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Big Books of the Week

Code Red by Vince Flynn & Kyle Mills (Atria/Emily Bestler) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

23 1/2 Lies by James Patterson (Grand Central)

Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar (Gallery)

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff (Riverhead)

Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Bramble)

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (Soho Crime; LJ starred review)

These books and others publishing the week of September 11, 2023, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Walter Isaacson’s Elon Musk Arrives

NYT reviews Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson (S. & S): “Yet even as Musk struggles to relate to the actual humans around him, his plans for humanity are grand.” Washington Post also reviews: “This being an Isaacson biography, though, it’s clear he intends for Elon Musk to be more than a bunch of interesting stories about a controversial guy. He frames it as a character study, a quest to understand and perhaps reconcile the contradictions at Musk’s core.”

NYT shares details from the new book, as does People. LA Times highlights the “biggest ideas and pettiest rages” described in the book, while The Atlantic asks in an interview with Isaacson: “Will anyone ever make sense of Elon Musk?”

Isaacson discusses his latest biographical subject with CBS Sunday Morning, saying, “It’s almost like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Read an excerpt here. 

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Three LibraryReads and seven Indie Next picks publish this week:

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner (Harper Voyager)

“Three mortals and a minor god go on a quest and encounter a water spirit. Gripping from the first page, this fantasy novel explores this complex world with just the right amount of world-building and description. Highly recommended for fans of The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Chakraborty, The Name of the Wind by Rothfuss and classic fantasy.”—Tommy Buttaccio, The New York Public Library, NY

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff (Riverhead)

“This stunningly haunting, lyrical novel is set in the New World settlement of Jamestown, when colonists established an outpost neighboring the Powhatan natives. Disease, conflict, and drought loom, with death soon following. In this period known as the Starving Time, sadly resulting in cannibalism, a servant girl flees, traveling deep into the woods. Escaping only with a few possessions, she eats what she can, desperate to survive.”—KC Davis, LibraryReads Ambassador, CT

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Lauren Groff is at the height of her power as a writer. The Vaster Wilds explores how one young woman’s experience of survival defines her. Rich in nuance, gorgeous, and full of the mystery of spirit, this novel meditates on life itself.”—Deirdre Kidder, Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA

Perfectly Nice Neighbors by Kia Abdullah (Putnam)

“This domestic thriller is about the dynamic and ongoing battle between neighbors, giving readers a suspenseful and exciting conclusion that they won't see coming. The commentary about race and social media is relatable to the world we live in. The battle between these neighbors may make readers think twice about moving to the suburbs.”—Tabrizia Jones, The New York Public Library, NY

Six additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

The Heart of It All by Christian Kiefer (Melville House)

“The Heart of It All’s beauty is its subtlety. Set in working-class Ohio, it shows the struggles and grace of people for whom the American Dream has slipped away. This is not a tale of good or evil, it’s a bridge to understand our modern times.”—Pat Rudebusch, Orinda Books, Orinda, CA

Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Bramble)

“Fall of Ruin and Wrath introduces a compelling and well-designed new world of intuition, rulers who feed on the pleasure of the lowborn, and the terrifying knowledge of what is to come for the people you love. A read you won’t want to put down.”—Katie Varner, The Same Page, Claremore, OK

What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman (Quirk Books)

“Just when I settled in to the rhythm of this novel, it knocked me off my feet. It did that a couple times, and I absolutely loved it. It is essentially a meditation on parenthood and how that can change a person—for better or worse.”—Daniel Jordan, Pearl’s Books, Fayetteville, AR

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (Soho Crime; LJ starred review)

“As the Monochrome is disbanded, two members are slipped info about a mission in Cold War Berlin with serious consequences. Filled with hairpin plot twists, cutting dialogue, and dark humor, this spy novel is my favorite book of 2023 so far.”—Timothy Benz, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH

The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush (Scribner)

“The Six introduces us to the real first women astronauts, who faced incredible scrutiny. The awesomeness of space exploration, the Challenger tragedy, the unreasonable press questions—experience it all with this accomplished group.”—Rosemary Pugliese, Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, Asheville, NC

Rouge by Mona Awad (S. & S.; Marysue Rucci Books)

“We all have complicated relationships with family; this book holds a mirror up to a mother-daughter relationship. Obsessed with beauty, this spiral of grief wraps around your throat and you’ll gasp for breath! So raw and superbly genius.”—Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books, Wake Forest, NC

In the Media

People’s book of the week is Chenneville: A Novel of Murder, Loss, and Vengeance by Paulette Jiles (Morrow; LJ starred review). Also getting attention are Rouge by Mona Awad (S. & S.; Marysue Rucci), and One Blood by Denene Millner (Forge; LJ starred review). There is also a Q&A with Cedric the Entertainer, whose debut novel Flipping Boxcars (Amistad), publishes this week.
The “Picks” section spotlights Netflix’s Virgin River, based on the series by Robyn Carr, Hulu’s The Other Black Girl, based on the book by Zakiya Dalila Harris, and AMC’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. There is a feature on Jill Duggar and her new memoir, Counting the Cost (Gallery). Plus, Gabriel “Gator” Guilbeau, Yellowstone: The Official Dutton Ranch Family Cookbook (Insight Editions), Natalie Keng, Egg Rolls & Sweet Tea: Asian Inspired, Southern Style (Gibbs Smith), and Michael Symon, Simply Symon Suppers: Recipes and Menus for Every Week of the Year, written with Douglas Trattner (Clarkson Potter), share recipes.

Reviews

NYT reviews The Pole by J.M. Coetzee (Liveright): “Coetzee, who is 83, retains a sure touch. This is a convincing late-period novel. If it doesn’t rank with this Nobelist’s finest work, it is no embarrassment”; Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career by Kristi Coulter (MCD): “Coulter’s writing is funny and warm, bringing to life a cast of people caught in the same corporate maelstrom”; Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet by Ben Goldfarb (Norton): “Crossings, by the environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb, is a fascinating and compassionate look at the repercussions of roads, inviting us to rethink their design through the relatively new science of road ecology”; and Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown (Morrow): “You might open Nineteen Steps for the celebrity name, but stick with it for the history of an under-recognized event of World War II, a disaster still not satisfactorily resolved for many.”

Briefly Noted

The National Book Foundation will honor Rita Dove with a medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Publishing Perspectives has details.

LitHub announces the shortlist for 2023 American Library in Paris Book Award. 

Marisa Meltzer talks with LA Times about her new book, Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss’s Glossier (Atria/One Signal), and the question “Is a ‘girlboss’ a good witch or a bad witch?”

NYT has a feature on Lauren Groff and her latest novel, The Vaster Wilds (Riverhead). 

Entertainment Weekly recounts author Percival Everett’s reaction to a private screening of American Fiction, the adaptation of his book Erasure. 

NYT previews Cat Bohannon’s forthcoming book, Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution (Knopf). 

CrimeReads shares 10 new books for the week. 

WSJ shares 18 books for the week. 

Elle shares “The 20 Best Fantasy Books to Read for Ultimate Escapism.”

T&C has “20 Books to Read After Finishing Fourth Wing.”

Stephen King’s novel Christine and its film adaptation turn 40 this year. Salon takes an appreciative look back at King’s hot rod story.

Authors on Air 

CBS Sunday Morning talks with Oprah Winfrey and Arthur C. Brooks about their new book, Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier (Portfolio), and shares an excerpt. 

NPR’s Morning Edition chats with Lauren Groff about prepping, survival, and her new book, The Vaster Wilds (Riverhead). 

NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday talks with Ghassan Zeineddine about his debut story collection, Dearborn (Tin House). 

GMA has a 2023 fall movie preview.

Vanity Fair visits the set of Apple TV’s Lessons in Chemistry, based on the book by Bonnie Garmus.

AMC+ releases a trailer for Monsieur Spade, featuring iconic detective Sam Spade from Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon.

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