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Awards & News

The 2021 James Tait Black Prize Shortlists have been announced.

The 2021 Anthony Award Nominees have been announced.

Warner Bros. searches for a Black Superman by enlisting author Ta-Nehisi Coates. Hollywood Reporter has the story.

Muse has a story about using Minecraft to battle cyber censorship.

The Bookseller features an open letter from members of Britain’s publishing industry about the issues of transphobia.

Helen Weaver, author of The Awakener: A Memoir of Kerouac and the Fifties (City Lights: Consortium), dies at the age of 89. NYT has more information on her life.

New Title Bestsellers

Links for the week: NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers | NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers | USA Today Best-Selling Books

Fiction

Sooley by John Grisham (Doubleday: Random House) dunks on No. 1 both on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list and the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Finding Ashley by Danielle Steel (Delacorte: Random House) is discovered at No. 3 on both the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list and the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri (Knopf: LJ starred review) finds No. 8 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good by Timothy Zahn (Del Rey: Random House) rises to No. 10 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

A Distant Shore by Karen Kingsbury (Atria: S. & S.) swims to No. 11 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (Tordotcom) lands at No. 7 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list and No. 14 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

Meant to Be Immortal by Lynsay Sands (Avon: HarperCollins) lives at No. 11 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

Reunion Beach: Stories Inspired by Dorothea Benton Frank by Elin Hilderbrand et al. (William Morrow) starts at No. 15 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Sellers list.

Nonfiction

What Happened to You by Bruce Perry (Flatiron Books: Macmillan) debuts at No. 1 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

The Bomber Mafia (Little, Brown: Hachette) flies to No. 2 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list and No. 14 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list.

You Are Your Best Thing by Tarana Burke and Brené Brown (Random House) shines at No. 3 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

How Y’all Doing by Leslie Jordan (William Morrow: HarperCollins) greets No. 4 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

Antitrust: Taking on Monopoly Power from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age by Amy Klobuchar (Knopf) computes No. 12 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews The Age of Decadence: A History of Britain: 1880-1914 by Simon Heffer (Pegasus): “Simple: What Heffer recounts is fascinating in itself, but also eerily familiar, almost contemporary. History, after all, provides perspective on the present.”

NYT reviews Albert and the Whale: Albrecht Dürer and How Art Imagines Our World by Philip Hoare (Pegasus: S. & S.): “This book requires patience, and a mild tolerance for passing clouds of pretension or obscurity; but these hazards are just residual effects from the forceful weather system that is Hoare’s imagination.” The Crime column is out.

Oprah Daily reviews Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR by Lisa Napoli (Abrams): “Lisa Napoli has written an engaging and essential ode to those "founding mothers" of National Public Radio—the four journalists who were there from the network's earliest startup days and were crucial to its establishment as one of the world's most influential news outlets.” Also, The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt): “The delight of reading an Alison Bechdel book is in watching the author make mind-blowing connections from seemingly disparate sources, and feeling like you’re soul-searching right along with her.”

Tor.com reviews The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He (Roaring Brook: Macmillan): “Joan He’s The Ones We’re Meant to Find is sci-fi dystopian at its best: sharp, devastating, and brimming with invigorating questions about what it means to be human on this earth we continue to ravage.”

Locus Magazine reviews Project: Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine): “Project Hail Mary, however, isn’t a simple rehash of The Martian. Instead, it’s a celebration of Weir’s voice” and The Only Living Girl on Earth by Charles Yu (Scribd Originals): “But to tell you all that these 10,000 words suggest about family and isolation in our current odd time would spoil the joy to be found in discovering them yourself.”

Book Marks with "5 Reviews You Need to Read This Week."

Briefly Noted

CrimeReads features Harlan Coben on My First Thriller and L.R. Dorn, author of The Anatomy of Desire (Morrow; LJ starred review), writes about the history of true crime and America's fascination with it.

Lit Hub features author Patrick Allington, Rise & Shine (Scribe) sharing the inspiration for his cover art and the influence of artist Hilma af Klint. Also, Sophie Cousins discusses the Himalayas, the Western stories about it that influenced her, and how a lived experiences changed her perspective. Plus, Laura Dave, author of The Last Thing He Told Me (S. & S.) fills out the Lit Hub Questionnaire.

NYT profiles Stacey Abrams, author of While Justice Sleeps (Doubleday), and the renewed interest in her previously published books. The Washington Post also features Abrams and her various published works.

Entertainment Weekly has a conversation between Jenny Lee, author of Anna K Away (Flatiron: Macmillan) and Emiko Jean, author of Tokyo Ever After (Flation: Macmillan) about their writing journeys and experiencing the publishing industry as Asian Americans. Entertainment Weekly provides an excerpt of Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead (Knopf; LJ starred review). Tor.com provides an excerpt of The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman (Tor; LJ starred review) and also an excerpt of Ariadne by Jennifer Saint (Flatiron).

There is a cover reveal for Kerstin Hall’s Second Spear (Tor: Macmillan).

Lit Hub features a piece by Joy Lanzendorfer about Right Back Where We Started From (Blackstone) and her thoughts on ambition and the novel it took her nine years to publish after it had been written. Also, a piece from author Emily Hourican, The Glorious Guinness Girls (Grand Central) about writing women whose interior lives are not always well-documented in history. Lastly, In Context reviewing the work of Rachel Cusk, author of Second Place (Farrar; LJ starred review).

Musician St. Vincent recommends Maggie Nelson’s The Art of Cruelty (W. W. Norton) among a list of other cultural items via NYT.

The Millions lists “The 10 Creepiest Gothic Novels.”

CrimeReads shares “10 Novels You Should Read This May” and a piece on how “Irish Women Are Reinventing the Thriller.”

Tor.com gives “All the New Science Fiction Books Arriving in May,” “Five SFF Books With Island Settings, and Sleeps with Monsters writer Liz Bourke writes about “Procedural Fantasy and Queering Historical Epic.”

Electric Lit provides “Stories About Mother-Son Relationships.”

The Guardian lists “Top 10 books about Colombia.”

Lit Hub highlights “New and Noteworthy Nonfiction This May.”

Authors on Air

NPR’s Fresh Air interviews Alison Bechdel, author of The Secret to Superhuman Strength (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), about exercise obsessions and how they have helped calm her mind.

Michael B. Jordan discusses a possible comeback for his Black Panther character with Entertainment Tonight.

An upcoming adaptation of Red Sonja will star Hannah John-Kamen. The Hollyreporter broke this story. Also, the Loki premiere date has been moved up to June 9th. Plus, there are House of the Dragon, a Games of Thrones spinoff, sneak peaks.

The Irregulars have been canceled by Netflix after only one season. Variety reports.

An adaptation of Grady Hendrix’s book My Best Friend’s Exorcism (Quirk: Random House) will star Elsie Fisher, Amiah Miller, Cathay Ang, Rachel Ogechi Kanu, and now Chris Lowell. The Hollywood Reporter has the story.

Deadline reports that Netflix will produce Lady Killer, based on the Dark Horse Comic series and it will star Blake Lively.

Lit Hub’s Reading Women podcast features “Chloe Fergusson-Tibble Recommends Māori Literature.” Also, Personal Space: The Memoir Show features an interview with Julie Metz, author of Eva and Eve: A Search for My Mother’s Lost Childhood and What a War Left Behind (Atria) about her mother’s life in Nazi-occupied Austria and her experiences researching her book. Plus, Keen On features Ali Tamaseb, author of Super Founders: What Data Reveals about Billion-Dollar Startups (PublicAffairs: Hachette) talking about the truth behind big-name companies.

Conan will have an interview with author W. Kamau Bell tonight.

Jimmy Kimmel will feature Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Bomber Mafia (Little, Brown: Hachette) tomorrow night.

Kelly Clarkson will speak with Julianna Margulies, author of Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life (Ballantine) tomorrow night.

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