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Salman Rushdie 

In the wake of Friday's attack on author Salman Rushdie, PEN America released a statement in response, and The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) deplored the assault. 

President Joe Biden also released a statement in support of Rushdie and freedom of expression.

CBS Sunday Morning has a feature on the attack, and shares a 2002 interview with Rushdie on life after fatwa. 

NPR's All Things Considered discusses "how to balance freedom and security in an era when violence is on the rise." 

Publishers Weekly provides an update on Rushdie's condition. 

Time also has coverage, as does The Guardian, Slate, The Atlantic, LA Times, and USA Today. 

Plus, Margaret Atwood writes "If we don’t defend free speech, we live in tyranny," at The Guardian.

Big Books of the Week

Overkill by Sandra Brown (Grand Central) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

The Challenge by Danielle Steel (Delacorte)

All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers (Bantam)

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead (Sourcebooks Landmark; LJ starred review)

The Housekeeper by Joy Fielding (Ballantine)

These books and others publishing the week of Aug. 15, 2022 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Two LibraryReads and four Indie Next picks publish this week:

Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim (Berkley)

“Sophie Go can see red threads extending from everyone’s heart—threads that show how ready a person is for love. Despite her mom’s disapproval, Sophie aspires to use her gift to become Toronto’s premier matchmaker. When she corrals a group of elderly Chinese men in her apartment building as potential clients, she has the chance to realize her dream and break free from her overbearing mother.”—Maureen Rothenberg, Clayton County Public Libraries, Jonesboro, GA

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead (Sourcebooks Landmark; LJ starred review)

"When yet another of her college roommates turns up dead, Shay investigates with the help of her BFF true crime podcaster. Will Shay find answers in her past, which includes a misogynistic sex cult, or will she be lured back in? Psychological thriller fans, take this to the beach! For fans of I’ll Be You or This Might Hurt."—Lori Hench, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD

Four Indie Next picks publish this week:

Autoportrait by Jesse Ball (Catapult)

“A fascinating work of art that will make you think. What things and experiences make us who we are? Is any one of those things more important than the other? Is any one sentence more important than the next? There is no one quite like Jesse Ball.”—Hannah Harlow, Book Shop of Beverly Farms, Beverly Farms, MA

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana (Scribner; LJ starred review)

“From the first sentence, we are immersed in the cadence of Harlem. We are one of the tenants struggling with autonomy and groping for success. These engaging stories offer insight into the lives and aspirations of inner-city people.”—Sarajane Giddings, Blue Door Books, Cedarhurst, NY

Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard (Blackstone)

“Now THIS is what I love about Catherine Ryan Howard — plots that defy trends, characters dangling over the abyss. Run Time had me exactly where I love to be: teetering on a high wire, completely off balance, and loving every minute of it.”—Tarin Paradise, Naughty Dog Books, Nashville, IN

Witches by Brenda Lozano, trans. byHeather Cleary (Catapult)

“Witches features the most distinctive voice I’ve come across in fiction this year. Feliciana’s life as an indigenous healer — or curandera — is hypnotic. Her story combines with Zoe’s to highlight women striving to find their own voices.”—Jude Burke-Lewis, Square Books, Oxford, MS

In the Media

The People "Picks" book of the week is I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (S. & S.). Also getting attention are Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra (Hogarth) and Cat Brushing by Jane Campbell (Grove; LJ starred review). The “Star Picks” are The Other Woman by Daniel Silva (Harper), Bunny by Mona Awad (Viking), and You're on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir by Parker Posey (Blue Rider Pr.). There is a feature on TV Producer Dick Ebersol and his forthcoming memoir, From Saturday Night to Sunday Night: My Forty Years of Laughter, Tears, and Touchdowns in TV (S. & S.). There is also a feature on Michael K. Williams and his posthumous memoir, Scenes from My Life ,written with Jon Sternfeld (Crown).

Reviews

NYT reviews A History of Present Illness by Anna DeForest (Little, Brown; LJ starred review): “Her writing is dreamlike and fragmentary, a sequence of vivid scenes that the reader must piece together, like a puzzle, to understand who exactly is telling us this story. The answer, tucked in the book’s last pages, is a revelation.”

The Guardian reviews Haven by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown): “While Haven certainly isn’t her most accessible novel, a flinty kind of hope brightens its satisfying ending. What the reader is likely to take away, however, is the image of a bleak place made still bleaker by human intervention. That, and a raft of early medieval survival hacks.”

Briefly Noted

James Patterson discusses his new book, Diana, William, and Harry: The Heartbreaking Story of a Princess and Mother written with Chris Mooney, at FoxNewsDigital.

CrimeReads talks with Grace Ellis about her graphic novel, Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith illus. by Hannah Templer (Harry N. Abrams).

Vanity Fair explores the uneasy friendship between Joan Didion and Eve Babitz, through a "trove of never-published archival material."

NYT’s Group Text recommends Complicit by Winnie M Li (Atria/Emily Bestler Books), and suggests discussion questions.

USA Today picks five books for the week.

CrimeReads suggests 10 books out this week.

The Washington Post suggests “12 books to get you to the end of summer.”

T&C suggests 10 books for fans of Grandchester.

“The Horse Whisperer author Nicholas Evans dies at 72.” The Guardian has an obituary.

“Jan Longone, Influential Scholar of Food History, Dies at 89.” NYT has an obituary.

“Elana Dykewomon, Author Who Explored Lesbian Lives, Dies at 72.” NYT has an obituary.

Authors On Air

NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday talks with Amanda Jayatissa about her thriller, You’re Invited (Berkley).

Author Sophia A. Nelson, Be the One You Need: 21 Life Lessons I Learned While Taking Care of Everyone but Me (Health Communications: S. & S.), shares her self-care lessons on PBS Canvas.

People previews the Amazon Freevee adaptation High School, based on the book by Sara Quin and Tegan Quin, and shares the trailer.

Apple TV+ completes casting for the adaptation of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Doubleday), which will premiere in 2023. Deadline reports.

Gabrielle Zevin,  Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Knopf; LJ starred review), will visit The Tonight Show tonight. 

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