Literairyland: Nov. 7-13, 2023

This week's new books, writer bdays, and more.

Author

Nicholas Barron
November 07, 2023

This Week In Books

Hi Reader,

I don't want to scare you, but this week's list of new books is Tolstoyian in length. In fact, this email lists 173 new books.

To keep from overwhelming you, though, I thought I'd list a few notable new books that are popping up on reading lists or being talked about on social media.

For example, many people are clamoring to read Barbra Streisand's memoir, My Name Is Barbra (Amazon | Bookshop). Another memoir appearing on many must-read lists is Stephanie Land's Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education (Amazon | Bookshop).

Singrid Nunez's latest novel, The Vulnerables (Amazon | Bookshop), is getting a lot of buzz. In the book, a writer takes care of a parrot during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Another highly anticipated book is The Future by Naomi Alderman (Amazon | Bookshop). It's a dystopian novel in which friends attempt to save the world from greedy tech giants.

Or, if none of those books grab you, you might find your next read by perusing one of these recently published reading lists:

Lastly, there's a good chance this email's entirety doesn't appear in your inbox. So, to view the entire email, click the link at the bottom that says something like, "View entire message."

Happy reading,

Nick Barron

This Week’s New Books

Note: Your email app might cut off this email in your inbox, but you can view the entire email by clicking a link at the bottom that says something like, “View entire message.”

Affiliate Disclosure: This email contains affiliate links. That means I may receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after visiting one of these links at no additional cost to you.

Fiction

Mystery

  • The Manor House: A Novel by Gilly Macmillan (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Deus X (An August Snow Novel) by Stephen Mack Jones (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Proof of the Pudding (A Royal Spyness Mystery) by Rhys Bowen (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • A Killer App: An HOA Mystery by Linda Lovely (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Face of Greed: A Novel The Detective Emily Hunter Mystery Series by James L'Etoile (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Fuel To The Flame by Lauren Street (Amazon)

  • A Christmas Vanishing: A Novel by Anne Perry (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Bittlemores by Jann Arden (Amazon | Bookshop)

Thriller

Romance

Holiday

  • The Wishing Bridge: A Sparkling Christmas Novel by Viola Shipman (Amazon | Bookshop)

Horror

  • Slay (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) by Laurell K. Hamilton (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Where He Can’t Find You by Darcy Coates (Amazon | Bookshop)

Dystopian

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Humor

Historical

  • The Constant Soldier: A Novel by William Ryan (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen: A Novel by Sarah James (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Woman with a Purple Heart: A Novel by Diane Hanks (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Reign (Kindred: The Fated Book 3) by Donna Grant (Amazon)

  • The Warsaw Sisters: A Novel of WWII Poland by Amanda Barratt (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Last Letter from London by Pam Lecky (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Above the Salt by Katherine Vaz (Amazon | Bookshop)

Literary

Short Stories

  • The Corset & the Jellyfish: A Conundrum of Drabbles by Nick Bantock (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Whole Mess and Other Stories by Jack Skillingstead (Amazon | Bookshop)

Comics & Graphic Novels

  • Office Gods by Catharina Octorina, illustrated by Hiikariin (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Skip!: A Graphic Novel by Sarah Burgess (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • He's Expecting Vol. 1 by Eri Sakai (Amazon)

  • Like a Butterfly, Vol. 3 by Suu Morishita (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Static: Up All Night by Lamar Giles, illustrated by Paris Alleyne (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Unordinary Volume 1 by Uru-Chan (Amazon | Bookshop)

Nonfiction

Memoir

  • My Name Is Barbra by Barbra Streisand (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education by Stephanie Land (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey by Edel Rodriguez (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Call You When I Land: A Memoir by Nikki Vargas (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Mother, Nature: A 5,000-Mile Journey to Discover if a Mother and Son Can Survive Their Differences by Jedidiah Jenkins (Amazon | Bookshop)  🏳️‍🌈

  • What the Taliban Told Me by Ian Fritz (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Night Parade: A Speculative Memoir by Jami Nakamura Lin (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI by Fei-Fei Li (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Data Baby: My Life in a Psychological Experiment by Susannah Breslin (Amazon | Bookshop)

Biography

  • American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy by Susan Shapiro, Aquilino Gonell, and Jamie Raskin (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • A Death in Malta: An Assassination and a Family's Quest for Justice by Paul Caruana Galizia (Amazon | Bookshop)

Essays

  • Black Lives, American Love: Essays on Race and Resilience by D.B. Maroon (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Still Crazy: Love, Laughter and Tears from the World of the Sacred Diarist by Adrian Plass (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul by Tracy K. Smith (Amazon | Bookshop)

True Crime

  • Pirate Cove: An Insider's Account of the Infamous Southport Lane Scandal by Richard D. Bailey (Amazon | Bookshop)

Business

  • Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History by Ben Mezrich (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Beautiful PR: Finding Your Brand's Heartbeat for Authenticity in Communication by Sophie Atwood (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Logos That Last: How to Create Iconic Visual Branding by Allan Peters (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Leader's Guide to Managing Risk: A Proven Method to Build Resilience and Reliability by K. Scott Griffith (Amazon | Bookshop)

Career

  • The Informational Interview Playbook: Creating a Path to Achieve Your Career Goals by Henry Organ and Cody Sims (Amazon | Bookshop)

Technology

  • Privacy Pandemic: How Cybercriminals Determine Targets, Attack Identities, and Violate Privacy―and How Consumers, Companies, and Policymakers Can Fight Back by Christopher A. Smith (Amazon | Bookshop)

Entertainment

  • Pandora’s Box: How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV by Peter Biskind (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Purple Rising: Celebrating 40 Years of the Magic, Power, and Artistry of The Color Purple by Lise Funderburg (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Lucille Ball Treasures: Featuring Memorabilia and Pictures by Cindy De La Hoz (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Normporn: Queer Viewers and the TV That Soothes Us (Postmillennial Pop) by Karen Tongson (Amazon | Bookshop) 🏳️‍🌈

Music

  • World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music by Jeff Tweedy (Amazon | Bookshop)

Sports

  • Jumpman: The Making and Meaning of Michael Jordan by Johnny Smith (Amazon | Bookshop)

Literature

  • Remembrance: Selected Correspondence of Ray Bradbury by Jonathan R. Eller (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Sisterhood: How a Network of Black Women Writers Changed American Culture by Courtney Thorsson (Amazon | Bookshop)

Pop Culture

  • Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can’t Quit American Girl by Mary Mahoney and Allison Horrocks (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story by Max Marshall (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture—And the Magic That Makes It Work by Jesse David Fox (Amazon | Bookshop)

Fashion

  • CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion by Sunita Kumar Nair (Amazon | Bookshop)

Food

  • The Core of an Onion: Peeling the Rarest Common Food--Featuring More Than 100 Historical Recipes by Mark Kurlansky (Amazon | Bookshop)

Health

  • Art Is Art: Collaborating with Neurodiverse Artists at Creativity Explored by Ann Knappes (Amazon | Bookshop)

Parenting

  • More Than We Expected: Five Years With a Remarkable Child by James G. Robinson (Amazon | Bookshop)

Women’s Studies

  • Girls of the World: 250 Portraits of Awesome by Mihaela Noroc (Amazon | Bookshop)

Ethnic Studies

  • Smithsonian Asian Pacific American History, Art, and Culture in 101 Objects edited by Theodore S. Gonzalves (Amazon | Bookshop)

Education

  • Apprentice Nation: How the "Earn and Learn" Alternative to Higher Education Will Create a Stronger and Fairer America by Ryan Craig (Amazon | Bookshop)

Politics

  • Where Have All the Democrats Gone?: The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes by John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Party of the People: Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP by Patrick Ruffini (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World by Deepak Bhargava and Stephanie Luce (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • God Calls Us to Do Hard Things: Lessons from the Alabama Wiregrass by Katie Britt (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism by John Gray (Amazon | Bookshop)

Geopolitical

  • The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World by Dan Senor and Saul Singer (Amazon)

  • Among the Braves: Hope, Struggle, and Exile in the Battle for Hong Kong and the Future of Global Democracy by Shibani Mahtani and Timothy McLaughlin (Amazon | Bookshop)

Science

  • A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Entangled Life: The Illustrated Edition: How Fungi Make Our Worlds by Merlin Sheldrake (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Shadows of Science: How to Uphold Science, Detect Pseudoscience, and Expose Antiscience in the Age of Disinformation by Kendrick Frazier (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Innovators: 16 Visionary Scientists and Their Struggle for Recognition―From Galileo to Barbara McClintock and Rachel Carson by Donald R. Kirsch (Amazon | Bookshop)

Environment & Earth Science

  • Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization by Ed Conway (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Eat, Poop, Die: How Animals Make Our World by Joe Roman (Amazon | Bookshop)

Astronomy

  • Total Eclipse of the Sun: Mexico - USA - Canada: Monday, April 8, 2024 by Pam Hine (Amazon | Bookshop)

History

  • Teddy and Booker T.: How Two American Icons Blazed a Path for Racial Equality by Brian Kilmeade (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics by H.W. Brands (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest to Honor America's First Black Generals by Doug Melville (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Cashing Out: The Flight of Nazi Treasure, 1945–1948 by Neill Lochery (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Warriors, Rebels, and Saints: The Art of Leadership from Machiavelli to Malcolm X by Moshik Temkin (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1789 by Robert Darnton (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • What's Cooking in the Kremlin: From Rasputin to Putin, How Russia Built an Empire with a Knife and Fork by Witold Szablowski, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Bernardine's Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China by Susan Blumberg-Kason (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Humanize: A Maker's Guide to Designing Our Cities by Thomas Heatherwick (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Battle for the Island Kingdom: England's Destiny 1000–1066 by Don Hollway (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Around the World in Eighty Games: From Tarot to Tic-Tac-Toe, Catan to Chutes and Ladders, a Mathematician Unlocks the Secrets of the World’s Greatest Games by Marcus du Sautoy (Amazon | Bookshop)

Military

  • Whistles from the Graveyard: My Time Behind the Camera on War, Rage, and Restless Youth in Afghanistan by Miles Lagoze (Amazon | Bookshop)

Personal Finance

  • Make Money Move: A Guide to Financial Wellness by Lauren Simmons (Amazon | Bookshop)

DIY

  • Tasty Home: Life Skills: From Organizing Your Kitchen to Saving a Houseplant, Money-Saving Hacks and Easy DIYs You Need to Know (Amazon | Bookshop)

Travel

  • Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan: A Journey by Train from Hokkaido to Kyushu by John Dougill (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Conspiracy Tourist by Dom Joly (Amazon | Bookshop)

Career

  • The Informational Interview Playbook: Creating a Path to Achieve Your Career Goals by Henry Organ and Cody Sims (Amazon | Bookshop)

Self-Help

  • The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power by Courtney B. Vance and Robin L Smith (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The First Rule of Mastery: Stop Worrying About What People Think of You by Michael Gervais with Kevin Lake (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • My Teacher, My Son: Lessons on Life, Loss, and Love by Nick Shaw (Amazon)

  • Focus Forward: Life Lessons from Racing by Ted Giovanis (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Self-Care for Black Men: 100 Ways to Heal and Liberate by Joe-El Caraballo (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Dreaming Path: Indigenous Ideas to Help Us Change the World by Paul Callaghan and Uncle Paul Gordon (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Survive and Thrive: How to Prepare for Any Disaster Without Ammo, Camo, or Eating Your Neighbor by Jeanne Devon and Bill Fulton (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Bounce Back: 12 Warrior Principles to Reclaim and Recalibrate Your Life by Travis Mills (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Anxiety Reset Method: Master Your Anxious Mind in 12 Weeks by Georgie Collinson (Amazon | Bookshop)

Philosophy

  • How to Be Multiple: The Philosophy of Twins by Helena de Bres (Amazon | Bookshop)

Psychology

  • Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure by Maggie Jackson (Amazon | Bookshop)

Spiritual

  • Becoming Psychic: Lessons from the Minds of Mediums, Healers, and Psychics by Jeff Tarrant (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Life of Jesus: With an Introduction and Commentary by Pope Francis by Andrea Tornielli (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Brotherhood: 40 Success Stories and Faith Principles for Black Men in Community edited by Joyce Dinkins, Matthew Parker, and Diane Proctor Reeder (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • A Primer in Christian Ethics: Christ and the Struggle to Live Well by Luke Bretherton (Amazon) (Available Nov. 9.)

  • Varieties of Christian Universalism by David W. Ed Congdon (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Humility Illuminated: The Biblical Path Back to Christian Character by Dennis R. Edwards and Marlena Graves (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Divine Gravity: Sparking a Movement to Recover a Better Christian Story by Meghan Larissa Good (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • The Three Conditions: How Intention, Joy, and Certainty Will Supercharge Your Life by Moshe Gersht (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Beyond Our Control: Let Go of Unmet Expectations, Overcome Anxiety, and Discover Intimacy with God by Michael McAfee and Lauren Green McAfee (Amazon | Bookshop)

  • Our Faithful God Devotional: 52 Weeks of Leaning on His Unchanging Character by Katie Davis Majors (Amazon | Bookshop)

Poetry

This Week’s Literary Birthdays & Events

November 7

  • Albert Camus

  • Mary Daheim

  • Guy Gavriel Kay

  • Margaret Leech

  • Yuyi Morales

  • Antonio Skármeta

  • Armstrong Sperry

  • William Wharton

November 8

  • Ben Bova

  • Daniele Valore Evans

  • Joshua Ferris

  • Sarah Fielding

  • Jeffrey Ford

  • Martha Gellhorn

  • Kazuo Ishiguro

  • Ken Lamberton

  • Margaret Mitchell

  • Bram Stoker

  • Kevin Young

November 9

  • C.J. Box

  • Maud Howe Elliott

  • Alistair Horne

  • Velimir Khlebnikov

  • Roger McGough

  • James Schuyler

  • Anne Sexton

  • Ivan Turgenev

  • Marina Warner

November 10

  • Lady Chatterley's Lover sells 200,000 copies on first day on sale (1960)

  • Holly Black

  • Mark Danner

  • Arthur Davison Ficke

  • Neil Gaiman

  • Oliver Goldsmith

  • W.E.B. Griffin

  • Vachel Lindsay

  • John P. Marquand

  • Friedrich Schiller

  • Karl Shapiro

  • Steven Utley

November 11

  • James Bond is born (1920)

  • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

  • Shirley Graham Du Bois

  • Hans Magnus Enzensberger

  • Howard Fast

  • Carlos Fuentes

  • Mary Gaitskill

  • Kathy Lette

  • Kalle Päätalo

  • F. Van Wyck Mason

  • Alicia Ostriker

  • Cristina Odone

  • Kurt Vonnegut

  • Diane Wolkstein

November 12

  • Tadeusz Borowski

  • Michael Ende

  • John McGahern

  • Richelle Mead

  • Rubén Bonifaz Nuño

  • Christopher Pike

  • Neal Shusterman

  • Ben Travers

November 13

  • Humayun Ahmed

  • Stephen Baxter

  • Wanda Coleman

  • Gérald Godin

  • William Bradford Huie

  • Robert Louis Stevenson

See you next week!