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Big Books of the Week

Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas (Avon) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena (Pamela Dorman Books)

Claimed by J.R. Ward (Pocket Books)

A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones (St. Martin’s Press)

The Women's March: A Novel of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession by Jennifer Chiaverini (William Morrow)

Swan Dive: The Making of a Rogue Ballerina by Georgina Pazcoguin (Holt; LJ starred review)

These books and others publishing the week of July 26th, 2021 are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

One LibraryReads selection and two Indie Next picks arrive this week:

A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones (St. Martin’s Press)

“Sheriff Sunshine Vicram returns with a new case involving old flame Levi, while also having her hands full with her independent daughter who can't seem to avoid dicey situations of her own. Another delightful entry in this series of zany mysteries set in New Mexico.”—Emily Chandler, Indianapolis Public Library, Indianapolis, IN

Two Indie Next selections publish this week:

Goldenrod: Poems by Maggie Smith (Atria/One Signal)

“Maggie Smith is the kind of magician who can make a poem breathe and sing. Goldenrod leaves the reader feeling as though the poet has gently struck their heart with a mallet, sending vibrations echoing throughout them for a long time.”—Jennifer Wills Geraedts, Beagle and Wolf Books & Bindery, Park Rapids, MN

It’s Not What You Thought It Would Be by Lizzy Stewart (Fantagraphics)

“Through Lizzy Stewart’s wistful art, these stories feel like bruises that leave you tender, thoughtful, and forgiving for not living up to your own expectations when adulthood isn’t at all that you’d imagined.”—Julie Jarema, Avid Bookshop, Athens, GA

In the Media

The People "Picks" book of the week is Swan Dive: The Making of a Rogue Ballerina by Georgina Pazcoguin (Holt; LJ starred review). Also getting attention are The Bachelor by Andrew Palmer (Hogarth) and Golden Boy: A Murder Among the Manhattan Elite by John Glatt (St. Martin’s). A “Star Picks" section highlights Universal Human: Creating Authentic Power and the New Consciousness by Gary Zukav (Atria), Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris (Penguin Pr; LJ starred review), and Wonder by R. J. Palacio (Knopf Books for Young Readers). Plus, there is a profile of actress Mena Suvari, The Great Peace (Hachette). People online has more about Suvari.

Reviews

NPR reviews The Council of Animals by Nick McDonell (Henry Holt): “The book's overall effect, though, beautifully obliterates pigeonholes. The voices of the characters range from charmingly colloquial — in an almost Disney sort of way — to nearly Shakespearean in gravity.” Also, What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad (Knopf): “perhaps El Akkad's biggest accomplishment with 'What Strange Paradise' is that it manages to push past political talking points and shocking statistics to rehumanize the discussion about migration on a global scale, and it does so with enough heart to be memorable.” And, Celestia by Manuele Fior (Fantagraphics): “Besides the triviality of human routine set against the terrible reality of death, he meditates on memory vs. forgetting, individuality vs. family, youth vs. age, hiding in place vs. venturing into the unknown.” Plus, short reviews of three “Romances Packed With Pulse-Pounding Peril.”

The NYT reviews A Farewell to Gabo and Mercedes: A Son's Memoir of Gabriel García Márquez and Mercedes Barcha by Rodrigo Garcia (HarperVia): “is in large part carried by anecdotes about García Márquez’s life, but it is most telling when Garcia is prompted to reflect on his own, and reckon with his insecurities.”

The Washington Post reviews The Heartbeat of Trees: Embracing Our Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature by Peter Wohlleben (Greystone; LJ starred review): “Wohlleben is like a knowledgeable uncle who takes you in hand and talks your ear off about whatever he’s thinking at the moment.” And, This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan (Penguin Pr.; LJ starred review): “Pollan is an astonishingly good writer, at times intimate and vulnerable, at times curious and expository, always compelling and credible. Reading his writing can be kind of like taking a psychedelic — a literary onomatopoeia.” Also, Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul by Jamie Ducharme (Holt): “conveys the forces behind a powerful social trend that undercut public health while also offering a case study in how to squander the riches of a rocket-fueled tech company.” And, Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency by Michael Wolff (Henry Holt and Co.): “The Wolff version, with its cast of imbeciles and incompetents and adult babies who could have been pulled from an HBO writer’s room, is a far sunnier read, insofar as its big takeaway is: It was an even crazier ride than you thought, but the wheels of democracy stayed on.”

The Guardian reviews The Year of the End: A Memoir of Marriage, Truth and Fiction by Anne Theroux (Icon): “Not revenge, exactly, but a last word of sorts: dignified and moving, for all its faults.”

Briefly Noted

The 2021 Comedy Women in Print Award Longlists were announced.

The Guardian interviews Leila Slimani, In the Country of Others (Penguin) about “why she writes, the complexity of identity, and the first book of a trilogy based on her family history.”

LA Times profiles actress Mena Suvari and her new memoir of survival, The Great Peace (Hachette).

The San Francisco Chronicle explores how “New-wave Westerns rewrite the cliched narrative of the Old West.”

Katie Kitamura, Intimacies (Riverhead) recommends 8 books from her summer reading list at Jezebel.

The Atlantic’s Books Briefing explores the “Dark Side of Athletic Perfection.”

USA Today picks five books for the week.

CrimeReads suggests 10 books out this week.

Popsugar has “Best Books by Latinx Writers to Devour This Summer.”

CrimeReads has a cover reveal and excerpt from Very Bad People by Kit Frick (Margaret K. McElderry Books), due out in April 2022.

Authors on Air

NPR’s Fresh Air talks with Akash Kapur about Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Uptopia in Auroville (Scribner: S. & S.).

“LeVar Burton Starts Stint as ‘Jeopardy!’ Guest Host on Monday.” Variety has the story.

Bustle has a piece on Netflix’s The Last Letter From Your Lover, which is based on the book by Jojo Moyes.

Mena Suvari, The Great Peace (Hachette), will be on The View tomorrow.

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