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

Big Books of the Week

Vortex by Catherine Coulter (Morrow) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Cul-de-sac by Joy Fielding (Ballantine)

Ice and Stone by Marcia Muller (Grand Central; LJ starred review)

Mrs. March by Virginia Feito (Liveright: Norton)

Yours Cheerfully (The Emmy Lake Chronicles, Bk. 2) by AJ Pearce (Scribner)

These books and others publishing the week of August 9th, 2021 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Two LibraryReads and two Indie Next selections publish this week:

Mrs. March by Virginia Feito (Liveright: Norton)

““Mrs. March has a lovely apartment, a famous author husband, and a life of luxury. Her husband's new novel features an unlikeable, sordid woman. Mrs. March is horrified when people assume the character is based on her. Her stability fractures, and the reader is caught between paranoia and reality. An excellent character study for fans of Tangerine and The Other Typist.”—Sandra Heitzman, Forest Park Public Library, Forest Park, IL

It is also an Indie Next selection:

“Virginia Feito has effortlessly updated the comedy of manners in this darkly funny mystery. This book will haunt you until you reach the breathtaking conclusion, and you’ll remember Mrs. March for a long time to come.”—Olivia Edmunds-Diez, Boulder Book Store, Boulder, CO

Yours Cheerfully (The Emmy Lake Chronicles, Bk. 2) by AJ Pearce (Scribner)

“Fans of Dear Mrs. Bird will cheer Emmy Lake’s return as a young advice columnist in wartime London. A chance meeting leads to Emmy visiting a munitions factory where she learns about the struggles of the women working there. A wonderful, well-told story for fans of Lissa Evans and Jojo Moyes.”—Brenda O’Brien, Woodridge Public Library, Woodridge, IL

An additional Indie Next pick publishes this week:

The Manningtree Witches by A. K. Blakemore (Catapult)

“A brilliant story set in 17th-century England about a women’s community at the margins of society and the constant dangers of religious fervor. Dark, unsettling, and highly entertaining.” —Ulrika Moats, Brazos Bookstore, Houston, TX

In the Media

The People "Picks" book of the week is Billy Summers by Stephen King (Scribner: S. & S.) Also getting attention are We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange (Celadon: Macmillan) and Ghosts by Dolly Alderton (Knopf). A “New in Paperback" section highlights I Couldn’t Love You More by Esther Freud (Ecco: HarperCollins; LJ starred review), Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu (S. & S.), and White Ivy by Susie Yang (S. & S.; LJ starred review) The “Picks” section highlights The Suicide Squad, based on associated titles on HBO Max.

There is a profile of Julie Rodgers, Outlove: A Queer Christian Survival Story (Broadleaf Books). And, recipes from Kelsey Barnard Clark, Southern Grit: 100+ Down-Home Recipes for the Modern Cook (Chronicle), Jenna Helwig, Bare Minimum Dinners: Recipes and Strategies for Doing Less in the Kitchen (Houghton Harcourt), and Chetna Makan, Chetna’s 30 Minute Indian: Quick and Easy Everyday Meals (Mitchell Beazley).

Reviews

USA Today reviews The Shimmering State by Meredith Westgate (Atria) giving it 3.5 out of 4 stars: “With clear reference to the U.S. opioid crisis, The Shimmering State spins a compelling story about what a person will do in order to relieve pain – and what is lost in that release.”

The Washington Post reviews The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters: A True Story of Family Fiction by Julie Klam (Riverhead): “With genealogical quests all the rage, Klam’s book serves as a droll guide for other ancestry seekers. It’s also a cautionary tale about the obsessional nature of such a search and the bracing truths that may lie buried beneath the family lore.” Also, Wayward by Dana Spiotta (Knopf; LJ starred review): “explores the ironies and frailties of modern life, the human tendency to constantly gaze inward to become better, to move further.”

The Guardian reviews In the Country of Others by Leila Slimani (Penguin): “Real life is, famously, stranger than fiction and it’s hard not to feel that Slimani has relinquished her pinpoint writer’s eye and fallen fatally under the spell of this redolent but personal material.”

NPR reviews Savage Tongues by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi (Mariner Books): “as a novel that explores Arezu's adult psyche two decades after her abuse and rape at the hands of Omar — doesn't end up as a polemic, but it tries.” And, All’s Well by Mona Awad (S. & S.): “The slow pacing, though, reinforces the indictment at the heart of the book — how we fail one another by choosing to look away from pain.”  Plus, NPR reviews “4 Fabulous Beach Reads.”

LA Times reviews Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron; LJ starred review): “We are confronted by the limits of language every day. And as McConaghy shows in this stunning book, the limits of language lead us to the limits of empathy.”

The NYT reviews Out on a Limb: Selected Writing, 1989–2021 by Andrew Sullivan (Avid Reader Press: S. & S.): “most of all read this book to see what it looks like when a thoughtful man tries his best to tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may.” And, After the Apocalypse: America's Role in a World Transformed by Andrew Bacevich (Metropolitan): “one can only hope that Bacevich is read and understood by a generation young enough to see through and reject those dismal elites.”

Briefly Noted

The Romance Writers of America (RWA) rescinds the VIVIAN award for At Love's Command by Karen Witemeyer (Bethany House) amid controversy. USA Today has the story. NPR has this perspective.

Ebony spotlights summer read The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris (Little, Brown).

The NYT profiles Leila Slimani and her new book, In the Country of Others (Penguin).

Fox News interviews Wendy Dio, manager and widow of Ronnie James Dio about her late husband and new book, Rainbow in the Dark: The Autobiography (Permuted Press).

Bitch interviews Deborah Copaken about Ladyparts (Random) about writing the body and biology as a battlefield.

Shondaland talks with Katie Kitamura, Intimacies (Riverhead) about “the power of female friendships, and what she learns from the bravery of her students.”

The Millions has an excerpt of Run: Book One by John Lewis & Andrew Aydin (Abrams ComicArts).

Stephen King may add name to the list of COVID novel authors. LitHub has more.

Sarah Ferguson confirms second book deal with Harper Collins and UK publisher Mills & Boon, after the release of Her Heart for a Compass (Morrow). The Bookseller has details. Plus, Bustle has “everything you need to know” about the Duchess of York’s new novel.

Elon Musk confirms Walter Isaacson is writing his biography. The Verge has more.  

The Atlantic’s Books Briefing considers “What the Best Translations Share.”

USA Today picks five books for the week.

CrimeReads suggests 10 books out this week.

The Millions recommends writers to watch this Fall.

BBC has “The best books of 2021, so far."

Vulture offers “The Best Comedy Books of 2021 (So Far).”

The Guardian rounds up the best recent thrillers.

Autostraddle has “10 Books to Obsess Over This August.”

The Rumpus remembers Anthony Veasna So, Afterparties (Ecco) with So’s editor, Helen Atsma and agent, Rob McQuilkin. 

Authors on Air

CBS Sunday Morning considers “collecting the words of Jim Morrison.”

Tor announces new biweekly podcast, Tor Presents: Voyage into Genre, hosted by Drew Broussard. Locus has more.

Stephen King, Billy Summers (Scribner: S. & S.) visits Stephen Colbert tonight.

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