Want to get the latest book news delivered to your inbox each day? Sign up for our daily Book Pulse newsletter.

Big Books of the Week

The Match by Harlan Coben (Grand Central; LJ starred review) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

The Summer Getaway by Susan Mallery (HQN)

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James (Berkley; LJ starred review)

Give unto Others by Donna Leon (Atlantic Monthly Pr.)

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (Tor)

These books and others publishing the week of 3/14/22 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Awards & Forthcoming Books News

Zadie Smith will receive the PEN America literary service award. PBS Canvas has the story. 

The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) Jewish Fiction Award winners are announced. 

Adaptations win big at the Critic’s Choice Awards, Director’s Guild Awards, and Golden Reel Awards. Plus, The Power of the Dog, based on the book by Thomas Savage, wins best picture at the BAFTA’s.

George Saunders will publish a new story collection, Liberation Day (Random), on October 18th. LitHub has the story. 

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Five LibraryReads selections and six Indie Next picks publish this week:

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson (Morrow)

“This psychological thriller is about a list of nine names including FBI agent Jessica Winslow. The first to die is an old man with the list found near his body, and the FBI investigation begins. The author keeps everyone guessing before planting the twist he is known for.”—Wendy Paige, Shelby County Public Library, Shelbyville, IN

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“It’s impossible to describe the experience of reading Nine Lives as anything other than edge-of-your-seat. Death truly lurks around every corner, around every page. It eats at the characters and it eats at you. Wicked fun.”—Thatcher Svekis, DIESEL, A Bookstore, Santa Monica, CA

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James (Berkley; LJ starred review)

“True crime blogger Shea finds herself swept up in the mystery surrounding Beth Greer, a woman acquitted of two cold case murders in Claire Lake, Oregon. St. James's thriller has a heart and soul with an ending that feels meaningful. For readers who enjoyed Home Before Dark."—Hannah Baumgartner, Gates Public Library, Rochester, NY

Under Lock & Skeleton Key : A Secret Staircase Mystery by Gigi Pandian (Minotaur)

“Young magician Tempest Raj returns home to her eccentric family’s enchanted compound after finding herself out of work. Soon Tempest stumbles across a body and is faced with solving two mysteries: finding the killer and learning more about her own mother’s disappearance. Fans of Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr will enjoy this fresh take on a locked-room mystery.”—Patricia Uttaro, Rochester Public Library, Rochester, NY

The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton (Berkley)

“In this sequel to The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, Charlotte is one serious witch who knows via prophecy that she will one day lead the Wicken League. But when a handsome Irish pirate catches her eye, she may bring the wrath of the entire clan of witches down on her. Filled with wit and an intriguing enemy-to-lovers romance. For fans of Jane Austen and Evie Dunmore.”—Courtney Hill, Charleston County Public Library, Charleston, SC

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (Tor)

“As the Covid-19 pandemic spreads across the U.S., the only job Jamie can find is delivering food, until he begins to work for a secret NGO preserving large animals. What Jamie didn't know is just how large. Scalzi has taken creatures portrayed as monsters in the movies and made us care, with plenty of his usual wit and humor. For fans of Jurassic Park, Devolution, and Jeff VanderMeer.”—Dan Brooks, Wake County Public Libraries, Raleigh, NC

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“I giggle-snorted my way through this, then watched all of my favorite kaiju movies. This book will make you laugh in public and feed the hope that kaiju are secretly hiding somewhere (in an alternate dimension?!). This book is glorious!”—Annie Carl, The Neverending Bookshop, Edmonds, WA

Four additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo (Doubleday)

“Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s powerful observations and her tender and mysterious writing on death reminded me of Steinbeck and Fresh Water for Flowers. Still, this book was wholly unique, breathtaking, and beautiful from start to finish.”—Andrea Jones, The Galaxy Bookshop, Hardwick, VT

Reptile Memoirs by Silje Ulstein, trans. by Alison McCullough (Grove)

“This dark, twisty novel will snake into your thoughts and not let go. Multiple storylines ebb and flow, coming together to reveal shocking secrets that will change your perspective. This debut thriller set in Norway is not one to miss!”—Katrina Bright-Yerges, Books & Company, Oconomowoc, WI

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd (Morrow)

“A can’t-put-it-down immersive magical mystery that kept me up late to read. Anyone with an affinity for antique maps, the NY Public Library, and twisty-turny reveals will dig this. Highly entertaining with a superb cast of characters.”—Cheri Anderson, The Bookloft, Great Barrington, MA

Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos (Catapult; LJ starred review)

“This book is both a self-reflection piece and a tender yet valiant meditation on the power of writing. Anyone that approaches their work through an autoethnographic lens would benefit from tools Febos so kindly lends to us in Body Work.”—Eden Hakimzadeh, The Oxford Exchange, Tampa, FL

In the Media

The People "Picks" book of the week is The Club by Ellery Lloyd (Harper). Also getting attention are Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman (Counterpoint), and And a Dog Called Fig: Solitude, Connection, the Writing Life by Helen Humphreys (FSG). A “Star Picks” section highlights The Passion by Jeanette Winterson (Grove), Will by Will Smith (Penguin Random House), and All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business by Mel Brooks (Ballantine; LJ starred review). There is also attention given to Run, Rose, Run, Dolly Parton’s companion album to her new book Run, Rose, Run, written with James Patterson (Little, Brown); The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, based on the book by Walter Mosley, on Apple TV+; HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, based on the book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s by Jeff Pearlman (Avery); and Netflix’s Pieces of Her, based on the book by Karin Slaughter. There are features on Stanley Tucci, Taste: My Life Through Food (Gallery Books), and his new post-cancer chapter, and Josh Peck, Happy People Are Annoying (HarperOne). Plus, J. Kenji López-Alt, The Wok: Recipes and Techniques (Norton; LJ starred review), shares a recipe. 

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh (Pamela Dorman): “As appealing as the characters of Emma and Leo are, the essential draw of a domestic suspense story such as this one is its plot. Walsh concocts a doozy.” Also, Groundskeeping by Lee Cole (Knopf): "is not only the story of a young man finding his vocation as a writer but also a wrenching examination of class differences, that third-rail topic in American literature, and of our current political polarization, which the narrator addresses with an unusual amount of empathy for the side he opposes."

USA Today reviews A Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande (Washington Square Press), giving it 3 out of 4 stars: “Grande deserves credit, though, for writing a war story that doesn’t bog down into troop movements and empty patriotism. And a romance whose happily-ever-after leaves room for a few storm clouds.”

NYT reviews The Turning Point: 1851—A Year That Changed Charles Dickens and the World by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst (Knopf): “The problem is that Douglas-Fairhurst’s contention that 1851 was a special turning point in Dickens’s life is in no way persuasive. And his book tells us very little we don’t already know about Dickens from previous biographies.” Plus, short reviews of 3 new, true-crime books.

NPR reviews Lessons From The Edge: A Memoir by Marie Yovanovitch (Mariner): “If anything, she seems to have written this memoir not just to finally be able to speak up for herself, but also to inform people about the work FSOs do for America, supporting whoever is elected to lead.” Also, In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet, trans. by Sophie R. Lewis (St. Martin’s): “In Defense of Witches celebrates women, offers a plethora of reasons to accept a variety of viewpoints, and shows how women are still expected to act certain ways or be ostracized.” And, Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative (Catapult; LJ starred review): "Rather than believing the narrative that stories of trauma are dull or overdone or whiney or gauche, Febos encourages her readers to tell their stories, to write them, for themselves or others." Plus, Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin (Tor Nightfire; LJ starred review): "Disgustingly rendered and brilliantly imagined, Manhunt was gripping as much as it was repulsive. It's rare to read a horror novel that truly tests my limits in a (mostly) pleasurable way — and Manhunt delivers."

Briefly Noted

Melissa Febos, Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative (Catapult; LJ starred review), discusses the world-changing power of the personal essay with LA Times. 

Maia Weinstockpens an essay for Salon, adapted from her book, Carbon Queen: The Remarkable Life of Nanoscience Pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus by (MIT Press).

The New Yorker considers "literature’s most controversial Nobel Laureate," Peter Handke, whose latest novel, The Fruit Thief : or, One-Way Journey into the Interior trans. by Krishna Winston (FSG; LJ starred review), publishes this week. 

Slate examines “a long-standing ambivalence about the memoir,” in a piece about Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation by Erika Krouse (Flatiron; LJ starred review).

Vox asks: “When will Hollywood discover Georgette Heyer?”

Vanity Fair looks inside the succession drama at Scholastic, with implications for Harry Potter and Clifford. 

Silvia Moreno-Garcia recommends “Five Vampire Novels With a Classic Bite,” at Tordotcom. 

USA Today picks five books for the week.

CrimeReads suggests 10 books out this week and explores disability and crime fiction.

The Atlantic shares “Nine Books to Read to Understand the War in Ukraine," and "The Books Briefing."

NYT has “Yarn, Introspection and Pancakes”: recommendations of new and old titles.

Vogue has "The Best Books of 2022 So Far.”

Bustle shares "The 100 Best Books Of 2022."

LitHub suggests using the Business Name Generator to name your book club. 

Authors On Air

CBS Sunday Morning talks with Harvey Fierstein about his new memoir, I Was Better Last Night, (Knopf; LJ starred review). Also, an interview with Will Smith, Will (Penguin Random House), on building a legacy. Plus, “The Book Report: Recommendations from Washington Post critic Ron Charles.”

NPR’s Morning Edition talks with Mark Seal, Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather (Gallery; LJ starred review), about how The Godfather could have been cast. 

Dolly Parton and James Patterson, Run, Rose, Run (Little, Brown), will be on Kelly Clarkson today and Brian Cox, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat (Grand Central), visits with Jimmy Kimmel.

Want to get the latest book news delivered to your inbox each day? Sign up for our daily Book Pulse newsletter.