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The Boy Who Sold
In case anyone doubted, Harry Potter can still storm the book world. In the first few days of publication, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child sold more than 2 million copies in print in the U.S. and Canada alone. (The next best-selling titles of 2016, for comparison, have sold in the 300k-500k range). And with more than 4.5 million copies in print already, there is no question that it will be the best-selling book of 2016 and might even be enough to move the needle on the industry’s year on the whole.
The Underground Railroad Emerges as the It Book of 2016
Colson Whitehead has had quite a week. First, Oprah announced that The Underground Railroad would be the next selection in the dormant Oprah’s Book Club. Doubleday even moved up the publication date by six weeks so that The Underground Railroad was available to buy the day of the announcement.
Next, in a move I don’t recall ever seeing before, The New York Times printed a 16,000-word excerpt of The Underground Railroad as a standalone section in this weekend’s edition. The literati pre-publication buzz around the book has been excellent, but these two developments make The Underground Railroad the most visible literary title of the year.
Thought Police in Action
Faizah Shaheen, a mental health professional in the U.K., was detained by police and interrogated after her flight landed at Dorchester airport.
The reason? She was reading a book about Syria. A crewmember saw Shaheen reading Syria Speaks: Art and Culture from the Front Line and reported it to police. Shaheen was interrogated and released.
This Week in Books is sponsored by After Anna by Alex Lake.
The real nightmare starts when her daughter is returned.
A bone-chilling psychological thriller that will suit fans of Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, Daughter by Jane Shemilt, and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.
A girl is missing. Five years old, taken from outside her school. She has vanished, traceless.
The police are at a loss; her parents are beyond grief. Their daughter is lost forever, perhaps dead, perhaps enslaved.
But the biggest mystery is yet to come: one week after she was abducted, their daughter is returned.
She has no memory of where she has been. And this, for her mother, is just the beginning of the nightmare.
Happy new book Tuesday! I thought I was only going to do this in July, but once again, I am breaking with tradition, and doing another big round-up of books, because I read SO MANY books out today that I wanted to share with you, I really could not whittle it down to a few. Plus there are many more noteworthy books out today. So here’s a big list! And on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about some more great new releases out today, such as The Underground Railroad, I Contain Multitudes, and I Will Send Rain.
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Portugal by Cyril Pedrosa.
Comics creator Simon Muchat is struggling to find purpose in his existence. Bitter and apathetic towards everything, he gets a chance to travel to Portugal where the roots of his family lie. After an absence of more than 20 years Simon finds himself rediscovering the sounds and smells of his childhood, the radiant warmth of something forgotten. Having soaked up the atmosphere of his fatherland, and driven by the desire to find out the secret behind his family name, Simon sets on a melancholic quest for identity that helps him rediscover his passion for life.
The Cauliflower by Nicola Barker
Good Morning Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton
White Nights in Split Town City by Annie DeWitt
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney
The Collected Stories by Mavis Gallant
The Field of the Cloth of Gold by Magnus Mills
Swear on This Life by Renee Carlino
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
Who Will Catch Us As We Fall by Iman Verjee
The Hero’s Body: A Memoir by William Giraldi
Results May Vary by Bethany Chase
I Will Send Rain by Rae Meadows
How to Party With an Infant by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Mr. Eternity by Aaron Thier
Scream: A Memoir of Glamour and Dysfunction by Tama Janowitz
Seven Skeletons: The Evolution of the World’s Most Famous Human Fossils by Lydia Pyne
Vow of Celibacy by Erin Judge
Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood
When Watched: Stories by Leopoldine Core
Wicked Plants Coloring Book by Amy Stewart
Makoons by Louise Erdrich
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Clothed, Female Figure: Stories by Kirstin Allio
Malafemmena by Louisa Ermelino
The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville
I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong
Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets by Luke Dittrich
Dinosaurs on Other Planets: Stories by Danielle McLaughlin
Known and Strange Things: Essays by Teju Cole
YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me. If you want to learn more about books (and see lots of pictures of my cats), or tell me about books you’re reading, you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!
Stay rad!
Liberty
Book Riot recently launched Book Mail, our very own service to send you awesome books and bookish gifts. The first rounds of both the mainline (primarily adult books) and the YA line sold out within a few days of their respective launches, and now it’s time to reveal the goodies.
Want in? Join the waiting list for the next mainline Book Mail box (coming in September) and the next YA box (October).
And now *drumroll* here’s what you missed!
Book Mail Mainline #1: Food and the Eating Life (shipped in June):
Book Mail YA #1: Lighter Reads for Summer (shipped in July):
There are limited quantities of each Book Mail box available, and folks on the waiting list get first crack. Sign up now to be notified when the next rounds launch.
Book Mail themes and contents are a secret, but, well, let’s just say it’s no myth that the next mainline box will be magical. As for YA? It promises to be delightfully strange.
Book Mail boxes are $60, including free shipping worldwide (yes, for real) and total value of contents always exceeds the ticket price. This is not a subscription.
“We cling to our fairy tales until the price for believing in them becomes too high.”
If you’ve been dreaming of having an awesome tee, tote, or pouch to show your peculiar love for Miss Peregrine, pinch yourself!
VIP perks are disappearing soon — don’t throw away your shot! Register by August 31 and get these bonuses:
– First notice on additions to the event, new programming, etc.
– Early access to RSVP for limited-seating panels
– A special discount on pre-ordered books from our con bookstore
Go get ’em, and use code BOOKNERD during check-out to get $20 off your weekend pass!
The 2016 Man Booker Prize Longlist
Thirteen novels made the the longlist for this year’s Man Booker Prize, probably the most prestigious award given to an individual book. The Man Booker, for this first time this year, is open to American novels; previously, it had only been open to novels from the (loosely-defined) English commonwealth. Five Americans made the cut.
This year’s list doesn’t have many household names: J.M. Coetzee and Elizabeth Strout are probably the most recognizable names to most readers. This means, I suppose, that we all have some interesting new names to check out.
Roxane Gay, Yona Harvey to Write for Marvel Comics
Roxane Gay and Yona Harvey will collaborate to write World of Wakanda, a spin-off of the current run of Black Panther written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The series will focus on two queer black women who used to be part of Black Panther’s security force.
This will be the first foray into comics for both the essayist-novelist Gay and poet Harvey. World of Wakanda will premiere in November and will also be have black women as illustrators and cover designers.
U.S. Constitution Breaks into Amazon Bestseller List
In the wake of Khizr Khan’s impassioned speech at the Democratic National Convention last week, a pocket-sized copy of the U.S. Constitution rose to the top 10 of Amazon’s U.S. bestseller list. The edition, which sells for $1, is published by the National Center for Constitution Studies. The edition is currently on a 2-3 week back order.
Another book also received a major boost from a convention speech: A Wrinkle in Time. Chelsea Clinton mentioned the novel in her speech and it also briefly rose to be one of Amazon’s best-sellers. I think I can hear publicists all over Manhattan scheming for 2020.