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 Big Books of the Week

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty (Crown) leads holds this week. 

Other titles in demand include:

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune (Tor; LJ starred review)

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Random)

Den of Iniquity by J.A. Jance (Morrow)

These books and others publishing the week of September 9, 2024, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Six LibraryReads and five Indie Next picks publish this week:

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston (Morrow) *Debut *Good for Book Clubs

“Frederick Fife lost his home, but he finds much-needed shelter and loving care in a nursing home when he is mistaken for one of the residents, Bernard, while out on a walk. Assuming another person’s identity is not something Frederick set out to do, and how this story unfolds is anybody's guess in this sweet, funny, and heartwarming novel.”—Andrienne Cruz, Azusa City Library, CA

Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell (S. & S.) *Debut

“After all the white people have died in the USA, Charlie reunites with his biracial daughter Sydney. This debut is both a dystopian tale and a beautiful story of a daughter coming of age, learning more about herself and her relationship with her father.”—Michelle Morris, Fort Worth Public Library, TX

Hall of Fame pick Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Random) is also an Indie Next pick:

“I’ve just spent the last few days observing a grand reunion in this gorgeous book! All my old friends showed up: 90-year-old Olive, Lucy Barton, the Burgess brothers, even Amy and Isabel! Strout probes human nature and the many meanings of love.”—Carol Katsoulis, Anderson’s Bookshops, Naperville, IL

Hall of Fame pick Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune (Tor; LJ starred review) is also an Indie Next pick:

“Returning to Marsyas Island is like coming home after a long trip—you are immediately enveloped in warmth and comfort. This novel is a celebration of queer families and inclusive communities. It’s exactly what we need to be reading right now!”—Jody Hardy, Mostly Books, Tucson, AZ

Additional Hall of Fame picks include Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty (Crown) and So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison (Berkley; LJ starred review)

Three additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Heart, and the Medical Miracle That Saved a Child’s Life by Rachel Clarke (Scribner)

“An emotionally complex tribute to an unfathomable loss, a profound love, and a choice that offers up a miracle. Dr. Clarke interweaves the emotional story with the medical history that has led up to this lifesaving gift. A stunning, memorable read.”—Maxwell Gregory, Madison Street Books, Chicago, IL

William by Mason Coile (Putnam)

“Henry, an engineer, has created an AI marvel with William. His wife, who’s been standoffish since her pregnancy, invites some colleagues over for lunch. Suspicious of his wife, he decides to introduce them to William. This dark tale will leave you guessing.”—Jason Kennedy, Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI

The Examiner by Janice Hallett (Atria)

“When faced with a new Janice Hallett mystery, there’s nothing to do but dive in and swim for the end. There’s no stopping along the way—you don’t want to get lost in the clues before you’ve figured out the solution. (Ha! Good luck with that.)”—Linda Bond, Auntie’s Bookstore, Spokane, WA

In the Media

People’s book of the week is Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Random). Also getting attention are We Came To Welcome You by Vincent Tirado (Morrow) and Colored Television by Danzy Senna (Riverhead). A “New in Nonfiction” section highlights Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson (Random), Who Could Ever Love You: A Family Memoir by Mary L. Trump (St. Martin’s), and By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle (Harper). 

There is a feature on Anne Allan’s new royal biography, Dancing With Diana (Sutherland), and a feature on rapper Eve, whose new memoir Who’s That Girl? (Hanover Square), publishes next week. Plus, tailgating recipes from Kelsey Barnard Clark, Southern Get-Togethers: A Guide to Hosting Unforgettable Gatherings (Chronicle; LJ starred review); Caroline Manzo, Food & Other Things I Love: More Than 100 Italian American Recipes from My Family to Yours (Chronicle); and Kiano Moju, AfriCali: Recipes from My Jikoni (Simon Element).

Reviews

NYT reviews Reagan: His Life and Legend by Max Boot (Liveright): “Boot’s book enters a crowded field, but stands out for its deep research, lucid prose and command of its subject’s broad political and social context”; Bright I Burn by Molly Aitken (Knopf): “While Bright I Burn attempts to do justice to the historical Alice, Aitken shrinks from confronting the real human cost of accusations of witchcraft”; Land Between the Rivers: A 5,000-Year History of Iraq by Bartle Bull (Atlantic Monthly): “The book is inspired by firsthand experience of the region, yet its emphasis on concubines, political intrigues and other exoticizing tropes detracts from its conceptual originality and laudable ambition”; The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World by Ben Macintyre (Crown): “As with all of Macintyre’s books, The Siege is threaded with complex side characters and sharp subplots”; The Women Behind the Door by Roddy Doyle (Viking): “There’s much to admire here. And for Doyle fans, the novel will feel familiar: It is unflinching and dark, brutal in its economy, wry and mostly devastating”; Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Random): “Tell Me Everything offers readers an abundance of the searing and plain-spoken insights for which Strout is beloved”; AND William by Mason Coile (Putnam): “The uncanny aspect of A.I. is front and center in William, Mason Coile’s slim, gripping novel about the horror of watching software embrace its will to power.”

Washington Post reviews Cocaine and Rhinestones: A History of George Jones and Tammy Wynette by Tyler Mahan Coe, illus. by Wayne White (S. & S): “Wynette and Jones were exhausting characters, and Coe’s empathetic but unsparing portrait of them betrays not an ounce of romance”; Who Could Ever Love You: A Family Memoir by Mary L. Trump (St. Martin’s): “It’s safe to say that Donald Trump won’t be thrilled with his niece’s new book, which expands on themes she has explored before: the Trump family’s callousness, arrogance and win-at-all-costs credo”; Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America by Rebecca L. Davis (Norton): “Her important, ambitious and entertaining study reminds us that many of the practices portrayed by reactionaries as radical and new, such as same-sex love, are in fact long-standing, whereas the sort of conjugal bliss lauded by the likes of Walsh as normal and normative is a relatively recent invention”; and Hiroshima: The Last Witnesses by M.G. Sheftall (Dutton): “Reading Sheftall’s Hiroshima is not quite as powerful as visiting those museums, but it does summon a similarly palpable experience. Sheftall’s voice is respectful, his perspective balanced, his access to a network of people willing to share their lives with him very deep.”

NPR reviews Banal Nightmare by Halle Butler (Random): “Ultimately, Banal Nightmare is one of those books that will land perfectly with readers who often feel like the characters in the book, and will not land with those who rarely feel that way.”

Briefly Noted

The National Book Foundation will award Barbara Kingsolver the 2024 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the National Book Awards on November 20. 

CrimeReads suggests 10 new books for the week. 

People shares the best books of September. 

Colored Television by Danzy Senna (Riverhead) is GMA’s September book club pick.

The October Indie Next Preview is out, featuring #1 pick The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave (S. & S./Marysue Rucci). 

NYT delves into Don Lemon’s new memoir, I Once Was Lost: My Search for God in America (Little, Brown).

Brandon Sanderson’s Wind and Truth: Book Five of the Stormlight Archive (Tor) arrives December 6. USA Today has a guide for where to start with the author’s work.

People suggests new and available Gilmore Girls–related reads. 

ElectricLit shares "8 Brilliant Flash Fiction Books That Pack a Quick Punch.”

NYT has a conversation with William Cope Moyers about his new book, Broken Open: What Painkillers Taught Me About Life and Recovery (Hazelden). 

Authors on Air

Journalist and author Steven Brill discusses his book, The Death of Truth: How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen and Demagogues the Weapons They Needed To Destroy Trust and Polarize the World—And What We Can Do (Knopf), on CBS Sunday Morning. 

Kate Atkinson discusses her new book, Death at the Sign of the Rook (Doubleday), on the NYT Book Review podcast. 

Venus Williams, Strive: 8 Steps To Find Your Awesome (Amistad), will appear on GMA today.

Nancy Pelosi, The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House (S. & S.), will be on The View today.

Shōgun, based on the novel by James Clavell, won 14 Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday. Hollywood Reporter has the story.

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