It’s Thursday, Book Friends!
Time for another Book Radar. How has your week been? I have to say I’m kind of deep in the Sundance Film Festival right now, so I’ve been slacking on my reading this week. Right now, I’m watching the film adaptation of “Cat Person.” Because I had to, right? Okay, but let’s talk books.
Book Deals and Reveals
Here’s the cover reveal of Flower and Thorn, a new Indian YA fantasy from Rati Mehrotra. This one’s out from Wednesday Books on October 17.
Tordotcom Publishing has revealed the cover of Martha Wells’ upcoming book System Collapse, the latest in the Murderbot Diaries series. You can preorder now, and the book comes out on November 14.
Phenomenal Media, a company launched by Kamala Harris’ niece Meena Harris to celebrate underrepresented women, is launching a new book imprint in partnership with Hachette Books.
Atlantic staff writer and 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist Sophie Gilbert sold North American rights to Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned A Generation of Women Against Themselves to Penguin Press. Penguin calls the book, “a reconsideration of how mass media and culture — from ‘Thong Song’ to The Bachelor — have shaped women’s self-perception over the past two decades.”
Cosmopolitan has the exclusive cover reveal of Stephanie Garber’s upcoming novel A Curse for True Love. The final book in the Once Upon A Broken Heart trilogy comes out on September 12.
Z2 Comics is releasing a career-spanning anthology of the comedian “Weird Al” Yankovic’s songs as rendered by cartoonists and illustrators. The graphic novel, The Illustrated Al: The Songs of “Weird Al” Yankovic is now available to order and features more than 20 songs interpreted by artists including Bill Plympton, Michael Kupperman, Felipe Sobreiro, Fred Harper, Jeff McClelland, Hilary Barta, and Bob Fingerman, among many others.
Xosha Roquemore is the most recent addition to the ensemble cast of Marvel’s Captain America: New World Order, starring Anthony Mackie. The film is scheduled to release on May 3, 2024.
The 2023 PEN American Literary Award Longlists have been announced! This year’s awards will confer $350,000 to more than 100 writers.
Harper Collins hiked the price of their YA paperback books upwards of 25% this year. Is this happening in other publishers, too?
Book Riot Recommends
Hi, welcome to everyone’s favorite segment of Book Radar called Book Riot Recommends. This is where I’ll talk to you about all the books I’m reading, the books I’m loving, and the books I can’t wait to read and love in the near future. I think you’re going to love them too!
Can’t Wait for This One
The Guest by Emma Cline (Random House, May 16)
The Guest is Emma Cline’s first book since her 2016 debut novel The Girls, and, yes, readers have plenty of reason to be excited about her sophomore novel. This one promises to be just as propulsive and thought-provoking as her first. I can’t wait for this one to come out in May, and I think you’ll be excited about it too, especially because scammer stories have been all the rage lately.
This is the story of a young woman pretending to be someone she isn’t. The summer is coming to a close, and Alex has been abandoned by the older man she’s been kinda dating after a misstep at a dinner party. Now she’s been dismissed from the Hamptons with a ride to a train station and a one-way ticket back to the city.
But Alex isn’t ready to give up that easily. Convinced she can change her quasi-boyfriend’s mind, she decides to stay in Long Island and find a way into his Labor Day party the following weekend. She doesn’t have many resources, but she does have an innate ability to navigate the desires of others. And so she spends the week leading up to the party drifting from one place to the next, leaving disaster in her wake.
Gift Tailored Book Recommendations to your bookish boo this Valentine’s. Gift TBR today!
Words of Literary Wisdom
“Love can’t cure a mental illness. There are lots of ways to help him, you can just be there. To listen. To talk. To cheer him up if he’s having a bad day. And on the bad days you can ask what to could do to make things easier. Stand by his side, even when things are hard. But also knowing that sometimes people need more support than just one person can give.”
— Heartstopper Vol. 4 by Alice Oseman
What’s Up in the Book Community?
My iPhone is constantly telling me I spend too much time staring at my screen, which is honestly so rude. But this means I spend a lot of time scrolling around the online book community: BookTube, Bookstagram, BookTok, BookLinkedIn (JK. That’s not a thing…I don’t think). You get the idea. Don’t have the time, energy, or the will to do all of that yourself? No problem. I got you. In this weekly section of Book Radar, we’ll take a look at something cool, interesting, and/or newsy that’s going on in the book community.
Yes, the HarperCollins Union is still on strike, and on their Twitter account, they’re offering more information about how you can support the strike. Yes, the strike applies to all HarperCollins imprints.
And Here’s A Cat Picture!
Look at Murray, the tiny angel! I know this is a close-up, so you can’t see where he’s sleeping, but he’s on the reading chair, the cats’ favorite location to snooze. Cats and reading just go together, don’t they?
And that’s it for Book Radar for Thursday! I hope you have a great weekend. Happy weekend reading! (and/or movie-watching if you’re also watching the Sundance Film Fest.