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Big Books of the Week

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley (Morrow) leads holds this week. 

Other titles in demand include:

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager (Dutton)

The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine (Bantam)

Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs (Ace: Berkley)

Sandwich by Catherine Newman (Harper; LJ starred review)

Red Sky Mourning by Jack Carr (Atria: Emily Bestler)

Same as It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo (Doubleday)

These books and others publishing the week of June 17, 2024, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Eight LibraryReads and three Indie Next picks publish this week:

The Top Pick is Sandwich by Catherine Newman (Harper; LJ starred review) *Good for Book Clubs

“This story focuses on Rocky, a woman filled with menopausal rage and immense love for her family. The witty banter and poignant musings will have readers laughing hysterically while mopping up tears a few pages later. This is a no-brainer for fans of Ann Patchett and those who enjoy a good family drama. Perfect for women’s book discussion groups.”—Robin Beerbower, LibraryReads Ambassador

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Catherine Newman has perfected the art of making you laugh out loud, then cry just sentences apart. This funny, tender story follows one family’s weeklong vacation in Cape Cod. Newman has crafted a story rich with what it is to be human.”—Beth Bissmeyer, Carmichael’s Bookstore, Louisville, KY

Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller (Morrow) *Good for Book Clubs

“Lula Dean’s mission is to rid schools and libraries of all books she deems inappropriate, and she erects a Little Free Library filled with her chosen titles. But someone is changing the books by leaving the covers and substituting a wide variety of banned books. This timely tale shows how hate is banished and books can better your life when not restricted.”—Judy G Sebastian, Eastham Public Library, MA

Same as It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo (Doubleday) *Good for Book Clubs

“Julia is in her late fifties and seemingly has it all, but a chance meeting with an old acquaintance quickly uncovers the fissures in her carefully constructed existence. Lombardo skillfully moves back and forth in Julia's life with an incredible gift for writing seemingly mundane but charged moments in her characters’ lives.”—Alisa Stanfield, LibraryReads Ambassador, IL

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Unsurprisingly, this was absolutely brilliant. Lombardo writes human emotion and flaws incredibly. I can’t stop thinking about this book. It was smart, beautiful, and the most accurate depiction of a marriage I have ever read.”—Greer Williams, Athena Books, Old Greenwich, CT

Hall of Fame picks include Middle of the Night by Riley Sager (Dutton), What You Leave Behind by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow), The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley (Morrow), The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine (Bantam), and Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs (Ace: Berkley).

One additional Indie Next pick publishes this week:

Devil Is Fine by John Vercher (Celadon)

“I held my breath while reading Devil Is Fine; struck by the utter tangibility of everything unfolding. Vercher channels the weight of grief, racism, individual frailty, and communal failure into a novel that also elicits humor and humanity.”—Stephanie Jones-Byrne, Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, Asheville, NC

In the Media

People’s book of the week is Sandwich by Catherine Newman (Harper; LJ starred review). Also getting attention are All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Crown) and Same as It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo (Doubleday). Titles with “Unforgettable Characters” include Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller (Morrow), God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer by Joseph Earl Thomas (Grand Central), and How To Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley (Pamela Dorman: Viking). 

The “Picks” section spotlights HBO’s House of the Dragon, cocreated by George R.R. Martin, and Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent, based the book by Scott Turrow. Plus, recipes from Emma Hearst, Flavors from the Farm: Vegetable-Forward Food to Share (Weldon Owen), and Dan Langan, Bake Your Heart Out: Foolproof Recipes To Level Up Your Home Baking  (Union Square & Co.). 

Reviews

NYT reviews God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer by Joseph Earl Thomas (Grand Central): “But like the work of Jackson Pollock, the novel reveals itself the longer one spends time with it. Keep looking, the chaos will start to show its pattern, its rhythm, its dimension and its awe-inspiring color”; Thom Gunn: A Cool Queer Life by Michael Nott (Farrar): “Nott, who previously co-edited a collection of Gunn’s letters, has set out here to produce a work sturdy enough to support decades of future commentary on Gunn. He’s succeeded—this book is everything you ever wanted to know about Thom Gunn but had not even thought about asking”; We Were Illegal: Uncovering a Texas Family’s Mythmaking and Migration by Jessica Goudeau (Viking): “In her new book, We Were Illegal, a stirring mixture of memoir, genealogy, history and hopeful manifesto, Goudeau turns a searching, critical eye back on her family tree and its many Texas branches”; Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi (Riverhead): “There’s an art to depicting things going seriously wrong very quickly, and Akwaeke Emezi’s latest novel, Little Rot, is a masterwork of the form”; Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann Powers (Dey Street: LJ starred review): “Traveling will be catnip for readers who would enjoy spending a weekend with a chatty music-critic friend, with everyone talking excitedly, even obsessively, about Joni Mitchell”; and I’m Mostly Here To Enjoy Myself: One Woman’s Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris by Glynnis MacNicol (Penguin Life): “Steamy as it may be, MacNicol’s sexual odyssey serves as a smoke screen—at times entertaining, at others oddly tedious, at yet others nerve-racking (is she really going to let a total stranger into her apartment?)—for the larger questions that consume her.” Washington Post also reviews: “One pleasure for the reader is her casual style of writing, which seems to mimic the pace of life.”

Washington Post reviews On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service by Anthony Fauci (Viking): “Fauci is not temperamentally inclined toward radicalism—he is mild and measured for much of the book, going so far as to extend perhaps too much courtesy to the likes of Bush and Dick Cheney—but there are moments when competence and conscientiousness are revolutionary”; Ask Me Again by Clare Sestanovich (Knopf): “If Sestanovich’s thematic ambitions are broad—the meaning of life, the coherence of identity, the possibility of principles—her language is cuttingly precise”; and Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass by Ramin Setoodeh (Harper): “In the end, Apprentice in Wonderland does the impossible: It makes me pity Donald Trump.”

Briefly Noted

CrimeReads suggests 10 new books for the week. 

People highlights the best books of June.

NYT shares 33 new novels for the summer.

Publishers Weekly previews adult books for fall. 

Salon talks with Annalee Newitz about her latest book, Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind (Norton).

Author Julia Quinn weighs in on the Bridgerton series’ storylines and supports her endings being changed, at T&C. 

People looks at what’s next for by Elin Hilderbrand after the publication of her final summer book, Swan Song (Little, Brown), while Elle puts Hilderbrand’s books in order.

Authors on Air

Several adaptations won Tony Awards last night: The Outsiders, based on the novel by S.E. Hinton; Suffs, inspired by the book Jailed for Freedom: American Women Win the Vote by Doris Stevens; The Great Gatsby, based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald; and Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, based on stories by Christopher Isherwood. Hollywood Reporter has details. NYT covers the award for The Outsiders, which won Best Musical.

PBS Canvas talks with Raina Telgemeier about her graphic novels, which “depict feelings and emotions young people may not want to talk about with adults.”

Season 4 of Bridgerton is not expected for another 2 years. GMA has the scoop. 

Derek Black, The Klansman’s Son: My Journey from White Nationalism to Antiracism (Abrams), visits GMA today. 

Anthony Fauci, On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service (Viking), will appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

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