Welcome back to Monday, readers! Book news slows down for November and December, but I am still plumbing the depths of the interwebs to find you choice bits! I have a few great things to share with you today, including my newest pick. (I still can’t believe I got to read it!) Enjoy your upcoming week, be kind to yourself as well as others, and remember that I love you and I like you. – xoxo, Liberty
Sponsored by The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
She possessed a stunning beauty. She also possessed a stunning mind. Could the world handle both? Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich’s plans while at her husband’s side, understanding more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star. But she kept a secret more shocking than her heritage or her marriage: she was a scientist. And she knew a few secrets about the enemy. She had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis…if anyone would listen to her.
Here’s this week’s trivia question: “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.” This is the first line of what classic novel? (Answer at the bottom of the newsletter.)
Deals, Reals, and Squeals!
File under ‘EEEEEEEEE!’: Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus, has announced her next novel!
Malala Yousafzai is working on a book about refugees.
There’s a film adaptation of the Color Purple musical in development.
Lifetime is adapting Pride and Prejudice with contemporary spin set in Atlanta.
Gabrielle Union to produce and star in an adaptation of The Perfect Find.
John Boyega, Letitia Wright to star in Hold Back the Stars adaptation.
The book about the Malaysian finance scandal, Billion Dollar Whale, is being turned into a film.
HBO and David Simon are adapting Philip Roth’s novel, The Plot Against America.
Jeremy Irons to play Ozymandias in HBO’s Watchmen series.
Cover Reveals
Here’s the first look at Alex Segura’s upcoming Pete Fernandez mystery, Miami Midnight. (Polis Books, July 16, 2019)
And the cover reveal of The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos. (Balzer + Bray, May 28, 2019)
And the spooky cover of Last Things by Jacqueline West. (Greenwillow Books, May 7, 2019)
And last but not least, the reveal of Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson.
Book Riot Recommends
At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders New Release Index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and learn about a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week so you can add them to your TBR!
Loved, loved, loved:
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (Balzer + Bray, February 5, 2019)
Yes, you read that right! Galleys are out and I dropped everything and read it and…IT’S GREAT. It’s about the talented daughter of a hip hop legend. Bri wants to be a famous rapper, but her first attempt is taken and distorted by the media and society, and she must push back against the world to prove herself. Thomas has written a wonderful novel about race, class, and stereotypes.
Excited to read:
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press, June 4, 2019)
I loved Vuong’s poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, so I cannot wait to see how he uses his beautiful words in a novel.
What I’m reading this week.
The Plotters: A Novel by Un-su Kim
Sea Sirens (A Trot & Cap’n Bill Adventure) by Amy Chu and Janet K. Lee
Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories by Yukiko Motoya, Asa Yoneda (translator)
And this is funny.
And now YMCA is stuck in your head too.
Trivia answer: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
You made it to the bottom! Thanks for reading! – xo, L