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Big Books of the Week

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell (Atria) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead; LJ starred review)

Happiness by Danielle Steel (Delacorte)

Cruel Seduction by Katee Robert (Sourcebooks Casablanca; LJ starred review)

North of Nowhere by Allison Brennan (Minotaur)

These books and others publishing the week of August 7, 2023, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Nine LibraryReads and nine Indie Next picks publish this week. Note that LibraryReads now annotates some titles with additional notes. We mark those annotations with an asterisk, followed by the note. They no longer annotate hall of fame titles.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead; LJ starred review) *Good for Book Clubs

“In a small town where Jewish and Black Americans have prospered, four adults decide to help hide a young boy, which brings trouble to their doorstep. McBride has a gift for warm and witty dialogue spiced with scenes that both disgust and delight in their humanity. For readers of the character-rich stories of Amor Towles, Ann Patchett, and Jamie Ford.”—Kimberly McGee Lake Travis Community Library, TX

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“McBride’s latest is full of hope, grace, and humor. With a propulsive plot about power, race, and belonging in 1920s America, it’s the characters you’ll remember most: caretakers, troublemakers, soothsayers. I miss them already.”—Nick Pauley, Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA

Mister Magic by Kiersten White (Del Rey)

“When castmates from a children’s program are brought back together to record a podcast about the show, the group feel like they are back where they belong. But soon they begin to wonder, are they here by choice, or have they been lured into a trap much more sinister than could ever be imagined? A terrifyingly creepy and realistic tale.”—Ninoshka Aviles, Osceola Library, FL

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“This is my favorite book I’ve read this year. I love how the book plays with the idea of collective nostalgia, and how insidious things can be passed off as wholesome. A haunting, creepy, and propulsive read!”—Ann Branson, Beach Books, Seaside, OR

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus (MTV Bks; LJ starred review)

“Jay, feeling guilty about his father’s suicide, attempts a dive to find his father’s remains. Swallowed by a hungry sperm whale, he has one hour to find a way out before running out of oxygen. A scientifically accurate, terrifying story for fans of Jaws, deep sea terror, survivors, complicated families, and explorations of death and grief.”—Lila Denning, St. Petersburg Library System, FL

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“This masterfully researched thriller weaves the story of a young diver’s tumultuous relationship with his father with the primal terrors of the deep sea. A heart-pounding tale of humanity, science, and survival you won’t soon forget.”—Mary Powers, Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington, DC

The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter (Avon)

“It’s the middle of the night in Paris and a woman wakes up with no memory. She only knows three things for certain: she has a splitting headache, the hottest guy she’s ever seen is standing over her telling her to run, and—oh yeah—people keep trying to kill her. The banter throughout and wrap-up at the end are perfect. Readers will hope for a sequel or even a trilogy featuring this cast of characters.”—Le'Trail Hall-Nance, Denver Public Library, CO

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“This wonderfully bonkers, deliciously slow-burning romance is marvelous! With witty banter, a grumpy spy and a sunshiny amnesiac, fake dating, oodles of feelings, and a beautiful narrative, Carter’s adult debut cannot be missed!”—Lucy Perkins-Wagel, Blinking Owl Books, Arcadia, FL

Hall of Fame pick Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward (Tor Nightfire; LJ starred review), is also an Indie Next pick:

“A mind-bending plot mixed with overall unease, with secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end. Looking Glass Sound is no exception to what we have come to expect of a Catriona Ward thriller — simply excellent.”—Kirsten Benjamin, Browseabout Books, Rehoboth Beach, DE

Hall of Fame pick Cruel Seduction by Katee Robert (Sourcebooks Casablanca; LJ starred review), is also an Indie Next pick:

“Another sexy tale from within the walls of Olympus, with even more political scheming and toe-curling intimate moments. This poly-knot romance has so many moving parts, but Katee hits the mark every time.”—Sam Butler, Bright Side Bookshop, Flagstaff, AZ

Hall of Fame pick None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell (Atria), is also an Indie Next pick:

“None of This Is True is the best Lisa Jewell yet. The action is nonstop and builds suspense from the first page. You think you have it figured out, then she wows you. She’s outdone herself on this one.”—Margaret Holdman, The Bookhouse, Cameron Park, CA

Dark Corners by Megan Goldin (St. Martin’s) also makes the Hall of Fame, and the notable nonfiction pick is: The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line: Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II by Mari K. Eder (Sourcebooks; LJ starred review)

Two additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

Prophet by Helen Macdonald and Sin Blaché (Grove)

“Prophet hooked me with its uncanny Twin Peaks x Twilight Zone mise-en-scène. This page-turning thriller is deceptively fun despite a deadly serious, thought-provoking core. I was delighted by the sly pop culture nostalgia!”—Amanda Qassar, Warwick’s, La Jolla, CA

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck (S. & S.: Marysue Rucci Books)

“Shark Heart is fascinating. The premise—some people genetically mutate into wild animal species—is told through stunning, poetic prose. Wholly original, heartbreaking yet hopeful, it explores how one woman meets loss with love.”—Alana Haley, Schuler Books, Grand Rapids, MI

In The Media

People’s Book of the Week is The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead; LJ starred review). Also getting attention are Under the Influence by Noelle Crooks (Gallery) and None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell (Atria). There is also a Q&A with Richard E. Grant, A Pocketful of Happiness (S. & S.). 

The adaptation of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, based on the novel by Holly Ringland, the adaptation of Shortcomings, based on the comic by Adrian Tomine, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (with associated titles) get featured as film picks. Lastly, Robin Miller, author of  30-Minute Meal Prep: 100 Healthy and Delicious Recipes to Eat All Week (Sourcebooks), shares a recipe. 

Reviews

NYT reviews The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead; LJ starred review): “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is a charming, smart, heart-blistering and heart-healing novel.” Washington Post also reviews: “We all need—we all deserve—this vibrant, love-affirming novel that bounds over any difference that claims to separate us.” NYT also reviews Hangman by Maya Binyam (Farrar): “Hangman is, among other things, a caustic rendering of immigration, diaspora and deracination”; The Details by Ia Genberg, tr. by Kira Josefsson (HarperVia): “Genberg’s marvelous prose is also a kind of fever, mesmerizing and hot to the touch”; Pet by Catherine Chidgey (Europa): “A landmark in the small but potent canon of contemporary novels about unusual girls reckoning with themselves and the world around them”; Bridge by Lauren Beukes (Mulholland): “Her fun is evident in the big, bloody action sequences; in the squirmy, almost retro grotesqueness of the dreamworm”; and On Wars by Michael Mann (Yale Univ. Pr.): “Whatever the motives that lead us to fight, Mann sees his project as more than a scholarly inquiry; his aim is to find a way out for humanity.”

Washington Post reviews Vanishing Maps by Cristina García (Knopf): “As moments of wisdom thread through the madcap, magical realist scenes, García’s reunion with her characters becomes a party worth attending.”

Briefly Noted

NYT reports that Paramount is close to announcing it will sell Simon & Schuster to private-equity firm KKR.

PEN America releases a new report: Booklash: Literary Freedom, Online Outrage, and the Language of Harm.

Bloomsbury USA president Adrienne Vaughan died in a boating accident in Italy on Friday. The publisher and AAP both released statements, Publishers Lunch reports. CBS News also has a report.

The September 2023 Indie Next List Preview is out, featuring #1 pick The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff (Riverhead).

The 2023 Ned Kelly Awards shortlists are announced. 

NYT has a feature on author Mona Susan Power and her return to writing with a new book, A Council of Dolls (Mariner). 

Actor Jeff Daniels will release a twelve-part, audio-only memoir exclusively on Audible in September. The Wrap has details. 

USA Today shares 5 books for the week.

CrimeReads has 10 books for the week. Also, an essay on how “Oppenheimer’s deadly toy influenced noir film and fiction.”

GMA suggests 15 books to beat the heat. 

The Guardian rounds up the best thrillers of the month. 

NYT delves into a wave of shoddy, A.I.-generated travel guidebooks flooding the marketplace. 

The Washington Post recommends “five of the summer’s best and most daring graphic novels.”

Entertainment Weekly previews and shares an excerpt from Cassandra Clare’s forthcoming book, Sword Catcher, due out in October from Del Rey.

The Washington Post examines the popularity of hockey romance novels. 

The Millions appreciates Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

NYT highlights a close-read of a beloved poem by Rita Dove. 

Authors On Air

NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday talks with Jimin Han about her new novel, The Apology (Little, Brown).

Weekend Edition Sunday also speaks with Regie Cabico, co-organizer of this year’s Asian American Literature Festival, which is holding events after cancellation by the Smithsonian earlier this year.

Washington Post critic Ron Charles recommends four summer books on CBS Sunday Morning. 

NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me talks to poet Maggie Smith about being confused with “the other Maggie Smith.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda will adapt Sol Yurick’s cult novel The Warriors into a stage musical. Rolling Stone reports.

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