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Award & Buzzy Book News

Toni Morrison’s Beloved (Vintage: Penguin Random House) is being used in the Virginia governor’s race. The Washington Post shares a perspective. The NYT also covers this story.

The 2021 Kirkus Prize Ceremony will take place tonight at 6pm Eastern. 

Bob Bender receives the 2021 Editorial Excellence Award from the Biographers International Organization.

New Title Bestsellers

Links for the week: NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers | NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers | USA Today Best-Selling Books

Fiction

The Judge's List by John Grisham (Doubleday) rules No. 1 on both the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list and the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Super Easy! by Ree Drummond (William Morrow: HarperCollins) slices to No. 2 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Blue Box: Ingram) shines at No. 4 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Dear Santa by Debbie Macomber (Ballantine) slays at No. 6 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout (Random) starts at No. 8 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

Attack on Titan 34 by Hajime Isayama (Kodansha) debuts at No. 8 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Nonfiction

Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of The Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It by Dave Quinn (Andy Cohen Books) sparkles at No. 3 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list and No. 6 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx by Nikki Sixx (Hachette) rocks at No. 8 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams with Gail Hudson (Celadon: Macmillan) debuts at No. 13 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

Music Is History by Questlove (Abrams) sings at No. 15 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

Reviews

Tor.com reviews Far From the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson (Orbit; LJ starred review): “Thompson preys on contemporary fears to devise grisly but familiar scenes of machine-driven devastation, possibly because so much of modern life is pop culture living rent-free in our collective consciousness. That aside, Heaven offers refreshing perspectives on both terrestrial and space colonialism, the impact of multiculturalism and Blackness in a realm historically dominated by white capitalism; it’s a meticulously-crafted slice of Yoruba culture brought to the stars.” Also, Even Greater Mistakes by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor: Macmillan): “Anders’s sensitive treatment of a tragic plight is balanced by her apparent delight in the comical political intrigues of the warring cat kingdoms. Like some other of the stories here, it combines a deep love for her characters with the occasional reminder that sometimes, even in the face of bleak realities, girls just want to have fun.”

NYT reviews The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel by Kati Marton (S. & S.): "Marton’s biography builds on an authorized one by the German journalist Stefan Kornelius, which appeared in English in 2014. Marton’s ambitious account relies on wide reading in German sources, including interviews Merkel gave from 1990 until she became chancellor in 2005; numerous conversations with Merkel’s mentors, friends and colleagues; and background interviews with several members of her inner circle."

Oprah Daily reviews Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar; LJ starred review): “Crossroads is consumed with the cause and effect of our choices, especially our selfish ones. The novel closes on a cliffhanger, teeing up for the next two installments of his trilogy, a triumphant opening gambit in what may become a vital pillar of our literature.”

Book Marks shares "5 Review You Need to Read This Week" and "October's Best Reviewed Science, Technology, and Nature Books."

Briefly Noted

The Los Angeles Times interviews Natashia Deón, author of The Perishing (Counterpoint), about why she made her “immortal Black protagonist an L.A. Times reporter.”

Dani Shapiro, author of Black & White (Anchor: Penguin Random House), will be coming out with a new book, Signal Fires, in Fall 2022, her first book in 15 years. Entertainment Weekly reports.

NYT features The Shattering: America in the 1960s by Kevin Boyle (Norton; LJ starred review) asking readers to “think again” about what they know about the 1960s. Also, Inside the Best-Seller List explores the back of book biographies of Lauren Blackwood of Within These Wicked Walls (Wednesday: Macmillan), Elizabeth Strout of Oh William! (Random), and Dave Quinn of Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of The Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It (Andy Cohen Books).

Tor.com shares “Five Recent Fantasy Stories Set at a Circus.”

Lit Hub gives "Books to Help Us Battle Fake News" and "5 Important Books That Reveal the Human Cost of War."

CrimeReads lists “October’s Best Debut Novels” and "17 Horror Comedies That Will Make You Shriek With Laughter."

NYT provides "16 New Books Coming in November" and "Design Books That Mine the Exotic."

Authors on Air

NPR covers the release of Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007) by Dan Ozzi (Mariner: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Lucy Corin, The Swank Hotel (Greywolf: Macmillan), chats with Brad Listi on the Otherppl podcast about "the near-death experience that changed everything."

Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Hanover Square Press) will be adapted for television by SK Global. Announcement via press release.

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