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Awards & Buzzy Book News

Jamil Jan Kochai wins the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize for The Haunting of Hajji Hotak And Other Stories (Viking; LJ starred review). Lit Hub also covers this news.

The 2023 Writers’ Trust Rising Stars are announced.

The 2023 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize shortlist is announced.

Distractify lists all of Judy Blume's banned books and reasons why. 

The Washington Post honors Shakespeare on the 400th anniversary of the "Bard's First Folio."

Jessica Chastain declines autographing a fan’s copy of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2017 book, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (Atria), amid a “fan-backed campaign to get her to star in a movie adaptation of the novel.” Entertainment Weekly and People report.

Book Riot explores the popularity of “escapist reads.”

A Tolkien fanfic author wants credit for Amazon’s The Rings of Power, according to Lit Hub.

USA Today profiles "stars we lost" in 2023 including authors Fey Weldon, Kenzaburō Ōe, and Charles Simic.

“Helen Barolini, Chronicler of Italian American Women, Dies at 97.” NYT has more on her life.

Page to Screen

April 21:

War of the Worlds: The Attack, based on the book by H. G. Wells. Vertical Entertainment. Reviews | Trailer

Dead Ringers, based on the book Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland. Prime Video. Reviews | Trailer

Drops of God, based on the manga series by Tadashi Agi. Apple TV+. No reviews | Trailer

April 22:

Ada Twist, Scientist, based on the book series by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts. Netflix. No reviews | Trailer

April 24:

Dalgliesh, based on the “Adam Dalgliesh” novel series by PD James. Acorn TV. Reviews | Trailer

April 25:

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part One, based on associated titles. VOD. No reviews | Trailer

April 26:

Saint X, based on the book by Alexis Schaitkin. Hulu. No reviews | Trailer

April 27:

Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, based on associated titles. Disney+. No reviews | Trailer

Firefly Lane, based on the book by Maggie Friedman. Netflix. Reviews | Trailer

Sweet Tooth, based on associated titles by Jeff Lemire. Netflix. Reviews | Trailer

Tor.com has a take on “a better way to think about adaptations.”

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews Seventy Times Seven: A True Story of Murder and Mercy by Alex Mar (Penguin Pr.): "gives readers an unflinching glimpse into brutality, pain, loneliness, rage and revenge, and asks if regret, compassion, mercy and forgiveness can be enough to bridge the gulfs of race, class and ideology that so often divide us;" Affinities: On Art and Fascination by Brian Dillon (New York Review): "a compendium of pictures, mostly photographs or stills from films, printed on otherwise blank pages and followed by bouts of commentary. They have been amassed in a single volume not because they are the work of one artist or the products of a single style, but for the simple reason that Dillon is drawn to each of them;" Generations: The Real Difference Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents–and What They Mean for America’s Future by Jean M. Twenge (Atria): “reduced to our data points, we aren’t exactly at our most compelling. My recommendation for anyone who comes away from these generational portraits less than cheered: Feast your eyes on the endlessly colorful, always contradictory details of a single person’s life;" Small Mercies by Dennis Lahane (Harper; LJ starred review): "If Lehane’s sociological precision gives “Small Mercies” a gravitas seldom found in crime novels, Mary Pat Fennessy, a “mother … built for battle,” enhances the effect. She is a 20th-century version of a Fury out of Greek mythology, and her one-woman war against the mob is a fearsome thing to behold."

NYT has two short reviews of new visual books that "explore the history and future of creative consumption online" including: INTERNET_ART: From the Birth of the Web to the Rise of NFTs by Omar Kholeif (Phaidon) and The Story of NFTs: Artists, Technology, and Democracy by Amy Whitaker and Nora Burnette Abrams (Rizzoli). 

NPR reviews Greek Lessons by Han Kang, trans. by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won (Hogarth): “an intimate and vulnerable portrayal of two lonely, middle-aged characters who can't help but gravitate toward each other. The reading experience is like that of watching a quiet indie film that tugs little by little at your heartstrings until you're rendered speechless with both sadness and hope by the final pages.”

Datebook reviews two books by women exploring “being child-free and not partnering up” including: Without Children: The Long History of Not Being a Mother by Peggy O’Donnell Heffington (Seal) and Arrangements in Blue: Notes on Loving and Living Alone by Amy Key (Liveright).

Tor.com reviews Furious Heaven by Kate Elliott (Tor; LJ starred review): “richly peopled, vivid with the imprint of history, and striking in the variety and detail of its cultures, it is an incredibly compelling piece of work.”

Book Marks shares "The Best Reviewed Books of the Week."

Briefly Noted

HipLatina talks to Melissa Coss Aquino about how her new book, Carmen and Grace (Morrow), “centers on Latina sisterhood in the Bronx.”

Genevieve Wheeler, Adelaide (St. Martin’s), discusses “emotionally unavailable men, the beauty of female friendships, and more” in an interview with Shondaland. 

Tove Danovich speaks with The Seattle Times about her book, Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them (Agate Surrey).

Bustle shares an excerpt from America the Beautiful?: One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Traveled by Blythe Roberson (Harper Perennial).

Book Riot has book lists galore featuring “Lighthearted Post Apocalyptic Books to Brighten Up the End of the World,” “LGBTQ Book Recs From A-Z,” “9 Nonfiction Books About Nature,” “9 Dystopian Tales,” and “10 Satisfyingly Sinister Novels About Secret Societies.”

Esquire suggests books to “read while getting high.”

NYPL Blog provides “Earth Day Reads to Inform and Inspire Action.”

Tor.com lists “Five Space Books to Send a Chill Down Your Spine.”

Electric Lit shares “9 Steamy Novels Featuring Bisexual Romances.”

NYT recommends 9 new books.

Authors on Air

Neil King discusses the inspiration behind his new book, American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal (Mariner Books) on the Just the Right Book podcast.

NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour explores guests’ “favorite Judy Blume books.”

Brie Larson is starring in an adaptation of the 2022 bestseller Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Doubleday). The Hollywood Reporter has more info and Popsugar shares the trailer.

BBC will produce a first-ever television adaptation of William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies, according to Deadline. Lit Hub also reports this news.

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