a graphic review of A Revolutionary for Our Time: The Walter Rodney Story by Leo Zeilig (Haymarket Books).

NPR reviews What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care by Elizabeth Cripps (Bloomsbury Continuum): “As an anthropologist, I especially appreciated aspects of Cripps' analysis that often aren't emphasized. Alongside individual lives and well-being, "history, community, culture, unique knowledge" also may vanish.”

The Rumpus offers a sketchbook review of Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong (Penguin).

Briefly Noted

NYT has profiles of Alice Walker, Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker, 1965–2000 ed. by Valerie Boyd (S.& S.), and Randy Rainbow, whose new memoir Playing With Myself (St. Martin’s) is out now.

The Atlantic's "Books Briefing" explores the inner lives of animals. 

The Chicago Tribune's Biblioracle dishes up "literary comfort food." 

The Library of Congress acquires Neil Simon’s papers, NYT reports.

USA Today picks five books for the week.

CrimeReads suggests 10 books out this week.

NYT recommends old and new books.

Time has "14 Book-to-Screen Adaptations to Catch in 2022.”

Tordotcom has "8 Stories to Help You Rebuild After an Ecological Catastrophe.”

Vulture suggests 9 audiobooks for the month.

LitHub shares 10 books about the conflicts in South Sudan and Ethiopia.

“Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, ‘dean of Chicano authors,’ dies at 93.” The Washington Post has an obituary.

Authors On Air

CBS Sunday Morning talks with Tina Brown about The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor--the Truth and the Turmoil (Crown), the “Firm,” and Britain’s great family saga.

PBS Newshour talks with Margaret Renkl,Graceland, At Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South (Milkweed), about writing about the environment from a “blue dot in a red state.”

Arthur C. Brooks discusses his book, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life (Portfolio: PRH), on FoxNews.

NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday asks “What qualities make an audiobook good?” 

Robin Roberts, Brighter by the Day: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams, written with Michelle Burford (Grand Central), visits Ellen today. DJ Envy and Gia Casey, Real Life, Real Love: Life Lessons on Joy, Pain & the Magic That Holds Us Together (Harry N. Abrams) will be on Tamron Hall. Plus, Terry Crews, Tough: My Journey to True Power (Portfolio: PRH), will be on with Seth Meyers.  

Viola Davis, Finding Me (HarperOne) will be on The View tomorrow. Randy Rainbow,  Playing With Myself (St. Martin’s), will be on with Jimmy Kimmel. Josh Peck, Happy People Are Annoying (HarperOne), will visit Tamron Hall. And, Jonathan Van Ness , Love That Story: Observations from a Gorgeously Queer Life (HarperOne), will be on with Drew Barrymore. 

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