Category: Book Radar

Rediscovered Richard Wright Novel To Be a Film and More Book Radar!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date June 25, 2021

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

cover of interview with the vampire by anne rice

A series adaptation of Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice is headed to AMC and AMC+ in 2022.

The winners of the Indigenous Voices Awards have been announced.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell is being made into a film.

Here’s the cover reveal for Sense and Second-Degree Murder, the new Jane Austen mystery from fellow Rioter Tirzah Price!

Alexandra Huynh has been announced as Amanda Gorman’s California successor for youth poet laureate.

Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom are holding Here to Slay, an empowerment weekend.

Here’s the cover reveal for the upcoming novel Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon. I am so excited—I LOVE his books!

Saaed Jones has a new collection of poetry coming next year.

Evie Drake Starts Over author Linda Holmes teased a new book.

Paramount has optioned the rediscovered Richard Wright novel The Man Who Lived Underground.

cover of The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee

Sarayu Blue has joined the cast of Expats, based on the novel The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee.

Robert Downey Jr. will star in the HBO Max adaptation of Samantha Downing’s For Your Own Good.

Anne Hathaway will star in the adaptation of Robinne Lee’s novel The Idea of You.

A biography of Barbara Walters has been announced.

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!)

Loved, loved, loved:

cover of the girls are never gone by sarah glenn marsh

The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh (Razorbill, September 7)

I don’t know about you, but I am a big fan of all the podcast-related novels that have popped up over the last couple years. You know, where someone within the book is making a podcast, usually about an unsolved event, and then scary things start happening again.

That’s certainly what is going on in this excellent YA fall thriller. Dare Chase is a teenager supernatural skeptic with a pretty big hit podcast on her hands. But now she needs a new subject for her next season. So when she gets a chance to spend a little time at Arrington Estate, she jumps at it.

Because Arrington Estate has a scary backstory: 30 years ago, teenager Atheleen Bell drowned in Arrington’s lake, and local legend says her spirit still haunts the estate. The house itself is falling into disrepair and is in need of renovations, which is what Dare has been hired on to do. She quickly makes friends with Quinn, the new house owner’s daughter, and another teen girl, who will also be helping in the cleanup efforts.

But right away, it’s evident that something weird is happening around the house. Warnings to stay out of the lake go unheeded and terrible things happen. As Dare finds herself falling for Quinn, she begins to worry more and more that she might be wrong about the existence of ghosts. And her stubbornness and insistence on continuing to get material for her show might get them all killed.

Like I said, I love a podcast-in-a-book story, and things in bodies of water freak me the eff out! (Have you ever read Tananarive Due’s short story collection Ghost Summer?!?) Plus there’s a big spooky house and lots of romantic tension. So this book was a big win for me. It’s a fun queer supernatural thriller that will haunt your fall reading!

(CW for murder, gore, animal death, and drowning.)

What I’m reading this week.

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta

Beast: John Bonham and the Rise of Led Zeppelin by C. M. Kushins

Groan-worthy joke of the week:

Where was the dripping coming from in the fridge? The leeks.

And this is funny:

TOO SOON.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

Rocks and crystals: I have discovered one of the new things I find relaxing is looking at pictures of rocks and crystals. I bought a guide book but I also go on etsy and look at all the pictures of crystals for sale. They’re so shiny and pretty! I even bought an angel aura crystal and I love it so much! Nature never fails to be astounding.
Rutherford Falls: I thought this show was really charming! (It does require a Peacock subscription, though.)
Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

orange cat sitting on top of a book case like a vulture

Zevon reminds me of Snoopy when he’s pretending to be a vulture.

Trivia answer: Cambridge University.

Remember that whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I am sending you love and hugs. Please be safe, and be mindful of others. It takes no effort to be kind. I’ll see you again on Thursday. xoxo, Liberty

Book Radar

A New Standalone YA Novel From Victoria Schwab

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date June 23, 2021

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

Will Smith is releasing a memoir in November.

Rachel Zegler will play Snow White in Disney’s live-action adaptation.

Nicholas Braun and Emilia Jones will star in Cat Person, based on the New Yorker story.

John Cho is releasing Troublemaker, a middle grade novel.

A Frankenstein television series adaptation is in the works.

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup is going to be a Netflix series.

Here’s the cover reveal of Melissa Febos’s craft-book-meets-memoir, Body Work.

Here’s a new teaser for the upcoming season of Dexter.

Somewhere Only We Know by Maureen Goo is getting a series adaptation.

Here’s the cover reveal for One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig.

Netflix released a Geralt teaser for the new season of The Witcher.

Jack Huston signed on for the new Count of Monte Cristo adaptation.

Liv Tyler has optioned the movie rights to Lucca by Danish author Jens Christian Grondahl.

Book Riot Recommends

Excited to read:

Gallant by Victoria Schwab (Greenwillow Books, March 1, 2022)

Yesterday, the cover was revealed for Victoria Schwab’s upcoming standalone YA novel and wowwwwww. IT’S SO PRETTY. It’s being billed as “The Secret Garden meets Crimson Peak.” *Chandler Bing voice* Could I be anymore excited?

I am a big fan of Victoria/V.E Schwab, everything she writes, including most recently The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and the City of Ghosts trilogy. So I am really looking forward to pushing this one directly into my brain as soon as I can. According to the post in EW yesterday, Gallant is about a young woman named Olivia who has grown up away from Gallant, her family home, with only her mother’s mildly disturbing journal to remind her where she comes from. When Olivia is invited to return home to Gallant, she is greeted by her hostile cousin, Matthew, but she is determined to learn as much as she can about the house and her family. Which leads to her discovering a secret world of ghouls that might also hold the clues to the identity of her father. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.

Crumbling mansions, long-kept secrets, unfriendly cousins—this sounds like a dream come true for We Have Always Lived in the Castle fans! If anyone can write a book that is a good comp for Jackson, it’s Schwab. I can’t wait to read it!

What I’m reading this week.

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta

Beast: John Bonham and the Rise of Led Zeppelin by C. M. Kushins

Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel by Anthony Doerr

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

Objects of Desire: Stories by Clare Sestanovich

Song stuck in my head:

Locked Out by Crowded House. Wow, did I used to listed to the Reality Bites soundtrack a lot. (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:

Knives Out: The Squeakuel.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

Rutherford Falls: I thought this show was really charming! (It does require a Peacock subscription, though.)
Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

Zevon is his own hammock.

Trivia answer: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

You made it to the bottom! High five. Thanks for reading! – xo, L

Book Radar

YA Novel THIS IS MY AMERICA Will Be a Series and More Book Radar!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date June 18, 2021

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

cover of jonny appleseed by joshua whitehead

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead is being adapted for the screen.

This Is My America by Kim Johnson is being developed as a series for HBO Max.

Here’s the cover reveal of Eyes That Speak to the Stars by Joanna Ho and Dung Ho.

These are the top 48 books of the year so far on Goodreads.

Madison Taylor Baez has joined the cast of the Showtime series remake of Let the Right One In.

The world premiere of the new Dune adaptation will happen at the 2021 Venice Film Festival.

Rafe Spall will join Natalie Portman in the adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s Days of Abandonment.

And Jack Huston will join Lulu Wang and Nicole Kidman in Expats, the series adaptation of The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee.

Book Riot Recommends

Loved, loved, loved:

Cackle by Rachel Harrison (Berkley, October 5)

So if you’ve been reading the newsletter or listening to All the Books for a while now, you know that I lost my dogpanned mind over Rachel Harrison’s The Return. It was a super creepy novel about friendship, set partly in Maine. I loved it with the heat of a thousand suns.

This time, Harrison is also revisiting friendship and relationships, but with witches. Annie is a teacher in Manhattan, involved in what she thinks is her forever-relationship. Then Sam, her boyfriend of ten years, unceremoniously dumps her. Distraught and adrift, she accepts a new teaching position in a tiny, tiny town in Vermont. Even though the village is adorable and all the people are friendly, Annie is miserable at first. Her apartment is full of spiders, she has no friends, and her students are unruly and mock her openly during class. It makes her even sadder and she spends her free time missing Sam and trying to find hopeful subtext in his text messages.

Then Annie meets Sophie. Sophie is literally the most beautiful, charming woman Annie has ever seen, and she wants to be Annie’s friend! Sophie wants Annie to start recognizing her own potential and stop moping around about her boyfriend. And at first, their friendship is wonderful and Annie is so happy. She’s feeling more confident and isn’t taking anymore guff from her students. But she’s also terrified to sleep at Sophie’s enormous mansion in the woods after a harrowing overnight stay, and the townspeople all seem to be afraid of Sophie. Plus Sophie has become a bit more meddlesome and demanding of Annie’s time. Annie is starting to worry that there might be dangerous repercussions to letting Sophie down…

The heart of this book is a story of friendship and self-worth. Sophie wants Annie to recognize that she is a beautiful person worthy of love. It’s also about witches and the treatment of independent, strong women throughout history. But then it’s also a scary story of ghosts and the unknown. Let’s just say that I have been afraid to open my basement door ever since I read this book! I thought it was wicked charming and creepy, and I especially loved Ralph. (You’ll see.)

(CW for infidelity, murder, sexism, and death.)

What I’m reading this week.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

Objects of Desire: Stories by Clare Sestanovich

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke

Groan-worthy joke of the week:

Why is Peter Pan always flying? Because he Neverlands.

And this is funny:

Here’s a Beauty and the Beast origin story you don’t hear about.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

Music! I’ve had to take a lot of car trips recently, which means I get to listen to music! It’s something I rarely do at home, because I cannot read while there is music playing. So I turn the stereo in my truck all the way up (yes, I’m that driver, I’m sorry) and rock out on the road. Here’s a playlist I made last summer that is once again all I want to listen to. (*Roger Daltrey voice* Meet the new playlist, same as the old playlist.)
Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

an orange cat with its head resting on a blue book

Farrokh is trying to read by osmosis.

Trivia answer: My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee.

Book Radar

Holly Black’s First Novel for Adults and More Book Radar!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date June 16, 2021

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

cover of Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds has won a Carnegie medal for Look Both Ways.

Tor Books acquired Holly Black’s debut adult novel Book of Night. (See more excitement about this below.)

The new Oprah book club pick is The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris.

HBO is making a docuseries based on Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow.

Nnedi Okorafor announced her next book: Noor.

Here’s the cover reveal of Lulu and Milagro’s Search for Clarity by Angela Velez.

Kunal Nayyar, Christina Hendricks, and Lucy Hale have joined the adaptation of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin.

Disney Plus has ordered a Beauty and the Beast prequel series with Josh Gad and Luke Evans.

Watch a never-aired profile of James Baldwin from 1979.

Here’s the cover reveal of The Witch, The Sword, and the Cursed Knights by Alexandria Rogers.

Michael Farris Smith’s novel The Fighter is being adapted into a film called Rumble Through the Dark with Aaron Eckhart.

Here’s the first look at Jamie Foxx’s new book Act Like You Got Some Sense: And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me.

Netflix has released a “Meet Ciri” trailer ahead of season two of The Witcher.

Jason Priestley will star in an adaptation of the Jackie Collins novel Hollywood Kids.

Here’s the cover reveal of The Truth About White Lies by Olivia A Cole.

Book Riot Recommends

Excited to read:

cover place holder for book of night by holly black

Book of Night by Holly Black (Tor Books, May 3, 2022)

So Holly Black, author of a zillion amazing books for children and young adults (and adults of course, because we can read them too!) including The Folk of the Air trilogy and Doll Bones, has written her first novel aimed specifically at an adult audience. I could not be more excited!!! Tor Books is releasing it late next spring.

According to the marketing, it’s “a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies in the vein of Ninth House and The Night Circus” about a woman named Charlie Hall who lives in a world where shadows can be manipulated and altered, for entertainment or cosmetic preferences but also to gain power. A shadow is where people hide the parts of themselves they don’t want people to see, and sometimes they can become dangerous. Charlie is a small time con artist and bartender who is studying the shadow arts when a dangerous figure from her past reappears.

GIVE IT TO ME NOW, PLEASE. I can’t wait to read this! In the meantime, you have a ton of Holly Black backlist (blacklist?) to read, or if you want to read a wild book involving shadows, check out Sip by Brian Allen Carr!

What I’m reading this week.

cover of The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

Unbound : My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke

Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson

The Undertakers (A Murder & Magic Novel) by Nicole Glover

Dune by Frank Hebert

Song stuck in my head:

Golden Sun by Hotel Eden. (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 tried my hand at this meme too.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

Palm Springs: I watched this movie dozens of times last summer, and it looks like it’s going to be my repeat viewing favorite for the summer of 2021 as well. It’s dark AF but SO good.
Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

Welp. As long as Zevon thinks it’s comfortable…

Trivia answer: Wagner Books.

You made it to the bottom! High five. Thanks for reading! – xo, L

Book Radar

LORD OF THE RINGS Anime Movie in the Works and More Book Radar!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date June 11, 2021

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

Sanaa Lathan will direct the adaptation of On the Come Up by Angie Thomas.

Here are the winners of the 2021 Pulitzer Prizes!

Tor Nightfire announced their first graphic novel.

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams is being adapted for television.

A Lord of the Rings anime movie is in the works: The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

Issa Rae is adapting the book The Gang’s All Queer: The Lives of Gay Gang Members by Vanessa R. Panfil.

Netflix released the Fear Street trilogy trailer.

Here’s the first look at Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett.

The Peabody- and Pulitzer-nominated podcast Ear Hustle is releasing a book: This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life by Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods

Here’s the cover reveal for You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen.

Harry Melling will play Edgar Allan Poe in the Netflix mystery The Palest Eye.

Here’s the first look at Anthem by Noah Hawley.

Lucy Boynton and Will Poulter will star in the adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?

Book Riot Recommends

Loved, loved, loved:

cover of Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena (Pamela Dorman Books, July 27)

This is a perfect book for summer vacation! It’s fun, compulsively readable, and a little bit ridiculous, which is my favorite kind of murder thriller! The day after a disastrous Easter dinner with their three grown children and their significant others, millionaires Fred and Sheila Merton are found brutally murdered in their mansion.

Fred Merton was a cruel tyrant who did everything he could to belittle and undermine his children. Sheila Merton was an often-absent mother who had a nanny raise her children, and never stood up to her husband when he was being abusive toward their children. Each of their three kids has a motive for murder, besides the obvious inheritance, but did they do it? Each of them has an alibi, but are they telling the truth? There’s also a few other people who knew the Mertons who might want them dead, or maybe this was just a random robbery. It’s up to two detectives to figure it out.

I read a LOT of mysteries, and I am usually good at guessing who is responsible. So the thing I loved most about this book was that I had no idea who the murderer was through the whole book, not even an educated guess! Lapena doesn’t show her hand at all during the story, just teases out why each person could have done it, then retracts it with more information, and then blows those theories up too, and so on. And when I said earlier it was a little ridiculous, I meant that the plot is wildly over the top, which for me makes enjoying a book about murder much easier to handle. I like fictional murder, and this book does it right.

(CW for bullying, abusive parents and partners, stalking, and murder.)

What I’m reading this week.

The Undertakers by Nicole Glover

Godspeed by Nickolas Butler

Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

Groan-worthy joke of the week:

What kind of car does a sheep like to drive? A lamborghini.

And this is funny:

You’ve been struck by a smooth criminal.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

Music! I’ve had to take a lot of car trips recently, which means I get to listen to music! It’s something I rarely do at home, because I cannot read while there is music playing. So I turn the stereo in my truck all the way up (yes, I’m that driver, I’m sorry) and rock out on the road. Here’s a playlist I made last summer that is once again all I want to listen to. (*Roger Daltrey voice* Meet the new playlist, same as the old playlist.)
Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

My office mate is totally useless.

Trivia answer: Antarctica.

Book Radar

A New Adaptation of CHRISTINE from Bryan Fuller and More Book Radar!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date June 9, 2021

Sponsored by HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Ash and Daniel are no strangers to feeling like outcasts. As someone who cycles through genders, it’s a struggle for Ash to feel in control of how people perceive them. Daniel’s been told he’s overly sensitive more times than he can count. As he and Ash join forces to save a rescue dog, things go from cute to complicated when they start catching feelings for each other—and Daniel thinks Ash is a girl. With so much on the line, they’ll have to decide to go against binaries and embrace the beauty of living in between or forever feel at war with themselves.

Happy Thursday, book friends! I hope all is well in your worlds, and that you have lots of great things to read. I am hurrying to finish this newsletter so I can get back to Ham Helsing: Vampire Hunter, which I’m pretty sure was written just for me. Do you read middle grade graphic novels? I highly recommend it. I’m a big fan of Zita the Spacegirl and Rutabega the Adventure Chef, and Bone, of course. I also loved Dungeon Critters, which I read recently.

Moving on to today’s newsletter and book talk: I have shiny news for you today, including adaptation deals, book cover reveals, and a look at a debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Plus I’ve included a picture of my upside down orange monster, some trivia, and more! I love writing these newsletters and I appreciate your support so much. Whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I hope you good bob and we same place again very now. I’ll see you again on Thursday (because of the holiday). – xoxo, Liberty, Your Friendly Neighborhood Velocireader™

Trivia question time! Michelle Zauner, the author of Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, is also a member of what band? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

Crying in H Mart will be a film, with author Michelle Zauner adapting her memoir and providing the soundtrack for the film via her music act Japanese Breakfast.

Here are the winners of the 2020 Nebula Awards.

Here are the finalists of the Good Sex Awards.

N.K. Jemisin will adapt her Broken Earth trilogy for Sony’s TriStar.

Emma van Straaten has won the inaugural Women’s Prize Trust Discoveries writing prize for Heartstring.

Bryan Fuller is directing a new adaptation of Stephen King’s Christine, just in time for the book’s 40th anniversary.

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid is being adapted as a series for Hulu.

Here’s the cover reveal of Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders, the sequel to Victories Greater Than Death.

Here’s the first look at You’ve Got Red On You, a book about the making of Shaun of the Dead.

Here’s the cover reveal of One True Loves by Elise Bryant.

Netflix has renewed Shadow and Bone for a second season.

Netflix has also just revealed new official photos for the second season of Locke & Key.

And speaking of Joe Hill, his short story Abraham’s Boys is being adapted into a film.

Book Riot Recommends

Excited to read:

cover of Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang

Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang (Flatiron Books, April 5, 2022)

This book has been on my radar for soooooo long and I cannot wait to get my hands on it. It’s a debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, about a Chinese girl trying to find her place in the American West in the 1880s. You know how I love books set during that time period!

Daiyu was kidnapped from China and brought across the ocean to America, and she must now fight to survive and discover her true self as she traverses from “a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains.” I have heard nothing but incredible things about this book and Jenny Tinghui Zhang, and I hope galleys are available soon!

What I’m reading this week.

cover of Ham Helsing #1: Vampire Hunter by Rich Moyer

Ham Helsing: Vampire Hunter by Rich Moyer

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

Behind the Mountains by Edwidge Danticat

Things Are Against Us by Lucy Ellmann

Song stuck in my head:

Brighton by Swelo. A perfect song for summer drives. (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:

That’s one strong duck.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

Music! I’ve had to take a lot of car trips recently, which means I get to listen to music! It’s something I rarely do at home, because I cannot read while there is music playing. So I turn the stereo in my truck all the way up (yes, I’m that driver, I’m sorry) and rock out on the road. Here’s a playlist I made last summer that is once again all I want to listen to. (*Roger Daltrey voice* Meet the new playlist, same as the old playlist.)
Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

These cats have it real rough, I tell you what.

Trivia answer: Japanese Breakfast.

You made it to the bottom! High five. Thanks for reading! – xo, L

Book Radar

CUTTING FOR STONE Will Be a Feature Film and More Book Radar!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date June 4, 2021

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

cover of Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese is being adapted into a feature film.

Sabaa Tahir has a new standalone novel on the way that is also being developed for television.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner will be a drama series at Fox.

C.J. Prince won the inaugural Sisters in Crime Pride Award.

Kid del Toro, a new bilingual children’s book “inspired by Guillermo del Toro’s love for monsters” is coming in August.

At Night All Blood Is Black by David Diop, translated from French by Anna Moschovakis, has won the 2021 Booker International Prize.

Blumhouse and Jamie Lee Curtis are adapting Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta novels for television.

The Guncle by Steven Rowley will be a feature film.

Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters is writing a memoir.

Tor Nightfire announced Lucy A. Snyder’s Apocalypse Apocrypha.

A scholarship has been created in memory of the late John le Carré.

cover of the days of abandonment by elena ferrante

Mary-Louise Parker will join Natalie Portman in HBO’s adaptation of Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante.

Random House has partnered with Funko Pop! and Universal for Little Golden Books.

Here’s the cover reveal of Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan.

The FX adaptation of Y: the Last Man by Brian K. Vaughn, Pia Guerra, and Jose Marzan Jr, will premiere September 13.

Here’s the cover reveal of Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt.

Mosquito Coast has been renewed for a second season.

Book Riot Recommends

Loved, loved, loved:

cover of nettle and bone by t. kingfisher

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (Tor Books, April 26, 2022)

Before I start, I would like apologize in advance—this book is not out until April. But it’s really so amazing, it deserves attention now! I have to get it out of my brain before it explodes.

If you haven’t read T. Kingfisher before, I cannot recommend her enough. She has fast become one of my favorite authors. Her amazing two last novels, The Twisted Ones and The Hollow Places, were equal parts terror and comedy, and she has a delightful recent fantasy novel, A Wizard’s Guide To Defensive Baking.

Nettle & Bone is about a tiny kingdom situated between two very large kingdoms. Marra is a princess of the tiny kingdom, the third of three daughters. For many years, the North and South kingdoms to either side have threatened to take Marra’s family’s very tiny kingdom, because it is the only one situated on the harbor. Whoever controls it would rule the whole realm.

To keep this from happening, Marra’s older sisters are promised to the Prince of the North in a political move. But the prince is a tyrant, like, a Joffrey Baratheon-level monster. After watching her sisters suffer for years while she’s tucked away at a convent (where she has been sent so she can’t marry and have an heir before her sisters), Marra decides it is time to do something about the prince. Which turns this tale into a delightfully funny and scary story about, well, committing murder.

But the Prince’s fairy godmother protected him with magic at his birth, so Marra can’t just walk into the North Kingdom and kill him. In order to get past his spell of protection, Marra enlists the help of a powerful gravewitch, who sends her off to complete three impossible tasks in return for her help. Also joining Marra on her quest for revenge is a formidable former knight, a fairy godmother with her own unique skills, a special kind of dog (I don’t want to spoil it, but you will find out what kind of dog in the first few pages!) and a chicken possessed by a demon. (Yes, the chicken is as excellent as you would expect. I want one.) Together, this group will try and bring an end to the Prince’s terrifying reign, for themselves, for Marra’s sisters, and for her kingdom.

This book is so full of imagination! I was delighted by the unusual monsters in the scary bits (omg wait until the innkeeper) and it’s also so, so funny. The dog, especially. T. Kingfisher is really good at writing dogs, dogs and books that are both hilarious and scary. And it’s also a great look at what harsh realities faced the women of medieval times, fantasy or not, and how they have been portrayed, even if the were a princess, a queen, a fairy godmother, or a powerful gravewitch. I really enjoyed the parts with the convent, because it’s not the usual “oh, the nuns are so mean” storyline, but instead a place filled with women who know they have been sent there because people fear them or want to punish them, and they bond over their power. Seriously, I love this book so much and I will tell you about it approximately eleventy million more times. MARK IT DOWN ASAP.

(CW for mentions of real and fantastical violence and murder, misogyny, physical abuse, trauma, body horror, scary situations, animal peril, traumatic pregnancy and miscarriage, and child death.)

What I’m reading this week.

The Cabinet by Un-Su Kim

I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena

Things Are Against Us by Lucy Ellmann

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

Groan-worthy joke of the week:

Where do you learn to make a banana split? Sundae school.

And this is funny:

You know they put that sign there because it’s happened.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

Hacks: I would like every show to star Jean Smart from now on. She is a national treasure. And Hannah Einbinder is also fantastic—and the daughter of comedy royalty!
Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

orange cat sitting on floor with his tail curled around the base of a lamp

Zevon loves lamp.

Trivia answer: Law clerk Avery Keene.

Book Radar

A Star-Studded Contributor List for LITERARY TAROT and More Book Radar!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date June 2, 2021

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

cover of seven days in june by tia williams

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams is the new Reese Witherspoon book club pick.

Here are the winners of the 33rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards!

Here’s the cover reveal of Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake.

The Literary Tarot is a kickstarter for a tarot deck about stories, with a star-studded list of contributors, including Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, Margaret Atwood, and Celeste Ng.

And speaking of Margaret Atwood, she has a new collection of essays coming in 2022.

Jordanian poet and novelist Jalal Barjas won the 14th International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel Notebooks of the Bookseller.

Eunnie’s upcoming YA sapphic rom-com graphic novel, If You’ll Have Me, has sold to Viking Press for six figures.

Roxane Gay is starting her own publishing imprint.

Rupert Evans is joining the cast of Bridgerton season 2.

Here’s the trailer for the new Gossip Girl reboot.

cover of The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

A series adaptation of The Maidens by Alex Michaelides is on the way.

Here’s the cover reveal of Reclaim the Stars: Seventeen Tales Across Realms & Space edited by Zoraida Cordova.

The U.S. Selfies announced its 2021 shortlist.

Marvel confirmed that Oscar Isaac will star in Moon Knight.

Here’s the cover reveal of Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl by Julie Kagawa.

Akwaeke Emezi is a TIME Next Generation Leader.

Edward Carey has a book on the way featuring the pencil drawing-a-day project he worked on during the pandemic.

The Killing Kind by Jane Casey will be a limited series.

Book Riot Recommends

Excited to read:

Spear by Nicola Griffith (Tordotcom, April 19, 2022)

First of all, if you’ve never read Nicola Griffith, I recommend running out right now and correcting it. Like, just run through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man, it’s totally fine. Start with Hild or Slow River. Then you can join me in being really excited for the upcoming book!

Not very much is known about this book yet except that it is a queer retelling of the Arthurian legend, about a young girl who knows her fate lies at court, so she picks up her spear and leaves home to face her destiny. COUNT ME IN. My only knowledge of Arthurian legend comes from The Sword in the Stone movie from Disney, The Crystal Cave, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but I keep meaning to learn more. For instance, I had no idea who Morgan le Fay was when she showed up in The Librarians. I do know that I am excited to read more retellings in Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices edited by Swapna Krishna and our very own Jenn Northington.

What are your favorite Arthurian tales?

What I’m reading this week.

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

The Cabinet by Un-Su Kim

I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins

God Spare the Girls by Kelsey McKinney

Shoot the Moonlight Out by William Boyle

Song stuck in my head:

Starships by Nicki Minaj. This has been returning to rotation in my brain every few days since I watched Resident Alien a few months ago. (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:

This is definitely my new favorite literary reference joke/burn.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

Hacks: I would like every show to star Jean Smart from now on. She is a national treasure. And Hannah Einbinder is also fantastic—and the daughter of comedy royalty!
Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

Warning: if you sit like this too long, your brain settles to the top of your skull and sticks there. 🙃

Trivia answer: The president of the United States of America.

You made it to the bottom! High five. Thanks for reading! – xo, L

Book Radar

An Upcoming Book About SCHITT’S CREEK and More Book Radar!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date May 26, 2021

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

Here’s the first look at the official Schitt’s Creek tie-in book from Dan and Eugene Levy.

We’ve got a giveaway for a chance to win an iPad Mini! Enter here.

Ji-young Yoo has joined the cast of the adaptation of Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel The Expatriates.

Who had “John Steinbeck wrote a werewolf novel” on their bingo card? No one?

Timothée Chalamet to play a young Willy Wonka.

Elizabeth Banks will direct and co-star in an adaptation of Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen.

Here’s the first look at the first chapter of Malibu Rising, the new book from Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Here’s the cover reveal of Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz.

The Game of Thrones prequel 10,000 Ships has found its writer.

Book Riot Recommends

Excited to read:

Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom, January 25, 2022)

Tochi Onyebuchi has his first adult novel coming at the beginning of next year and I could not be more excited if I swallowed a cat and broke out in kittens!!! I am such a huge fan of his novella Riot Baby, and his War Girls YA series. It’s always confusing to me when books are listed as “first _____” after an author has been publishing for a while. I had to think about it for a minute, but this is indeed going to be his first full-length book for adults.

According to the publisher description, it’s being compared to Station Eleven and is about Earth in 2050. People have started leaving the planet for space colonies, if they can afford it. The people left behind must deal with the cannibalization of their neighborhoods, as supplies are shipped off to the colonies. In the midst of this are the narratives of a space dweller seeking his former love, a marshal looking to solve a kidnapping, a journalist writing about the world of those left behind, and a group of laborers trying to salvage the great cities of the Earth. GIVE IT TO ME NOW, PLEASE.

What I’m reading this week.

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

Never Say You Can’t Survive by Charlie Jane Anders

The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease by Daisy Hernández

Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

The Pariah by Anthony Ryan

Song stuck in my head:

We Are Between by Modest Mouse. Yessssssssssss new Modest Mouse. (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 am endlessly delighted by the imagination of other people.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

Bob’s Burgers: It turns out, the eleventh season was not ten episodes long, but was twenty-two. What I took to mean the end of the season was actually a ten-week break between episodes and I had no idea! So imagine my delight when I learned I had twelve more episodes to watch. ::heart eyes::
Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

an orange cat lying on top of a refrigerator

The temperature in Maine has been in the low 80s the last few days and Farrokh is over it.

Trivia answer: Mallard, Louisiana.

You made it to the bottom! High five. Thanks for reading! – xo, L

Book Radar

Fangs for the Memories: VAMPIRE ACADEMY Will Now Be a TV Series and More Book Radar!

Post author By Liberty Hardy
Post date May 21, 2021

Sponsored by Blade of Secrets by Tricia Levenseller with Fierce Reads.

“Loaded with action, betrayal, slow-burn romance . . . I couldn’t put it down.” —Mary E. Pearson, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Remnant Chronicles. In Blade of Secrets, the first book in Tricia Levenseller’s exciting new YA fantasy duology, a teenage blacksmith with social anxiety is forced to go on the run to protect the world from the most powerful magical sword she’s ever made.

Hello, newsletter friends! I have had a pretty splendid few days. Somehow, the universe heard my request in last week’s Book Radar to read Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher and granted my wishes. I got a copy that night and dropped everything to read it and—SPOILER—it’s amazing. I will definitely be doing a bigger discussion of it in the coming weeks, because it knocked my brain’s socks off.

Moving on: I have some delightful book news for you today. I also have a look at an awesome upcoming cyber-mystery, plus cover reveals, a terrible pun, my adorable little orange monster, and trivia! Let’s get started, shall we?

Here’s Monday’s trivia question: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia takes place in what decade? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

cover of while justice sleeps by stacey abrams

Doubleday will publish two more books in the Avery Keene series from Stacey Abrams, which starts with While Justice Sleeps.

We’ve got a giveaway for a chance to win an iPad Mini! Enter here.

Ellie Marney announced her next YA thriller. (Have you read None Shall Sleep yet? I loved it!)

Netflix announced a 3D animated series based on the comic book series Mech Cadet Yu by Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa.

Here’s the cover reveal of All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie.

Here’s the trailer for Love, Victor on Hulu.

Here’s the first look at Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra’s new thriller The Rumor Game.

Amy Spalding has a book written for adults on the way!

Here’s the first look at the cover for Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour.

TorCon 2021 announced the schedule of events.

Peacock has ordered a series based on the Vampire Academy series of novels by Richelle Mead.

Lupin author Maurice Leblanc’s The Island of Thirty Coffins will be a film.

Book Riot Recommends

Loved, loved, loved:

cover of the body scout by lincoln michel

The Body Scout by Lincoln Michel (Orbit, September 21)

Holy cats, I don’t even know where to start with this amazing book! It’s set in the future and there is SO much going on, and all of it is awesome.

Let’s start with the world: in this future, people talk to holograms instead of phones, all the animals to ever have existed have been brought back (and are food), Neanderthals have been cloned and walk among the population again, and people can get mechanical parts of themselves replaced when one goes bad (if they can afford it), so some people have the ability to live forever.

Enter Kobo. Once a star for a cyber baseball team, he now works as a scout for the sport since cyber athletes were banned and Big Pharma now owns all the professional sports teams. Kobo’s brother is also a big-time baseball star. J.J. Zunz plays for the Monsanto Mets, and at the beginning of The Body Scout, he dies on the field. Was it all the performance-enhancing drugs and gene manipulation he underwent, or was it murder? (Cyber parts are banned, but drugs are still very much allowed.)

Kobo is determined to get to the bottom of his brother’s death, starting with finding the identity of a young girl his brother was spotted with before his death. He also needs to figure out how to keep the loan sharks off his back, since he still owes for his robotic parts, even though he’s no longer in a profession where they’re needed. Together with the help of his awesome friend, who pulls his genetically-modified bacon out of the fire repeatedly, Kobo searches for the answers.

This is a wild, inventive sci-fi thriller with a lot of heart and a lot of humor, and it also addresses a lot of philosophical questions about cloning and body modification. Imagine if Mickey Spillane wrote Blade Runner—it’s a lot like that. I’m a big fan of wisecracking, down-on-their-luck PIs who still fight to do what’s right, and I also loved the loan shark heavies, Brenda and Wanda, half-robot twins who dog Kobo everywhere he goes. I hope we get to see more of this world!

(CW for violence, murder, body modification and body horror, gore, trauma, and chemical use and abuse. Plus a lot of inferred animal death through meat eating.)

What I’m reading this week.

Playing a Dangerous Game by Patrick Ochieng

Catch the Sparrow: A Search for a Sister and the Truth of her Murder by Rachel Rear

The Pariah by Anthony Ryan

Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult by Faith Jones

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

Groan-worthy joke of the week:

What kind of noise does a witch’s vehicle make? Brrrroooom, brrroooom.

And this is funny:

Actual LOL.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

Ted Lasso: I know it’s a television show but I want to be BFFs with Coach Beard. His karaoke performance slays me.
Lungwort: We got these (horribly named) plants for the first time and placed them in several spots around our yard and they’re lovely!
Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

orange cat looking over the side of a book case

Zevon is a glamourpuss. (Don’t let that innocent face fool you—he’s a zoomy midnight speed racer, chewer of cords, and surprise climber of humans.)

Trivia answer: The 1950s.