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All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by Chris Bohjalian, Karen Russell, Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles, and Colleen Oakley. People’s book of the week is Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall. April's Indie Next Preview features #1 pick Tilt by Emma Pattee. Plus, Hoda Kotb announces a new book, Jump and Find Joy, due out September 23.
The longlist for the Biographers International Organization’s Plutarch Award, the longlist for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction by women and nonbinary writers, the finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and the shortlist for the Lionel Gelber Prize for books about international affairs are announced. Jenni Fagan’s memoir Ootlinwins the Gordon Burn Prize. The Help author Kathryn Stockett will publish her second novel in April 2026. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Abdulrazak Gurnah, Agustina Bazterrica, Zadie Smith, and Dennis Lehane.
James Tejani’s A Machine To Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles and America and Kathleen DuVal’s Native Nations: A Millennium in North America win the Bancroft Prize for books about U.S. history. Sophie Elmhirst’s Maurice and Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story of Shipwreck, Survival and Love wins the Nero Gold prize. The Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist is announced. The publishing industry prepares for new U.S. tariffs. Plus, interviews with Laila Lalami, Lidia Yuknavitch, and Bruce Vilanch and new title bestsellers.
In 1987, Women’s History Month was formally recognized by presidential proclamation as a monthlong celebration to honor women’s contributions, accomplishments, and voices throughout U.S. history. The following books spotlight extraordinary women from the distant and not-so-distant past—women both imagined and real, both famous and little-known, coming from diverse cultures, countries, and continents.
Blood Moon by Sandra Brown is the top holds title of the week. LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for patrons waiting to read this buzziest book.
The Libby Award winners are announced, including Kristin Hannah’s The Women and Erik Larson’s The Demon of Unrest. The Audie Award winners are announced,withBarbra Streisand’s My Name Is Barbra winning Audiobook of the Year. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hallis is Reese Witherspoon’s March book club pick. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Blood Moon by Sandra Brown. Anthony Hopkins will release his memoir We Did OK, Kid on November 4. Plus, director Jon M. Chu previews the forthcoming Crazy Rich Asians TV series, based on the books by Kevin Kwan.
Longlists for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Plutarch Award are announced, along with category winners of AAP PROSE Awards. HarperCollins will publish posthumous stories and essays by Harper Lee in a forthcoming collection, The Land of Sweet Forever, due out October 21. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is the B&N book club pick for March, and Count My Lies by Sophie Stava is the GMA pick. Interviews feature Steve Jones, Jordan Chiles, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ione Sky, Hanif Kureishi, and Linda Holmes. A rare hand-written copy of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 is found in Oxford. And remembrances arrive for authors Joseph Wambaugh, John Casey and Laura Sessions Stepp.
Blood Moon by Sandra Brown leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by Elle Cosimano, Deanna Raybourn, Charlotte McConaghy, and Danielle Steel. Ten LibraryReads and nine Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker. Audiofile announces the March 2025 Earphones Award winners. Adaptations won several Academy Awards last night. Plus, it’s Read Across America Week.
This lighthearted and heartwarming Midwest romance is laugh-out-loud funny, especially during the text message exchanges, and the characters will feel like friends. Secular readers will also enjoy this chaste offering, similar to Famous for a Living by Melissa Ferguson and The Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh.
Based on a verse in the Book of Hebrews about entertaining angels unaware, Luesse’s (Letters from My Sister) latest brings the quintessential Southern novel to life with a touch of the supernatural and a ton of spunk. Fans of Rachel Hauck’s The Wedding Dress or the TV series Touched by an Angel will love the quirky characters and down-home wisdom in this book.
Deese has penned another riveting novel, a sequel to The Roads We Follow, with swoony romance and anything-but-cookie-cutter Christian families. Audiobook fans will cheer at an insider’s glimpse into the industry, as will deaf readers, who get a thoughtful examination of the struggles and blessings of living in the quiet of a loud world.
Gohlke (Ladies of the Lake) delivers another heart-stopping family drama that reminds readers that everyone is a prodigal searching for the way home. Infused with wry humor and the beautiful language of flowers and plants, many will see themselves in the brokenness of the Pickering-Boyden clan. Read-alikes include The Heirloom Garden by Viola Shipman and Leota’s Garden by Francine Rivers.
Coble (Fragile Designs) capitalizes on her success with Rick Acker in the “Tupelo Grove” series to create a new spin-off in the same southern Alabama setting. Romantic suspense fans will be drooling over this new offering and eager for more installments.
This is even more chilling but just as highly recommended in 2025 as it was in 1985, as historical events have made its grim science-fiction seem all too plausible. Readers who love seeing just how bad things can get and are searching for books with similar, terrifying themes will also want to read C.J. Carey’s Widowland, Sherri S. Tepper’s classic The Gate to Women’s Country, and Emily Tesh’s award-winning novel Some Desperate Glory.
This hilarious and heartfelt read that tackles big ideas will be popular with book clubs. Recommend Gregory’s (Revelator) latest to fans of How To Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley and The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh.
Inspired by true events, Kelly’s (The Golden Doves) new novel explores friendship, family dynamics, and the power of books to unite communities. Recommended for historical fiction readers who enjoy the work of Kristin Hannah, Marie Benedict, and Kate Quinn.
Inspired by the true story of Simnel, Harkin (Tell Me an Ending) portrays a young man struggling to find himself in a world of intrigue, deception and danger. This novel would benefit from a foreword or afterword explaining the history of the York-Tudor conflict, but it may send readers on a hunt for more information about Simnel and the War of the Roses.
Bestselling Jio (With Love from London) has created an entertaining and engaging tale of life choices and destiny in alternate realities, as in Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library.
Bostwick’s latest is ideal for fans of historical fiction and those who enjoyed Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry, Kristin Hannah’s The Women, or Kate Quinn’s The Briar Club, which explore the historical roles of women and the challenges they faced within a society structured to define and limit their roles in and out of the home.
A book that serves as a pivot across several important genres, a story that will capture readers’ imaginations, and a prompt for interrogating conversations. This is a novel that has held readers rapt for almost two centuries.
Smith’s novel, which moves back and forth in time, asks serious questions about chasing one’s dreams and how that may impinge upon family responsibilities.
Courage (editor at the literary magazine Agni) has created a compelling, nonstop reading experience that pulls readers relentlessly forward as Hester is slowly transformed. Written with dry humor, bilious sarcasm, and startlingly vivid imagery, this debut takes its place among American picaresque novels such as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.
Readers with a love for messy, complicated characters will enjoy this collection. Suggest to readers of Brandon Taylor’s Filthy Animals or Torrey Peters’s Detransition, Baby.
Purvis is a skillful writer, creating a story that is part historical fiction, part feminist cautionary tale, and wholly engaging. Recommended for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh and Rachel Yoder.
Terranova skillfully and movingly interweaves the stories of Nicola and Barbara. She brings early 20th-century Italy to life, depicting the role of the Catholic Church, ineffective disaster relief, and the willingness of survivors to help each other.
In this unpredictable, introspective, but lighthearted slim novel, Millás merges reality and fantasy. This wonder of a book can be experienced in one or two sittings and encourages a second reading.
Monroe (“Beach House” series; The Summer Guests), a skillful writer, ends the novel in medias res and leaves readers anticipating part two of the saga. It is a thoughtful work that her fans and those who prize stories about preserving nature and heritage will enjoy.
Despite covering most of the significant bands of the time, Einarson tends to deal with time-worn material and offers few new insights in a book that may seem repetitive to most rock fans.
No matter how familiar readers are with the gospels, the stories Pagels has woven together offer new takes on who Jesus was and what it means to bring facts to faith with clarity and curiosity.
What makes this work different from others in the genre is its balanced approach to demonstrating how faith and belief in God make sense, while examining perspectives from experts with opposing viewpoints. The book’s organizational format makes it easy to follow the complex arguments and effectively highlights the centrality of faith in Christianity. A valuable addition to any library’s religion collection.
The short chapters make this a fast read, and the variety of musicians reckoning with their legacy means that this should have appeal for a broad selection of readers and fans.
Dimitrov’s collection is fast paced, in-the-moment, and reflective. It is sure to make connections with readers, both those who are familiar with his writing and those who are newly discovering it.
MacKinney’s level of research and analysis will likely appeal more to music scholars than casual readers. However, as the first complete history of the Shangri-Las, this volume should still draw interest from music historians and classic pop fans.
King brings erudition to sexploitation, grounding this work in film theory and exploring the subjectivity of taste. Less subjective are the movie stills used to illustrate his points.
This breezy oral history will appeal to most rock fans. The authors explore the festival’s impact on ’90s rock culture and provide intimate portrayals of the bands that Lollapalooza featured.
Smith’s diagnosis of obsolescence intentionally provides no prognosis, but it is a compelling analysis nonetheless. A careful and fascinating study with implications that go beyond the confines of religion.
At times it can be difficult to determine the audience McClellan hopes to reach, as the book’s chapters vary in length and depth, leaving some readers to find it too verbose. The work will best serves readers hoping to resolve specific issues with how the Bible is used in arguments and defenses of particular beliefs.
Little has been available heretofore about Crouch other than his 1974 autobiography Through It All, so Darden and Newby are to be commended for this title, likely to become the definitive exploration of this influential artist.
A deeply comforting and hopeful read. Libraries should consider adding it to their collection for its spiritual insight but also for its practical tools for dealing with loss. Sampson’s book is a valuable resource for anyone dealing with grief, as well as for those seeking to support others through hard times.
Caribbean cookbooks are having a moment, and this modern interpretation of the classics will find a home with fans of spice and flavor who don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen.
A wide-ranging yet thorough resource for the would-be urban citizen scientist. For naturalists, conservationists, citizen and community scientists, and those who would facilitate such efforts.
While clearly aimed at an academic audience, this book defines its terms and provides helpful illustrations and diagrams, as well as a glossary of abbreviations. It’s accessible for interested lay readers, offering a nice round-up of the history of and current scientific understandings of evolution. Both academic and public libraries will find this enlightening and of interest.
Imagine The Bartender’s Bible got a Martha Stewart Living makeover; that about sums up this superb book’s depth of information, artfully packaged and infectiously conveyed.
Writing with passion, panache, and plenty of dry wit, Meathead breaks down the art and science of grilling and barbequing, making his an indispensable guide even for collections that have other excellent grilling books, such as Tyler Florence’s American Grill and Steven Raichlen’s The Barbecue! Bible.
While the recipes might require an initial investment in specialty pantry items, adventurous cooks will find this book to be an excellent introduction to one important component of Japanese cuisine.
From casual viewers of The Big Bang Theory to knowledge-thirsty scientists, readers will appreciate this book’s carefulness and complexity and Vaudo’s passion for treating astrophysics (like every other body of knowledge) as an ever-evolving set of shifting reference points, like stars guiding them toward new beliefs, values, and technologies.
Jarvis (A Portrait in Shadow) offers a heftier version of Paul Cornell’s “Witches of Lychford” series, exploring witchcraft in the United States similarly to Ami McKay’s The Witches of New York or Alix E. Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches.
Quickly paced with engaging characters, the final volume of Shaw’s quartet (after Grave Importance) brings to close a unique supernatural series focused on medical care for otherworldly beings.
Readers who enjoyed Shawn Carpenter’s The Price of Redemption for its swashbuckling and Genevieve Cogman’s Scarlet for its sanguinary take on vampires meddling with history and politics will be fascinated by the latest from Newman (Atlas Alone).
Kelley’s debut might draw comparisons to Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, but this powerfully queer story will stand tall in its own right on any shelf.
This must-buy novel from Langmead (Calypso) and Whiteley (Three Eight One) feels like a cousin to Trip Galey’s A Market of Dreams and Destiny and Aimee Pokwatka’s Self-Portrait with Nothing, offering readers a mug of cocoa from one hand and a cool glass of lemonade from the other.
The scope of Jackson’s debut is breathtaking, from gripping suspense to serene contemplation to the scientific presentation of articles of history and imagination. Highly recommended for those who seek to understand the past and reimagine the future.
The novel’s setting is reminiscent of the historical fantasy of P. Djèlí Clark, whose work, along with that of Nnedi Okorafor and Moses Ose Utomi, would be an excellent read-alike for Onyebuchi’s highly recommended hardboiled fantasy mystery.
This mixture of mystery, SF, and historical fiction is highly recommended for readers who love intricately blended genre stories that ask big questions. Those who fell hard for Rivers Solomon’s The Deep or Leslye Penelope’s Daughter of the Merciful Deep will find a kindred story here.
Those who love time travel stories will enjoy the way Meserve’s (The Space Between) novel dives deeply into the human factors behind grief, guilt, loss, and starting over.
With warmongering, political intrigue, and themes of standing up for the weak, this marks the start of a compelling fantasy series that is perfect for fans of David Dalglish and Justin Lee Anderson.
Full of humor and relatable parenting moments, this is a must-read for those who grew up loving stories of magical schools and are looking for a new fantasy world.
