Sponsored by Algonquin Books.
Edie—smart, self‑assured, beautiful—always worked hard. She worked as a teller at a bank, she worked to save her first marriage, and later, she worked to raise her daughter as her second marriage came apart. Edie just wanted a good life, but everywhere she turned, her looks defined her. Two brothers fought over her. Her second husband became unreasonably possessive and jealous. And now, as a grandmother, Edie finds herself harassed by a younger man. The Lives of Edie Pritchard tells a multigenerational story of the West through the history of one woman trying to navigate life on her own terms.
Hello, book friends! (And hello, Kaye!) It’s Thursday, which means it’s time once again for us to hang out and chat about nerdy book stuff. This week I am also excited about our strawberry plants here in Maine. It is our first time growing strawberries and so far, we have lost them all to the critters. We finally got brackets and planters set up so we could hang our strawberry plants off the side of the garage. Now the little strawberry thieves can’t reach them, and soon we will have strawberries for ourselves. MUWAHAHAHA. (Related: This talk of strawberries is making me want to watch Addicted to Love.)
Moving on to today’s newsletter and book talk: I am excited about a lot of today’s shiny news, including adaptation deals, book cover reveals, and Muppet arms for Holly Black’s upcoming debut adult novel. Plus I’ve included a picture of my bowl-loving orange monster, some trivia, and more! I love writing these newsletters and I appreciate your support so much. Whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I hope you good bob and we same place again very now. I’ll see you again on Thursday (because of the holiday). – xoxo, Liberty, Your Friendly Neighborhood Velocireader™
Trivia question time! In The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris, what is the name of the publishing company Nella and Hazel work for? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)
Deals, Reals, and Squeals!
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Jason Reynolds has won a Carnegie medal for Look Both Ways.
Tor Books acquired Holly Black’s debut adult novel Book of Night. (See more excitement about this below.)
The new Oprah book club pick is The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris.
HBO is making a docuseries based on Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow.
Nnedi Okorafor announced her next book: Noor.
Here’s the cover reveal of Lulu and Milagro’s Search for Clarity by Angela Velez.
Kunal Nayyar, Christina Hendricks, and Lucy Hale have joined the adaptation of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin.
Disney Plus has ordered a Beauty and the Beast prequel series with Josh Gad and Luke Evans.
Watch a never-aired profile of James Baldwin from 1979.
Here’s the cover reveal of The Witch, The Sword, and the Cursed Knights by Alexandria Rogers.
Michael Farris Smith’s novel The Fighter is being adapted into a film called Rumble Through the Dark with Aaron Eckhart.
Here’s the first look at Jamie Foxx’s new book Act Like You Got Some Sense: And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me.
Netflix has released a “Meet Ciri” trailer ahead of season two of The Witcher.
Jason Priestley will star in an adaptation of the Jackie Collins novel Hollywood Kids.
Here’s the cover reveal of The Truth About White Lies by Olivia A Cole.
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!)
Excited to read:
Book of Night by Holly Black (Tor Books, May 3, 2022)
So Holly Black, author of a zillion amazing books for children and young adults (and adults of course, because we can read them too!) including The Folk of the Air trilogy and Doll Bones, has written her first novel aimed specifically at an adult audience. I could not be more excited!!! Tor Books is releasing it late next spring.
According to the marketing, it’s “a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies in the vein of Ninth House and The Night Circus” about a woman named Charlie Hall who lives in a world where shadows can be manipulated and altered, for entertainment or cosmetic preferences but also to gain power. A shadow is where people hide the parts of themselves they don’t want people to see, and sometimes they can become dangerous. Charlie is a small time con artist and bartender who is studying the shadow arts when a dangerous figure from her past reappears.
GIVE IT TO ME NOW, PLEASE. I can’t wait to read this! In the meantime, you have a ton of Holly Black backlist (blacklist?) to read, or if you want to read a wild book involving shadows, check out Sip by Brian Allen Carr!
What I’m reading this week.
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The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
Unbound : My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke
Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson
The Undertakers (A Murder & Magic Novel) by Nicole Glover
Dune by Frank Hebert
Song stuck in my head:
Golden Sun by Hotel Eden. (Also, I’m still really into listening to songs I loved when I was young. You can listen to a lot of them in this playlist I made!)
And this is funny:
I tried my hand at this meme too.
Happy things:
Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:
- Palm Springs: I watched this movie dozens of times last summer, and it looks like it’s going to be my repeat viewing favorite for the summer of 2021 as well. It’s dark AF but SO good.
- Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.
And here’s a cat picture!
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Welp. As long as Zevon thinks it’s comfortable…
Trivia answer: Wagner Books.
You made it to the bottom! High five. Thanks for reading! – xo, L