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New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Hey, welcome to the best day of the week, aka New Book Tuesday! This week has a load of amazing new releases that I’m super excited for, and I know I won’t be able to even begin to name them all. But I’m excited to get my hands on copies of Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez and The Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah (the new authorized Poirot novel).

Make sure you catch me and Liberty squealing about some new books, such as Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour and Piranesi by Susannah Clarke on today’s episode of All the Books!

And now, here are three more great books to get on your radars!

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro

Mark Oshiro’s second novel is here! This is a fantasy about Xochitl, a young woman who is destined to wander through the arid desert and tell stories about her people. She’s painfully alone, and she wishes more than anything for a companion, but she’s surprised when she gets her wish in Emilia, the daughter of the man who conquered Xochitl’s village. They must undertake a perilous journey through the desert, and along the way they must just find that they’re meant to be together.

Agent Sonya: Moscow’s Most Daring Wartime Spy by Ben Macintyre

Calling all spy fans! This is a nonfiction account of Agent Sonya, a woman who worked as a Soviet spy throughout the West during WWII and beyond. She spent time undercover in the English Cotswolds while runny a sophisticated spy ring across the country, and then went on to evade multiple intelligence agencies and foreign entities bent on tracking her down. This book not only explores her life and movements, but how she represented ideals of the time, and the clash of those ideals.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

The Eragon author has turned his hand to sci-fi! In this new book for adults, Paolini explores first contact and colonization. Kira is a surveyor in deep space, and she’s elated when she discovers an alien artifact on an uncolonized planet. But then the dust around her begins to move, and she realizes that she’s set off a chain of events that will lead to all out war in her galaxy–and Kira can either doom or save humanity.

Happy reading!
Tirzah

Categories
Book Radar

Maggie O’Farrell Takes Home the Women’s Prize and More Book Radar!

Hello, book nerds! Welcome to another week of bookish fun and news! I hope you had a relaxing weekend. I spent mine reading, chasing after (and sometimes cleaning up after) a cute kitten, and I finally finished the new Perry Mason TV series adaptation on HBO (I got interrupted when the HBO account I borrowed was cut short unexpectedly). I really liked the very different vibe, and I’m eager to see where they go in season two!

But now, here’s more exciting book news and deal announcements! A lot has happened since the last issue!

Trivia question: What kind of animal is Napoleon in Animal Farm by George Orwell?

Deals and Squeals

Maggie O’Farrell has won the Women’s Prize for her novel Hamnet.

The Dune trailer is here!

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s debut YA novel will be hitting shelves next summer and it sounds amazing!

Big news–Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles books are going to be featured films at Netflix!

If you were holding out hope for a Lindsay Lohan tell-all, I’m sorry to disappoint you.

Warcross by Marie Lu is getting adapted for the small screen!

We’re getting a sequel to The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall!

Another kidlit classic is getting adapted–HBO Max has picked up The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin!

For all of you eagerly awaiting a third season of Derry Girls (it’s coming, but filming has been put on hold because of COVID, so wear a mask!), there will be a Derry Girls book out this fall!

Any Ally Carter fans out there? While she’s best known for her Gallagher Girls YA series, she wrote a screenplay of a Christmas movie that’s being made, starring Brooke Shields and Cary Elwes!

Did you know that Stephen Curry has a book club?

Halsey has been cast in The Player’s Table, which is an adaptation of the YA novel They Wish They Were Us.

Nina LaCour, the Printz Award-winning YA author of We Are Okay (and this week’s release Watch Over Me, which is gorgeous), has just sold two adult novels!

Riot Recommendations

At Book Riot, I’m a cohost with Liberty on All the Books!, plus I write a handful of newsletters including the weekly Read This Book newsletter, cohost the Insiders Read Harder podcast, and write content for the site. I’m always drowning in books, so here’s what’s on my radar this week!

Want to read: The Body in the Garden by Katharine Schellman

I am a sucker for a good Regency era mystery novel, and this looks like just the thing! Many thanks to my fellow Rioter Jamie for recommending it. It’s about Lily Adler, a young widow who is just returning to London society in 1815 and is still navigating her new social role and testing out her freedom when she attends a party at her friend’s townhouse…and discovers a body in the garden! Lily happened to overhear a suspicious conversation right before the man was killed, and so naturally she gets sucked into the mystery!

What I’m reading this week:

Wrapping up Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (still on the audio but it’s great!)

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Trivia answer: Berkshire boar

I leave you with more kitten cuteness! Yes, that is a playpen for the kitten. Don’t let this photo deceive you, he is so rambunctious that we have to try and contain him, even when we’re right there. He (mostly) abides by this, but once he finds the confidence to break out I’m sure he’ll be unstoppable!

Happy reading!
Tirzah

Categories
Today In Books

The Kane Chronicles is Coming to Netflix: Today in Books

Kane In Development

Great news, Rick Riordan fans! The Kane Chronicles, which are Riordan’s middle grade fantasy adventure take on Egyptian mythology, are being adapted into feature length films over at Netflix! We don’t have much news beyond that yet, but it’s exciting to know that more Riordan work will be headed to a screen near you soon! In the meantime, pick up the first book, The Red Pyramid.

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé: Yhe 21-Year-Old British Student With A Million-Dollar Book Deal

How exciting is this? Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé has written a thriller called Ace of Spades, starring two Black students at an elite high school who must combat rumors to fight for their reputation, and then for their lives, in the vein of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl. The author says that she wrote the book because she wanted to see people who looked like her in these stories, and writing her own take helped her feel less lonely during her first year of university. The book has been under contract with an editor in the UK for the last two years, but it was just snatched up by Macmillan here in the U.S. recently. It’ll release in summer 2021.

Celebrate Star Wars Reads This October

For the month of October, Star Wars is celebrating reading with Star Wars Reads month! This is an event for all ages, and will include virtual events and activities, giveaways, and special offers on the official Star Wars website. You can head to the website for a reading challenge, activities guide, and more, available for download now!

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Read This Book

Read This Book: From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks

Welcome to Read This Book, a weekly newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!

This week’s pick is an incredible middle grade novel–From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks.

I picked up this book on a whim because I’d seen the title and cover a lot, and I really love the audiobook narrator, the incredible Bahni Turpin. This novel follow Zoe, who turns 12 at the start of the book and has a great birthday, except that she’s on the outs with her best friend. And then she receives an odd piece of mail–a birthday card from her biological dad, Marcus. Zoe has never before had contact with him, although she knows that he’s been in prison since before she was born. They strike up a pen pal relationship, which she reveals to her grandma but keeps from her mom. As Zoe gets to know Marcus, she finds that he’s caring and funny and she gets some of her traits from him. She also learns that Marcus has always maintained that he’s innocent of the murder he was accused of. Zoe becomes determined to clear his name by finding his alibi witness, which his lawyer never bothered to do.

This book reminded me a lot of Front Desk by Kelly Yang, which is another middle grade novel I absolutely adored. Both books take very complicated and serious issues, such as immigration, exploitation, and wrongful imprisonment, and explore them with a deft hand, via plots and situations that are age-appropriate for young readers. Marks balances out the seriousness of Zoe’s dad’s situation with her aspirations to become a baker, her experimentations with various recipes, and a junior internship at a local bakery. Zoe also is dealing with her first real conflict with her next door neighbor and best friend, which is certainly relatable to young readers. Marks also gives Zoe an excellent support system to help her navigate her dad’s situations: a grandmother who supervises her correspondence with Marcus, a loving mom who’s trying to do her best, and a fantastic step-dad who has been there for her when Marcus couldn’t.

This is a great novel for kids who might be developing an awareness of racial injustice but aren’t ready for history books or aren’t interested nonfiction titles. The reader can learn alongside Zoe about the Innocence Project and how racism affects our social structures, and while Marks doesn’t offer any easy answers, she gives space for Zoe and the reader to grapple with the injustice. The book is also genuinely funny at times, making it an engaging and enjoyable pick for anyone who wants to indulge in a fantastic middle grade novel, or for anyone looking for their next great family read aloud!

Happy reading!
Tirzah

Find me on Book Riot, the Insiders Read Harder podcast, All the Books, and Twitter.

If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, click here to subscribe.

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Book Radar

The REBECCA Trailer is Here and More Book Radar!

Hey there, book nerds! I hope you had a fantastic long weekend and were able to squeeze in some good reading! I read, listened to audiobooks, and baked with the last of the season’s peaches, so it was wonderful.

I’ve got tons of news and excitement for you this week, but remember—keep wearing your masks, washing your hands, and stay hydrated!

Trivia question: Who is the only author whose work was adapted twice by Alfred Hitchcock?

Deals and Squeals

parable of the sowerFourteen years after her death, The Parable of the Sower finally makes Octavia Butler a New York Times bestselling author. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

The trailer for the Netflix adaptation of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is here and it is everything!

Ready to throw it back to the early 2000’s? Meg Cabot’s Mediator series is being made into a Netflix movie!

Three of your YA faves are teaming up for a spooky YA novel called Three Kisses, One Midnight! Sandhya Menon, Roshani Chokshi, and Evelyn Skye will each write an interconnected novella—think Let It Snow, but Halloween!

We’re super excited to see that Steph Cha, author of Your House Will Pay, will be the new Best American Mystery Stories editor! Starting in 2021, she’ll edit the anthology, which will be renamed Best American Mystery and Suspense.

Want to know what people are reading during the pandemic? Here you go!

Riot Recommendations

At Book Riot, I’m a cohost with Liberty on All the Books!, plus I write a handful of newsletters including the weekly Read This Book newsletter, cohost the Insiders Read Harder podcast, and write content for the site. I’m always drowning in books, so here’s what’s on my radar this week!

Current read: Bent Heavens by Daniel Krause

The minute September is here, I want to read all the creepy and spooky books. I picked up this novel because a fellow Rioter said it was the single most unsettling book she’s read all year long and friends, I started it last night and stayed up way past my bedtime, unable to set it down. It’s about Liv, an Iowa teen whose father disappeared three years ago. He returned, but he wasn’t quite right—he claimed aliens experimented on him, and he set a series of deadly traps in the woods behind their house before vanishing for good. Now a senior in high school, Liv is looking forward to moving on and she resents that her friend Doug insists they check the traps each week. But just as Liv has decided to destroy the traps, she finds something in the woods. And she learns that her father might have been telling the truth all along. I’m not finished yet, but please know that the suspense is excellent. I’ve been thinking about this book all day long, and I would like to go back to reading now!

What I’m reading this week:

Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour (out next week, but I started it and it’s fantastic)

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Trivia answer: Daphne du Maurier! Her novel Rebecca and short story “The Birds” became Hitchcock films.

I shall leave you with this photo of my new kitten, Jin! Yes, we might have adopted him in part because he’s orange and therefore matches our big cat (they haven’t met yet). He’s very cuddly and I anticipate lots of good kitten snuggles in our future!

Happy reading!

Tirzah

Categories
The Kids Are All Right

Kidlit Deals for September 9, 2020

Hey there, kidlit pals! I hope you enjoyed a nice, relaxing holiday weekend and that your shorter work/school week is going well. I’ve got a great list of book deals for your today–award-winning middle grade novels, fun series starters, picture books, and more, all under $5! Here we go!

As always, prices may change–so snag these deals while they’re hot!

How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long and illustrated by David Shannon is just $3–grab it ahead of Talk Like a Pirate Day, which is September 19!

National Book Award finalist Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt is $3.

Snag Renee Watson’s Some Place More Than Others for just under $5!

Start a new Warriors series! The Broken Code book one, Lost Stars by Erin Hunter is $2.

Grab Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai for $3.

Lety Out Loud by Angela Cervantes is under $5! I love her middle grade books!

Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn is also under $5.

Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate and illustrated by G. Brian Karas is $3!

Jacqueline Woodson is a master storyteller and her novel Harbor Me is just $3.

Snag Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen by Anne Nesbit for just $1!

And just a reminder that Front Desk by Kelly Yang, one of my favorite MG books, is still on sale for $5. Grab it before the sequel Three Keys hits shelves next week!

Happy reading!

Tirzah

Categories
New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a fantastic (and socially distant) holiday weekend, and that you’re ready to dive into the week with new book releases! I’m extra excited about this bunch of new books! I especially can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe and The Dare Sisters by Jess Rinker!

Don’t forget to catch Liberty and Vanessa on this week’s episode of All the Books, where they discuss some of their most anticipated releases of the week!

And without further ado, here we go!

What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez

In this new novel from National Book Award winner Sigrid Nunez, a woman recounts six times she encountered other people–strangers, people from her past, casual acquaintances–and how her interaction with them prompted them to pour their hearts out to her. This is a novel about human connection and the need to share our stories with other people, and it sounds like the perfect follow up for readers who loved The Friend.

The Cat I Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess

Set against the backdrop of the Bosnian genocide in 1992, this is the story of Amra’s family and how their lives change drastically and seemingly overnight when the Serbs take control of the army and her hometown is surrounded by bigotry and hate. Soon her family faces danger and starvation on all sides, but through it all a stray cat appears and acts as a guardian to the family.

Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney

As a kid, I inhaled Caroline B. Cooney’s mysteries and thrillers for kids and teens (who here also read and was horrified by The Face on the Milk Carton?), so it’s exciting to see that her newest book is a mystery for adults! Clemmie is checking up on a neighbor when she stumbles across something remarkable—and so she takes a photo on her phone and sends it to a few people. When the photo goes viral, and it turns out that her neighbor’s house is a crime scene, Clemmie is suddenly facing intense scrutiny—which is bad for her, because she’s got some big secrets that are nearly half a century old that she doesn’t want getting out.

Happy reading!
Tirzah

Categories
Today In Books

See Where Ursula K. Le Guin Lived: Today in Books

Inspirational Home Where Ursula Le Guin Lived For Sale At $4.1 Million

Anyone have a spare $4 million? Because sci-fi and fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin’s Berkeley, CA home is on the market, and it’s gorgeous! Somehow it’s just what I would have imagined from this author–all clean lines, beautiful wood, and an enchanting garden. Take us there!

A Celebration of Audre Lorde

To celebrate the publication of The Selected Works of Audre Lorde, compilation editor Roxane Gay will be joined with Mahogany L. Browne, Saeed Jones and Porsha Olayiwola for readings and discussion on 92y.org! You can buy tickets for the readings, which are happening Thursday, September 10, on the event page. The Selected Works of Audre Lord will be out on Tuesday, September 8.

Nickelodeon Pulls ‘Made By Maddie’ Over ‘Hair Love’ Controversy

Nickelodeon has announced they are pulling a new TV show, Made by Maddie, from an upcoming line-up of programming after accusations that the show plagiarized the art from Hair Love, an Oscar-winning animated short that is based off of the picture book Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry and illustrated by Vashti Harrison. Nickelodeon says they’re listening to all sides of the issue, and have not yet made a decision about what to do next.

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Read This Book

Read This Book: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

Welcome to Read This Book, a weekly newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!

This week’s picks is one of my favorite books of 2020–The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson! To say that this book might be the favorite of the year is no exaggeration–I loved every bit of it!

Content warning: domestic abuse

Cara lives in the future, where walled cities are home to the wealthy and privileged, and communities just outside consist mainly of people of color who struggle to make ends meet in a world vastly affected by climate change. Cara is one of the lucky ones–she’s got a job with the corporation that has perfected multiverse travel, and she works as a traverser. She’s one of the most valuable traversers, in fact, because you can’t travel to worlds where your counterpart is alive, and thanks to her rough upbringing, most of Cara’s doppelgängers are dead. She just needs to keep her head down for four more years and she can apply for citizenship in the city. Cara passes time by flirting with her unavailable handler, Dell, and helping out her family outside the city the best she can. But when she’s sent on a routine mission to a new world where her doppelgänger has recently been murdered, Cara discovers that she’s a pawn in a vast conspiracy–and she has to decide what she’ll do about it.

Cara is the kind of character I love to read–tough but emotionally vulnerable, resourceful but grappling with a secret past that could undo everything in the space of a breath. While the beginning does feel like a bit of a big info-dump, if you stick with it for thirty pages, you begin to get a sense for what a creative, complicated, and vivid world Johnson has created. The social and economical stratifications aren’t so far removed from our own world, and if Cara comes across as hardened, it’s because she grew up in a tough world. You also won’t have to wait very long for the twists to start hitting–Cara is much more complicated than she first appears, and readers will want to pay attention as tiny reveals change your entire understanding of Cara and her world(s). And they never stop, either–chapter after chapter, new twists and surprise developments keep you on your toes. Some of them you’ll see coming, some of them will take you by surprise, but they never stop thrilling, even up until the very end of the book.

I also love that Cara is casually queer in a way where her sexuality isn’t really a big deal, but it does play an important role in the book. Her yearning for Dell, a privileged woman she can’t have, is a huge source of angst, and also symbolic of all the things that Cara wants but can’t have. It also provides wonderful tension as the reader is left to wonder just how much Dell understands about Cara and her secrets. While I won’t say how that pans out, I can tell you that this is not a tragic queer story!

I could go on for pages about why I love this book, but suffice to say it’s one that I know I’ll want to re-read at some point in the future, for enjoyment and also to just marvel at how Johnson put such a complicated story together. I’ve not read this level of plotting since Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows and Ninth House, and honestly, it’s thrilling to know that you’re reading a complicated story masterfully executed!

Happy reading!
Tirzah

Find me on Book Riot, the Insiders Read Harder podcast, All the Books, and Twitter.

If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, click here to subscribe.

Categories
Book Radar

Channing Tatum Wrote a Picture Book and More Book Radar!

Hey there, book nerds! Happy September! I hope your week so far is great, and that you’re reading something excellent. I’m excited for all the new books hitting shelves this month, but a little concerned about my ability to actually read them all. I’m ever the optimist, though!

I’ve got tons of news and excitement, and some new book love below! Here we go!

Trivia question: In what year was the first New York Review of Books published?

Deals and Squeals

I am so thrilled to see Amazon is adapting Kacen Callender’s Felix Ever After into a TV series.

I forgot to mention it earlier this week, but John Green’s next book is coming next year and it’s a work of nonfiction!

Nic Cage is voicing the dragon in the adaptation of Eoin Colfer’s High Fire.

In the category of “awwwwww” Channing Tatum has written a picture book! The One and Only Sparkella will be out next May.

The next LibrariesTransform pick has been chosen!

The Three-Body Problem is being adapted into a Netflix TV series by the same duo who brought Game of Thrones to the small screen.

Emma Roberts has signed a deal with Hulu to adapt books for the streaming service, and her first pick is Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering.

Johnny Depp is filing to delay the defamation trial that’s ongoing against his ex-wife, so he can continue filming the third Fantastic Beasts movie in London.

Alyssa Cole talks with the New York Times about her switch from romance to the thriller genre.

Riot Recommendations

At Book Riot, I’m a cohost with Liberty on All the Books!, plus I write a handful of newsletters including the weekly Read This Book newsletter, cohost the Insiders Read Harder podcast, and write content for the site. I’m always drowning in books, so here’s what’s on my radar this week!

Want to read: When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

I just got my copy of Alyssa Cole’s new thriller earlier this week and I am so excited to dive in! When Jamie, our resident mystery expert and Unusual Suspects newsletter writer, says it’s one of the best mystery/thrillers she’s read all year, I pay attention! This is the story of Sydney, a Black woman who lives in Brooklyn and is mad when a local history tour guide offers tours of her neighborhood, but doesn’t acknowledge the contributions of its Black residents. She offers her own counter-tours, and even takes on a research assistant in Theo, a white man, but when she begins noticing that her Black neighbors aren’t just moving to the suburbs, but disappearing, they are on to a chilling case.

Books I’ve Acquired This Week:

Transcendant Kingdom by Yan Gyasi

Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (I love Bunce’s YA novels, and this middle grade book looks so fun!)

A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore

Trivia answer: 1963

That’s it for me, book nerds! I leave you with this photo of a sticker that reads “Let’s Taco Bout Books,” which delights me to no end. Do you collect bookish stickers or other swag? You can buy this one here.

Happy reading!

Tirzah