Want to get the latest book news delivered to your inbox each day? Sign up for our daily Book Pulse newsletter.

 Awards & News

The 2023 RUSA Book & Media Awards were announced Sunday, including the Notable Books List, Reading List, Listen List, Sophie Brody Medal, Essential Cookbooks, Dartmouth Medal, and Outstanding References Sources List. The 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winners are also announced, with Julie Otsuka winning the Carnegie Medal Winner for Excellence in Fiction for The Swimmers (Knopf; LJ starred review) and Ed Yong winning the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction for An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us (Random).

ALA's American Libraries: The Scoop blog has highlights from the first in-person LibLearnX.

Winners of the inaugural Albertine Translation Prize are announced. LitHub has coverage.

Chelsea Hodson launches  a new press, Rose Books, PW reports. 

Big Books of the Week

Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover (Atria), leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Exiles by Jane Harper (Flatiron)

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano (Minotaur)

Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear by Jinger Vuolo (Thomas Nelson)

Maame by Jessica George (St. Martin’s)

These books and others publishing the week of Jan. 30, 2023 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Two LibraryReads and two Indie Next picks publish this week:

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano (Minotaur)

“Hip deep in trouble that just keeps getting deeper, Finlay and her nanny attend a citizen's police academy while trying to find out the true identity of EasyClean, the assassin who tried to kill her ex. New characters abound in this ongoing series, as does the non-stop zaniness.”—Cynthia Hunt, Amarillo Public Library, Amarillo, TX

Exiles by Jane Harper (Flatiron)

“Two unrelated crimes--one a disappearance,the other a hit and run-- collide when Aaron Falk takes a vacation to serve as godfather at a christening. It is up to Falk to ferret out ugly truths hiding in plain sight. For those who enjoy a slow burn with a satisfying conclusion. Readers of the Cork O’Connor series by William Kent Krueger will appreciate this author.”—Lori Hench, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“What do you look for in a mystery? I look for Jane Harper’s name under the title. Detective Aaron Falk returns in Exiles, set in lush Australian wine country; despite his ‘clues,’ you’ll not guess the ending!”—Mary Hembree, House of Books, Kent, CT

An additional Indie Next pick publishes this week:

Maame by Jessica George (St. Martin’s)

“Maame is a deeply moving story about growing up, moving on, grief, and tradition. Jessica George has created a deeply funny and tragic protagonist, and perfectly conveys the challenges of a twenty-five-year-old navigating modern life.”—Kyle Churman, Werner Books, Erie, PA

In The Media

People’s book of the week is Twelve Months and a Day by Louisa Young (Putnam). Also getting attention are Exiles by Jane Harper (Flatiron), and This Other Eden by Paul Harding (Norton). A “Great Reads for Black History Month” section highlights Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson (Balzer + Bray), The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (Random House), and Beloved by Toni Morrison (Vintage: Penguin Random House).

There is a Black History Month feature along with a Grammy Insider preview of the 65th Grammy Awards, which will broadcast February 5th. See the full list of nominations here. Nominees for Best Spoken Word Album include: Act Like You Got Some Sense by Jamie Foxx (Hachette Audio); All About Me!: My Remarkable Life In Show Business By Mel Brooks (Penguin Random House Audio); Aristotle And Dante Dive Into The Waters Of The World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda (S. & S.); Finding Me by Viola Davis (Harper Audio), and Music Is History by Questlove (RB Media). 

Reviews

NYT reviews The Faraway World: Stories by Patricia Engel (Avid Reader: S. & S.): “is a collection about the Latin American diaspora, but it’s also one that proves how Engel, like one of her characters, is capable of noticing that between any two people 'a look reveals more than a fingerprint'.” And, Maame by Jessica George (St. Martin’s): "George shows the details and scope of life with such confidence and joie de vivre, it’s easy to forget she’s a first-time novelist."

LA Times reviews The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz (Tor Books; LJ starred review): “The Terraformers is so good at imagining how people undermine their own societies that it seems downright miraculous imagining we’ll make it to the year 3000, let alone 30,000. But Newitz’s optimism is well-argued and enchanting.”

Briefly Noted

Jinger Vuolo discusses her new memoir, Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fearby (Thomas Nelson), with FoxNewsDigital. 

LA Times looks at Pamela Anderson’s new memoir, Love, Pamela (Dey Street) and documentary, calling her “a bad-ass, wrapped in an enigma inside a bombshell.”

Meghan Trainor reveals a forthcoming pregnancy book, Dear Future Mama: A TMI Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, and Motherhood from Your Bestie (Harper Horizon), along with her own pregnancy news in People.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (Milkweed), discusses the natural world and climate change in The New York Times Magazine. 

B&N recommends audiobooks for Black History Month. 

USA Today shares 5 books for the week. 

CrimeReads has 10 new books for the week. 

Buzzfeed has “The 20 Most Anticipated Thrillers Of 2023.”

The Atlantic suggests “What to Read When You’re Expecting.”

NPR explores the revelation that Marie Kondo has 'kind of given up' on being so tidy. GMA also covers the story. 

The Atlantic proclaims: “We are already living in the metaverse.”

"Harold Brown, Tuskegee Airman Who Faced a Lynch Mob, Dies at 98."  NYT has an obituary.  

Authors On Air

CBS Sunday Morning explores the unproven conspiracy that forms the plot of The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch (Flatiron), and shares an excerpt.

NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday talks with Nick Brooks about his new book, Promise Boys (Henry Holt & Co.). 

Salon Talks chats with Kristin Chenoweth, I’m No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts: Mini-Meditations for Saints, Sinners, and the Rest of Us (Harper Celebrate), about “embracing her failure, anger and questions for God.”

Phoebe Waller-Bridge will executive produce a new series based on Claudia Lux’s novel Sign Here. Tordotcom has details. 

Vanity Fair previews “The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming (and Leaving) in February 2023.”

Noah Galuten and Iliza Shlesinger, The Don't Panic Pantry Cookbook: Mostly Vegetarian Comfort Food That Happens to Be Pretty Good for You (Knopf) will visit The Kelly Clarkson Show tomorrow.

Pamela Anderson, Love, Pamela (Dey Street), will visit with Jimmy Kimmel tomorrow. 

Want to get the latest book news delivered to your inbox each day? Sign up for our daily Book Pulse newsletter.