A Firm Statement:
It was the book that put John Grisham on the map 32 years ago and launched a brilliant literary journey with one bestseller after another. Now, more than three decades after publishing The Firm, a sequel is finally on its way, with Doubleday targeting Oct. 17 for The Exchange: After the Firm.
Celebrating a Writer and a Fighter:
Norman Mailer would have been 100 years old this past January. Here’s a tribute to the master from a BookTrib contributor who had firsthand knowledge of the man.
An Easter Read for the Ages:
Daofeng He’s The Human Calling is a sweeping and powerful account of three thousand years of philosophical foundations of Eastern and Western Civilization and is a bold and unapologetic Christian anthropology that is perfect to read this Easter Weekend.
King Charles … Shaken, Not Stirred:
Ian Fleming Publications, which manages the literary estate of James Bond’s creator, says it will release a new Bond novel to commemorate the coronation of King Charles III. Charlie Higson, who authored five novels in the Young Bond series, wrote On His Majesty’s Secret Service, which is a reimagining of Ian Fleming’s 1963 novel On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
New Jeannette Walls Novel Set for TV:
Jeannette Walls’ novel Hang the Moon will be adapted for television. The book tells the story of Sallie Kincaid, a bootlegger in early-20th-century Virginia, who is determined to reconnect with her estranged family. BookTrib praised the book, calling it a “family epic brimming with romance, heroism and loss.”
Kings and Kingpins:
Austin Butler, the Oscar-nominated star of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, is set to play a crime boss in the movie adaptation of Don Winslow’s City on Fire. The book, published by Morrow/HarperCollins in 2020, tells the story of Danny Ryan, a dockworker in Providence, Rhode Island, who rises to become the ruthless leader of his family’s criminal empire.
Celebrity Book Club Picks for April:
- Good Morning America book club: Disha Bose’s Dirty Laundry. The book follows Irish influencer Ciara Dunphy, Indian Mishti Guha and Lauren Doyle who are three mothers in a small town. Ciara is found murdered in her seemingly perfect home, unraveling a web of secrets and accusations among the community.
- Jenna Bush Hager’s Today show book club: Michelle Min Sterling’s debut novel, Camp Zero, which tells the story of a young woman hired to work as a spy at an American building project in Canada.
- Reese’s Book Club: Curtis Sittenfeld’s Romantic Comedy for April. The book follows sketch writer Sally Milz, who creates a sketch called the Danny Horst Rule, which ridicules the notion that average-looking men can date beautiful women, but not the reverse.
- Belletrist, Emma Roberts’ book club: A Likely Story by Leigh McMullan Abramson this month. In this outstanding debut, the single child of a famous American author uncovers a stunning web of family secrets that overturns her understanding of her parents, privileged upbringing, and writing career.
BookTrib Discovery:
Ron Morris is an author to keep an eye on. With any luck, his brilliant novel There Are Still Unknown Places, could do for Thailand what E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India did for that land.
Survival Expert Gets More Than He Bargained For:
Get ready for an extraordinary combination of suspense and action, packed with memorable characters and the kind of authentic detail that could only come from someone who has been there and done that in T.R. Hendricks’ The Instructor.
‘5 Under 35’ Honored by National Book Foundation:
The National Book Foundation named its newest class of ‘5 Under 35’ honorees, which recognizes debut fiction writers under 35 whose work promises to make a lasting impression in the literary world. The authors chosen include Mateo Askaripour (Black Buck), Chelsea T. Hicks (A Calm and Normal Heart), Morgan Talty (Night of the Living Rez), Jennie Xie (Holding Pattern) and Ada Zhang (The Sorrow of Others).