EarlyWord

The film adaptation of the best selling middle-grade novel Wonder by R.J. Palacio, (RH/ Knopf Young Readers, 2012), still on the NYT Hardcover Middle Grade list after 43 weeks. is now set for release on April 7, 2017. In the lead role is Jacob Tremblay, who starred in the Oscar-winning adaptation, Room. Julia Roberts will play his mother.

The movie is directed Stephen Chbosky, who wrote and  directed The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

A debut novel by an Irish writer wins the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, given for the best novel by a woman writing in English. The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney (PRH/Tim Duggan Books, Aug. 9; Random House Audio) topped several better known authors including the multiple awar- winning Anne Enright for The Green Road and the bestselling Hanya Yanagihara for A Little Life.

The Guardian reports that The Glorious Heresies “tells how an accidental murder … plays out in the lives of a cast that includes a 15-year-old drug dealer, his alcoholic father, a prostitute and a gangland boss.”

The chair of the judging panel said it is “a superbly original, compassionate novel that delivers insights into the very darkest of lives through humour and skilful storytelling.”

Calling it “big, gritty and compelling,” a spokeswoman for one of the UK’s most notable bookstores said the selection was a “brave choice … by the least conventional and edgiest writer on the list.”

The Glorious Heresies is scheduled for release in the US on Aug. 9.

McInerney’s debut was among 11 other first novels to make the long or short list for the award, which The Guardian notes is becoming “a showcase for new and emerging talent.”

One of those debut authors is Hannah Rothschild whose The Improbability of Love (RH/Knopf; OverDrive Sample) made it through to the final round. Rothschild, the first woman chair of London’s most prestigious art museum, The National Galley, can console herself with champagne. Her book recently won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction (shared with Paul Murray for The Mark and the Void), which comes with a large bottle of Bollinger champagne, the complete Everyman Wodehouse Collection, and the honor of the having a Gloucestershire Old Spot pig named after the winning title, a nod to the Empress of Blandings, a fictional pig featured in P. G. Wodehouse’s Blandings Castle novels.

Previous winners of the pig, bubbly, and books include Terry Pratchett and Alexander McCall Smith. Photos of several past winners with their pigs are online.

It’s a week with no new movie or TV adaptations, but Disney’s Finding Dory opening on Friday has several tie-ins.

Finding Dory: The Junior Novelization (RH Disney (PRH/Disney) is aimed at kids aged 7 to 10. Also available in paperback, the hardcover edition is called the “Deluxe” version.

There’s a picture book, Finding Dory (Picture Book): Three Little Words, Amy Novesky (Hachette/Disney Press) and the image-rich Disney Pixar Finding Dory: The Essential Guide, DK (PRH/Penguin/DK Children).

The two leveled readers are Ocean of Color (Disney/Pixar Finding Dory), Bill Scollon (RH/Disney) and Dory’s Story (Disney/Pixar Finding Dory), RH Disney (RH/Disney).

The film, which recounts the continued adventures of the fish Dory following Finding Nemo, features the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, and Idris Elba.

Hamilton emerged from last night’s Tony Awards show with 11 wins, including Best Musical, from a total of 16 nominations. While the number of nominations set a record, Hamilton came in just short of the record for wins, behind The Producers which won 12 Tonys in 2001.

It earned multiple nominations in two categories. As a result, it  twice “lost” to itself. The only nominated categories it did not win were Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical which went to Cynthia Erivo for The Color Purple and Best Scenic Design of a Musical which went to She Loves Me.

Below, a clip of  the cast performing during the show, with a special introduction by two major fans:

The show opened with a statement about the mass shootings in Orlando and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the Hamilton cast decided not to use prop muskets in their performances.

Below, a clip of Miranda’s emotional acceptance speech:

A transcript of Miranda’s sonnet (from New York magazine’s site, Vulture):

My wife’s the reason anything gets done.
She nudges me towards promise by degrees.
She is a perfect symphony of one.
Our son is her most beautiful reprise.
We chase the melodies that seem to find us
Until they’re finished songs and start to play.
When senseless acts of tragedy remind us
That nothing here is promised, not one day
This show is proof that history remembers.
We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger.
We rise and fall, and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer.
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love;
Cannot be killed or swept aside.
I sing Vanessa’s symphony; Eliza tells her story.
Now fill the world with music, love, and pride.

Thank you so much for this.

Miranda speaks to the press after the award show:

Another book related production, The Color Purple,  received 4 nominations and won two awards, for Best Revival of a Musical and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, Cynthia Erivo (Celie).

The play has been well received, with the NYT writing about its opening, “Give thanks this morning, children of Broadway, and throw in a hearty hallelujah. The Color Purple has been born again, and its conversion is a glory to behold.” The rousing performance was introduced by Oprah (begins at 2:06):

Four other book-related plays were nominated, but none of them won,  American Psycho (which has already closed), Misery, Tuck Everlasting, and Thérèse Paquin (based on the novel by Émile Zola).

A full list of nominees and winners is available from Entertainment Weekly.

The film adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ best selling memoir The Glass Castle, (S&S/Scribner, 2005) is about to begin production in Montreal before moving on to Welch, WVA., reports Collider.

The film stars Brie Larson, winner of the Best Actress Oscar for Room, as Walls with Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts as her dysfunctional, sometimes homeless, parents.

The release date has not yet been set.

Debuting at the #2 spot on this week’s NYT Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list is the very buzzy Before the Fall, Noah Hawley (Hachette/Grand Central; OverDrive Sample).

As we reported the breakout novel by the creator of the Fargo TV series is racking up impressive hold figures and is getting a great deal of attention as the media predicts a hit.

It’s not the only new entry. Nearly half of the top 10 titles ae new to the list this week.

As might have been expected The Emperor’s Revenge, Clive Cussler and Boyd Morrison (PRH/G.P. Putnam’s Sons; Penguin Audio; BOT; OverDrive Smaple) takes the #1 spot. All Summer Long, Dorothea Benton Frank (HC/William Morrow; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample) debuts at #3, while, as we predicted, Alan Furst’s A Hero of France (PRH/Random House; S&S Audio; OverDrive Sample) hits the list at #7.

Just outside the top 10, debuting at #14 (tied with #13) is Modern Lovers, Emma Straub (PRH/Riverhead Books; Penguin Audio; BOT; OverDrive Sample), another very buzzy title which is high on the summer reading lists.

Falling out of the top ten to make room for the new arrivals are The City of Mirrors, which slipped from #1 last week to #11, The Fireman, All the Light We Cannot See, and Everybody’s Fool.

Next week, fans of Terry Pratchett will have the bittersweet pleasure of reading the novel which was completed in 2013, before his death last year. The Long Cosmos. Terry Pratchett, with Stephen Baxter (Harper; HarperLuxe) is the final title in the Long Earth series.

Below are highlights of other titles coming out next week. They are listed, along with several other notable titles arriving next week, with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet, EarlyWord New Title Radar, Week of June 13, 2016.

Holds Leaders

Among the holds leaders this week are three authors who long ago achieved marquee status (i.e., their names are in larger type than the titles on their book jackets) and a rarity among holds leaders, a debut novel.

Foreign Agent, Brad Thor, (S&S/Atria; S&S Audio)

Thor, a favorite of conservative talk shows, was interviewed on the Glenn Beck Show on Sirius Radio at the end of May. Discussing Donald Trump’s candidacy, which neither support (Beck has said that, although he doesn’t disagree with many of Trump’s policies, he feels he is “deeply flawed and dangerous as a human being“), Thor made a comment that, according to a Sirius Radio statement, “may be reasonably construed by some to have been advocating harm against an individual currently running for office, which we cannot and will not condone.” As a result, the show was suspended for a week. Thor will have plenty of opportunities to talk about that story next week as he is scheduled for interviews on several Fox-TV shows as well as on Beck’s radio show to promote his new book, the 15th in his Scott Harvath series

Bay of Sighs: Book Two of the Guardians Trilogy, Nora Roberts, (PRH/Berkley; Brilliance Audio)

The second in Roberts’ original trade paperback paranormal romance trilogy, following Stars of Fortune.

Here’s to Us, Elin Hildebrand, (Hachette/Little, Brown: Hachette Audio

The next in her Nantucket-based series. Hilderbrand’s previous recent title, The Rumor, brought her to a new level on best seller lists;

Rivaling Hildebrand is a brand-new author, Emma Cline (see Peer Picks, below). Holds are strong everywhere, but sky high at to Hennepin Public Library, which will host an appearance by the author next week.

Advance Attention

I’m Just a Person, Tig Notary, (HarperCollins/Ecco)

The memoir by the comic who appears on Transparent and on radio in This American Life, was featured in last week’s People magazine. Upcoming is an Amazon series about her life.

In the Darkroom, Susan Faludi,(Macmillan/Metropolitan Books)

People magazine, listing it as one of their summer reading picks, calls this a “A fascinating memoir” by the feminist author (Backlash) about her efforts to come to terms with her estranged father, after he has goes through a late-life sex-reassignment surgery. Definitely not a feminist, her father, now a woman, tells her, “Men have to help me. It’s one of the great advantages to being a woman. You write about the disadvantages of being a woman, but I’ve only found advantages!”

Appearing on several summer reading lists, it will be covered widely. In one of the first reviews, Laura Miller in Slate says that the book’s “complexity fascinates.” Entertainment Weekly gives it an A- and says, “It’s a gripping and honest personal journey—bolstered by reams of research—that ultimately transcends family and addresses much bigger questions of identity and reinvention.”

Consumer Media Picks

Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, Ramona Ausubel, (PRH/Riverhead)

People magazine’s “Book of the Week” is also on several summer reading previews. Set in the “60’s and ’70’s, it’s about couple with two children, who suddenly faces the fact that their fairly luxurious lifestyle will not longer be funded by the largess of their parents.

Peer Picks

Librarians and booksellers offer readers ten titles this week. The LibraryReads selections include the return of several series as well as two debuts, while the Indie Next picks highlight a buzzy summer reading favorite.

Books librarians recommend include:

The Invisible Library, Genevieve Cogman (PRH/Roc; OverDrive Sample).

“Directed by powerful librarians, agents roam alternate realities searching out special volumes for their mysterious library’s collections. Irene is a spy for the library but something is a little off about her current mission; there’s something strange about her new assistant that she can’t quite put her finger on and worse, the requested volume has already been stolen. Cogman’s engaging characters and a most intriguing imagined world are sure to delight readers, especially bibliophiles.” – Beth Mills, New Rochelle Public Library, New Rochelle, NY

Read our online chat with the author here.

Under the Harrow, Flynn Berry (PRH/Penguin; Blackstone Audio; OverDrive Sample).

“Nora leaves London to visit her sister, Rachel, in the countryside often. But this trip is different – a silent house, a dead dog hanging from the railing and so much blood. Nora stays, trying to help the police solve the case. She thinks it might have something to do with the unsolved attack on Rachel when she was just a teen but it could be someone new. This story is thrilling and quietly gripping. We become as obsessed as Nora in finding her sister’s killer and what if he strikes again?” – Kimberly McGee, Lake Travis Community Library, Austin, TX

Stiletto, Daniel O’Malley (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio; OverDrive Sample).

“In the long-awaited sequel to The Rook, negotiations between two highly secret organizations, one based on science and reason and the other on the supernatural, are continuing. Odette and Pawn both come to the forefront of the story as we get more of the history of the groups and why mortal enemies would want to join forces. With its blend of intricate world-building and fantastical situations, Stiletto both surprised me and made me laugh.” – Mary Bell, Wilbraham Public Library, Wilbraham, MA

It is a summer reading pick, selected by the Amazon Editors.

Widowmaker, Paul Doiron (Macmillan/Minotaur; OverDrive Sample).

“Doiron delivers a novel of intensifying suspense. The brooding and flawed Bowditch deals with a newly revealed family secret that sets him off on a search for the truth. His personal mission leads him into danger as he chases a vigilante through the wintry Maine woods. Doiron perfects his storytelling with a richly detailed setting and admirable sense of timing. You’ll want to go back to the previous Bowditch adventures while awaiting the next installment. Highly recommended for fans of Nevada Barr and C.J. Box.” – Mamie Ney, Auburn Public Library, Auburn, ME

Booksellers offer suggestions this week for books coming out in June and July:

The #1 June pick is The Girls, Emma Cline (PRH/Random House; Random House Audio; OverDrive Sample).

“Evie Boyd is a lonely 14-year-old adjusting to her parents’ recent divorce and an emotional break with her childhood best friend. She encounters a wild and enchanting group of girls and is immediately drawn into their world of reckless abandon. Seduced by their thrilling, cult-like family hidden in the California hills, Evie finds herself pulled into events that will lead to unspeakable violence. Cline’s captivating prose strips bare the deep desires and vulnerability of teenage Evie as she struggles for acceptance. The Girls is an enthralling and haunting novel that will linger with readers long after the last page.” —Tarah Jennings, Mitzi’s Books, Rapid City, SD

The consensus top summer read title, selected by Entertainment Weekly, People, NYT, WSJ, USA Today, Amazon Editors, Buzzfeed, and the syndicated St. Louis Post-Dispatch list. Entertainment Weekly writes it “is so accomplished that it’s hard to believe it’s a debut.” Reviewers have been mostly positive about the book, with the exception of the NYT‘s Dwight Garner, under the headline, “The Girls Has a Great Start. Too Bad About the Rest.”

Brighton, Michael Harvey (HC/Ecco; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample).

“Gritty, thrilling, and full of twists, Harvey’s first novel to be set in his hometown of Boston is cause for celebration. Its namesake neighborhood is as richly textured as the characters in this deeply moving crime story about two friends haunted by their shared past of violence. While it will certainly appeal to fans of Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, Brighton sings with a fresh Bostonian voice that is all its own.” —Thomas Wickersham, Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA

Barkskins, Annie Proulx (S&S/Scribner; S&S Audio).

“This multigenerational saga follows the fortunes of the Sel and Duke families from early Colonial days to the present, spanning centuries and continents as they make their living not only from the bounty of the land but also from the ravaging and destruction of it. As always, Proulx is brilliant at creating a story that flows impeccably, and her nature writing is some of the most beautiful and evocative to be found in modern literature. This novel is an epic work, a fictional Silent Spring that will linger with readers long after completion.” —Bill Cusumano, Square Books, Oxford, MS

It also, of course, was featured in many summer reading previews, selected by the Amazon Editors, B&N, Buzzfeed, USA Today, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The author is scheduled to appear on NPR’s All Things Considered today, June 10 and is profiled in today’s Wall Street Journal.

If I Forget You, Thomas Christopher Greene (Macmillan/Thomas Dunne; OverDrive Sample).

“Twenty years ago, Margo and Henry fell in love, lost each other to a fierce misunderstanding, and went their separate ways — to marriages, children, and a second-best kind of happiness. Now, a chance encounter holds out hope for reconciliation and the joy of true love. Greene tells this story by jumping back and forth in time and between narrators, while readers wonder ‘will they or won’t they?’ Read this one for the story and the superb style. One of the best books I have read this year.” —Linda Bond, Auntie’s Bookstore, Spokane, WA

I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Iain Reid (S&S/Gallery/Scout Press; S&S Audio; OverDrive Sample).

“With his debut novel, Reid sets an extremely high bar for all future psychological thrillers. The entire story takes place in little over 24 hours as Jake and his girlfriend travel to meet and have dinner with his parents. In the narration by the unnamed girlfriend, something unsettling surfaces early and builds with the passage of every page. Readers will become riveted, reading faster and faster as the ‘unsettling’ becomes frightening, and then terrifying. Recommended for all who enjoy a good mind-twisting scare!” —Nancy Simpson-Brice, The Book Vault, Oskaloosa, IA

Another summer reading pick, selected by the Amazon Editors.

The Insides, Jeremy P. Bushnell (PRH/Melville House; OverDrive Sample).

“With wildly inventive ideas, compelling suspense, and surprising emotional depth, The Insides captured my attention and imagination right from the start. Bushnell is a playful and adventurous writer, coloring outside the lines of genre, breaking the real world open and building his own between the cracks. In a feat of literary street magic, he blends the ordinary and the surreal together into a harmony that feels perfectly right and true even as it disorients the senses The result is a quirky paradox of a novel: fierce yet tender, lighthearted yet severe, weird yet natural.” —Jason Foose, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ

Tie-ins

The reboot of Ghostbusters dominates the tie-ins with five titles forthcoming.

There are two novelizations. Out this week is the version written for ages 8-12, Ghostbusters Movie Novelization, Stacia Deutsch (S&S/Simon Spotlight). Following that, on June 28th, is the full novelization, issued by a different publisher, Ghostbusters, Nancy Holder (Macmillan/Tor; OverDrive Sample).

The supernatural comedy opens July 15th and stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. So high are expectations that action figures are forthcoming as well from a range of producers including Lego and Mattel.

Additional tie-ins include the Ghostbuster’s Handbook, Daphne Pendergrass (S&S/Simon Spotlight) and two leveled readers Proud to Be a Ghostbuster (S&S/Simon Spotlight; OverDrive Sample; also in pbk.) and Who You Gonna Call? (S&S/Simon Spotlight; OverDrive Sample; also in pbk.) both by David Lewman.

For our full list of upcoming adaptations, download our Books to Movies and TV and link to our listing of tie-ins.

Talk about “Hot Dudes Reading,” the Washington Post‘s book critic Ron Charles proves that being a hot dude during Summer Reading season is not as easy as it looks (happily, Ron’s tongue-in-cheek series, “Totally Hip Video Book Reviews” has returned)

It’s part of the Post‘s “Summer Reading” section, which includes a mid-year assessment, “37 Books We’ve Loved So Far In 2016,” featuring some unusual  under-the-radar picks, like Knitlandia, (Abrams, Feb. 14, the Post‘s full review, here).

Looking ahead, the editors choose the “10 Novels We’re Looking Forward To This Summer And Fall,” with titles from June through November.

Read all those picks and you can do a victory lap with Ron.

On the news that casting is nearly complete for Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated adaptation of Ernest Cline’s SF debut Ready Player One (RH/Crown; Random House Audio/BOT; OverDrive Sample), the novel rose on Amazon’s sales rankings, jumping from an already strong #125 to #80.

After a long search, as we wrote earlier,  Spielberg found his lead in Tye Sheridan. Since then, he has added many more cast members. The latest is Win Morisaki for the role of Daito. Variety reports the “Japanese singer-actor … won the role after an extensive audition process.” It will be the first US film for Morisaki, the lead vocalist of the boy band PrizmaX.

Earlier, it was announced that T.J. Miller, of HBO’s Silicon Valley and the superhero film Deadpool, has also joined the cast, playing a bounty hunter.

In April Spielberg added Mark Rylance to the film’s roster, filling the role of James Donovan Halliday, the creator of OASIS, the game world at the heart of the film.

With other roles being filled by Olivia Cooke (as romantic lead Art3mis), Simon Pegg (as Ogden Morrow, co-creator of OASIS), and Ben Mendelsohn (as Nolan Sorrento, the chief villain of the film), Spielberg only needs to find a few more players for the game to begin.

The film is expected to open on March 30, 2018 and holds still remain strong on the book in many libraries we checked.

The books are hot, too:

The book:

Hot Dudes Reading
S&S/Atria
April 26, 2016

And, coming in July,

the Wall Calendar, (Chronicle)

Elle and Glamour, staples of the fashion magazine world, have both issued summer reading lists. Each offers multiple titles no other round-up has included (Vogue has a list, too, but since it consists of picks by celebrities of older titles and classics, we’re not counting it as a true summer list).

It is surprising that Elle is alone in mentioning The Muse by Jessie Burton (HC/Ecco). It follows on the heels of Burton’s bestselling debut The Miniaturist and again features a mysterious story of art and history.

Elle also features a true fashion read, the debut An Innocent Fashion, R.J. Hernández (HC/Harper Perennial), a coming of age story about a Yale grad taking up his longed for post at a fashion magazine.

Another debut is Break in Case of Emergency, Jessica Winter (PRH/Knopf; RH Audio), also about working the job, but this time the protagonist is a 30-somthing woman, who, on top of office issues, is feeling the inadequacy of comparisons and is desperate to have a child.

Glamour magazine offers six unique picks, including The Assistants, Camille Perri (PRH/Putnam; OverDrive Sample), a timely debut that has already received attention but not from summer reading list makers [read our online chat with the author here].

Two nonfiction titles round out the list. I’m Just a Person, Tig Notaro (HC/Ecco; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample), a memoir by the Transparent star and The Girl Who Escaped ISIS: This Is My Story, Farida Khalaf and Andrea C. Hoffmann (S&S/Atria) the account of a young woman who managed to survive and escape after being sold into sexual slavery by ISIS.

Both magazines also overlap on a number of titles making other lists as well, including the Amazon pick (and LibraryReads selection) We Could Be Beautiful, Swan Huntley (PRH/Doubleday; RH Audio).

Robin Beerbower, who writes our GalleyChatter column, warns not be put off by Elle‘s description that this is yet another book about the “exquisitely rich life of an Upper East Side lady being rocked by a mysterious figure out of her past.” Robin says that while such characters “have so many first world problems that it’s hard to relate,” this novel is “fascinating, especially because the author gets into the head of someone who is totally wealthy and has absolutely no clue what real life is like. It’s psychological suspense, but also a character study.”

See our catalog for a running list of all summer picks. Links to each of the summer previews are in the column to the right.

The #1 LibraryReads pick for July is Dark Matter, Blake Crouch (PRH/Crown; RH Audio):

“Once on the fast-track to academic stardom, Jason Dessen finds his quiet family life and career upended when a stranger kidnaps him. Suddenly Jason’s idle “what-ifs” become panicked “what-nows,” as the humble quantum physics professor from a small Chicago college gets to explore the roads not taken with a mind-bending invention that opens doors to other worlds. This fun science fiction thriller is also a thoughtful page-turner with heart that should appeal to fans of Harlan Coben.” — Elizabeth Eastin, Rogers Memorial Library, Southampton, NY

Readers might know Crouch from his Wayward Pines trilogy, the basis of Fox’s TV series of the same name, produced by M. Night Shyamalan. Dark Matter is on several consumer summer reading lists as well, selected by Entertainment Weekly (not online) and the Amazon Editors.

Below, some of the other titles in the list of ten getting additional buzz:

The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware (S&S/Gallery/Scout Press; S&S Audio):

“An intruder in the middle of the night leaves Lo Blacklock feeling vulnerable. Trying to shake off her fears, she hopes her big break of covering the maiden voyage of the luxury cruise ship, the Aurora, will help. The first night of the voyage changes everything. What did she really see in the water and who was the woman in the cabin next door? The claustrophobic feeling of being on a ship and the twists and turns of who, and what, to believe keep you on the edge of your seat. Count on this being one of the hot reads this summer!” — Joseph Jones, Cuyahoga County Public Library, OH

ADDITIONAL BUZZ: This is Ware’s second novel, after the buzzy In A Dark, Dark Wood, which was also a LibraryReads selection when it debuted in August 2015. Ware’s newest is also a summer reading pick, catching the eye of Entertainment Weekly and the Amazon Editors. EW summarizes it as, “THE GIRL ON THE BOAT.”

Among the Wicked, Linda Castillo (Macmillan/Minotaur):

“In the small Amish locale of Painters Mill, police chief Kate Burkholder decides to take an undercover assignment in a community where the death of a young girl was reported. Her long time love, Agent John Tomasetti, is reluctant with her decision because of the lack of communication he will have with her. Burkholder begins to unfold the true horrors on the local farm and unearths the dangers the town officials suspected. She finds herself trapped in a life threatening cat and mouse game. This ongoing series is a true gem and a personal favorite.” — KC Davis, Fairfield Woods Branch Library, Fairfield, CT

ADDITIONAL BUZZ: This eighth outing in the Amish-set thriller series marks the first time Castillo has been selected as a librarian favorite. Her bestselling series made it to Lifetime TV with 2013’s An Amish Murder.

The full list of librarian favorites is available today.

A million dollar debut, won in a ten-bidder auction, is on the verge of becoming the literary hit of the summer, Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi (RH/Knopf; RH Audio; BOT; OverDrive Sample).

It is featured on multiple seasonal reading lists including those by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, B&N, and BuzzFeed and is both an Indie Next selection and a LibraryReads selection, with this recommendation from Amanda Monson, of the Bartow County Library System, Cartersville, GA:

“An engaging family saga following two half-sisters – one who marries into privilege and one sold into slavery – and their descendants as they navigate the politics of their separate countries and their heritage. Each is directly affected in some way by the choices of the past, and finding the parallels in the triumphs and heartbreak makes for an engrossing read.”

The novel is gaining serious and thoughtful review coverage as well, in pieces that note Gyasi’s achievements while pointing out perceived lapses. NPR’s Maureen Corrigan reviewing it on Fresh Air yesterday, says Gyasi “pulls her readers deep into her characters’ lives through the force of her empathetic imagination,” but adding, “Homegoing would have been a stronger novel if it had ended sooner .. As the novel moves forward into our own time the pressure to wrap up the two storylines intensifies, and contrivance comes to the fore.”  NPR also interviewed Gyasi for Weekend Edition Saturday.

Slate‘s books and culture columnist, Laura Miller, writing for The New Yorker, says that the novel “shows the unmistakable touch of a gifted writer, and Homegoing is a specimen of what such a writer can do when she bites off more than she is ready to chew” adding, “Taken in as a panorama, Homegoing can be breathtaking.”

Reviewing for the upcoming NYT Sunday Book Review, Isabel Wilkerson, author of the nonfiction title,  The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, says, barring some troubling clichés, the novel is a work of “beauty” and “The narrative unfolds through self-­contained stories, some like fables, others nightmares, that shift between the family lines in West Africa and America, each new protagonist a limb of the disrupted family tree. Characters reappear in dreams or retellings as the action moves from the Cape Coast to Kumasi to Baltimore to Harlem.”

The WSJ profiles the author and offers a review [subscription may be required], saying “Ms. Gyasi doesn’t always make it work … Yet it’s refreshing to read a novel with a sense of historical imminence. Contemporary American fiction frequently seems to exist in blank isolation from world events. Not so Homegoing, where wars and laws directly shape the characters’ destinies, often across generations.”

The million-dollar advance serves as a hook for media attention, catching the eye of high circulation magazines such as Vogue, which runs a double profile of Gyasi and Emma Cline, author of another big-ticket summer debut, The Girls, complete with a photo of the two together in designer outfits, because they “bear comparison for more than the ambition and incisiveness of their prose, imaginative risk-taking, and seven-figure book deals.” Of Homecoming, Vogue says, “No novel has better illustrated the way in which racism became institutionalized in this country.”

Reviewed in Sunday’s NYT Book Review, Alan Furst’s latest historical spy thriller, A Hero of France (PRH/Random House; S&S Audio; OverDrive Sample), is rising on Amazon’s sales rankings.

Novelist Sara Paretsky notes that Furst is “known for his detailed research into both cat-and-mouse sides of occupied Europe” and offers this plot summary:

“[the thriller] which follows five months in the life of a particular Resistance cell, begins in March 1941, nine months into the German occupation. The hero of the novel’s title, code-named Mathieu, is escorting a downed R.A.F. airman from the countryside to Paris so that he can be smuggled back to England.”

The Washington Post calls it “emotionally gripping and hugely satisfying” and pointing out that it  makes an excellent entry point into Furst’s oeuvre, as it is “the first one to deal directly with the occupation. And it is the first to feature the deeply appealing protagonist … Mathieu.”

NPR praises Furst’s ability to create setting and character.

Furst’s popularity is growing. His last three titles landed in the top ten on the NYT bestseller list. He has also been gaining media attention (interviews in the NYT, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, among others).

Furst publishes a new title every two years, around Fathers Day, making it appear that his audience is mostly male, but the Newsweek interview notes that many of his fans are women.

Holds are strong across the board with several libraries showing reserve lists well above a 3:1 ratio.  Check your standing order quantities, it may be time to increase them.