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Big Books of the Week

Homecoming by Kate Morton (Mariner) leads library holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random; LJ starred review)

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth (St. Martin’s)

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Tor)

A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan (Viking; LJ starred review)

These books and others publishing the week of Apr. 3, 2023, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Six LibraryReads and nine Indie Next picks publish this week:

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth (St. Martin’s)

“A tragic situation takes an ominously personal turn when Pippa’s husband, first thought to be an unwitting witness to a stranger’s suicide, is revealed to have a secret connection to the woman. As more is revealed, Pippa has to wonder if her husband played more of a hands-on role in the woman’s death. Readers will be swept away with this twisty, well-crafted thriller.”—Sharon Layburn, South Huntington Public Library, Huntington Station, NY

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Sally Hepworth doesn’t disappoint with this latest domestic thriller. She hooked me from the first few pages and shows how any of us can question what we think we see and believe about our spouses.”—Jennifer O'Neal-Rojas, Walls of Books, Oviedo, FL

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random; LJ starred review)

“The Danny Horst Rule states that a gorgeous male celebrity like Noah Brewster would not fall in love with an average-looking woman like Sally Milz. So Sally can’t fathom why Noah seems drawn to her as they prepare for the Saturday night comedy show where he is the guest host and she is a staff writer. This is a modern love story with intricately fleshed out characters and fresh dialogue, authentically set during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.”—Judy Haynes Sebastian, Eastham Public Library, Eastham, MA

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“It’s a joy to read Curtis Sittenfeld’s fun new novel. Clearly written as a healing project during the pandemic, it emphasizes the magical nature of crushes and human connection, and how we come together with other people against all odds.”—Pete Dyer, McNally Jackson Books, New York, NY

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown (Tor Nightfire; LJ starred review)

“Jacklyn ‘Jack’ Albright is first mate of the ship Calypso, en route back to earth after a failed attempt to colonize another planet. Jack’s father is the captain, but he sealed himself in private quarters weeks ago as things are breaking down. The pacing and growing insidious dread in this novella are awesome. The crippling fear of the unknown makes for a delicious read.”—KatieLee Sliger, Boise Public Library, Boise, ID

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang (Dutton)

“This hauntingly beautiful and chilling novel showcases the otherwordly experience the main character goes through at the expense of her health and beauty, and how damaging it can be. It was bleak, but atmospheric and luminous in a weird way. The descriptions were interesting and drew me in further and further. A mind-bender that readers will plow through in a day or two!”—Erin McLaughlin, Librarian in Austin, TX

Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose (Ballantine)

“Ciara is a perfect mom and influencer who knows what to do, buy, and promote in her small Irish town. Ciara also is an irresponsible woman who plays friends against each other, eats up and spits out all the town husbands, and seals her own fate with her reprehensible behavior. An Orient Express–like cast shines in this twisty domestic thriller about secrets and lies.”—Donna Ballard, East Meadow Public Library, East Meadow, NY

Homecoming by Kate Morton (Mariner)

“Set in Australia, this novel examines the mysterious circumstances of a family tragedy on Christmas Eve in 1959. In the present day, a woman delves into her own past to uncover the secrets that impacted her life in ways she doesn’t yet understand. Morton’s books often contain well-developed characters, twisty plots, and family secrets, and this is no exception.”—Lesley Williams, Claymont Public Library–New Castle County

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Homecoming provides the perfect atmosphere and suspense to immerse readers in a tale of family both lost and found. The book will take you on a trip down under to a rich, satisfying and surprising conclusion.”—Betsy Von Kerens, The Bookworm of Omaha, Omaha, NE

Six additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

Ozark Dogs by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)

“Wow, this Southern noir thriller is gripping! Blood is thicker than water in these Ozark towns, but family relationships are complicated and there are no easy answers, leading to hard—and surprising—choices. Absolutely unforgettable.”—Lia Lent, WordsWorth Books, Little Rock, AR

Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison (Soft Skull)

“Blue Hour is a raw and unflinching look at Black motherhood in America. Tiffany Clarke Harrison’s almost stream of consciousness writing style is reminiscent of Natasha Brown and Jenny Offill, making it quick but packing a punch.”—Lizzy Rolando, Salmonberry Books, Port Orchard, WA

Saltwater Demands a Psalm: Poems by Kweku Abimbola (Graywolf)

“Kweku Abimbola’s collection is a dazzling appreciation of Black life. It reaches both backwards, to Ghana and a pre-American cultural past, and forwards to a life beyond violence, where Blackness and joy coexist in a single, uninterrupted river.”—Camden Avery, The Booksmith, San Francisco, CA

The House Is on Fire by Rachel Beanland (S. & S.)

“The House Is on Fire captures the early 1800s in the United States through the lens of a theater fire in Richmond. Beanland reconstructs the story of the fire while discussing slavery and abuse, womanhood, misogyny, and child labor.”—Kyle Churman, Werner Books, Erie, PA

A Living Remedy: A Memoir by Nicole Chung (Ecco)

“A heartbreaking, yet deeply loving memoir about the complexities of healthcare inequality. Chung draws on her experiences in her white adoptive family to understand how inequalities perpetuate distance and divisiveness.”—Erin Pastore, Water Street Bookstore, Exeter, NH

House of Cotton by Monica Brashears (Flatiron)

“I am so, so in love with this book. Monica Brashears is such a skilled writer, and this is a great, macabre, spicy Black Southern gothic novel. It is real and unreal, strange and familiar—that perfect liminal space book.”—Anton Bogomazov, Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington, DC

In The Media

People’s book of the week is Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin (Henry Holt). Also getting attention are Commitment by Mona Simpson (Knopf) and Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls (Scribner). A “New in YA” section highlights Promise Boys by Nick Brooks (Little, Brown), We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride (Feiwel & Friends), Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong (Nancy Paulsen Bks.), and The Davenports by Krystal Marquis (Dial). 

There are also 10 questions about King Charles’s upcoming coronation, along with an excerpt from Sally Bedell Smith’s George VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Saved the Monarchy (Random), which publishes this week. Plus recipes by Alison Roman, Sweet Enough: A Dessert Cookbook (Clarkson Potter), and Jocelyn Delk Adams, Everyday Grand: Soulful Recipes for Celebrating Life’s Big and Small Moments, written with Olga Massov (Clarkson Potter).

April’s Costco Connection is out, featuring interviews with Jeannette Walls and Kate Morton whose novels, Hang the Moon (Scribner) and Homecoming (Mariner), respectively, are buyer’s picks. The book club pick is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (Tor; LJ starred review), which arrives in paperback next week.

Reviews

NYT reviews A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan (Viking; LJ starred review): “Egan…writes with brisk authority and an eye for the vivid, and unsettling, detail. There are many in this book, which reads at times like a screenplay for a crime procedural, at others like a horror film”; Picasso the Foreigner: An Artist in France, 1900–1973 by Annie Cohen-Solal, tr. by Sam Taylor (Farrar): “Indeed, what the book really is, or wants to be, is a form of art history as protest. Cohen-Solal’s recurring first-person appearances throughout make this clear”; The Long Reckoning: A Story of War, Peace, and Redemption in Vietnam by George Black (Knopf): “Black, a British journalist living in New York and the author of several books on foreign policy, unites his areas of expertise in international affairs and the environment to explore a landscape littered with the detritus of war: scrap metal, unexploded ordnance, soil and water contaminated by herbicides Americans sprayed, spilled and dumped over swaths of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia”; and This Is Not Miami by Fernanda Melchor, tr. by Sophie Hughes (New Directions): “Melchor makes her point (not without sorrow and gruesome humor), then gets out of the way, so that her subjects can speak.”

The Washington Post reviews Make Something Wonderful by Steve Jobs (Steve Jobs Archive): “The book’s material, ordered chronologically, focuses on Jobs’s inner thoughts, philosophies and mantras more than his business decisions or how he became one of the preeminent corporate leaders of his time”; and Francisco by Alison Mills Newman, tr. by Saidiya Hartman (New Directions): “Audiences first encountering Francisco today may find it as elusive as ever. The new material bookending the novel only amplifies its contradictions.”

Briefly Noted

Audiofile announces the April Earphones Award Winners. 

ABCNews reports that a Texas county's book ban has been overruled with challenged titles returning to libraries.

Judy Blume speaks out about censorship. Entertainment Weekly reports. The Guardian also reports on an interview Blume gave with the BBC where she laments that book banning is now much worse in U.S. than in the 1980s. 

NYT has a feature on author Sarah Bakewell and her newest book, Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope (Penguin Pr.). Bakewell is also interviewed on Writers & Company. 

LOC changes copyright requirements. Publishers Lunch reports.

Curtis Sittenfeld discusses the inspirations behind her new book, Romantic Comedy (Random; LJ starred review), at LA Times.

Nicole Chung talks about how she rewrote her memoir, A Living Remedy (Ecco), after losing a second parent during COVID, with LA Times.

USA Today shares 5 books for the week.

LitHub has 20 new paperbacks for April.

CrimeReads suggests 10 books for the week. 

LA Times shares “10 books to add to your reading list in April.”

Amazon editors recommend gardening books for spring. 

NPR highlights “5 mysteries and thrillers to transport you this spring.”

“Ryuichi Sakamoto, Pioneering Electronic Musician and Oscar Winner for ‘Last Emperor’ Score, Dies at 71.” Variety remembers his life.

“Peter Usborne CBE, founder of children’s publisher Usborne, dies aged 85.” The Bookseller has an obituary. 

Authors On Air

NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday talks with Rachel Eve Moulton about her new horror novel, The Insatiable Volt Sisters (MCD x FSG Originals).

The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Leaves Unsaid by Will Bardenwerper (Scribner) will be adapted for feature film. Deadline reports. 

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