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Big Books of the Week

I Will Find You by Harlan Coben (Grand Central) leads library holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Collateral Damage by J.A. Jance (Gallery)

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Dial)

So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon (Atlantic Monthly Pr.)

The Love Wager by Lynn Painter (Berkley)

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Berkley)

These books and others publishing the week of Mar. 13, 2023 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Academy Awards & More 

The Oscars were awarded last night, with Everything Everywhere All at Once winning seven awards, inncluding Best Picture. Awards went to several adaptations including All Quiet on the Western Front, based on the book by Erich Maria Remarque, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, based on the book The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, and The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, based on the book by Charlie Mackesy. Sarah Polley won best adapted screenplay for Women Talking, based on the novel by Miriam Toews. Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline have coverage. T&C has an Oscar nominee streaming guide, and LitHub has a literary guide to the 2023 Oscars.

Ruth E. Carter, author of the forthcoming The Art of Ruth E. Carter: Costuming Black History and the Afrofuture, from Do the Right Thing to Black Panther (Chronicle), won a history-making second Oscar for Best Costume Design for her work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, based on associated titles.  

Simon Parkin wins the 2023 Wingate Literary Prize for The Island of Extraordinary Captives (Scribner; LJ starred review). The Bookseller has coverage.

The 2022 Aurealis Awards shortlist is announced.

Horror Spotlight announces its picks for Best Books of 2022.

The California Book Awards finalists are announced. 

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Three LibraryReads and two Indie Next picks publish this week:

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Berkley)

“Written with wickedly sharp humor and a tightly woven plot, the book is also about the hurt that families can give and the unexpected joys of found-family. Vera is a delight as she bosses everyone around, investigating her main suspects even as she weaves bonds of friendship with and between them. Also the descriptions of the tea and food were mouthwateringly delicious!”—Laura Eckert, Clermont County Public Library, Milford, OH

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Dial)

“A man’s tragic past and the intersection of his relationship with the sisters of the Padavano family is at the heart of this story. Napolitano skillfully creates a believable narrative to show the effects of trauma, depression, and broken relationships on those around us. The novel has a hopeful message that is full of love.”—Michelle Williams, Carlsbad City Library, Carlsbad, CA

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“I loved this big-hearted story about family and acceptance, betrayal and loyalty. The issues that arise, and emotions they evoke, are relatable. We care about each character and their relationships. This will touch every heart!”—Marcia Vanderford, Vanderford’s Books & Office Products, Sandpoint, ID

Plus, the bonus pick is You Never Know by Connie Briscoe (Amistad)

“Alexis Roberts was home alone and asleep, with her cochlear implants disconnected, when she had to fight off a home invader. Her new husband Marcus was away from home, and she has no leads to offer the police. Was it her stalker ex-boyfriend, whom she left for Marcus a year ago? Was it Marcus himself? Their whirlwind romance shifted in tone after they married, and his first wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Using information gleaned from Marcus's home office files and interviews with his relatives, she's learning he may have been too good to be true.”—Alene Moroni, Forbes Library, Northampton MA

One additional Indie Next pick publishes this week:

Dust Child by Que Mai Phan Nguyen (Algonquin; LJ starred review)

“This is one of the most important books I have read this year. Thoroughly researched, beautifully written, Dust Child brings to life and humanizes important dimensions of the Vietnam War otherwise untold.”—Harvey Dong, Eastwind Books of Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

In The Media

People’s book of the week is Künstlers in Paradise by Cathleen Schine (Holt). Also getting attention are Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Dial), and Take What You Need by Idra Novey (Viking). A “New in Nonfiction” section highlights Code Gray: Death, Life, and Uncertainty in the ER by Farzon A Nahvi (S. & S.), Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult by Michelle Dowd (Algonquin), and Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream by Alissa Quart (Ecco). 

There is a feature on Benjamin Hall and his new memoir, Saved: A War Reporter’s Mission To Make It Home (Harper). Plus, Rosanna Scotto and Elaina Scotto, Meatballs, Mangia & Memories (Kitchen Ink Publishing), share a recipe. 

Reviews

NYT reviews Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond (Crown): “The problem, Desmond concludes, is that we make it hard for many low-income Americans to access this support, and, above all, that so much of it is lost to the economic exploitation that is his chief target”; Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Farrar): “It filters anarchist, monkey-wreching environmental politics, a generational (anti-baby boomer) cri de coeur and a downhill-racing plot through a Stoppardian sense of humor. The result is thrilling”; In Search of Amrit Kaur: A Lost Princess and Her Vanished World by Livia Manera Sambuy, tr. by Todd Portnowitz (Farrar): “Ultimately, In Search of Amrit Kaur is about the alchemy of a writer finding her subject; Sambuy feels the story ‘buzzing around me like a forest awakening in spring’”; and Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Dial): “Napolitano’s radiant and brilliantly crafted new novel, begins in 1960 with the birth of a boy—though with an immediately tragic twist…”

The Washington Post reviews Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Dial): “Like its predecessor, Hello Beautiful will make you weep buckets because you come to care so deeply about the characters and their fates”; The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway (Bloomsbury): “The authors acknowledge that markets do have a role in generating information and allocating resources, one that central planning has never been able to replicate. Their argument is not that capitalism is bad but rather that we should acknowledge its limits”; and Take What You Need by Idra Novey (Viking): “it is particularly Jean's voice—her raw drive, with no speck of self-pity, to make work against wretched odds—that haunts the mind long after reading Take What You Need.”

NPR reviews Love at Six Thousand Degrees by Maki Kashimada, tr. by Haydn Trowell (Europa): “Kashimada’s work is a fascinating exploration of the sources of our own cruelty and our level of individual agency when healing from trauma.”

The Guardian reviews Dr. No by Percival Everett (Graywolf; LJ starred review): “Much fun is had with the paradox of how ‘nothing’ is always something, not to mention the difference between ‘begging’ a question and ‘raising’ one, as well as any amount of mathematical jargon, but it tends to be the kind of fun that likes to remind you just how much fun you’re having.”

Briefly Noted

People explores HGTV star and designer Leanne Ford’s tiny L.A. cabin, which is featured in a new book, Embrace Your Space: Organizing Ideas and Stylish Upgrades for Every Room on Any Budget by Katie Holdefehr (Weldon Owen). 

LA Times interviews Cathleen Schine about her new book, Künstlers in Paradise (Holt). 

NYT features Mia Couto and his latest novel, The Drinker of Horizons, tr. by David Brookshaw (Farrar).

Bustle talks with Nicole Flattery about her forthcoming book, Nothing Special (Bloomsbury), due out in July.

NYT previews 22 fiction books and 19 nonfiction books for spring. 

Vulture highlights 6 new books for March. 

CrimeReads recommends 10 new books for the week.

USA Today shares 5 books for the week.

NYT suggests six books with new perspectives about fungi for fans of The Last of Us on HBO.

De Gruyter will “host and distribute the complete frontlist and backlist collections of over 2,000 titles” from Manchester University Press, in a new strategic partnership. 

“Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize–winning Japanese writer, dies aged 88.”The Guardian has an obituary. 

“Suzy McKee Charnas, Writer of Feminist Science Fiction, Dies at 83.” NYT has an obituary. 

Authors On Air

NPR’s All Things Considered talks with Miami Herald reporter Ana Ceballos, who is following Ron DeSantis on tour for his book, The Courage To Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival (Broadside).

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