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Big Books of the Week

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey (Avon; LJ starred review) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle (Atria)

Phantom Game by Christine Feehan (Berkley)

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake (Tor)

Wild Irish Rose by Rhys Bowen & Clare Broyles (Minotaur)

These books and others publishing the week of Feb. 28th, 2022 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Awards

The Aspen Words Literary Prize announces its 2022 shortlist. Publishing Perspectives has more.

The SAG Awards are announced. The Hollywood Reporter has the winners.

The USC Scripter Awards honored both authors and screenwriters of The Lost Daughter, based on the novel by Elena Ferrante, Dopesick, based on the book by Beth Macy, and The Underground Railroad, based on the novel by Colson Whitehead. Deadline has details.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Six LibraryReads and eleven Indie Next picks publish this week:

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle (Atria)

“After her mother Carol dies, Katy escapes to Positano on the dream trip they were supposed to take. When she arrives, she meets a 30 year old version of Carol, and discovers what she really wants out of life. A captivating read that makes you want to jump on a plane to Italy and rediscover the magic. For readers of The Butterfly’s Daughter and The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry.”—Alicia Ahlvers, Henrico Cty Public Library, Henrico, VA

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“One Italian Summer is pure magic. Rebecca Serle marvelously creates a literary world that feels full and alive, like I can catch a flight with Katy and experience Italy alongside her. This treasure of a book is sure to delight readers.”—Kaitlin Smith, Copperfield's Books, Healdsburg, CA

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey (Avon; LJ starred review)

“Production assistant Hannah comes back to the small coastal town where her sister now lives to work on a film, but has to room with fisherman Fox, the local player. She’s off limits because she’s his captain’s sister- in law, but it’s only a matter of time before sparks fly! For fans of Lyssa Kay Adams and Susan Mallery.”—Jessica C. Williams, Tiffin-Seneca Public Library, Tiffin, OH

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“A wonderful sequel to It Happened One Summer. I loved watching Hannah and Fox’s love bloom out of friendship as they both overcome insecurities, both seriously and with humor. And the town of Westport! When can I move there?”—Melissa Stusinski, Trail's End Bookstore, Winthrop, WA

Sundial by Catriona Ward (Tor Nightmare)

“Rob is trapped in a loveless marriage and worries about her daughter Callie’s increasingly disturbed behavior. Rob takes Callie to her own childhood home in hopes of helping her, but to do so she must reveal her family's dark past. Full of mind-blowing twists, this psychological horror tale is for readers of The Cabin at the End of the World and The Drowning Kind."—Blinn Sheffield, Greenwood-Leflore Public Library, Greenwood, MS

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay (Minotaur; LJ starred review)

“On New Year’s Eve 1999, four teenage girls working at a New Jersey video store are brutally attacked. Fifteen years later an almost identical crime occurs. Is it the same killer? This second installment following FBI agent Sarah Keller is a quick read with several fun twists and turns. A fast-paced thriller for readers of Final Girls and Dark Places.”—Jayme Oldham, Highland Park Public Library, Highland Park, IL

Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter (Berkley)

“A humorous, contemporary romcom. Olivia’s life has been a series of freak accidents and misdeeds. After she accidentally sets her home on fire, she moves in with her brother and his bestie Colin. Things start looking up when a misdial turns into flirty and fun texting with Mr. Wrong Number. Guess who that turns out to be? Great for fans of Falon Ballard, Sophie Sullivan, or Sara Desai.”—Laura Eckert, Clermont County Public Library, Milford, OH

A Brush with Love by Mazey Eddings (St. Martin’s Griffin)

“This debut romance set at a dental school includes some wonderful laugh-out-loud moments and also those that brought me to tears. Harper's anxiety is portrayed truthfully and tenderly, and Dan has some baggage too. For fans of The Happy Ever After Playlist and The Bride Test.”—Rebecca Swanson, Fitchburg Public Library, Fitchburg, WI

Nine additional Indie Next picks arrive this week:

The Believer: Encounters with the Beginning, the End, and our Place in the Middle by Sarah Krasnostein (Tin House)

“This strange, endearing book is unconventional. The stories are told piece by piece instead of all at once, mirroring the author's experience and challenging us to think hard about what we believe. I’ll think about this one for a while.”—Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, NC

The Wonders by Elena Medel, trans. by Lizzie Davis & Thomas Bunstead (Algonquin)

“With a virtuosic translation by Lizzie Davis and Thomas Bunstead, The Wonders marks Elena Medel as a powerful new voice. Compelling from start to finish, you won’t put down this sharp novel of working-class women and political struggle.”—Jacob Rogers, Center for Fiction Bookstore, Brooklyn, NY

Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman (Counterpoint)

“A beautiful portrait of a family and the stories that echoed through their lives. Spanning over 30 years, Rebecca Kauffman brings drama, pain, and joy to life in every moment. An account of the scars that bind an unforgettable family.—Luisa Smith, Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA

Groundskeeping by Lee Cole (Knopf)

“Set on a small college campus, Groundskeeping follows a young man who moves home and finds himself in a covert relationship with the college’s writer-in-residence. A masterful coming-of-age debut on the messiness of writers’ lives.”—Lindsay Lynch, Parnassus Books, Nashville, TN

Never Simple: A Memoir by Liz Scheier (Henry Holt, & Co.)

“Liz Scheier does for memoir what her mother Judith did for dysfunction: excels. As young Liz struggles with her mother’s aggressive behavior, she sees that things are not as they should be, and life’s never simple. A beautiful tragedy.”—Kayleen Rohrer, InkLink Books, East Troy, WI

The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith (Ballantine; LJ starred review)

“Greta James and her father, grieving her mother’s sudden death, become unlikely companions on an Alaskan cruise. With a rocky relationship, grief, and Greta’s onstage breakdown, can they start fresh? I was hooked from the start!” —Kathy Morrison, Newtown Bookshop, Newtown, PA

The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers (Morrow)

“In 1940's North Carolina, tobacco is big business. If you saw that the crop your community’s livelihood depends on also harms their health, what would you do? This is teenager Maddie Sykes’ dilemma. Her story will really make you think.”—Heather Obenberger, Bookends On Main, Menomonie, WI

Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin (Scribner)

“A compelling examination of the power and importance of memories, and the question of how much of our self would change if we could control which memories we keep and which we discard.”—Christy Peterson, Vintage Books, Vancouver, WA

Girl in Ice by Erica Ferencik (Gallery/Scout)

“I knew little about linguistics or the Arctic until I read Erica Ferencik's fascinating book. Her style is fast, impossible to put down, and the landscape is beautifully written. This is my first Ferencik book; it will not be the last.”—Connie L. Eaton, Three Sisters Books & Gifts, Shelbyville, IN

In the Media

The People "Picks" book of the week is Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals by Laurie Zaleski (St. Martin’s; LJ starred review). Also getting attention are Our American Friend by Anna Pitoniak (S. & S.), and Life Without Children by Roddy Doyle (Viking). A “Star Picks” section highlights Untamed by Glennon Doyle (The Dial Press: Random House), The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll (Portfolio), and Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz (Harper).

The “Picks” section also spotlights the movie Cyrano, based on the play by Edmond Rostand, BBC America’s Killing Eve, based on the Villanelle book series by Luke Jennings, and Showtime’s Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, based on the book by Mike Isaac. Harvey Fierstein, whose memoir I Was Better Last Night (Knopf; LJ starred review), releases this week, looks back on his life in pictures. Plus, Jet Tila, 101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die: The Essential Recipes, Techniques and Ingredients of Thailand, written with Tad Weyland Fukomoto (Page Street Publishing), shares a recipe.

Reviews

NYT reviews One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General by William P. Barr (Morrow): “This is a pattern in Barr’s book: He nitpicks his way to desired conclusions by carefully navigating a lawyerly path around finely drawn distinctions, all the while lobbing bomblets at anyone he defines as an enemy.” The Washington Post also reviews: “Though he casts himself in his book as resisting pressure to take inappropriate steps, critics are likely to accuse him of offering a self-serving retelling of events to sell books and rehabilitate his own public image.”  Also, The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found by Frank Bruni (Avid Reader: S. & S.): “As Bruni walks alongside those who have heard the unwanted news, suffered the terrifying and somehow found intimacy, purpose and joy, he metabolizes his own loss into a muscular wisdom.”

The Guardian reviews Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday): “It’s fascinating to read Atwood’s reflections on her own novels and their continued relevance, sometimes three or four decades after the fact, but equally striking to see how many pieces she has included here generously celebrating other writers.” The Washington Post also reviews: “Burning Questions both stimulating and frustrating. It’s certainly a dipper rather than a straight-through read. But it’s a foolish reader who fails to seek the flashes of brilliance and insight that glint amid the more workaday pieces.”

Briefly Noted

NYT talks with Amy Bloom about her new memoir, In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss (Random), her “marriage, her husband’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis and his decision to end his life.”

LA Times provides seven takeaways from the new book, Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm by Dan Charnas (MCD).

FoxNews talks with retired FBI profiler John E. Douglas about Larry Gene Bell, the subject of his true-crime book, When a Killer Calls: A Haunting Story of Murder, Criminal Profiling, and Justice in a Small Town, written with Mark Olshaker (Dey Street Books).

The Guardian has an interview with Catriona Ward about her new book, Sundial (Tor Nightmare).

USA Today talks with Bob Odenkrik about his new memoir, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama (Random), his heart attack, and the end of Better Call Saul.

Bustle talks to The Nanny designer Brenda Cooper about her new book, The Silhouette Solution: Using What You Have to Get the Look You Want (Clarkson Potter), and dressing Fran Drescher.

Hayao Miyazaki’s 1983 graphic novel, Shuna’s Journey (First Second: Macmillan), will publish in English for the first time on November 1st. LitHub has the story. 

USA Today picks five books for the week.

CrimeReads suggests 10 books out this week.

The Washington Post has February’s best reviewed books.

NYT has “6 Books to Read for Context on Ukraine.”

People spotlights several contemporary Black authors. 

Bitch shares a Queer Rom-Com reading list from BookTokker Laynie Rose Rizer.

PopSugar gathers more than "130 of the best new book releases so far.”

Vogue has 15 audiobook recommendations, and “The Five Books That Changed Haley Bennett’s Life.”

“Leo Bersani, Literary Critic and Theorist on Gay Life, Dies at 90.” NYT has an obituary.

Authors On Air

NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday talks with Beyoncé collaborator Warsan Shire, about her new book of poems, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head (Random House Trade Paperbacks). Also, Stephanie Foo talks about her new book, What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma (Ballantine; LJ starred review).

NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday speaks with Claire-Louise Bennett about her new novel, Checkout 19 (Riverhead).

CBS Sunday Morning talks with Ric Prado about his book, Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior (St. Martin’s), and shares an excerpt.

PBS Canvas features scientist and author Daniel J. Levitin, Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives (Dutton), and “picking up music at an older age.”

An Outlander prequel series is coming to Starz. Variety reports.

Country Living rounds up “everything we know about the highly-anticipated Where the Crawdads Sing movie.”

Bustle has “everything to know” about the Apple TV series based on Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko (Grand Central; LJ starred review).

Bob Odenkrik, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama (Random) visits with Stephen Colbert tonight and will be on The View tomorrow. Frank Bruni, The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found (Avid Reader: S. & S.) will be on with Seth Meyers tomorrow.

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