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Awards

The Year of Peril: America in 1942 by Tracy Campbell (Yale) wins the New-York Historical Society’s Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize, which honors "the best work in the field of American history or biography." The NYT has details.

Finalists for the Nebula Awards, from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, are out. Awards will be presented during a virtual ceremony on June 5.

The finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards are up. Winners will be announced during a free virtual event on June 1.

Reviews

The NYT reviews The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernández and translated by Natasha Wimmer (Graywolf: Macmillan; LJ starred review): "...wildly innovative, a major contribution to literature, in Chile and beyond, that deals with trauma and its aftermath." Also, Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters by Andrew Morton (Grand Central: Hachette): "Still, it’s hard not to lament a lack of scoops, or surprises, in 'Elizabeth and Margaret.'" The Life of the Mind by Christine Smallwood (Hogarth: Random House): "Smallwood’s novel is a good argument for judging a book by the sole (but high) standard of the liveliness and incisiveness of its prose." New York, New York, New York: Four Decades of Success, Excess, and Transformation by Thomas Dyja (S. & S.): "What he has produced is a tour de force, a work of astonishing breadth and depth." Festival Days by Jo Ann Beard (Little, Brown: Hachette): "It’s a testament to Beard, a towering talent, that she pulls off what might otherwise seem an act of egoistic insouciance to deliver a book as forceful as it is fine, leaving us both awed and unsettled." Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight by Julia Sweig (Random House): "...extensive, engaging." Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure by Menachem Kaiser (HMH): "...it is original, and it finishes strong." The Performance by Claire Thomas (Riverhead: Penguin): "Sometimes the novel’s digressions drift far from their original association, which might stretch the patience of a reader looking for traditional plot." Plus, brief reviews of three historical novels.

USA Today reviews Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic by Glenn Frankel (FSG: Macmillan; LJ starred review), which earns 4 stars: "Frankel puts it all together with narrative verve, telling a propulsive tale about creativity, commerce, and loss."

NPR reviews The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson (Hanover Square: HarperCollins): "I'm finding it increasingly difficult to sit and concentrate on books these days, but I read this one in a single sitting — the twists and turns are excellent, and the author ratchets up the suspense with every chapter."

The Washington Post reviews The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories by Kevin Brockmeier (Pantheon: Random House): "The real ectoplasm holding this book together, though, is existential dread. Even a medium would have difficulty reading more than a few of these stories in one sitting."

Briefly Noted

The April Library Reads list is up. The top pick is The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan (Berkley: Penguin).

The Millions selects the best books out this week.

Lit Hub suggests 14 recent releases.

BuzzFeed rounds up "The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Books Coming Out This Spring."

Tor.com recommends 100 speculative fiction books.

Book Riot has "13 Great 2021 Short Story Collections By Asian Authors."

Vulture lists "The 15 Best Books About TV Comedies."

Barbara Hoffert has new Prepub Alert columns in LJ. 

Shea Serrano announced his new book, Hip-Hop (And Other Things) (Twelve), on Twitter. It's due out Oct. 5.

Actor Idris Elba is working on several children's books that HarperCollins will publish beginning in 2022. The Associated Press has details.

Entertainment Weekly has an excerpt of the author's note from Why We Fly by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal (Sourcebooks Fire), which is due out Oct. 5.

Kiley Reid shares some favorite recent reads with Amazon.

The L.A. Times speaks with Amy Solomon about Notes From the Bathroom Line: Humor, Art, and Low-grade Panic from 150 of the Funniest Women in Comedy (Harper Design).

"If there’s any time for communal anything, it’s now, right?" says Kiese Laymon, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America (Agate Bolden: Ingram; LJ starred review), in an interview with The Rumpus.

Kirkus has a Q&A with Jo Koy, Mixed Plate: Chronicles of an All-American Combo (Dey Street: HarperCollins).

"A job, a car, and a backseat full of stuff seems more than you deserve when at night others are trudging across that same parking lot to sleep against the storefront," writes A. J. Gnuse, Girl in the Walls (Ecco: HarperCollins), about being homeless for The Guardian. 

Don Lemon, This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism (Little, Brown: Hachette), does the "By The Book" column at the NYT.

Autostraddle speaks with poet Minnie Bruce Pratt about Magnified (Wesleyan).

Kate Washington, Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America (Beacon), discusses the growing number of caregivers in America with Datebook.

Lit Hub interviews Imbolo Mbue, How Beautiful We Were (Random House).

As part of the 125th anniversary of the NYT Book Review, the paper has an interactive, illustrated timeline that highlights notable moments.

Authors on Air

Shelf Awareness outlines all the Oscar-nominated films that are based on books.

See a trailer for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which has associated titles. It premiers on Disney+ March 19. 

NPR's All Things Considered speaks with Bill Gates, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need (Knopf: Random House).

At NPR's Morning Edition, Amanda L. Tyler discusses Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue : A Life's Work Fighting for a More Perfect Union (Univ. of California), which she collaborated on with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

Deborah Feldman, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots (S. & S.), discusses her book and its Netflix adaptation on NPR's Fresh Air.

Mark Harris, Mike Nichols: A Life (Penguin; LJ starred review), is on Late Night with Seth Meyers tonight.

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