Sponsored by Grown Ups by Emma Jane Unsworth
Jenny McLaine’s life is falling apart. Her friendships are flagging. Her body has failed her. Her boyfriend just left. She’s having a breakdown. Jenny is the only one who will be able to pick up the pieces and learn how to, more or less, grow up. Or will she?
Happy Thursday, readers! I am writing to you from Maine, as usual, where we just received over a foot of snow. It has started to shift and slide off the roof, which is making the cats wild. They act as though it must be a giant mouse up there. (Maybe they know something I don’t.) Snow noises aside, it has been a quiet week. I have read a lot of good books and recorded a new episode of All the Books (which is coming up on its 300th episode.) These days, quiet is good—I will take it!
Today I have some exciting adaptation news, cover reveals, SO many awards, and book talk. Plus a picture of my little orange monsters, some trivia, and more! Whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I hope you good bob and we same place again very now. – xoxo, Liberty, Your Friendly Neighborhood Velocireader™
Trivia question time! Who wrote the Swallows and Amazons series? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)
Deals, Reals, and Squeals!
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Here’s the first trailer for Moxie with Amy Poehler.
Reese Witherspoon’s book club is now an app.
The 10 finalists for 2021 Evergreen Award have been announced.
Anna-Marie McLemore and Caleb Roehrig are the latest authors to be announced for the Remixed Classics series, joining Bethany M. Morrow and C.B. Lee.
Brandon Taylor announced his new book deal with Riverhead Books.
Here’s the first look at Stephen King’s upcoming novel Billy Summers.
A young adult edition of Michelle Obama’s Becoming is in the works.
An adaptation of Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks is in the works, and will be produced by and star Booboo Stewart.
Here’s the cover reveal of George M. Johnson’s next book We Are Not Broken.
Neve Campbell has joined the adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer.
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Aravind Adiga’s Amnesty is being made into a film for Netflix.
Stephen Chbosky will direct the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen.
Eddie Izzard, Jo Joyner, and Andi Osho have joined the cast of the Harlan Coben Netflix drama Stay Close.
Here’s the cover reveal of As If On Cue by Marisa Kanter,
Here’s the trailer for season five of Queen Sugar.
LeVar Burton has been named the inaugural PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion.
Sonya Balmores has joined the cast of the new adaptation of Lois Duncan’s I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Here’s the cover reveal of June CL Tan’s Jade Fire Gold.
Jon M. Chu will direct the film adaptation of the Wicked musical, which is an adaptation of the novel by Gregory Maguire.
Here’s the cover reveal of The Body Scout by Lincoln Michel.
Zachary Levi will star in a live-action Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Book Riot Recommends
At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders New Release Index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and learn about a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week so you can add them to your TBR! (It will now be books I loved on Mondays and books I’m excited to read on Thursdays. YAY, BOOKS!)
Excited to read:
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling (St. Martin’s Press, October 19)
I don’t know about you, but I was a big fan of Starling’s last book, the claustrophobic thriller The Luminous Dead. I didn’t even know she had a new book on the way, so imagine my excitement when I 1) saw the announcement 2) read that it was called “Ninth House meets Mexican Gothic” and 3) read Linden Lewis’s blurb: “Starling’s gothic horror is a tale that haunts you even after you’re done. The Death of Jane Lawrence is Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell with sharp teeth and a Crimson Peak you’re scared to look in the eye.”
You’re already on board now too, right??! Well, wait, here’s more fun: The description makes it sound like a post-war England Gothic horror about a young woman who becomes engaged to a mysterious doctor. He’s dashing and wonderful, except he tells her never to visit him at his crumbling mansion. So you know she ends up at his doorstep, right? And it turns out, when he’s at home, he’s a completely different person. It’s got a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde/Bluebeard vibe going on. I want to read this right freaking now, please.
What I’m reading this week.
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Impostor Syndrome by Kathy Wang
The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy Atherton Lin
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
Song stuck in my head:
Some Postman by The Presidents of the United States of America. (Also, I’m still really into listening to songs I loved when I was young. You can listen to a lot of them in this playlist I made!)
And this is funny:
I feel this, so hard.
Happy things:
Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:
- Superstore. Mostly I’m watching this now for Myrtle. I loved the Halloween episode where she chased the Grim Reaper through the store.
- Jigsaw puzzles! I have moved on to two-in-one puzzles, where you have to separate the pieces to make two entirely different puzzles.
- Numberzilla.
- Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.
And here’s a cat picture!
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Farrokh and Zevon, watching for the upcoming snowstorm. (Well, technically looking at me while I take their picture, but you know what I mean.)
Trivia answer: Arthur Ransome.
You made it to the bottom! High five. Thanks for reading! – xo, L