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Book Lists

Barnes & Noble lists forthcoming books already getting a lot of buzz, as well as the most anticipated books of January.

The Washington Post also recommends several books due out next month.

The Seattle Times previews "20 of the most eagerly awaited books of 2021."

Datebook suggests "Ten books to pick up for a better 2021."

Booksellers share "The Best Under-the-Radar Books of 2020" with Lit Hub.

Eater selects 7 of the best works of fiction from 2020 that featured food.

Page to Screen

Dec. 31:

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, based on the comic book series by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Netflix. Reviews | Trailer

Jan. 3:

Elizabeth Is Missing, based on the book by Emma Healey. PBS. Reviews | Trailer

The Watch, based on the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. BBC America. Reviews | Trailer

Reviews

The L.A. Times reviews The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. (G.P. Putnam's Sons: Penguin; LJ starred review): "In the end, it’s not the lessons that will endure but the exceptional storytelling — the powerful experience of reading this novel."

The NYT reviews Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning by Tom Vanderbilt (Knopf: Random House): "The tone of 'Beginners' is modest and reassuring."

USA Today reviews The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher (Graydon House: HarperCollins; LJ starred review), which earns 3.5 stars: "Fisher does not stop at one plot twist. Just as we get comfortable with the status quo, another twist is unleashed that we should have seen coming, but our presumptions got in the way."

Book Marks rounds up "The Best Reviewed Crime and Mystery Fiction of 2020."

Briefly Noted

The Audacious Book Club from Roxane Gay launches in January, and will be accessible via a newsletter.

Kirkus recaps "The Year’s Weirdest Book News."

A biography on brothers Herman and Joseph Mankiewicz is coming from Knopf. Following the success of the biopic Mank, Competing with Idiots by Nick Davis is due out Aug. 24. Deadline reports.

Polygon has an excerpt of City of Villains Book 1, and a Q&A with author Estelle Laure.

Amazon has a Q&A with Ernest Cline, Ready Player Two (Ballantine: Random House).

“Yes, I am Black and queer, but I am also male, educated, American. My job is to sit with that dissonance, and then do something about it," says Robert Jones, Jr., The Prophets (G.P. Putnam's Sons: Penguin; LJ starred review), in an interview with the NYT.

The Rumpus Poetry Book Club has a discussion with Kimberly Grey, Systems for the Future of Feeling (Persea: W. W. Norton).

Jessica Simpson discusses Open Book (Dey Street: HarperCollins) with Jezebel.

The L.A. Times talks with Mateo Askaripour about Black Buck (HMH).

The NYT looks at the role of punctuation in several recent books of poetry.

NetGalley suffered "a data security incident," which they warn may have exposed some user information.

Biographer Scott Donaldson has died. The NYT has an obituary.

Authors on Air

Jenny Erpenbeck, Not a Novel: A Memoir in Pieces (New Directions: W. W. Norton), is in conversation with writer Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold on the How To Proceed podcast.

The Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine podcast features The Unspoken by Ian K. Smith and read by Amir Abdullah.

PBS NewsHour talks with Janet Webster Jones of Source Booksellers in Detroit and author Ann Patchett, who is also a co-owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, about the best books of the year.

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