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Big Books of the Week

The Collector by Daniel Silva (Harper) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)

The Block Party by Jamie Day (St. Martin’s)

Resonance Surge by Nalini Singh (Berkley)

The Summer Girl by Elle Kennedy (St. Martin’s Griffin)

These books and others publishing the week of July 17, 2023, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Awards & News

The Shirley Jackson Awards are announced. Best Novel goes to The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias (Mulholland; LJ starred review) and Where I End by Sophie White (Tramp Pr.), in a tie. 

The 6th Annual New American Voices Award longlist is announced.

Announced by press release, Christine Swedowsky will lead international literature publisher, World Editions, after a buyout. 

Thousands of authors, including Nora Roberts and Margaret Atwood, urge AI companies to stop using work without permission. NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Read the open letter here. 

Booksellers and publishers prepare for a potential UPS strike. Shelf Awareness reports. 

Despite the strike, actors union SAG-AFTRA members are permitted to continue working on audiobooks, Publishers Lunch reports. Deadline’s Strike Talk podcast recaps strike news.

Library of America will host an online celebration of Ray Bradbury, which will include Connie Willis, Kelly Link, and Jonathan Eller. Tor has details for the July 19 event. 

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Six LibraryReads and four Indie Next picks publish this week:

How Can I Help You by Laura Sims (Putnam; LJ starred review)

“Margo moved to Carlyle two years ago to get a fresh start as a librarian, her days filled with helping patrons. But when a new employee is hired, Margo feels unsettled by the curious Patricia. When a patron is discovered dead in the library bathroom, Margo’s carefully crafted mundane life starts to unravel and may pull Patricia into a tangle of terrifying secrets.”—Priscilla Garvin, Cecil County Public Library, MD

The Block Party by Jamie Day (St. Martin’s)

“What would happen if the women of Desperate Housewives held a block party that resulted in a murder? The answer would be something like this thriller, a quick read with the gossipy twists and turns of a residential neighborhood full of its fair share of betrayals and suspects.”—Mary Robinson, Vernon Area Public Library Dist., IL

Four Hall of Fame Titles publish this week, including:

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Colson Whitehead has given us all the gift of Ray Carney’s Harlem. Crook Manifesto is one of 2023’s finest crime novels, not to mention one of the best overall novels of the year. Colson, we cannot wait for what’s next!”—Berkley McDaniel, Shelf Life Bookstore, Richmond, VA

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“I was pulled in by the premise and stayed for the story. I found myself wanting answers as intensely as Montserrat, and as concerned as Tristán. This book is the perfect combination of atmosphere, mystery, and the supernatural.”—Lauren Simonis-Hunter, Mystery to Me, Madison, WI

A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing (Berkley)

The Summer Girl by Elle Kennedy (St. Martin’s Griffin)

Two additional Indie Next picks publish this week:

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle (Tor Nightfire; LJ starred review)

“Something as horrible as a gay conversion camp is made even more terrifying in this sinister novel! With the claustrophobia and paranoia of Rosemary’s Baby and The Stepford Wives, I will recommend this book to every horror lover!”—Brandy Herr, Arts & Letters Bookstore, Granbury, TX

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong (Gallery: Saga)

“In Immortal Longings, Chloe Gong takes inspiration from Shakespeare and builds a fully imagined and detailed world. Her ability to create place, characters, and intrigue is astonishing. This story will leave you breathless.”—Calvin Crosby, The King’s English Bookshop, Salt Lake City, UT

In the Media

People’s book of the week is Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday). Also getting attention are After the Funeral and Other Stories by Tessa Hadley (Knopf) and Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker (Flatiron). New Paperbacks highlighted include: The Retreat by Sarah Pearse (Penguin; LJ starred review), Hurricane Girl by Marcy Dermansky (Vintage), and All That Moves Us: A Pediatric Neurosurgeon, His Young Patients, and Their Stories of Grace and Resilience by Jay Wellons (Random).
The “Picks” section highlights season 2 of Prime’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, based on the book by Jenny Han. Plus Claire Ptak, Love Is a Pink Cake: Irresistible Bakes for Morning, Noon, and Night (Norton), shares a recipe.

Reviews

The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop (Grove: Black Cat): “Bishop skillfully invokes and revises the ‘forbidden passion’ trope of a relationship between an older teacher and a young ingénue”; and Vanishing Maps by Cristina García (Knopf): “García seems less interested in the land mine of historical accuracy than in the emotional registers of its fractured interpretations.”

The Washington Post reviews Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey): “Like its namesake, Silver Nitrate catches fire and doesn’t stop burning until the end”; and Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land by Jacob Mikanowski (Pantheon; LJ starred review): “And though the book is not a memoir, Mikanowski mixes in his own family story to moving effect.”

Briefly Noted

Carol Spencer discusses her book, Dressing Barbie: A Celebration of the Clothes That Made America’s Favorite Doll and the Incredible Woman Behind Them (Harper), and how Barbie’s look has evolved, with the Washington Post.

NYT Magazine has a wide ranging interview with Joyce Carol Oates, whose new collection, Zero-Sum: Stories (Knopf), publishes this week.

Thao Thai, Banyan Moon (Mariner; LJ starred review), talks about motherhood and creativity with Bustle. 

NPR has an interview with Adam Brookes about his new book, Fragile Cargo: The World War II Race To Save the Treasures of China’s Forbidden City (Atria).

The Guardian highlights “the indie publishing mavericks shaking up the UK books world.”

The Marvels star Iman Vellani is writing a new Ms. Marvel comic. Entertainment Weekly has the story. 

USA Today shares 5 books for the week. 

CrimeReads suggests 10 books for the week. 

NYT looks back on the buzziest books of the year so far. 

Fox News has a Comic-Con 101.

T&C shares 12 books for fans of Prime’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, based on the book series by Jenny Han. Parade puts Jenny Han’s books in order. 

USA Today recommends 5 books to read while waiting for Barbie. 

Parade shares how to read Michael Connelly’s “Lincoln Lawyer” books in order.

USA Today shares an excerpt from the new Star Wars: Inquisitor.

Darrell Hartman adapts material from his new book, Battle of Ink and Ice: A Sensational Story of News Barons, North Pole Explorers, and the Making of Modern Media (Viking), at Time. 

Author Marga Minco dies at 103. NYT has an obituary. 

Castro critic Carlos Alberto Montaner dies at 80. NYT has an obituary.

Authors On Air

Carpenter Mark Ellison discusses his new memoir, Building: A Carpenter’s Notes on Life & the Art of Good Work (Random), with PBS NewsHour.

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