October 7, 2022

October 7, 2022

Sustainable

About 35 years ago, I bought some t-shirts from Patagonia. The colors, as well as the size and fit, were terrific! I probably got a dozen of them. A few years after I started wearing them, it was discovered that the cotton they were made from was not sustainable. So they stopped making them with that fiber, and in those shapes and colors.

The funny thing is, while that cotton has not been used anymore, those shirts have washed well, even with really tough stains, and they still are in rotation in my wardrobe.

I thought about this as I have been reading about how much of publishers' backlist titles are driving their sales this year. Typically, a book backlists after a year. At a time when people are watching their budgets, I feel they do not take risks on purchasing a book they may not like. So backlist titles that are well known are seeing a lot of traction. And yes, there have been exceptions to this, but I get the sense that book buyers are being cautionary. 

At Bookreporter, we have been working harder than ever to be sure that we have a wide range of books being reviewed each week so we can help with your buying decisions. And you also can see what readers are talking about in our Word of Mouth feature. We want you to embrace "new" as well as tried and true!

As I mentioned in last Friday’s newsletter, we hosted our 11th "Bookaccino Live" Book Group event last week, and it was a huge success. Our guests were Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, and we had such a fun time talking about their bestselling novel, THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN, and taking questions from members of our audience. As promised, the event is now available for you to watch or listen to in its entirety. Click here for the video and here for the podcast. I received so many lovely notes from readers about the event. We are so glad you enjoyed it!

This year's Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to French author Annie Ernaux “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory.” In her writing, Ernaux consistently and from different angles examines a life marked by strong disparities regarding gender, language and class. Her path to authorship was long and arduous. Click here to read more about her remarkable life and career.

Jesse Kornbluth, who founded Bookreporter with me, is a huge fan of Ernaux’s work. On Monday he published this piece about her on his site, HeadButler.com, to coincide with this week’s release of her latest book, GETTING LOST, which is the diary she kept during the year and a half she had a secret love affair with a younger, married man --- a Russian diplomat.

Also announced this week were the National Book Award finalists. They include THE RABBIT HUTCH by Tessa Gunty (Fiction), THE MAN WHO COULD MOVE CLOUDS: A Memoir by Ingrid Rojas Contreras (Nonfiction), THE RUPTURE TENSE by Jenny Xie (Poetry), SEVEN EMPTY HOUSES by Samanta Schweblin, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell (Translated Literature), and MAIZY CHEN'S LAST CHANCE by Lisa Yee (Young People's Literature). The winners will be announced during an in-person awards ceremony that will be broadcast live on November 16th at 8pm ET. You can sign up to watch it by clicking here.

News & Pop Culture

I did not have time to watch much this week, as I was reading and writing. I did get to see Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run. Very cool moment!

Tonight, my husband, Tom, and our Contest Coordinator, Lisa Hickman, are joining me for the kickoff event for the Morristown Festival of Books. The speaker will be Frank Bruni, and he will be interviewed about his latest book, THE BEAUTY OF DUSK: On Vision Lost and Found, by Katy Tur from MSNBC.

I am putting some polishing touches on my Morristown interviews tomorrow with Nita Prose, Jamie Fiore Higgins and James Patterson. For the latter, I read JAMES PATTERSON BY JAMES PATTERSON: The Stories of My Life, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

We have a long weekend coming up as we are taking Columbus Day off. When we started the company, my boys were six and one. As they went through school, I liked spending this holiday with them. And our hard-working team needs a breather before we rip our way through the rest of the year. Greg has been dashing between the Canadian border and the Midwest all week, clocking work time at friends' homes and libraries. Cory is coming over on Sunday to help close the pool, which is one of the saddest days of the year for me. I am lobbying for a hot tub, but my request seems to be falling on deaf ears. 

Read on, and have a great week.

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

P.S. For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!

Featured Review: OUR MISSING HEARTS by Celeste Ng
Reese’s Book Club Pick for October

OUR MISSING HEARTS by Celeste Ng (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Lucy Liu
Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic --- including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret. Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to visit the Reese's Book Club website.

Click here to read our review.

Featured Review: MAD HONEY
by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
October’s “Good Morning America” Book Club Pick

Featured Review: LIKE A ROLLING STONE
by Jann S. Wenner

LIKE A ROLLING STONE: A Memoir by Jann S. Wenner (Memoir)
Audiobook available, read by Dennis Boutsikaris
Rolling Stone founder, co-editor and publisher Jann Wenner’s deeply personal memoir vividly describes and brings you inside the music, the politics and the lifestyle of a generation, an epoch of cultural change that swept America and beyond. He takes us into the life and work of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Bono and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. He was instrumental in the careers of Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe and Annie Leibovitz. His journey took him to the Oval Office with his legendary interviews with Bill Clinton and Barak Obama, leaders to whom Rolling Stone gave its historic, full-throated backing. The people Wenner chose to be seen and heard in the pages of Rolling Stone tried to change American culture, values and morality. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

- Click here to read more about the book.

Click here to read our review.

Featured Review: THE HERO OF THIS BOOK
by Elizabeth McCracken

THE HERO OF THIS BOOK by Elizabeth McCracken (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Elizabeth McCracken
Ten months after her mother’s death, the narrator of THE HERO OF THIS BOOK takes a trip to London. The city was a favorite of her mother’s, and as the narrator wanders the streets, she finds herself reflecting on her mother’s life and their relationship. Thoughts of the past meld with questions of the future: Back in New England, the family home is now up for sale, its considerable contents already winnowed. The woman, a writer, recalls all that made her complicated mother extraordinary and finds herself wondering how her mother had endured. Even though she wants to respect her mother’s nearly pathological sense of privacy, the woman must come to terms with whether making a chronicle of this remarkable life constitutes an act of love or betrayal. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

- Click here to read more about the book.

Click here to read our review.

Featured Review:
KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE by Deanna Raybourn

KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE by Deanna Raybourn (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Jane Oppenheimer and Christina Delaine
Billie, Mary Alice, Helen and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for 40 years. Now their talents are considered old-school, and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills. When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses-paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death. Now, to get out alive, they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. Reviewed by Pamela Kramer.

- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt.

Click here to read our review.

Featured Review: HOW NOT TO DROWN
IN A GLASS OF WATER by Angie Cruz

HOW NOT TO DROWN IN A GLASS OF WATER by Angie Cruz (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Kimberly M. Wetherell and Rossmery Almonte
Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But when, in her mid-50s, she loses her job in the Great Recession, she is forced back into the job market for the first time in decades. Set up with a job counselor, Cara instead begins to narrate the story of her life. Over the course of 12 sessions, Cara recounts her tempestuous love affairs, her alternately biting and loving relationships with her neighbor Lulu and her sister Angela, her struggles with debt, gentrification and loss, and, eventually, what really happened between her and her estranged son, Fernando. As Cara confronts her darkest secrets and regrets, we see a woman buffeted by life but still full of fight. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.

- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt.

Click here to read our review.

October’s New in Paperback Roundups

October’s Books on Screen Feature

More Reviews This Week

AMERICAN MIDNIGHT: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis by Adam Hochschild (History)
Audiobook available, read by Jonathan Todd Ross
The nation was on the brink. Mobs burned Black churches to the ground. Courts threw thousands of people into prison for opinions they voiced --- in one notable case, only in private. Self-appointed vigilantes executed tens of thousands of citizens’ arrests. Some 75 newspapers and magazines were banned from the mail and forced to close. When the government stepped in, it was often to fan the flames. This was America during and after the Great War: a brief but appalling era blighted by lynchings, censorship and the sadistic, sometimes fatal abuse of conscientious objectors in military prisons --- a time whose toxic currents of racism, nativism, red-baiting and contempt for the rule of law then flowed directly through the intervening decades to poison our own. Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott.

ACROSS THE SAND by Hugh Howey (Science Fiction/Post-Apocalyptic Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Jeremy Arthur
The old world is buried. A new one has been forged atop the shifting dunes, a land of howling wind and infernal sand. In this barren home, siblings Conner, Rob, Palmer and Violet daily carve out a future. They live in the shadow of their father and oldest sister, Vic, two of the greatest sand divers ever to comb the desert’s depths. But these branches of their family tree are long gone, leaving the younger siblings scratching in the dust, hopeful for a better life. On the other side of No Man’s Land, Anya was born beside the abundant mines knowing her prospects would be to marry, have a family and work in ore. But when an atomic bomb delivered by a stranger destroys most of her town, she follows her father to a strange land of dunes to bring vengeance to their enemies. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

LIFE'S WORK: A Memoir by David Milch (Memoir)
Audiobook available, read by Michael Harney and David Milch
From the start, David Milch’s life seems destined to echo that of his father, a successful if drug-addicted surgeon. Almost every achievement is accompanied by an act of self-immolation, but the deepest sadnesses also contain moments of grace. Betting on racehorses and stealing booze at eight years old, mentored by Robert Penn Warren and excoriated by Richard Yates at 21, Milch never did anything by half. He got into Yale Law School only to be expelled for shooting out streetlights with a shotgun. He paused his studies at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop to manufacture acid in Cuernavaca. He created and wrote some of the most lauded television series of all time, made a family and pursued sobriety, then lost his fortune betting horses just as his father had taught him. Reviewed by Ron Kaplan (www.RonKaplansBaseballBookshelf.com).

THE BOOK OF GOOSE by Yiyun Li (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Caroline Hewitt
Fabienne is dead. Her childhood best friend, Agnès, receives the news in America, far from the French countryside where the two girls were raised --- the place that Fabienne helped Agnès escape 10 years ago. Now, Agnès is free to tell her story. As children in a war-ravaged, backwater town, they’d built a private world, invisible to everyone but themselves --- until Fabienne hatched the plan that would change everything, launching Agnès on an epic trajectory through fame, fortune and terrible loss. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

KILL ME IF YOU CAN by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Stefan Rudnicki
Mike Hammer is on the case, this time hunting the murderer of his old friend and bootlegger-turned-legit-businessman, Packy Paragon. Already torn up by the disappearance of Velda, his beloved secretary, Hammer carves a brutal path for vengeance. Drinking heavily, his relationships fraying and his behavior self-destructive, he has to track down Paragon's secret ledger, with the names of every corrupt official in town. With deception everywhere, and a whole host of reasons to want the ledger, Hammer has to pull himself together and solve the case before all hell breaks loose. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.

THE HOUSE WITH THE GOLDEN DOOR by Elodie Harper (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Antonia Beamish
The life of a courtesan in Pompeii is glamorous yet perilous. At night in the home he bought for her, the house with the golden door, Amara’s dreams are haunted by her past. She longs for her sisterhood of friends --- the women at the brothel she was forced to leave behind --- and, worse, finds herself pursued by the cruel and vindictive man who once owned her. To be truly free, she will need to be as ruthless as he is. Amara knows that her existence in Pompeii is subject to Venus, the goddess of love. Yet finding love may prove to be the most dangerous act of all. Reviewed by Carly Silver.

THE WITCH IN THE WELL by Camilla Bruce (Supernatural Thriller)
Audiobook available; read by Charlotte Davey, Christina Cole and Emily Barber
When two former friends reunite after decades apart, their grudges, flawed ambitions and shared obsession swirl into an all-too-real echo of a terrible town legend. Centuries ago, beautiful young Ilsbeth Clark was accused of witchcraft after several children disappeared. Her acquittal did nothing to stop her fellow townsfolk from drowning her in the well where the missing children were last seen. When author and social media influencer Elena returns to the summer paradise of her youth to get her family's manor house ready to sell, the last thing she expected was connecting with --- and feeling inspired to write about --- Ilsbeth’s infamous spirit. The very historical figure that her ex-childhood friend, Cathy, has been diligently researching and writing about for years. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

BOOK OF KNIVES by Lise Haines (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Eve Passeltiner
When Nora agrees to help her new husband, Paul, and his family fix up Hidden Lake Camp, she didn't expect it to be in such a state of ruin. Only a few months, he said. They'd drive north to get Paul's elderly parents settled while he and his brother make enough repairs to sell the property. But the summer camp and its deep lake have other plans. On the first night, Nora stumbles through a first meal with his difficult family. Her sister-in-law shows off a prized collection of handmade knives, 13 in all. Long summer days stretch before them, and one by one the knives begin to disappear. There's talk of ghosts, secret rooms, and someone at the summer camp found dead in the tall grass. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

Next Week’s Notables:
Noteworthy Books Releasing on October 11th

Below are some notable titles releasing on October 11th that we would like to make you aware of. We will have more on many of these books in the weeks to come. For a list of additional hardcovers and paperbacks available the week of October 10th, see our “On Sale This Week” newsletter here.

1989: An Allie Burns Novel by Val McDermid (Thriller)
In this new installment of her historical crime series that began with 1979, internationally bestselling author Val McDermid delivers a propulsive new thriller that finds journalist Allie Burns has become an editor. As the Cold War and AIDS crisis deliver a nonstop tide of news, most of it bad, a story falls into her lap. And then there’s a murder.

DEAD MAN'S HAND: The Unorthodox Chronicles, Book 1 by James J. Butcher (Urban Fantasy)
In the tradition of his renowned father, James J. Butcher’s debut novel is a brilliant urban fantasy about a young man who must throw out the magical rule book to solve the murder of his former mentor.

DINOSAURS by Lydia Millet (Fiction)
DINOSAURS is both sharp-edged and tender, an emotionally moving, intellectually resonant novel that asks: In the shadow of existential threat, where does hope live?

DISTANT THUNDER: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
During an intense storm in Dark Harbor, Maine, a perplexing murder lands a dead man on Stone Barrington's doorstep. As secrets swirl around this mystery man's identity, Stone quickly sets out to unravel a web of cunning misdirections and lies.

DOWN AND OUT IN PARADISE: The Life of Anthony Bourdain by Charles Leerhsen (Biography)
DOWN AND OUT IN PARADISE is a groundbreaking, candid, well-sourced --- but definitely unauthorized --- biography of the celebrity chef and TV star Anthony Bourdain, based on extensive interviews with those who knew him intimately.

THE FURIES by John Connolly (Supernatural Thriller)
In THE FURIES, private investigator Charlie Parker is unwittingly drawn into a world of vengeance. John Connolly pits Parker against two separate --- but vitally connected --- investigations, which prove to be among the most complicated of his entire career.

THE HIGH NOTES by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
In this heartfelt novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel, a young woman with an unforgettable voice fights for the freedom to pursue her dreams.

LONG SHADOWS: A Memory Man Thriller by David Baldacci (Thriller)
“Memory Man” Amos Decker --- an FBI consultant with perfect recall --- delves into a bewildering double homicide in this new thriller in David Baldacci's #1 New York Times bestselling series.

THE MAZE: A John Corey Novel by Nelson DeMille (Thriller)
#1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille returns with a blistering thriller featuring his most popular series character, former NYPD homicide detective John Corey, called out of retirement to investigate a string of grisly murders much too close to home.

THE ORACLE OF MARACOOR by Gregory Maguire (Fantasy)
Multimillion-copy bestselling author Gregory Maguire brings us the enchanting second novel in the series Another Day, returning to the world he first created in WICKED.

SANTA'S LITTLE YELPERS: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
Lawyer Andy Carpenter and his humorous investigating team return in SANTA'S LITTLE YELPERS, the next Yuletide mystery in David Rosenfelt’s bestselling series.

Click here to see the latest "On Sale This Week" newsletter.

From left to right: David Baldacci, Veronica Roth, John Irving

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

As many book and author events are still happening online these days, we are highlighting a number of them that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links below for more info and to register.

Tuesday, October 11th at 3pm ET: Boswell Book Company: Joanna Quinn will talk to Daniel Goldin and Lisa Baudoin about her first novel, THE WHALEBONE THEATRE, which is this month's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club pick.

Wednesday, October 12th at 2pm ET: "Bookaccino Live: A Lively Talk About Books": Carol Fitzgerald will present titles releasing between October 11th and November 1st, along with a few from December, that she would like to get on your radar.

Wednesday, October 12th at 4pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: David Baldacci will discuss LONG SHADOWS, his latest Memory Man thriller featuring FBI agent Amos Decker, who returns to investigate the mysterious and brutal murder of a federal judge and her bodyguard at her home in an exclusive, gated community in Florida.

Wednesday, October 12th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry --- will talk to Veronica Roth about her upcoming new novel for adults, POSTER GIRL.

Thursday, October 13th at 7pm ET: Simon & Schuster's Fall 2022 AuthorFest: Simon & Schuster partners with the book festival community each season to bring exclusive author programming to readers across the US. Their Fall 2022 AuthorFest event will feature New York Times bestselling authors John Irving and Jason Reynolds in conversation with Simon & Schuster's CEO, Jonathan Karp.

 "Bookreporter Talks To" Videos & Podcasts

“Bookreporter Talks To” is a video and podcast series that delivers a long-form, in-depth author interview every week. For years, Carol has moderated book festivals and author events around the country. But we know that readers often do not live where they can attend an author event. Our goal is to bring these author interviews to readers, wherever they may be. Watch on video, or listen as a podcast. (The podcasts include audio excerpts.)

Here are our latest interviews:

• Sally Koslow (THE REAL MRS. TOBIAS) Video | Podcast
• Lynda Cohen Loigman (THE MATCHMAKER'S GIFT) Video | Podcast

Other authors we've interviewed include:

• Kimberly Belle (MY DARLING HUSBAND) Video | Podcast
• Julie Clark (THE LIES I TELL) Video | Podcast
• Bonnie Garmus (LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY) Video | Podcast
• Jane Green (SISTER STARDUST) Video | Podcast
• Jennifer Hillier (THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK) Video | Podcast
• Gilly Macmillan (THE LONG WEEKEND) Video | Podcast
• Sarah McCoy (MUSTIQUE ISLAND) Video | Podcast
• Meg Mitchell Moore (VACATIONLAND) Video | Podcast
• Chris Pavone (TWO NIGHTS IN LISBON) Video | Podcast
• Tom Perrotta (TRACY FLICK CAN'T WIN) Video | Podcast
• Kim Michele Richardson (THE BOOK WOMAN'S DAUGHTER) Podcast
• Katie Runde (THE SHORE) Video | Podcast
• John Searles (HER LAST AFFAIR) Video | Podcast
• Casey Sherman (HELLTOWN: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod)
  Video | Podcast
• Amanda Eyre Ward (THE LIFEGUARDS) Video | Podcast

Upcoming interviews include:

• Scott Shepherd (SHOULD I FALL)
• Thrity Umrigar (HONOR)

Click here for a complete list of our
"Bookreporter Talks To" videos and podcasts.

Our Latest Poll: Nighttime Reading

Click here to vote in the poll by Friday, October 21st at noon ET.

Word of Mouth Contest: Tell Us What
You're Reading --- and You Can Win Two Books!

Click here to enter the contest.

Quick Links to Features on Bookreporter.com

Reviews | Features | Bookreporter.com Bets On | Upcoming Bets On
Contests | Poll | Word of Mouth | Coming Soon
  On Sale This Week | New in Paperback | Books on Screen
"Bookreporter Talks To" Videos & Podcasts | "Bookaccino Live: A Lively Talk About Books"
  Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks | Carol's Event Schedule | Book Festivals

Please visit the other websites in TheBookReportNetwork.com: ReadingGroupGuides.com and AuthorsOnTheWeb.com.

And be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.