Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments is Amazon‘s top title for 2019. Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls, which was the top pick on their Best So Far list in June, makes the final list. Other titles that return from the mid-year list (for a total of five) comprise: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb (HMH); On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong; and The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides, all of which are in our Buzz Books samplers, along with Wild Game, by Adrienne Brodeur from the list. The complete, fiction-heavy top 20, in order: 1. The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood 2. […]
Best of
Indigo’s Best Books of 2019
Right on schedule, Canada’s dominant bricks-and-mortar bookseller Indigo published their best books of 2019 package, including their top 10 books. Their No. 1 pick, from Canadian author Cherie Dimaline, has not been published yet in the US, but is due next summer from William Morrow: 1. Empire of Wild, by Cherie Dimaline 2. The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood 3. From the Ashes, by Jesse Thistle 4. The Huntress, by Kate Quinn 5. Three Women, by Lisa Taddeo 6. Daisy Jones & The Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid 7. The Body, by Bill Bryson 8. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides […]
Awards: Whitehead, Jones, Craft Win Kirkus Prizes; PW’s Best of 2019, and More
The winners of the $50,000 Kirkus Prizes were announced on Thursday evening. The fiction prize went to Colson Whitehead‘s The Nickel Boys (Doubleday), with judges noting that it “evokes race in America not as a concept but as a condition of being.” Saeed Jones‘ memoir How We Fight for Our Lives (Simon & Schuster) won the nonfiction prize. Judges said, “His tenacious honesty compels us to be honest with ourselves. His experiences—negotiating grief, family dynamics, and a forthright identity—require our reckoning.” New Kid (HarperCollins), written & illustrated by Jerry Craft, was awarded the prize for children’s literature, for being a “laugh-out-loud […]
January Bookseller Picks, and More
Amazon‘s Spotlight Pick for January is Maid by Stephanie Land (available to sample now in our Buzz Books 2018 Fall/Winter edition), and their featured debut is Sugar Run by Mesha Maren. The rest of the list: The Current, by Tim Johnston The Winter of the Witch, by Katherine Arden Breaking and Entering, by Jeremy N. Smith The Paragon Hotel, by Lyndsay Faye She Lies in Wait, by Gytha Lodge An Orchestra of Minorities, by Chigozie Obioma Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely, by Andrew S. Curran The Far Field, by Madhuri Vijay Barnes & Noble‘s top fiction picks for […]
The Final, Definitive Very Best of the Best Books of 2018 Lists
With 58 votes tabulated we’re ready to stop counting and present the final and ultimate (despite some newcomers) aggregation of selective “best of 2018” book lists from all over — including major publications of all kinds, but also retailer and library selections, major award nominees, and more. This year the top books were out of step with the major awards (unlike last year, when Booker winner George Saunders had our No. 1 book, or the 2016, when Colson Whitehead took multiple honors). Giller winner Washington Black was the most decorated and nominated title on this year’s overall top 10. Fifteen […]
People, Etc.
Jennifer Barth has been promoted to senior vice president, Harper. At Simon & Schuster Children’s Rebecca Vitkus has been promoted to production editor. Lisa Lauria has joined as editor for Simon Spotlight; she was most recently in the marketing and advertising department at Toys ‘R Us. Cassie Malmo has joined as publicity manager; she was most recently senior publicist at Disney Publishing Worldwide. Lauren Carr will join as publicist; she was most recently publicist at Bonnier Publishing. Annika Voss has joined as digital and social marketing coordinator; she was most recently marketing operations assistant at Scholastic. John Butman is joining Kneerim & Williams as an affiliated agent. He “has been involved in the creation of more […]