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

Awards & Buzzy Book News

Isabel Waidner wins the 2021 Goldsmiths Prize for Sterling Karat Gold.

The 2021 National Outdoor Book Awards winners are announced.

The 2021 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation shortlist is announced.

The 2021 Governor General’s Literary Awards Finalists are announced.

The 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize longlist is announced.

Nancy Pearl, winner of the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, speaks to The Seattle Times about her “lifetime of books.”

Abdulrazak Gurnah, 2021 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, speaks to Publishing Perspectives “reflects on his own experiences of being a refugee, that of displaced people today, and ‘the continuation of a colonial narrative.’”

Page to Screen

November 12:

Apex, based on the short story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell. RLJ Entertainment. No reviews | Trailer

November 13:

Blade Runner: Black Lotus, based on the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Adult Swim. No reviews | Trailer

November 16:

The Flash, based on associated titles. CW. Reviews | Trailer

Riverdale, based on the Archie Comic series. CW. Reviews | Trailer

November 17:

The Power of the Dog, based on the book by Thomas Savage. Netflix. Reviews | Trailer

Marvel’s Hit-Monkey, based on associated titles. Hulu. No reviews | Trailer

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth by Kristin Henning (Pantheon): "With its comprehensive and careful mapping of all the ways Black children are socialized to expect subjugation, “The Rage of Innocence” sets up the same dichotomy: It offers both a tribute to the humanity of Black children and a searing portrait of what we lose every time we shuttle another Black child into the pipeline." Also, Trust by Domenico Starnone, tr. by Jhumpa Lahiri (Europa Editions): “The latest novel from Domenico Starnone wrangles its players into a knot of unease. “Trust” puts the focus on a Roman husband and wife, their work, their passions — and their nagging sense of doom, even as things seem ever more solid.” Plus, The 9.9%: The New Aristocracy That is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture by Matthew Stewart (S. & S.): "Each chapter in the book examines the behavior and beliefs of the 9.9 percent in a specific domain — fitness, merit, housing, parenting, gender, education, real estate, race, etc. Many of these chapters are extraordinary investigations in their own right, dense with empirical detail and insightful analysis, and they collectively establish beyond any reasonable doubt the book’s fundamental claim: “Inequality distorts human rationality. It turns the life of the mind inward, away from the actual problems of the world, and focuses it instead on a destructive competition.”" And, a few more reviews posted today.

NYT reviews I Dream He Talks to Me by Allison Moorer (Hachette): "Moorer shows how caring for someone with profound disability can be a relationship defined by duality. You can at once love your child and respect their unique outlook while wishing they had an easier life, one where they could express themselves and even live independently." Plus, The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece by Kevin Birmingham (Penguin Pr.): “Birmingham ably guides us through the first few decades of Dostoyevsky’s astonishing life, paying particular heed to his time amid reformist circles in St. Petersburg.” Also, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present by Paul McCartney (Liverlight: Norton): ““The Lyrics” does not present a partial view of McCartney’s songs, though; it presents a different view of them. In the absence of music, the books add to the words with new elements of accompaniment: photographs, reproductions of manuscripts, images of mementos and artifacts related to the songs or the time of their making, and lengthy commentary by McCartney.” 

USA Today reviews Please Scream Inside Your Heart: Breaking News and Nervous Breakdowns in the Year that Wouldn't End by Dave Pell (Hachette): "Pell, a self-proclaimed “media Jedi” and the Internet’s Managing Editor, makes it an interesting, revelatory journey down a harrowing memory lane. And, if you can believe it, even kind of fun."

The Atlantic reviews My Body by Emily Ratajkowski(Metropolitan: Macmillan): “My Body sits in this liminal space between reappraisal and self-defense. It’s a fascinating work: insightful, maddening, frank, strikingly solipsistic.”

Locus Magazine reviews Widowland by Adrienne Martini (Sourcebooks): “As novels go, it’s decidedly adequate. But Widowland pales when compared to similar stories that came before, despite the earnest wish to be one of those stories, which seems to be the force that animates these pages.”

Tor.com reviews The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu (Tor Books: Macmillan): “Liu’s bread and butter might come from grand sagas that span universes and eons, but his speculative worlds, at least in this anthology, pack a stronger punch on a smaller, more intimate scale.”

Lit Hub has “5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week" and "The Best Reviewed Books of the Week."

Briefly Noted

Rachel Howzell Hall, And Now She's Gone (Forge: Macmillan), talks shop with CrimeReads about how she writes longhand, has a love for office supplies, and shares her magical story about a lost manuscript. 

Entertainment Weekly has an interview with Tamron Hall, As the Wicked Watch (Morrow) about “the Jada Pinkett movie she watches on repeat and the book that helped her with her own debut.”

Oprah Daily talks to Louise Erdrich, The Sentence (Harper), about her “enchanting ode to bibliophiles with a ghostly twist.” 

Shondaland interviews Naomi Krupitsky, author of The Family (Putnam), about “loyalty, love, and the mythology surrounding New York and the Mafia” and Tiphanie Yanique, Monster in the Middle (Riverhead), on “what it means to be loved.”

Bitch Media interviews Sesali Bowen, author of Bad Fat Black Girl (Amistad; LJ starred review), who speaks about her “vision for Black women” in Trap Feminism.

Among her other work, Oprah Daily features These Precious Days by Ann Pachett (Harper) on “love, art, and letting go.” Also, 5-must know facts from The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story ed. by Nikole Hannah-Jones & the New York Times Magazine (One World; LJ starred review).

Oprah Daily has a cover reveal for The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid (Riverhead) to be released in August 2022. Entertainment Weekly gives a first look at Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin (Celadon: Macmillan) and a cover reveal for Amalie Howard’s Always Be My Duchess (Forever: Hachette). Tor.com shares a cover reveal for Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot (Angry Robot: Penguin Random House).

NPR’s Book of the Day features Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh (Macmillan), “a story large enough for climate change.” NYT’s Book of the Times features Will Smith’s memoir Will (Penguin Random House). Esquire features a story about Michael Jordan questioning the character of Scottie Pippen, author of Unguarded, written with Michael Arkush (Atria).

The Washington Post examines the "symbolism of burning books."

Fox News covers Jamie Lynn Spears’ forthcoming memoir, Things I Should Have Said: Family, Fame, and Figuring it Out (Worthy Books), and news of her teen pregnancy angering her father.

Gina Schock shares her photos of the Go-Go’s in her book Made In Hollywood: All Access with the Go-Go’s (Black Dog & Leventhal) along with a photo exhibition. Datebook has more.

A new Bridgerton book is released, The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton: Lady Whistledown’s Official Guide by Julia Quinn (Avon) featuring the on-going story of main characters. 

Deadline covers Will Smith’s book tour including “rapping, reading, spoken-word” and Spike Lee.

Eley Williams, The Liar's Dictionary (Doubleday: Random House), answers the Book Marks Questionnaire.

Tor.com picks “Five SFF Characters Who Can Control Fire.”

Electric Lit has “7 Novels About Only Children.”

Entertainment Weekly lists “Fall romance novels [that] offer hot monks, witchcraft, reality TV, and Keanu Reeves.”

Book Riot suggests “15 Books to Spark Love Like The Heart Principle.”

CrimeReads provides “November’s Best New International Crime Fiction.”

Bitch Media gathers “9 Books Feminists Should Read in November.”

USA Today has a "Veteran's Day reading guide: 11 important diverse histories of America's wars."

Oprah Daily shares “Our 20 Favorite Books of 2021.”

Esquire lists “The 46 Best Books of 2021 (So Far).”

NYT provides “11 New Books We Recommend This Week" and "New in Paperback."

Authors on Air

Terry Gross from NPR’s Fresh Air speaks to author Elliot Ackerman, 2034: A Novel of the Next World War (Penguin), about how “the contradictions of war can make you feel insane.” Also, a chat with Will Smith, Will (Penguin Random House), about crafting “a joyful image to cover the pain of the past.”

Over 25 books by romance writer Brenda Johnson have been acquired by The Cartel production company for film and television adaptation. Deadline has more. Also, Netflix has purchased Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult (Ballantine), to be produced by Liza Chasin and Jennifer Todd, ahead of the book’s November 30 release.

Amitava Kumar, A Time Outside This Time (Knopf: Penguin Random House), talks to Maris Kreizman on The Maris Review podcast about “writing fiction in a world of fake news.”

Louise Erdrich discusses her new book The Sentence (Harper) and how she wrote as a single mother on the Otherppl podcast.

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