Click here to read this email in your browser.

LIT HUB'S HOME FOR BOOK REVIEWS

BOOK MARKS BULLETIN 10/22

In literary land this week: The Believer magazine will stop publishing after its spring 2022 issue, the pocket watch worn by John O’Connell in James Joyce’s Ulysses could fetch £80,000 at auction, Solange has launched a community library of rare books and art by Black creators, a Spanish woman won a million-euro writing prize . . . then turned out to be three men, and beloved Irish poet Brendan Kennelly has died at 85.

Here at Book Marks, we got some rapid-fire book recs from Betsy Bonner, TaraShea Nesbit, and Chelsea G. Summers; looked back at a classic review of John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; and celebrated 7 small press favorites from the Republic of Consciousness Prize.

Curiosity Stream is the first on-demand documentary streaming service, with films like “Mr. Beast.” Learn about Jimmy Donaldson, the world’s first digital philanthropist. Get a full year’s subscription for just $14.99 with code BOOKMARK.

The Best Reviewed Books of the Week

FICTION

1. Oh, William! by Elizabeth Strout

 11 RAVE • 7 POSITIVE

“Being privy to the innermost thoughts of Lucy Barton—and, more to the point, deep inside a book by Strout—makes readers feel safe. We know we’re in good hands.”  –Heller McAlpin (NPR)  

2. Zazen by Vanessa Veselka

4 RAVE • 3 POSITIVE • 1 MIXED

“...both a study in character, and a dystopian and thrilling story. One of those rare beasts that are intensely literary and a page turner at the same time.”  –Helen McClory (Pank)  

3. A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz

4 RAVE • 3 POSITIVE

“Like any good mystery, Anthony Horowitz’s A Line to Kill has a gripping story, quirky characters who might be devious or might be innocent, a twisty plot, an enigmatic detective and a memorable setting.”  –Laurie Hertzel (The Star Tribune)  

4. LaserWriter II by Tamara Shopsin

4 RAVE • 2 POSITIVE

“[A] transportive, joyous read … Shopsin, who is also an illustrator, graphic designer, and memoirist, is an acutely observant writer.”  –Stanley Moss (BOMB)  

5. The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon

4 RAVE • 1 POSITIVE

“Solomon has a way of taking class lines that are often invisible and turning them into one of those laser museum security systems that you see in heist movies: neon, treacherous, uncrossable.”  –Molly Young (The New York Times Book Review)  

NONFICTION

1. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit

8 RAVE • 5 POSITIVE • 1 MIXED

“Essayist that she is, Rebecca Solnit pursues her subjects down multiple pathways of thought, feeling, memory and experience, aided by historical research and the intuitive literary hunch, as needed.”  –Suzannah Lessard (The New York Times Book Review)  

2. Unprotected: A Memoir by Billy Porter

4 RAVE • 2 POSITIVE

“Through his experience as a gay Black man, repeatedly subjected to unspeakable pain, Porter delivers a searing indictment of how America treats race, sexuality and anyone outside the norm.”  –Thomas Floyd (The Washington Post)  

3. The Writing of the Gods by Edward Dolnick

2 RAVE • 4 POSITIVE • 1 MIXED

“...engrossing ... Dolnick here conjures up another intricate intellectual caper.”  –Joshua Hammer (The New York Times Book Review)  

4. The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams

2 RAVE • 4 POSITIVE

“Abrams sets the scene for each encounter, ensuring that Goodall’s unique personality, poise, and inner strength shine forth.”  –Donna Seaman (Booklist)  

5. Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World by Wil Haygood

3 RAVE • 2 POSITIVE

“This is sweeping history, but in Haygood’s hands it feels crisp, urgent and pared down. He doesn’t try to be encyclopedic. He takes a story he needs, tells it well, and ties it to the next one.”  –Dwight Garner (The New York Times)  

Books Making the News This Week

Biggest New Books: Elizabeth Strout’s Oh, William!, Billy Porter’s Unprotected, Anthony Horowitz’s A Line to Kill, and Jane Goodall’s The Book of Hope are some of the biggest new titles hitting shelves this week.

Book Deals: R.F. Kuang's Yellowface, a satire about a white author who steals an unpublished manuscript written by a more successful Asian American novelist who died in a freak accident, has been sold to William Morrow; author of Bury What We Cannot Take Kirstin Chen's Counterfeit, a humorous feminist caper novel about two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise, to William Morrow; author of The Verge Patrick Wyman's Lost Worlds, a new look at the precarious 10,000 years of humanity, often called prehistory, that preceded the Bronze Age, to Harper; Donald G. McNeil Jr.'s Learning From Plagues, reflections on 25 years of global epidemics and how governments react to them, to Simon & Schuster; and author of the Patrick Melrose novels Edward St. Aubyn's untitled upcoming book, to Knopf. 

Adaptation Announcements: The trailer for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s film adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter has been released, as has the the trailer for the documentary Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time.

Awards Circuit: Lucy Caldwell has won this year’s BBC National Short Story Award, the finalists for the 2021 Cundill History Prize have been announced, and the Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust is launching a $25,000 annual prize in honor of the beloved writer.

The Most Viewed Books of the Week

According to traffic data from Book Mark's widget and website

1. ↓ 42.74% The Lincoln Highway  AMOR TOWLES

2. ↑ NEW Oh William!  ELIZABETH STROUT

3. ↓ 47.62% Cloud Cuckoo Land  ANTHON DOERR

4. ↑ 238.33% State of Terror  LOUISE PENNY & HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

5. ↑ 16.92% On Animals  SUSAN ORLEAN

6. ↓ 25.36% Braiding Sweetgrass  ROBIN WALL KIMMERER

7. ↓ 23.16% The Storyteller  DAVE GROHL

8. ↑ 233.33% Orwell's Roses  REBECCA SOLNIT

9. ↓ 3.66% Crossroads  JONATHAN FRANZEN

10. ↑ 52.87% An Ugly Truth  SHEERA FRENKEL & CECILIA KANG

(*Percentages based on week-to-week change in total views.)

Copyright © 2021 Literary Hub. All rights reserved.

Unsubscribe | Manage Preferences