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Awards & News

The 2022 Compton Crook Award finalists are announced. Locus has details.

Megan Marshall wins the 2022 BIO Award. 

Jenna Bush Hager announces book club production deal with exclusive first-look adaptation rights. Variety reports. 

Reviews

NYT reviews Black Cloud Rising by David Wright Falade (Grove; LJ starred review): “What is burned to the ground, satisfyingly, are the houses of holdout slave owners, landed aristocrats. This is a classic war story told simply and well, its meanings not forced but allowed to bubble up on their own.” And, Our American Friend by Anna Pitoniak (S. & S.): “ultimately, it’s more like Emily in Paris meets Scandal — fantastic fun if a bit frivolous.”  And, Chilean Poet by Alejandro Zambra, trans. by Megan McDowell (Viking; LJ starred revew): “How much you enjoy “Chilean Poet” will depend on the amount of patience you have for the trend of writer-protagonists, a symptom of the autofictional turn.”  Also, Lincoln and the Fight for Peace by John Avlon (S. & S.): “Avlon is right to offer us comfort from the fact that we have been at moments like this before, and survived. But Lincoln was not entirely the 'soulful centrist.' And centrism, unhappily, did not spare us either a hideous civil war or a botched reconstruction.” And, Watergate: A New History by Garrett M. Graff (Avid Reader: S. & S.): “A lively writer, Graff explores the dramatic scope of the Watergate saga through its participants — politicians, investigators, journalists, whistle-blowers and, at center stage, Nixon himself…”  Plus, Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age by Dennis Duncan (Norton; LJ starred revew): “As erected by Duncan, this set of thoughtful rhetorical signposts ushers the reader smoothly, even soothingly, along a fascinating, immensely pleasurable journey through previously uncharted terrain.”

NPR reviews Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James (Riverhead): "this is a novel that begs to be read in one sitting — thought it is nearly impossible to do so without coming out the other end feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. But make no mistake, this series is absolutely a must-read." The Washington Post also reviews: "Sogolon is a thrilling, haunting heroine; in fact, she’s 'the baddest woman alive.' And when she says, 'Every connection reminded me of loneliness,' my heart aches for her to be free from such sorrow. But I also wish she could be loosened a bit from the dense thicket of this novel." Also on NPR, a review of Black American Refugee: Escaping the Narcissism of the American Dream by Tiffanie Drayton (Viking): "In her homeland, Drayton can finally celebrate being free from American racism. Still, despite everything she has experienced, and while noting that 'abusers seldom change,' Drayton retains hope that America will eventually live up to its promise."

LA Times reviews Pure Colour by Sheila Heti (FSG): “Pure Colour is as much about making art as it is about living. It’s about the contradictions and complexities inherent in trying to do both at the same time.”

Briefly Noted

USA Today talks with Stephen King and Richard Chizmar about their collaboration for the final book the Gwendy Peterson book series, Gwendy's Final Task (Gallery). 

The Rumpus talks with author Ariel Delgado Dixon about the “Troubled Teen Industry, creating realistic characters through specificity, and transcending beyond the trauma plot,” in the new novel, Don’t Say We Didn't Warn You (Random).

LA Times talks with Alejandro Zambra about his new book, Chilean Poet (Viking; LJ starred revew), Chile, and the inspiration he took from Roberto Bolaño.

USA Today interviews Tiffanie Drayton, Black American Refugee: Escaping the Narcissism of the American Dream (Viking), about why she left the United States.

Vulture chats with Art Spiegelman about Maus (Pantheon).

The Washington Post reflects on the work of Thomas Savage, whose book, The Power of the Dog (Back Bay Books) was adapted for Jane Campion’s award winning film.

The New Yorker writes about You Don't Know Us Negros and Other Essays by Zora Neale Hurston, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Genevieve West (Amistad), and the “The Zora Neale Hurston We Don’t Talk About.”

Forbes previews Dr. Deborah Birx's forthcoming book, Silent Invasion: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, Covid-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It's Too Late (Harper), due out on April 26th. 

Parade shares the latest updates on Diana Gabaldon’s forthcoming tenth Outlander book.

CrimeReads has an excerpt of this month’s top Loanstars pick, The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James (Berkley; LJ starred review), due out March 15th.

io9 offers an excerpt of Willow Smith’s fantasy, Black Shield Maiden, due out on October 4th from Penguin Random House.

Tor excerpts the forthcoming collection, The Adventurists: and Other Stories by Richard Butner (Small Beer Press), which publishes March 22nd.

The AV Club’s monthly book club asks: “What are you reading in February?”

The Millions lists notable releases for the week.

BookRiot shares 6 books for the week. 

Bonnie Kistler, The Cage (Harper), recommends office thrillers for CrimeReads. Also, there are lists of identity-switching mysteries, and “Quozy” (queer cozy) mysteries.

Essence lists “13 Queer Reads.”

HipLatina highlights “10 Latinx Romance Authors to Keep on Your Radar.”

ElectricLit offers a booklist for the moon cycle and 7 books about star-crossed lovers. 

Authors On Air

The forthcoming thriller, Heat 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner (Morrow), which is the first in a three-book deal, sells foreign rights. Deadline reports. The novel, due out August 9th, tells “the story of everything that happens before and after to the principal characters” in Mann’s film Heat.

An original anime film, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, based on the books by Tolkien, will release on April 12, 2024. Variety has an exclusive.

Shakespeare's Macbeth returns to Broadway. T&C has casting news. 

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