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Black History Month Reads

Bustle has “The Best Black History Month Reads, According to This Year’s Debut Authors.”

HipLatina shares “10 Afro-Latina Writers Whose Work You Need to Read.”

Page to Screen

February 11:

Death on the Nile, based on the book by Agatha Christie. 20th Century Studios. Reviews | Trailer

Marry Me, based on the graphic novel by Bobby Crosby. Universal Pictures. No reviews | Trailer

The Sky is Everywhere, based on the book by Jandy Nelson. A24. AppleTV+. No reviews | Trailer

Inventing Anna, based on the New York article “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” by Jessica Pressler. No reviews | Trailer

Love and Leashes, based on the webtoon Moral Sense by Gyeoul. Netflix. No reviews | Trailer

February 17:

Big Nate, based on the book series by Lincoln Peirce. Paramount+. No reviews | Trailer

Young Wallander, based on the book series by Henning Mankell. Netflix. Reviews | Trailer

Reviews

NPR reviews Cost of Living by Emily Maloney (Holt): “offers insight into the subculture of medicine and incites the reader to think more deeply about what our health care system is costing us all.”

NYT reviews Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman (Penguin): "if one idea holds the weight of this thoughtful, acerbic, bracingly hopeful book, it’s that everything is gender, except gender, which is everything else." Also, The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka (Knopf; LJ starred review): "Though it doesn’t answer the unanswerable, the novel’s quiet insistence resonates: that it is our perfectly ordinary proclivities that make us who we are. We know the ending, of course: For all of us, it’s death. But until that comes there are objects upon objects, actions upon actions, swimming in circles, until it’s time to go."

The Washington Post reviews two books about Whitney Houston including Didn't We Almost Have It All by Gerrick Kennedy (Abrams): "a collection of unsparing, deeply personal essays on the singer’s life and career that arrives 10 years after her death on Feb. 11, 2012." Also, Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult (Ballantine): “She pulls off a pandemic twist that, even after two years of nonstop real-life twists, still manages to bewilder.” Plus, Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (Ballantine; LJ starred review): "It takes us on a journey that forces us to look at how both chance encounters and historical events, such as the transatlantic slave trade and Windrush migration, alter a family. The effects ripple out for generations, and the novel allows for a full reflection on how one’s self-identity can change in an instant." And, more reviews posted today.

Datebook reviews Circle Way by Mary Ann Hogan (Wonderwell: Ingram): “a collaboration, an endeavor to discover and hold the swirl of love and influence of family.” Also short reviews of three books about “love’s underbelly” including: Anonymous Sex edited by Hillary Jordan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan (Scribner), Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage by Heather Havrilesky (Ecco), and Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey by Florence Williams (Norton).

Tor.com reviews The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (Ace: Penguin Random House): “This example of a robust relationship, built through adventure and shared experience, is not unique to The Last Unicorn, however—many fantasy narratives share this strength: showing how lasting, realistic love can be built even if the events of the story are anything but ordinary or familiar in scope.”

Book Marks shares "The Best Reviewed Books of the Week."

Briefly Noted

Destiny O. Birdsong chats with Shondaland about “character voice, narratives around albinism, and the importance of created family” in her book Nobody's Magic (Grand Central).

Marlon James, Moon Witch, Spider King (Riverhead), talks with John Domini from The Brooklyn Rail about developing his style of writing.

Sharman Apt Russell, author of Within Our Grasp: Childhood Malnutrition Worldwide and the Revolution Taking Place to End It (Pantheon), has a conversation about how “hope is the best strategy” with The Rumpus.

Jennifer Haigh discusses her book Mercy Street (Ecco), as “a novel about choice set in an abortion clinic” with Electric Lit. 

Chuck Klosterman talks about “Gen X, Grunge, and sellout stuff” in his book The Nineties: A Book (Penguin Pr.; LJ starred review) with Esquire.

Jennifer Croft, translator for Olga Tokarczuk of The Books of Jacob (Riverhead), discusses the importance for recognition of translators such as herself in a piece for NYT. 

Entertainment Weekly gives a first look at How to Win at The Challenge and Life by Sydney Bucksbaum (MTV: S. & S.), a book based on the television series. 

Tor.com has a cover reveal for Africa Risen edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight (Tor.com: Macmillan).

Bustle shares an excerpt from Rebecca Roanhorse’s Tread of Angels (Gallery). 

EarlyWord releases the GalleyChat Roundup for February. 

Electric Lit lists “7 Novels About All-Women Households and Communities.”

Book Riot gives “33 Must-Read South Asian Books Out in 2022” and “Recent Haunted House Novels by Women Writers.”

Shondaland provides “10 Books to Read Aloud With Your Boo (or Bestie).”

Parade lists “32 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2022.”

NYT has “9 New Books We Recommend This Week" and "New in Paperback" featuring The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (Riverhead: Penguin) and Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City by Rosa Brooks (Penguin).

Harper Lee's estate has been charged for interference with a dramatic adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper), according to NYT. 

Authors on Air

Cynthia Pelayo’s Children of Chicago (Agora) has been optioned for film. Deadline has more.

The Fireman by Joe Hill (Morrow) will be adapted into a television series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Frank Ocean, Dua Lipa, and Cardi B will be featured in a musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion (Vintage). Lit Hub has the scoop.

Antonia Fraser speaks to Andrew Keen about an early feminist and the subject of her book The Case of the Married Woman: Caroline Norton: A 19th Century Heroine Who Wanted Justice for Women (Pegasus).

Well-Read Black Girl podcast "launches literary series to debut books from women and non-binary authors." USA Today reports.

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