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Big Books of the Week

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson (Crown) leads holds this week. Larson discusses the book on CBS Sunday Morning. 

Other titles in demand include:

Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose (Blackstone)

Only the Brave by Danielle Steel (Delacorte)

Real Americans by Rachel Khong (Knopf)

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack (Minotaur)

These books and others publishing the week of April 29, 2024, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Three LibraryReads and eight Indie Next picks publish this week:

Truly, Madly, Deeply by Alexandria Bellefleur (Avon; LJ starred review) is a Hall of Fame pick. 

Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose (Blackstone)

“When three estranged siblings reunite after the death of their mother, things are bound to be tense. When they decide to revisit their childhood with a few home videos, the last thing they’d expect to see is their father carrying a dead body. But there’s no denying the evidence. Readers looking for complex family dynamics and hidden secrets will devour this one.”—Karen Troutman, Peru Public Library, IN

Happy Medium by Sarah Adler (Berkley)

“A medium reluctantly visits a goat farm to exorcise a ghost, and even though she’s a fake…the ghost is not. This is a story full of sweet love and friendship—and found family—with plenty of heat arising between the main characters. A very enjoyable romance with humor, cute animals, and deeper self examination leading to rich relationships.”—Di Herald, LibraryReads Ambassador, CO

Eight Indie Next picks publish this week:

Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Ecco)

“These essays are not just meditations on mouthwatering mastications of exotic fruits and savory favorites, but joyous and generous glimpses into the genius of a spirit that embraces the ascendance of the everyday into the sublime.”—Emily Liner, Friendly City Books, Columbus, MS

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson (Crown)

“Larson vividly depicts Fort Sumter’s untenable position, the inpetitude of the Buchanan administration, and the impossibility of a remedy from Lincoln, exposing Southern planters who linked slavery, secession, and war in a corrupted Code of Honor.”—Mike Hare, Northshire Saratoga, Saratoga Springs, NY

Colton Gentry’s Third Act by Jeff Zentner (Grand Central)

“I loved this second-chance romance about a high school football star turned country singer who heads back to Kentucky after his marriage and career fall apart. Zentner captures Colton and Luann’s nostalgia and reconnection beautifully.”—Amy Traughber, pages: a bookstore, Manhattan Beach, CA

A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon, tr. by Anton Hur (HarperVia)

A quixotic blend of fantasy and reality. Magical girls are real, but so too are credit card debt, COVID-19, and mass unemployment. This strangely nostalgic, deceptively simple novel taps into both the dreams and anxieties of millennials.”—Shay Shortt, Brick & Mortar Books, Redmond, WA

888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers by Abraham Chang (Flatiron)

“Young recalls the first five loves of his life while making his way through his sophomore year of college with his sixth love, Erena. The book is warm and loving, peppered with ’80s and ’90s pop culture references and so many possibilities.”—Paul Swydan, The Silver Unicorn Bookstore, Acton, MA

Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles (Atria)

“As a female Army combat veteran, I know all too well how women’s contributions get forgotten. Follow ‘Kit’ Carson as she and women from all walks of life bring hope and books to families devastated by the German occupation of France in WWI.”—Casey Luke, The Book Shoppe, Boone, IA

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack (Minotaur)

“A mystery writer, a con man, and a ex-boyfriend walk into the Colosseum…in the perfect book to sit by the pool and read as you sip an aperol spritz. Mack’s perfect vacation read is packed with murder, mayhem, and the funniest footnotes.”—Katie Fransen, The Novel Neighbor, Webster Groves, MO

Real Americans by Rachel Khong (Knopf)

“Rachel Khong’s latest tells the story of a first generation American’s adulthood and her teenage son looking for answers 20 years later. Real Americans grapples with racial identity, family inheritance, and becoming one’s true self.”—Rebekah Rine, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, KS

In the Media

People’s book of the week is Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung (Berkley). Also getting attention are Reunion by Elise Juska (Harper) and The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson (Crown). A “New in Nonfiction” section highlights Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire, ed. by Alice Wong (Vintage), I Just Keep Talking: A Life in Essays by Nell Irvin Painter (Doubleday), and Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie (Random). 

People profiles Nikki Mark, who is turning pain into healing with her book Tommy’s Field: Love, Loss, and the Goal of a Lifetime (Union Square & Co.). There is a feature on Tiffany Haddish and her new book of essays, I Curse You with Joy (Diversion Books). Haddish also discusses the book at People online. April Simpkins discusses healing after her daughter’s suicide, and how she wrote the book By the Time You Read This: The Space Between Cheslie’s Smile and Mental Illness—Her Story in Her Own Words with Cheslie Kryst (Forefront). Plus, recipes from Rocco DiSpirito, Everyday Delicious: 30 Minute(ish) Home-Cooked Meals Made Simple: A Cookbook (Rodale), and benny blanco, Open Wide: A Cookbook for Friends, written with Jess Damuck (Dey Street). 

Reviews

NYT reviews The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History by Karen Valby (Pantheon): “This is not to say that the book, which dances between narrative storytelling and as-told-tos, doesn’t give ballet’s broad strokes. The author, Karen Valby, skillfully maps the ugliness of a segregated art form in which too recently, blackface was still defended”; Short War by Lily Meyer (A Strange Object): “It’s the texture of Gabriel’s story that grabs you, much more than its portrait of American complacency and complicity”; Lublin by Manya Wilkinson (And Other Stories): “With its matter-of-fact approach to depicting antisemitic violence, its three guileless main characters and its artful folding-together of fable, history and Jewish joke-making, this is a story for the moment and for the ages”; and The Age of Grievance by Frank Bruni (Avid Reader/ S. & S.):“Bruni has always been a soothing voice of reasonableness, and it’s a pity that the folks on the extremes who most need coaxing back to the common purpose are the least likely to read his book, while his audience will be those who already agree with him.”

Datebook reviews Real Americans by Rachel Khong (Knopf): “Riveting in its unexpected turns, Real Americans is a novel about past mistakes and their echoes—and a reminder that those histories need not be binding.”

Briefly Noted

WSJ shares 13 books for the week. 

CrimeReads suggests 10 new books this week. 

People shares the best books to read in May. 

NYT previews 17 new books coming in May.

AudioFile recommends the best audiobooks of April. 

NYT distills the essential Joan Didion. 

PEN America cancels the May World Voices Festival, Publishers Lunch reports.

Studiocanal launches Studiocanal Stories, a literary adaptations label, Deadline reports.

Shondaland shares “The Anti-Romance Novel Readers’ Guide to Reading Romance Novels.”

People shares an excerpt from Rainbow Rowell’s forthcoming novel, Slow Dance (Morrow), due out in July. 

NYT profiles Philippa Langley and her latest book, The Princes in the Tower: Solving History’s Greatest Cold Case (Pegasus).

Crime writer CJ Sansom has died at the age of 71. The Guardian has an obituary. 

Authors on Air

Karla Tatiana Vasquez, The SalviSoul Cookbook: Salvadoran Recipes and the Women Who Preserve Them (Ten Speed), talks with NPR’s Morning Edition about how her new cookbook was published. 

John Green, Turtles All the Way Down (Dutton), discusses living with OCD in a rebroadcasted interview with NPR's Fresh Air.

PBS Canvas highlights a new book, H Is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z by Elizabeth Kolbert (Ten Speed). 

Washington Post book critic Ron Charles recommends four new books on “The Book Report” on CBS Sunday Morning.

Mary Claire Haver, The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts (Rodale), will be on CBS Mornings.

Jonna Mendez, True Face: A Woman’s Life in the CIA, Unmasked (PublicAffairs), visits The Jennifer Hudson Show.

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