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Awards & Buzzy Book News

Oprah’s Book Club pick is Viola Davis’s Finding Me (HarperOne). Ebony also covers this story.

Dawnie Walton wins the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize for The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (37 Ink: Atria; LJ starred review). Announcement made via press release.

The 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Awards shortlist is announced.

The 2022 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist is announced.

The 2022 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize shortlist is announced.

Jaigantic Studios has acquired Hawthorne Books and Literary Arts, according to Variety.

The Verge reports on the ebook service Hoopla. Also, “luxurious” Lord of the Rings books from The Folio Society. 

Page to Screen

April 22:

The Bad Guys, based on the book series by Aaron Blabey. Universal Pictures. Reviews | Trailer

The Northman, based on associated titles. Focus Features. Reviews | Trailer

Along for the Ride, based on the book by Sarah Dessen. Netflix. No reviews | Trailer

Heartstopper, based on the webcomic and graphic novel by Alice Oseman. Netflix. No reviews | Trailer

April 24:

The Man Who Fell to Earth, based on the book by Walter Tevis. Showtime. No reviews | Trailer

April 25:

We Own This City, based on the book by Justin Fenton. HBO. No reviews | Trailer

April 27:

365 Days: This Day, based on the book This Day by Blanka Lipinska. Netflix. No reviews | Trailer

Komi Can’t Communicate, based on the manga series by Tomohito Oda. Netflix. Reviews | Trailer

April 28:

Under the Banner of Heaven, based on the book by Jon Krakauer. Hulu. No reviews | Trailer

Made for Love, based on the book by Alissa Nutting. HBO Max. Reviews | Trailer

Reviews

NYT reviews Silent Invasion: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, Covid-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It's Too Late by Dr. Deborah Birx (Harper): “Her account of how that played out — it’s no spoiler to say, how poorly that played out — is earnest, exhaustive and excruciating.”

The Los Angeles Times reviews the reissued Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black by Cookie Mueller (Semiotext(e): MIT Press): “Mueller was always writing, putting one foot in front of the other toward a horizon with no beginning and no end. The evidence of her talent and wit bubbles off the page.” Also, I'll Be You by Janelle Brown (Random): “a sneakily hypnotic thriller that turns on how Elli’s naïve beliefs have been twisted and whether it’s possible for an estranged family to reclaim their lives and futures.”

The Washington Post reviews Constructing a Nervous System by Margo Jefferson (Pantheon; LJ starred review): "a diary that often stops to directly address the reader. It’s a stage performance and maybe a therapy session. Above all, it is meaningful cultural criticism." Plus, Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick by J. David McSwane (Atria/OneSignal: S. & S.): "embedded in the mirth is a wholesale indictment of this toxic brew of unfettered capitalism and greed that frustrated the pandemic response at every turn." Also, The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats are Reinventing Politics for the 21st Century by Moisés Naím (St. Martin's): "wide-ranging in scope, providing insights into our current crisis without trying to ferret out a single cause of democratic decline." And, Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past by Richard Cohen (S. & S.): "Championing both famous and largely forgotten historians as well as storytellers, filmmakers and photographers, Cohen’s volume offers memorable anecdotes and reasoned judgment."

Datebook reviews Spell Heaven by Toni Mirosevich (Counterpoint): “The heart of the book is the narrator’s quest to find where she belongs, which reaches its pinnacle when she observes a group of people on the beach showing their scars, and one of them says, “We are not showing each other our scars. … We are showing each other our happiness.””

Locus Magazine reviews Spontaneous Human Combustion by Richard Thomas (Keylight; LJ starred reviews): “an outstanding collection because, regardless of the individual strength of each of the stories, what we find in its pages is the kind of dark, weird fiction that has the power to pick readers up and plant them in an entirely different reality.”

Tor.com reviews Until the Last of Me by Sylvain Neuvel (Tor: Macmillan): “Neuvel has found a good balance between the ongoing mysteries of this series and providing answers to them. But there’s an element to this novel that can frustrate somewhat—namely, the deeply pared-down style used for many chapters, which sometimes zeroes in on dialogue to the exclusion of anything else.”

Book Marks has "The Best Reviewed Books of the Week."

Briefly Noted

Shonaland talks to Janelle Monáe, The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer (Harper Voyager; LJ starred review), about “why she wanted to honor a new type of protagonist in her stories.” Also, a conversation with Chloe Caldwell about her new memoir about menstruation The Red Zone: A Love Story (Soft Skull) as “an ode to the cycle of life.”

NYT chats with Randy Rainbow about his new memoir, Playing With Myself (St. Martin's) and his "witty political commentary to Broadway tunes." 

Gary Janetti discusses his new book, Start Without Me (Holt), “honing his sense of humor and breaking into Hollywood” in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. 

Jason Blair shares a list of books that helped save his marriage for The Millions.

Book Riot has “20 of the Best Genre-Blending Horror Novels” and “The Great Millennial Novels (So Far).”

Electric Lit explores “modern horror” books written by contemporary Black creators. 

The Root shares “9 Books by Black Authors We Can’t Wait to Read This May.”

Lit Hub has "19 writers on finding meaning in the face of the climate crisis."

CrimeReads lists “The Best Nonfiction Crime Books to Read This Month" and "The Best International Crime Books Coming Out this April."

NYT provides “12 New Books We Recommend This Week" and "New in Paperback."

Authors on Air

Camila Russo’s Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto Hackers is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum (Harper Business) will be adapted into a film by Scott Free Productions. Deadline has more on this story.

George Saunders’s “Escape from Spiderhead” gets a science fiction film adaptionat Netflix, starring Chris Hemsworth, according to Tor.com.

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