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Awards & Book Clubs

The Portico Prize announces its shortlist; debuts comprise four out of the six finalists.

Jenna Bush Hager picks Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding (HarperVia; LJ starred review) for her December Book Club.

Andrea Hairston will co-host of this year’s Hugo Award Ceremony, on Saturday, December 18th. The event takes pace during DisCon III (aka the World Science Fiction Convention, aka Worldcon), held next week, December 15-19, 2021. Tordotcom has details.

Patrick Radden Keefe, Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty (Doubleday; LJ starred review) will donate £10,000 in prize money—because it came from McKinsey. LitHub has the story.

ElectricLit announces Vince Haigh and Olga Beliaeva as winners of its 2021 Book Cover Tournament, for their design work on The Ghost Sequences by A.C. Wise (Undertow Publications).

Reviews

 USA Today reviews Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim (Ecco), giving it 3 out of 4 stars: “the book can feel like it’s written in synopsis, that we’re getting the digested version of the characters’ raw experience. Still, this is a book written with warmth, wisdom, and an inherent sense for the dramatic.”

NYT reviews White on White by Aysegül Savas (Riverhead): “Savas’s novel…suggests that art reflects the spirit, that even without our knowledge, changes in the way we express ourselves mirror the condition of our souls.” And, Learwife by J. R. Thorp (Pagasus): "In luscious prose, Thorp explores the nameless queen’s untold story, one that — in keeping with the spirit of Shakespeare’s original — is rife with cruelty, betrayal and passion.” Also, The Women I Love by Francesco Pacifico, trans. by Elizabeth Harris (Farrar): “Marcello’s stated desire — what he calls ‘the real point of the book' — is to figure out 'what’s left for a man to write when he’s writing about women’.” Plus, Silenced No More: Surviving My Journey to Hell and Back by Sarah Ransome (HarperOne): “Ransome is to be commended for lending her voice to the swelling chorus at the courthouse.”

NPR reviews Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman (Viking): “Gorman…reckons with America's present, particularly with the pandemic. Through the lens of the country's history, she shows us the path toward healing.”

LA Times reviews Mothers, Fathers, and Others by Siri Hustvedt (S. & S): “Hustvedt’s most personal piece, A Walk With My Mother, dwarfs the others in this collection. In concert with the scientific essays, it is intensely focused on the physical. The intimacy between Hustvedt and her mother is unusual. But Hustvedt’s passion for that intimacy is nothing short of radical.”

The Washington Post reviews Learwife by J. R. Thorp (Pagasus): "Thorpe places her bet on psychological complexity that evolves into more psychological complexity as the story unfolds. You may have to read it twice before you take it in, but I believe it is worth it."

 Briefly Noted

According to NPD Books U.S. Print Books Media November Report, 2021 is running 20% ahead of 2019 on a print unit basis. The year-to-date print book figures continue to be the highest on record since the start of NPD BookScan data in 2004.  The Bookseller also shares good news on the U.S. book trade.  

The Orwell estate has approved a feminist retelling of 1984 by American author Sandra  Newman. The Guardian reports. Granta will publish Newman’s novel Julia, which tells the story from the perspective of Winston Smith’s lover. The Bookseller has more.  

Vogue has an interview with Iain R. Webb, about his new book, Rebel Stylist: Caroline Baker - The Woman Who Invented Street Fashion (Acc Art Books), about the maverick British fashion editor.

NYT explores publishers’ changing perspectives on the connection between social media reach and book sales. NYT also asks: “What Happened to Amazon’s Bookstore?”

Hermione Hoby, Virtue (Riverhead), shares her year in reading at The Millions.

For CrimeReads, Lawrence Block shares his introduction to the novels of Fredric Brown, whose new edition of The Fabulous Clipjoint (American Mystery Classics: Norton), publishes this week.

Bustle shares read-likes for the film, House of Gucci. Plus, “The Most Anticipated Books Of December 2021.”

Buzzfeed recommends romances for K-Drama fans.

Entertainment Weekly shares 18 holiday romance novels.

NYT picks the best mysteries of 2021.

Essence has the “19 Best New Winter Reads.”

CBC suggests “12 books for the outdoor enthusiast on your holiday shopping list.”

Esquire has the 50 Best Books of 2021.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune shares its “Season’s Readings” list of best books of 2021.

Edward Shames, who is the last surviving 'Band of Brothers' officer has died at the age of 99. People has a profile.

Hugo Award winning US illustrator and author, Diana G. Gallagher, has died at 75. Locus has an obituary.

Authors On Air

NPR's It's Been A Minute With Sam Sanders talks with Anne Helen Petersen and Charlie Warzel, Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home, (Knopf), about working from home.

The Bot Wars Series by J.V. Kade will be adapted for film. Deadline reports.

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