Good Monday to you, bookies! I am recovering from the plague, but I still had a great week last week. I got prism window decals and giant shark stickers, and books about the Celtics and the Civil War, and I played with the kittens and dyed some of my hair blue. (I did not dye the kittens blue.) It was extremely peak Liberty. Favorite week of the year so far! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend, and you managed to read something wonderful. Have a great week, and remember to be excellent to each other! I’ll see you again on Thursday. – xoxo, Liberty
P.S Shameless self-promotion: Did you see the artwork for our All the Books! 200th episode commemorative merch???
Sponsored by the spring and early summer picks of the Class of 2k19 books, 20 authors, 20 MG and YA novels debuting in 2019.
WE RULE THE NIGHT: “The richly textured world, filled with disparate people who want to win the war, is background to a powerful story.” – Kirkus starred review THE REMARKABLE INVENTIONS OF WALTER MORTINSON: “I can’t think of a better book to be read in a classroom or between parent and child.” – Jeanne Ferruolo ALL OUR BROKEN PIECES: “Crichton is a master at manipulating her reader’s emotions […] sharply written and deeply moving.” -Tamara Ireland Stone SUPER JAKE AND THE KING OF CHAOS: “This powerful book is full of charm and heart, but its real magic is humor.”—Beth Vrabel
Here’s this week’s trivia question: Who is author Margaret Drabble’s sister? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)
Deals, Reals, and Squeals!
Paramount is making Justin A. Reynold’s The Opposite of Always into a film.
As I mentioned in December, André Aciman said he would love to write a sequel to Call Me By Your Name. Fast-forward to March – it’s done!
Chantel Acevedo announced her middle grade debut.
Anderson Cooper signed a deal for two nonfiction books. He’ll coauthor them with Katherine Howe (The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane), and the first is expected in 2022.
Tor has acquired the new trilogy by Sleeping Giant‘s author Sylvain Neuvel.
Death Is My Best Friend, based on Katarina Tonks’ Wattpad series, is being adapted for television.
Amazon is moving forward with a series adaptation of The Dark Tower.
Cover Reveals
Here’s the first look at Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s Big Book of Classic Fantasy. (Vintage, July 2)
Dance, er I mean Lance, Rubin made an amazing video for the cover reveal of Crying Laughing. (Knopf Books for Young Readers, November 19)
And Paste has the first look at Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration by Bryan Caplan and illustrator Zach Weinersmith. (First Second, October 29)
And here’s the amazing cover of Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron. (HarperTeen, September 10)
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! (It will now be books I loved on Mondays and books I’m excited to read on Thursdays. YAY, BOOKS!)
Loved, loved, loved:
Aru Shah and the Song of Death (Pandava Series) by Roshani Chokshi (Rick Riordan Presents, April 30)
Roshani Chokshi is AMAZING. Everything she touches is gold! Not only were we lucky enough to get her YA novel The Gilded Wolves this year, but also the sequel to her fantastic middle grade series! I’m not going to tell you what this is about, in case you didn’t read the first one, Aru Shah and the End of Time. I’ll just say that it’s about a young girl whose mother works in a museum, and who touches an artifact she shouldn’t touch, starting the end of the world. Plus there’s an anxious talking pigeon. I cannot recommend these books enough!
What I’m reading this week.
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
The Affairs of the Falcóns by Melissa Rivero
The Last Pass: Cousy, Russell, the Celtics, and What Matters in the End by Gary M. Pomerantz
Pun of the week: What’s the difference between a hippo and a zippo? One is really heavy and the other is a little lighter.
Here’s a kitten picture: Farrokh is not alphabetized correctly.
And this is funny.
This comic is now my favorite thing about the internet.
Trivia answer: A.S. Byatt. (They don’t get along.)
You made it to the bottom! Thanks for reading! – xo, L