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Big Books of the Week

State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton (S. & S.: St. Martin’s) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella (The Dial Press)

Silverview by John le Carré (Viking) 

The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family by Ron Howard & Clint Howard (Morrow; LJ starred review)

No Words by Meg Cabot (Morrow)

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman (S. & S.)

These books and others publishing the week of October 11th, 2021 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Three LibraryReads and five Indie Next picks publish this week:

No Words by Meg Cabot (Morrow)

"In the 3rd installment in Meg Cabot's Little Bridge Island series, readers get an inside look at the local Book Festival through the eyes of Jo Wright, a popular and prolific children's book author who is confronting her literary nemesis, Will Price. The sunshine and sea air may change their relationship for the better! A super cute offering for Cabot fans!"—Jessica Breslin, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Bay Village, OH

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman (S. & S.)

"If you want a deep story about women, mothers, daughters and love in all its forms, look no further. We follow the Owens family as they try to break the curse that kept them from loving freely. This is a beautiful ending for these characters readers have grown to love. For fans of The Orphan Witch and Cackle ."—Kris Hickey, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Columbus, OH

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“A wonderful conclusion to the series with a new generation of Owens to charm us. For fans who like their books with a good dose of magic, and readers who enjoy a family saga with characters that win you over. What a treat!”—Laura Taylor, The Oxford Exchange, Tampa, FL

Death at Greenway by Lori Rader-Day(Morrow)

“In this departure from Rader- Day’s usual thrillers, two young women, hired as nurses to care for a group of children, are evacuated to Agatha Christie’s country estate during WWII. Then a dead body shows up, and suddenly there's no telling what is safe and who can be trusted. For fans of Agatha Christie and Louise Penny.”—Linda Quinn, Fairfield Public Library, Fairfield, CT

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Two women nurses escape wartime London to care for children evacuated to Greenway, the country home of Agatha Christie. But all is not idyllic, with murders, a disappearance, and seemingly healthy men dying in the nearby village. A mystery Mrs. Christie would have approved of.”—Jane Simons, The Dog Eared Book, Palmyra, NY

Three additional Indie Next picks arrive this week:

Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Hanover Square Press)

“These four interconnected sweet, simple, yet thought-provoking tales are as wonderful and life-affirming as those in Before the Coffee Gets Cold and make it the perfect companion piece.”—Alana Haley, Schuler Books, Grand Rapids, MI

On Animals by Susan Orlean (Avid Reader)

“Pick up On Animals and you’ll find yourself delighting in the fascinating world of donkeys, orca whales, dogs, and pigeons. A lifelong animal lover, Orlean has crafted essays that are beautifully written and frankly quite delightful.”—Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop, Athens, GA

Jacket Weather by Mike DeCapite (Soft Skull)

“This book celebrates the comforts in life: nostalgia, food, art, and new love. Reading Jacket Weather is a beautiful, tense journey through the anxiety of losing what we think makes us complete.”—Laura Lowry, Mind Chimes Bookshop, Three Lakes, WI

In the Media

The People "Picks" book of the week is Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout (Random). Also getting attention are My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (Henry Holt: Macmillan), and What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J A Chancy (Tin House; LJ starred review). Plus, there is a Q&A with Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton, State of Terror (S. & S.: St. Martin’s).

The “Scoop” features Dave Grohl and his new memoir, The Storyteller (Dey St.; LJ starred review). The "Picks" section features No Time To Die, based on the James Bond books by Ian Fleming;  Dopesick on Hulu, based on the book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy (Little,Brown), and The Baby-Sitters Club, based on the books by Ann M. Martin. There are profiles of Billy Porter, Unprotected (Abrams; LJ starred review), and Donald Antrim, author of One Friday in April: A Story of Suicide and Suvival (W. W. Norton & Co.). There is more from Porter on People online. Plus, Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman Cooks—Super Easy!: 120 Shortcut Recipes for Dinners, Desserts, and More, shares a recipe. 

Reviews

The NYT reviews State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton (S. & S.: St. Martin’s): “Maybe there’s nothing competitive about celebrity spouses pairing with established novelists and publishing novels within a few months of each other. But I’m going to award the prize for Best Clinton Thriller of 2021 to Hillary.” Also, The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman (S. & S.): “like the witches who populate her stories, Hoffman certainly knows how to enchant.” And, LaserWriter II by Tamara Shopsin (MCD): “Shopsin — also an illustrator, cook, restaurant co-owner and a former printer technician — is clearly on comfortable ground, ambling through Claire’s existential quest in short sentences and choppy paragraphs, which create a tense rhythm, even when describing the activity around the office fish tank.”  Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers (Custom House): “Her language is beautiful, achieving what only the most skilled writers can: big pleasure wrought from small details.” Plus, Silverview by John le Carré (Viking): “if Silverview feels less than fully executed, its sense of moral ambivalence remains exquisitely calibrated.” Also, On Animals by Susan Orlean (Avid Reader): ”Part of what makes this book so immensely readable is the coupling of a brilliant essayist’s friendly, funny voice with a committed generalist’s all-embracing curiosity.”  And, Those We Throw Away Are Diamonds : A Refugee's Search for Home by by Mondiant Dogon & Jenna Krajeski (Penguin Pr.): “refugees are engaged in a dogged battle to endow a modicum of dignity to lives over which they exert almost no control. Dogon rises to that challenge far better than most of us would.”  All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told by Douglas Wolk (Penguin Pr.; LJ starred review): “If you grew up on Marvel comics like I did, All of the Marvels will be a gift.” And, American Made : What Happens to People When Work Disappears by Farah Stockman (Random; LJ starred review): “The task of 21st-century capitalism is to find a model that combines growth and innovation with ways to protect people from the painful shifts these forces so often bring. American Made is a reminder that this search continues.”  Concepcion: An Immigrant Family’s Fortunes by Albert Samaha (Riverhead): “Samaha is to be admired for taking on the exceptionally difficult task of navigating the abyss of imperial history in order to make clear its invisible but destiny-altering pull on all of us.” Plus, How High? -- That High by Diane Williams (Soho Press): “fiction ought to lead us to those precipices where language fails and silence begins. You would be well advised, with a master like Williams, to take the plunge.”  Lastly, Dear Memory : Letters on Writing, Silence, and Grief by Victoria Chang (Milkweed Editions): “Chang’s work is excavation, a digging through the muck of society for an existential clarity, a cultural clarity and a general clarity of self.”

USA Today reviews The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella (The Dial Press), giving it 2 out of 4 stars: “since Kinsella chose to almost entirely contain the novel to one evening, the book feels claustrophobic. It's as if the author was unwilling to give readers – or her narrator – a chance to exhale and reflect.” 

The Washington Post reviews State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton (S. & S.: St. Martin’s): "The real key to State of Terror, though, is its secret weapon: female friendship. Despite exploding buses and the grim prospect of nuclear annihilation, these pages are leavened by Ellen’s trusty sidekick, a retired schoolteacher based on a real-life friend of Clinton. International terrorists may have all the materials they need for a dirty bomb, but America has these two middle-aged women with a plan." And, Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life by Sutton Foster (Grand Central): “Foster makes a persuasive case that hobbies are a salvation, and a universal one at that. More people can probably aspire to crocheting a blanket than can tap dance to multiple Tonys, as Foster has. Hooked shows its author to be both exceptional and much like the fretting rest of us.”  And, Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (Gallery Books): “Reading this book will make you more attentive to the glorious — or modest — food on your table, and to the people with whom you are privileged to share it.” 

NPR reviews On Animals by Susan Orlean (Avid Reader): “many of the 16 pieces that make up this book — all except the introduction previously published in magazines — tell stories of animals who are used for human purposes. Too often the animals pay a price for that association with us.” Also, The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling (St. Martin’s): “That's the thing about a Gothic novel: It has to walk the line between horror and romance and not flinch away from either. 'The Death of Jane Lawrence' is up to this task.” Plus, What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J A Chancy (Tin House; LJ starred review): “Somehow ... Chancy rarely tips into a state of utter hopelessness, nor does she strip away agency from even the most abject of people.”

The Guardian reviews Silverview by John le Carré (Viking): "If we’re left dangling by the end, there’s an added tease of sorts in the novel’s billing as le Carré’s “last complete masterwork” – on the strong side, no doubt, but a tag that nonetheless holds out the prospect of rougher treasures still awaiting the light."

Briefly Noted

Entertainment Weekly talks with Ron Howard & Clint Howard about The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family (Morrow; LJ starred review), and “why they wanted to put their childhood into a book.”

Alice Hoffman, The Book of Magic (S. & S.), answers Entertainment Weekly’s book questionnaire. 

People talks with Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton about writing State of Terror (S. & S.: St. Martin’s), together. Also, People has an interview with Jamie Lynn Spears about her forthcoming memoir, Things I Should Have Said : Family, Fame, and Figuring it Out (Worthy Books), due out January 18.

LitHub interviews Susan Orlean about her new book, On Animals (Avid Reader).

USA Today has a Q&A with Nick Offerman about his new book, Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves To Walk Outside (Dutton), “and his optimism for, and hope in, humanity.” The LA Times also talks with Offerman about the book. 

NYT features five questions and answers with Lizzie Johnson about her book, Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire (Crown; LJ starred review).

FoxNews covers memoir news for The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger’s Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar With the Doors written with Jeff Alulis (Little, Brown), and Jamie Lynn Spears, Things I Should Have Said: Family, Fame, and Figuring it Out (Worthy Books).

Entertainment Weekly notes that Brian K. Vaughn’s comic Saga, will return to shelves in January with issue #55.

Melinda French Gates launches a female-focused imprint, Moment of Lift Books, at Flatiron. Elle reports.

The Guardian closes the case of “the mystery of the ‘slut’ scrawled on The Grapes of Wrath manuscript.

”Superman Comes Out, as DC Comics Ushers In a New Man of Steel".  The NYT  reports.  People also highlights Superman’s bisexuality. 

Minotaur Books announces that Christina Estes’ novel Off the Air has won the 2020 Tony Hillerman Prize for a best first mystery novel. Minotaur Books is planning to publish Estes’ debut in 2023.

John Williams wins the Forry Award for lifetime achievement in SF. The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) announced the award. Locus has details.

Bloomsbury takes Elizabeth Haigh cookbook, Makan, out of print. Books+Publishing has details.

Salon has "An introduction to five major themes in the work of sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov."

USA Today picks five books for the week.

CrimeReads suggests 10 books out this week.

Tor has "Horror Recommendations for Every Mood.”

T&C has "How To Read the Bridgerton Books In Order."

Authors on Air

CBS’s Sunday Morning has an interview with Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton, State of Terror (S. & S.: St. Martin’s), about their thriller collaboration. Sunday Morning also talks with Billy Porter, Unprotected (Abrams; LJ starred review), about dreaming the impossible.

NPR’s All Things Considered speaks with Adam Schiff about his new book, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could (Random House). 

NPR’s Book of the Day talks with Myriam J A Chancy about her new book, What Storm, What Thunder (Tin House; LJ starred review), “how international relief efforts have historically failed Haiti, and what the world can learn from the country's rebuilding efforts.”

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (S. & S. Books for Young Readers) gets an adaptation and all-star cast. Deadline reports. 

NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour explores Superman’s coming out.

Timothee Chalamet shares preview images from Wonka on GMA. 

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