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Awards & News

Alice McDermott wins the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award for her novel Absolution (Farrar), Kirkus reports.

The Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist is announced.

Winners of the British Fantasy Awards and the Prix Utopiales are announced. Locus has details.

Target announced an exclusive Black Friday release of the official Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Book. Rolling Stone has coverage.

Sourcebooks will launch a new imprint, Cosmo Reads, in summer 2025 in collaboration with Cosmopolitan magazine, focusing on inclusive romantic and pop fiction.

Publishers Weekly announces its Star Watch 2024 honorees. 

Big Books of the Week

The Waiting by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown; LJ starred review) leads holds this week. 

Other titles in demand include:

Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by John Grisham & Jim McCloskey (Doubleday)

War by Bob Woodward (S. & S.)

A Christmas Duet by Debbie Macomber (Ballantine)

The More the Terrier by David Rosenfelt (Minotaur)

These books and others publishing the week of October 14, 2024, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Two LibraryReads and ten Indie Next picks publish this week:

Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon (Ace)

“A lonely noble's daughter enters into marriage with a minotaur so that she can join a treasure hunting guild to restore her family’s wealth and protect her people. Her new husband, Hawk, who happens to be a member of the guild, has no idea that his wife is a noble in disguise. This steamy paranormal fantasy romance is filled with found family and sweet characters.”—Mindie Marsh, Eugene Public Library, OR

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Bull Moon Rising was a great mix of fantasy worldbuilding and steamy monster romance that we expect from Ruby Dixon. The tension in Aspeth and Hawk’s marriage of convenience is delicious.”—Mekhala Villegas-Rogers, Tombolo Books, St. Petersburg, FL

Libby Lost and Found by Stephanie Booth (Sourcebooks Landmark) *Debut, *Good for Book Clubs

“Libby is one of the most famous and sought-after children’s authors but her identity is also a complete secret. She is under pressure to write the final book in her series but something is wrong and she just can't get it done. In her search for answers, she starts a quest that will bring her to a very different place in life.”—Linda Quinn, Library Reads Ambassador

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“A delightful read! Full of endearing characters who collide with heartwarming results: an author of a beloved children’s series over deadline due to early onset Alzheimer’s, a tiny intrepid superfan, and her wacky family and town.”—Alana Haley, Schuler Books, Grand Rapids, MI

Eight additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

The Ancients by John Larison (Viking)

“In this apocalyptic story, Larison sweeps us across a landscape through the eyes of characters each with a unique view of the devastation of the past. Different societies clash as resources grow scarce, and plans for colonization of other lands become paramount.”—Josie Williams, Invitation Bookshop, Gig Harbor, WA

American Rapture by CJ Leede (Tor Nightfire)

“In lesser hands, American Rapture would feel like well-trodden apocalyptic ground; here, it feels fresh and bleak. CJ Leede is really doing the horror lord's work! American Rapture will rip your heart (and throat) out!”—Audrey Kohler, BookWoman, Austin, TX

Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy (Orbit; LJ starred review)

“When you find yourself magically bound to the guy you hate, what else is there to do but explore a magical forest full of bizarre, deadly monsters together in hopes of finding an elusive sorcerer who can cure you? I can’t wait for book two!”—Jenna Kaufman, Brick & Mortar Books, Redmond, WA

Forest of Noise: Poems by Mosab Abu Toha (Knopf; LJ starred review)

“Mosab Abu Toha, a poet from Gaza, here delves into the indignities, injustices, the utter cruelties he and his fellow Palestinians have been subjected to. In and through the sheer horror there is a most human spirit, a celebration of joy in the cracks where it might be found.”—Rick Simonson, The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA

An Image of My Name Enters America: Essays by Lucy Ives (Graywolf)

“Lucy Ives is a brilliant, singular, and encyclopedic thinker, and this collection of essays—spanning topics as wide-reaching as My Little Pony, the Assyrian Genocide, and the troubled history of romantic love—is astonishing.”—Scott Broker, Vroman’s Bookstore, Pasadena, CA

Blue Light Hours by Bruna Dantas Lobato (Grove)

“A narrative intimately rendered with sparse prose, layered with empathy for its dual mother-daughter protagonists. Blue Light Hours is a stunner of a debut novel, seemingly stretching beyond its 192-page count and burying deep within your bones.”—Taylor Carlton, Brazos Bookstore, Houston, TX

If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens (St. Martin’s Griffin; LJ starred review)

“If I Stopped Haunting You’s mix of romance and gothic horror was so much fun! As a mixed Indigenous bookseller, it is incredible to have two main characters in a rom-com not only be Indigenous, but to also have meaningful dialogue about Indigeneity. A fun, hot, spooky romp.”—Hillary Smith, Black Walnut Books, Glens Falls, NY

Blood Test: A Comedy by Charles Baxter (Pantheon)

“Charles Baxter should be required reading for aspiring novelists. Blood Test delves deeply into many of the broken aspects of our current culture, but also presents the redeeming qualities many possess to find fulfillment in an often-desolate world.”—Bill Cusumano, Square Books, Oxford, MS

In the Media

People’s book of the week is The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman (St. Martin’s). Also getting attention are The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni (Random; LJ starred review) and The President’s Lawyer by Lawrence Robbins (Atria). There is also a Q&A with Colin Kaepernick and Nessa Diab about their new children’s book, We Are Free, You and Me (Scholastic). 

The “Picks” section spotlights Apple Tv+’s Disclaimer, based on the novel by Renee Knight. There is a feature on Al Pacino and his new memoir, Sonny Boy (Penguin Pr.), out this week. A “Girls Changing the World” section highlights Keegan Lee and her book 60 Days of Disconnect: A Personal Perspective of How Social Media Affects Mental Health (Keegan Lee). Plus, a recipe from Stanley Tucci, What I Ate in One Year (and Related Thoughts) (Gallery; LJ starred review).

Reviews

NYT reviews Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by John Grisham & Jim McCloskey (Doubleday): “Grisham does a service by elevating Jim McCloskey, who can inspire all of us to use our privilege in the service of those ensnared in the moral scandal we call a criminal justice system”; Polostan: Volume One of Bomb Light by Neal Stephenson (Morrow): “It is a fine study of Dawn/Aurora as she comes of age, with plenty of intrigue and beautifully rendered scenes, but it ends up feeling mostly like an extended setup for a bigger spy saga yet to come”; Blood Test: A Comedy by Charles Baxter (Pantheon): “If you’re brazen enough to slap ‘A Comedy’ on the cover of your novel, it had better be funny. Thankfully—for the reader, for the author, for everyone involved—Charles Baxter’s Blood Test is”; and Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán, tr. by Sophie Hughes (Riverhead): “In the end, Clean is a novel more interested in both the power and limits of storytelling.” Plus, more reviews in today’s NYT Book Review.

Washington Post reviews Selling Sexy: Victoria’s Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon by Lauren Sherman & Chantal Fernandez (Holt): “Selling Sexy is a business book first, and a work of cultural analysis second”; The Repeat Room by Jesse Ball (Catapult): “More than empathy, the novel asks of its readers a willingness to submit to the unnerving possibility that the criminal legal system, and the larger world in which it operates, is devoid of meaning”; The Spamalot Diaries by Eric Idle Crown): “At the core of The Spamalot Diaries is the tension between Idle as a creative individual and as a member of the all-conquering Python collective, the frustration of the solo artist forever seen through the prism of his old band”; Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb by Iris Jamahl Dunkle (Univ. of California): “In contrast to the door-stopping volumes many contemporary biographers favor, Dunkle’s judicious account of Babb’s eventful life focuses on key experiences and relationships in a brisk text with plenty of meat and no fat”; We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi (Princeton Univ.): “Encyclopedic in breath, and painstakingly in-depth, We Have Never Been Woke establishes al-Gharbi as one of the most insightful and provocative sociologists of his generation”; Over Work: Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life by Brigid Schulte (Holt): “We can balance life and work better, she contends, because it has been done”; and Rockin’ the Kremlin: My Incredible True Story of Gangsters, Oligarchs, and Pop Stars in Putin’s Russia by David Junk, with Fred Bronson (Rowman & Littlefield): “David Junk delivers the goods in Rockin’ the Kremlin, a jaunty, picaresque memoir by the man who claims to have introduced the first American record label into post-Soviet Russia.” Also, Sonny Boy by Al Pacino (Penguin Pr.): “Although the actor describes the writing process as ‘ratting on myself,’ there’s a tension between confession and reserve that runs throughout its chapters.” LA Times also reviews: “He makes a convincing case for himself as an outsider who crashed the party, driven forward by the work above all.”

NPR reviews Shred Sisters by Betsy Lerner (Grove): “Shred Sisters is, indeed, incisive and wry; but, given its central subject—an upper-middle-class, Jewish, suburban family all-but-capsized by the mental illness of one of its members—this novel is anything but contained and controlled.”

The Guardian reviews What I Ate in One Year (and Related Thoughts) by Stanley Tucci (Gallery; LJ starred review): “The impulses involved in this book on all sides feel depressingly cynical to me, for it’s thinner than freshly rolled fettuccine”

Briefly Noted

LitHub highlights 26 new books for the week. 

CrimeReads shares 10 new books for the week.

People suggests the best books for Halloween and the best books for October.

People highlights Bethany Joy Lenz’s new memoir, Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!) (S. & S.), Christian Siriano’s The New Red Carpet (Rizzoli), and 100 Years of Grand Ole Opry (Abrams), due out in April.

CrimeReads shares an excerpt of a newly reissued edition of Anthony Bourdain’s Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical (Bloomsbury). 

NYT interviews Matthieu Nicol about the new book Fashion Army (SPBH Editions).

Historian and author David Garrard Lowe dies at the age of 91. NYT has an obituary.

Authors on Air

Al Pacino discusses his new memoir, Sonny Boy (Penguin Pr.), on CBS Sunday Morning. 

Shirley Maclaine, The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories from This Marvelous Lifetime (Crown), reflects on her life in pictures on CBS Sunday Morning. 

Also on CBS Sunday Morning, Bob Woodward discusses his latest book, War (S. & S.). Plus, Washington Post book critic Ron Charles recommends new books in a new “Book Report” segment.

PBS Canvas looks inside the “whimsical world of celebrated children’s author Sandra Boynton.”

Harlequin will release 28 book-to-film adaptations over the next three years. People has the story.

Hulu will adapt M.K. Oliver’s buzzy forthcoming debut novel, A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage, due out in 2026.,Deadline reports. 

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