Archives - Weekly Update

In the 30 years since Bookreporter launched, I have not seen a fall quite like this one. The number of books coming out each week --- many from big names  --- has kept us on our toes for delivering reviews and interviews in a timely way. Last night, Tom Donadio and I went to a party hosted by the Publishers’ Publicity Association. Most of the talk was about how this has been one huge fall, especially when it comes to fiction. 

When we left off last week, Husband Tom and I were heading out to hear Malcolm Gladwell's Opening Keynote at the Morristown Festival of Books.

Gladwell spoke about his latest book, THE AMERICAN WAY OF KILLING: The Invention of an Epidemic, to a sold-out audience. He noted how conversation with community group leaders and people in a community can help to dissuade gun violence, citing Baltimore as a city that has adopted these measures with a positive reaction. He endorsed the idea of more police, pointing out that most cities in Europe have police forces twice the size of ours. He also talked about how a homicide count does not exactly depict what violence has occurred in a city. For example, in a city like New York, a quick ambulance ride to a hospital can save your life. It's not the same in a place where a hospital is not convenient.

Many people who have been to our home have been served the Hot Charred Cherry Tomatoes with Cold Yogurt from Yotam Ottolenghi's SIMPLE. It is a favorite! So I very much enjoyed getting to meet Yotam on Tuesday night in Montclair, New Jersey, to celebrate the release of his new book, SIMPLE TOO, at a Watchung Booksellers event. He was in conversation with Ina Garten, who asked really great questions. Hearing them talk shop about creating recipes and the joys of culinary adventures was brilliant fun. He projected photos from the book onto the screen behind him as he discussed them.

On Wednesday night, I went to see Min Jin Lee at her event in Montclair, NJ, where she was celebrating the release of her latest novel, AMERICAN HAGWON, which is one of my favorite books of 2026 and will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. Her previous novel, PACHINKO, came out in 2017 and garnered so many awards.

I had been in New York City for a conference that day. After some crazy traffic delays, I was able to slip into the green room and have a quick catch-up with Min before the event started. I loved even that brief meetup where we talked in shorthand, and I got to share my good wishes with her.