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Big Books of the Week

Daydream by Hannah Grace (Atria) leads holds this week. 

Other titles in demand include:

The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves (Minotaur)

You're the Problem, It's You by Emma R. Alban (Avon)

Talking to Strangers by Fiona Barton (Berkley; LJ starred review) 

These books and others publishing the week of August 26, 2024, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Four LibraryReads and two Indie Next picks publish this week:

Magical Meet Cute by Jean Meltzer (MIRA)

“When Faye comes back from a failed dating event at her synagogue to find her neighborhood littered with antisemitic fliers, she feels hopeless and ends up drunkenly making a golem. The next day, she hits a man with her bike, giving him amnesia. But is he a man, or did she conjure a golem? Readers will love the characters and learning about Jewish magic.”—Esther Petrushka, Queens Public Library-Corona, NY

That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones (Bloomsbury; LJ starred review)

“Part memoir, part manifesto, this inspiring story of a Louisiana librarian advocating for inclusivity on the front lines of the culture wars is recommended for any teacher, librarian, or friend of libraries. This detailed account of being targeted by censors sheds light on the tactics of those who seek to force their narrow world view on everyone else.”—Karen Troutman, LibraryReads Ambassador

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Fierceness and bravery should not be a requirement for librarians. In this era of book banning, however, a librarian must be a warrior. Jones is fighting the good fight to give everyone freedom to read and feel safe in a library space.”—Pamela Klinger-Horn, Valley Bookseller, Stillwater, MN

You’re the Problem, It’s You by Emma R. Alban (Avon)

“The one thing Bobby and James agree on is that the other is infuriating. When the two are blackmailed, they have to work together to protect their reputations and their newly discovered feelings for each other. This found family story showcases the unconditional love between the varied cast of characters and the playful hijinks bring a positive, uplifting tone to a subject matter that can be harrowing. A heartwarming enemies-to-lovers romance.”—Sabrina White, Middletown Township Public Library, NJ

The Bonus pick is I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine by Daniel J. Levitin (Norton; LJ starred review)

“Levitin is a neuroscientist and musician who has studied how music impacts the human brain and body. In his latest, he shares his research on music's effect on heath, looking in particular at the power music can have on neurodevelopment disorders, mental illnesses, memory issues and diseases, and pain. Levitin’s writing is accessible and interesting, and deserves a wide audience. This would also make a fantastic book group selection.”—Rebecca Vnuk, LibraryReads

One additional Indie Next pick publishes this week:

I’ll Have What He’s Having by Adib Khorram (Forever: Grand Central; LJ starred review)

“A substitute teacher turned restaurant owner meets a sommelier in this completely charming ‘friends with benefits…oh, oops, we’re in love’ rom-com! Khorram’s impeccably-titled adult debut will surely be a big hit this fall.”—Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, NC

In the Media

People’s book of the week is Small Rain by Garth Greenwell (Farrar). Also getting attention are Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid (Del Rey: Ballantine) and Red River Road Anna Downes (Minotaur). “Back to School Kids’ Books” include: My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows (Harper Teen), Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan (Nancy Paulsen Books), and I’m Sorry You Got Mad by Kyle Lukoff, illus. by Julie Kwon (Dial).

The “Picks” section spotlights The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, based on the novel by Edward Kelsey Moore. “The Scoop” mentions Moon Unit Zappa and her new memoir, Earth to Moon (Dey Street). 

People remembers Matthew Perry’s Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing (Flatiron) and his “heartbreaking last days” and reflects on Phil Donahue’s legacy. There is a feature on a “classic American underdog story” as recounted in The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory by Thomas Fuller (Doubleday). Plus, a recipe from Caitlin Prettyman, Fast and Fresh Cal-Mex Cooking: West Coast–Inspired Dinners in 30 Minutes or Less (Page Street).

Reviews

NYT reviews Colored Television by Danzy Senna (Riverhead): “Senna delivers a mostly inspired, and mostly happy, series of narrative double axels that will make you reconsider who the true sellouts are. This novel does not predict the candidacy of Kamala Harris, but it feels like a book for the Harris moment, in some very sweet ways”; To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement by Benjamin Nathans (Princeton Univ.; LJ starred review): “As the historian Benjamin Nathans makes plain in To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause, an exhaustive chronicle of the Soviet dissident movement…the fire that would ultimately incinerate the U.S.S.R. was lit much earlier, in the ’50s, after the death of Stalin and the ascendance of Nikita Khrushchev”; Where Tyranny Begins : The Justice Department, the FBI, and the War on Democracy by David Rohde (Norton): “Although Rohde doesn’t hide his conviction that Trump undermined democracy with his salvos against the Justice Department’s independence, he nonetheless writes in measured, restrained language that should hold up well in the light of history”; and Orange Blossom Trail by George Saunders & Joshua Lutz (Image Text Ithaca Pr.): “Not quite an illustrated Saunders, nor an annotated Lutz, this bizarre almost-collaboration confronts the demoralizing American grind with an attitude between sympathy and resignation. An attitude that’s rare in art because we seldom admit it to ourselves.”

NPR reviews Interpretations of Love by Jane Campbell (Grove): “In Interpretations of Love, Campbell brings her analytic background to bear on an extended exploration of ambiguity—in love, in questions about free will, and in the unfathomability of both past and future.”

Washington Post reviews Planes Flying over a Monster: Essays by Daniel Saldaña París, tr. by Christina Macsweeney & Philip K. Zimmerman (Catapult): “The heart of the collection lies in this ability to cartographically render the relationships between the written word and a city.”

The Guardian reviews Q: A Voyage Around the Queen by Craig Brown (Farrar): “Are the queen’s critics right that there was little more to her than met the eye, or was she in fact a master of psychological jujitsu, turning the gaze of the outside world back upon itself? Perhaps she is speaking to us between the lines of what others say about her. This might just be her story, as told to Craig Brown.”

The New Yorker has briefly noted book reviews.

Briefly Noted

September’s LibraryReads list is out, featuring top pick The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir (Tor Nightfire). 

The inaugural American Manga Award winners are announced. Publishers Weekly reports. 

The Guardian previews the best new novels for autumn 2024.

Elle highlights “The Best Literary Fiction Books of 2024, So Far.”

Kirkus looks forward to 150 most anticipated books of the fall. 

USA Today delves into the appeal of “cozy fantasy” and suggests the best picks.

Amy Poehler shares her reading list with People. 

Poet Amanda Gorman talks with Time about her performance at the Democratic National Convention.

The Atlantic shares “Five Books That Changed Readers’ Minds.”

Survivalist and author Tom Brown Jr. has died at the age of 74. NYT has an obituary. 

Poet and author Hettie Jones has died aged 90. NYT has an obituary. 

Authors on Air

NPR’s Morning Edition talks with former national security adviser H.R. McMaster about his new memoir, At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House (Harper). McMaster will also appear on CBS Mornings. 

Deadline rounds up “everything we know so far” about Prime’s forthcoming adaptation of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars (Ember). 

T&C shares details about Moonflower Murders, based on the novel by Anthony Horowitz. It premieres September 15 on PBS Masterpiece.

Kazuo Ishiguro’s A Pale View of Hills will be adapted for film in Japan, Deadline reports. 

Megan McNamee and Judy Delaware, authors of Feeding Littles Lunches: 75+ No-Stress Lunches Everyone Will Love: Meal Planning for Kids (Rodale), visit GMA today.

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