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Big Books of the Week

The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich (Atria) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include: 

French Braid by Anne Tyler (Knopf)

A Sunlit Weapon (Maisie Dobbs, Bk. 17) by Jacqueline Winspear (Harper)

A Safe House (Stone Barrington Bk. 61) by Stuart Woods (Putnam)

These books and others publishing the week of March 21, 2022 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

One LibraryReads and three Indie Next picks publish this week:

French Braid by Anne Tyler (Knopf)

“Tyler provides a clear and uncensored view into the Garrett family. The conversations and the different characters are so realistic. The nuanced relationships that are full of love and yet uncertain and fragile - just as many of our own family relationships can be.”—Michelle Williams, Carlsbad City Library, Carlsbad, CA

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“When Serena Drew thinks she sees her cousin in the train station as she returns from her partner’s parents, she avoids him, setting off a cascade of questions. Anne Tyler reminds us that in families, the ripples are crimped in forever.”—Kayleen Rohrer, InkLink Books, East Troy, WI

Two additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

Portrait of an Unknown Lady by Maria Gainza, trans. by Thomas Bunstead (Catapult)

“This superb novel gives us María Gainza's singular storytelling talent. This time, a Buenos Aires art critic on the trail of a suspected master forger. More than one form of mystery unfolds and is revealed. Surprises abound.”—Rick Simonson, The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou (Penguin Pr.)

“Part academic satire, part mystery that keeps you reading. Told with sharp and tender wit, Disorientation is one of the most original debuts I’ve ever read.”—Shannon Alden, Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor, MI

In the Media

The April issue of Entertainment Weekly arrives with a closeup on Emily St. John Mandel and her latest novel, Sea of Tranquility (Knopf). The "Author Spotlight" is on Elaine Hsieh Chou, Disorientation (Penguin Pr.), and there is a recipe from Half Baked Harvest Every Day: Recipes for Balanced, Flexible, Feel-Good Meals: A Cookbook by Tieghan Gerard (Clarkson Potter). Also, an Oscars preview and a look at the new Star Wars Obi Wan Kenobi series on Disney+.

The “Must List” includes Conversations with People Who Hate Me: 12 Things I Learned from Talking to Internet Strangers by Dylan Marron (Atria), and Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan (Morrow). Other book coverage includes the "Hit List", featuring three historical fiction titles: A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera (HQN; LJ starred review), Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton (Berkley), and The Mad Girls of New York: A Nellie Bly Novel by Maya Rodale (Berkley). Reviews include: The Candy House by Jennifer Egan (Scribner; LJ starred review), which earns an A-, and Let's Not Do That Again by Grant Ginder (Henry Holt & Co.), which earns a B.

The People "Picks" book of the week is Truly, Madly: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, and the Romance of the Century by Stephen Galloway (Grand Central). Also getting attention are Run, Rose, Run, by Dolly Parton & James Patterson (Little, Brown), and Booth by Karen Joy Fowler (Putnam). There is also a Q&A with Seth Meyers about his new children’s book, I’m Not Scared, You're Scared (Flamingo Books). Plus, there is a profile on sisters Kait and Kyleigh Leddy; Kyleigh's new book, The Perfect Other: A Memoir of My Sister (Harper), chronicles how Kait’s traumatic brain injury changed their lives.

Reviews

USA Today reviews Don't Know Tough by Eli Cranor (Soho), giving it 4 out of 4 stars: “takes the adage of ‘Faith, Family, and Football’ and reveals it to be a vicious canard, or at least a decent cover for the common failings of god and men, the violence on the field an acceptable proxy for the violence that exists behind closed doors. A major work from a bright, young talent.”

The Washington Post reviews Julia Morgan: An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect by Victoria Kastner (Chronicle Books): “Kastner, who worked as the historian at Hearst Castle, has pored over family letters and business correspondence as well as Morgan’s drawings to bring us a book — part biography, part coffee table decor — that walks us briskly through the life and career of an extraordinary woman." And, The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy by Joseph Fishkin and William E. Forbath (Harvard Univ. Pr.): “Despite its scholarly depth, The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution is eminently readable, and anybody who cares about the future of American democracy in these perilous times can only hope that it will be widely read and carefully considered.”

NYT reviews French Braid by Anne Tyler (Knopf): “The novel is imbued with an old-school feminism of a kind currently unfashionable. It looks squarely at the consequences of stifled female ambition — to the woman herself, and to those in her orbit.”

LA Times reviews Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde (Riverhead): “Reading Osunde’s novel, so convincing in its storytelling and prose, is akin to sitting around a campfire late at night, telling scary tales, and having to check the back seat of your car before you get in just in case a man with a knife is hiding there.”

NPR reviews Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett (Mulholland; LJ starred review): “In a great example of voice intertwined with character, Lena's expressive first-person narration matches her creativity and restlessness.”  Plus, short reviews on “5 books at the intersection of Black feminist thought, culture, and politics.”

Briefly Noted

Time talks with Susan Rigetti about her debut novel, Cover Story (Morrow), due out April 5th.

FoxNews talks with Terry Chester Shulman, author of Film's First Family: The Untold Story of the Costellos (University Pr. of Kentucky), about why film buffs should learn about the Costellos.

The Millions talks with Sammy Nickalls about her book, Log Off: Self-Help for the Extremely Online (Spruce Books), literary Twitter, and self-discipline.

Melissa Febos, Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative (Catapult; LJ starred review), talks with Bitch about bringing bodily experiences to the page.

Poet Warsan Shire talks with Vogue about her debut collection, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head (Random House Trade Paperbacks), “working with Beyoncé, and why she’s done with shame.”

The Atlantic’s “Books Briefing” considers time in literature and shares reading suggestions.

NPR writes about the effect of book banning on political activism in the suburbs.

Vulture has “20 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Spring.”

Esquire shares the best memoirs of 2022.

USA Today picks five books for the week.

CrimeReads suggests 10 books out this week.

The Washington Post recommends 3 new audiobooks.

The New York Times Style Magazine has a feature on Anaïs Nin’s Los Angeles minimalist, midcentury residence.

Authors On Air

CBS Sunday Morning has an interview with award-winning pianist Jeremy Denk, about his new memoir, Every Good Boy Does Fine: A Love Story, in Music Lessons (Random).

NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour shares love story recommendations.

NPR's Morning Edition discusses a Marvel Comic that fetched over $2.4 million at auction.

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