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Award News

The 2021 National Book Awards Longlist for Nonfiction and Poetry are announced.

The 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist is announced.

Page to Screen

September 17:

Cry Macho, based on the book by N. Richard Nash. Warner Bros. Pictures. No reviews | Trailer

The Mad Women’s Ball, based on the book Le bal des folles by Victoria Mas. Prime Video. Reviews | Trailer

September 18:

Batman: The Audio Adventures, based on associated titles. HBO Max. No reviews | Trailer

September 21:

Little Vampire (Petit Vampire), based on the comics by Joann Sfar. VOD. No reviews | Trailer

New Amsterdam, based on Twelve Patients: Life and Death at the Bellevue Hospital by Eric Manheimer. NBC. Reviews | Trailer

Our Kind of People, based on the book by Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class by Lawrence Otis Graham. FOX. No reviews | Trailer

The Resident, based on the book Unaccountable by Marty Makary. FOX. Reviews | Trailer

September 22:

Star Wars: Visions, based on associated titles. Disney+. No reviews | Trailer

September 23:

Creepshow, based on associated titles. Shudder. No reviews | Trailer

Doom Patrol, based on associated titles. HBO Max. Reviews | Trailer

Reviews

NPR reviews My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa (Berkley): “In the end, My Sweet Girl is a thriller centered on the meaning of identity and all the layers it can have. It's thoughtful and engaging, but also quite profound. It's hard to believe this novel is a debut, but it makes me incredibly excited to see what Jayatissa does next, as she has a bright future ahead of her.”

The Washington Post reviews Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty (Henry Holt): “Moriarty tells a great story, understands her characters and cares about them, too. Readers who have kept up with her books will adore “Apples Never Fall,” and readers just discovering Moriarty will seek out her previous titles after savoring this fresh, juicy tale.”

Slate reviews The Family Roe: An American Story by Joshua Prager (W. W. Norton): “The Family Roe may help us better understand those who were intimately involved with Roe v.Wade in the past, but it has little to offer in our present.”

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

Briefly Noted

Phoebe Robinson, discusses her upcoming release Please Don't Sit On My Bed In Your Outside Clothes (Tiny Reparations: Random House) and “ghosting, refusing failure, and shaking up the publishing industry” with Entertainment Weekly. Plus, Benjamin Percy, author of Wolverine comics, shares news of the upcoming The X Lives of Wolverine/The X Deaths of Wolverine (Marvel: Hachette).

Alan Jackson’s daughter, Mattie Jackson Selecman, author of Lemons on Friday (Thomas Nelson: HarperCollins), talks with People. Also, news about Robert Costa and Bob Woodward’s latest book Peril (S. & S.) revealing “how Dan Quayle helped convince Mike Pence not to overturn election.” Plus, Anderson Cooper, Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty co-written with Katherine Howe (HarperCollins), discusses being haunted by his brother’s suicide.

Gizmodo shares an excerpt of Kalyna the Soothsayer by Elijah Kinch Spector (Erewhon: Workman). 

Lit Hub shares an excerpt of Water: A Biography by Giulio Boccaletti (Pantheon) and an excerpt of Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng (S. & S.).

Tarana Burke, Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement (Flatiron; LJ starred review), tells Oprah “the swift rise of #MeToo was ‘traumatic’” and more on her book on Oprah Daily. She also speaks to Salon about how “all of us contribute to rape culture.” Plus, Brené Brown interviews Burke about “liberation, and the birth of the Me Too Movement.”

RHOA star Porsha Williams discusses her new memoir, The Pursuit of Porsha: How I Grew Into My Power Purpose (Worthy Books: Hachette) and about “being homeless while starring on the show” with Shadow and Act.

The Hollywood Reporter shares an excerpt of Lynette Rice’s How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy (St. Martin’s: Macmillan), featuring information about the “‘HR issues’ behind Patrick Dempsey’s exit.”

Gabrielle Union, You Got Anything Stronger? (Dey Street Books), discusses wanting to “talk about the tough stuff” with The Washington Post. 

Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez discusses For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color (Seal Press) and how it “is an empowering and healing memoir for women of color” with HipLatina. She also interviews with Popsugar on her book being “a love letter to BIWOC.”

Martha S. Jones, author of Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All (Basic: Hachette), has signed a four-book deal with Basic Books “that will address the tangled history of race, slavery, and identity.” NYT has the news.

Shondaland features author Nnedi Okorafor’s newest story as “an Africanfuturist love letter to books.”

John Warner of The Chicago Tribune recounts his experience reading Matrix by Lauren Groff (Riverhead).

Variety revisits Norm Macdonald’s 2016 memoir Based on a True Story (Spiegel & Grau: Penguin) in light of his recent passing.

Noah Syndergaard, a pitcher for the New York Mets, has started a book club. NYT has the story.

Book Riot discusses “book clubbing during a pandemic.”

Tor.com lists “5 SF Works About Sex and Technology.”

Autostraddle provides “75 Queer and Feminist Books Coming Your Way Fall 2021.”

Bustle has “The 25 Best Vampire Books to Read Now.”

CrimeReads lists "6 Cozy Mysteries Told From a Cat's Purr-spective."

Popsugar gives “13 Must-Read Young Adult Novels by Latinx Authors.”

Datebook highlights “Bay authors recommend books to read during Hispanic Heritage Month.”

Book Riot has “20 Must-Read Space Fantasy Books,” “10 Great Horror Books About Cannibalism,” “9 of the Best 2021 Romantic Comedy Books,” and “8 Books by Female Pulitzer Prize Winners That Aren’t the Book They Won For."

USA Today lists "20 fall books we can't wait to read by Katie Couric, Billy Porter, Jonathan Franzen and more."

NYT shares it’s Fall Book Previews including: “20 New Works of Fiction to Read This Season,” “6 New Books on the Pandemic, #MeToo and Other Timely Topics,” “5 New Biographies to Read This Season,” “7 New Memoirs to Read This Season,” “11 New Works of Nonfiction to Read This Season,” and new memoirs to “get to know your favorite actors and artists a little better.” Also, "9 New Books We Recommend This Week," "New in Paperback: 'Red Comet. The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath' and 'Sisters'," and "11 Recent Books on Latino Life."

Authors on Air

Kamal Al-Solaylee, Return: Why We Go Back to Where We Come From (HarperCollins), discusses “the idea of home, and the desire to return” on CBC Listen podcast.

Gary M. Pomerantz’s Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn (Penguin: Random House) is optioned for television by studio wiip. Deadline has more.

Justin Beal discusses Sandfuture (MIT Press), "a history of the World Trade Center and the unluckiest architect you've never head of" on Radio Open Source podcast.

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