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Book Pulse is on break through the end of the year and will return January 3rd. 

Happy Holidays!

Book Lists

The San Francisco Chronicle shares the “15 best books of 2021."

Book Marks has "The Award-Winning Novels of 2021.", "The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2021," and more best of 2021 lists. 

Buzzfeed shares its best books of 2021.

Entertainment Weekly has “The 10 best comics of 2021."

Vulture suggests 9 Great Audiobooks, and ranks “The 10 Best Comedy Books of 2021”

ElectricLit previews the "Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of 2022."

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan (Pegasus): “This story’s inexorable acceleration and its crafty use of suggestion and elision demonstrate the special effects that the best writers can brew up without a single line of Hollywood software — just paper, ink and ghosts.” And, Pilot Impostor by James Hannaham (Soft Skull): "It is a Gesamtkunstwerk comprising visual art, literature, philosophy, speculation, koans and sociopolitical commentary. It is, finally, a paean to the power of art to make worlds."

NPR reviews All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow): “works on two levels. On the surface, there are bodies piling up and a shady deal that left no paper trail except for a quarter billion dollars being distributed into other accounts. However, right underneath that is something that's much more than a legal thriller about white-collar crime; this is a narrative about being a Black woman surrounded by white men, many of whom are racist.” And, A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske (Tordotcom; LJ starred review): "I had a lot of fun reading this and would happily return to Marske's magic-infused England for more adventures with Robin, Edwin and their friends and relations. It's a charming, cozy read that's sure to delight."

The Atlantic reviews To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara (Doubleday): "The challenge Yanagihara sets for the reader isn’t so much to decode a puzzle as to survive a plunge into chaos theory."

NYT has short reviews on four works of poetry.

Briefly Noted

Will & Jada Pinkett Smith partner with Oprah Winfrey to launch new book club, "to curate conversations centered on the themes in Smith’s autobiography," Will (Penguin Random House). Ebony has details. Register for the book club here. The Hollywood Reporter has more. 

People has a photo preview of The Unseen Photos of Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street by Trevor Crafts (Harry N. Abrams), the companion book to a new Sesame Street documentary.

The LA Times talks with four top critics about this year’s crime writing. 

Electric Lit has an interview with Lily King about her book, Five Tuesdays in Winter (Grove; LJ starred review), "unsolicited male advice, and the spirit of hope in her work."

The Rumpus has a Q&A with Sabina Murray about her latest novel, The Human Zoo (Grove), and its connection to her first novel, Slow Burn. 

T&C explores “How A Christmas Carol Became a Classic.”

NYT considers how new books explore the concept of cruelty. 

Entertainment Weekly offers the takeaways from the Matrix universe, and associated titles.

The Washington Post explores Jules Verne for the holidays, taking another look at Around the World in Eighty Days; the PBS adaptation releases January 2nd.

Humanoids will reveal a new Incal Universe Special for Free Comic Book Day in May, previewing three new titles. Deadline has the story.

NYPL offers reading suggestions for tackling Book Riot's 2022 Challenge.

NYT recommends 4 new books of poetry and four newly published titles.

Bustle suggests 10 rom-com read-alikes for fans of Emily in Paris.

Authors On Air

NPR’s Book Of The Day speaks with Rax King about her new book, Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have To Offer (Vintage; LJ starred review).

NPR’s Fresh Air talks with Faith Jones about her book, Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult (Morrow; LJ starred review)

NPR’s Short Wave offers a beginner’s guide to reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy. 

Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare : The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat by Giles Milton (Picador) will be adapted as a TV series. Deadline reports.

Bustle compares the new movie The Lost Daughter to its source material by Elena Ferrante.

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