Yahoo Lifestyle The 15 Best New Book Releases This Week: Oct. 22-28, 2024
Here are the 15 best new book releases out this week: October 22-28, 2024. Halloween hasn’t even happened yet (what costume will you wear?) but books tied to Thanksgiving and Christmas are pouring into stores. Every week, one particular category really shines. This week it’s biographies. We’ve got greatest memoirs by movie icons, cult TV stars, an acclaimed author’s memories of a childhood summer in Rome and a long-overdue biography of musical talent Randy Newman.
Fall really is the best time of year for book lovers. All sorts of titles come out to give you a reason to treat yourself or discover the perfect gift for your coworker, family member or friend. Or an extra helping of friendship when you head to someone else’s home for Thanksgiving. (Pie is also appreciated.) Or a surprise to bring the organizer when you go a-caroling! Or a last-minute impulse buy before someone heads off for the holidays. (Here’s something to read on the plane! Or in the car! Here’s a book for when you arrive and want to unwind!). You get the idea. Books are always welcome. So let’s get reading. At the head of the Parade are…
The 15 Best New Book Releases This Week: Oct. 22-28, 2024
1. Spectacular: A Caraval Holiday Novella by Stephanie Garber
Romantasy lovers will delight in revisiting the whimsical world of Caravel. (See, a trilogy is never enough!) In this novella, the holiday season arrives and Scarlett Dragna and Julian and Donatella are excited. But Legend? Not so much. If a gift from Tella can’t turn him around, maybe the illustrations in this collectible book by Rosie Fowinkle will do the trick.
Spectacular: A Caraval Holiday Novella by Stephanie Garber ($20.99; Flatiron Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
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Courtesy of Delacorte Press, Viking, Mariner Books
2. In Too Deep by Lee Child and Andrew Child
3. Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway
4. Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret by Benjamin Stevenson
Three blockbuster thrillers and mysteries for every taste.
Jack Reacher is back with In Too Deep, the latest no-nonsense, punch ‘em if they can’t stay decent thriller from Lee Child and Andrew Child.
In a more thoughtful vein, author Nick Harkaway explores the espionage world captured so brilliantly by his father John Le Carré. Yes, Smiley is back (and happily married!) in Karla’s Choice, a work very nicely reviewed. (Given the esteem of Le Carré, that’s a major accomplishment.)
And for sheer fun, Benjamin Stevenson indulges fans of Golden Age mysteries with another puzzler starring Ernest Cunningham. A fan of Christie and the like, Cunningham now has a habit of finding himself plopped into the middle of new murders that deliciously ape the conventions of the best. It’s meta in the best possible way.
In Too Deep by Lee Child and Andrew Child ($30; Delacorte Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway ($30; Viking) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret by Benjamin Stevenson ($19.99; Mariner Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
5. The Cake Bible 35th Anniversary Edition by Rose Levy Beranbaum
The Queen of Cake (and desserts in general), Rose Levy Beranbaum updates her classic on cakes with a thoroughly revised new addition incorporating new ingredients, new equipment, new methods and even new recipes. Delicious. Her disciple Woody Wolston is also on board, with photography by Matthew Septimus. Bonus: give this to the baker in your life and you are guaranteed to have cake in your future.
The Cake Bible 35th Anniversary Edition by Rose Levy Beranbaum ($45; William Morrow Cookbooks) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Crown; Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Simon & Schuster; Hachette Books
6. The Wall of Life by Shirley MacLaine
7. Roman Year by André Aciman
8. Dinner For Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz
9. A Few Words in Defense Of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman by Robert Hilburn
Now, wildly different and engaging biographies and memories.
Oscar and Emmy winner Shirley MacLaine looks back on her spectacular career by letting photographs spark memories. Can she tell stories? Oh hell yes. Put her on a stage, flash these photos behind her and this will be a Tony winning show.
Best-selling author André Aciman of Call Me By Your Name harkens back to a summer when he was a teenager and his uprooted family spent their time in Rome en route to a final destination. It’s reportedly as sexy and poignant and evocative as one would expect.
TV star Bethany Joy Lenz of One Tree Hill fame tells her story. And you really, really can’t beat her subtitle: Life on a Cult TV Show (While in an Actual Cult!).
Finally, musical talent Randy Newman has Grammys, Oscars and Emmys to his credit, thanks to film scores, songs for Toy Story and a string of acclaimed albums. Start now with 12 Songs and Sail Away, two of his best then play the score to The Natural. Then you’ll understand why his prickly, satirical, heartfelt Americana is praised by so many…and he’s long overdue for a serious biography.
The Wall of Life by Shirley MacLaine (35; Crown) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Roman Year by André Aciman ($30; Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Dinner For Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz ($28.99; Simon & Schuster) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
A Few Words in Defense Of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman by Robert Hilburn ($34; Hachette Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
10. Pillars of Creation by Richard Panek
Award winning science writer Richard Panek takes a close look at the James Webb Space Telescope, just as that famous instrument takes a look at the universe, one patch at a time. Panek gives the history of this ambitious project, how it succeeded and what the images the JWST is producing already reveal about the past, present and future of the universe we live in. (Or should I say multiverse?)
Pillars of Creation by Richard Panek ($29; Little, Brown and Company) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
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Courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing, HarperAlley, MCD
11. The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke
12. Thief of the Heights by Son M.; illustrator Robin Yao
13. Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer
Three very different works of fantasy and sci-fi for all tastes.
Author Susanna Clarke returns a brisk four years after Piranesi with a substantial short story (64 pages) set in the world of her landmark work Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It’s packaged beautifully; think of this as more of a treat rather than a full meal and you’ll be very happy indeed.
A dystopian graphic novel from Son M., who flourishes in comic books, games and animation. Here she delivers a novel illustrated by Robin Yao that depicts an elaborate vertical city named Muqadas. The wealthier you are, the higher up in the city you live. Naturally, the poor folk yearn to ascend and will do most anything to achieve that. It would be too neat a depiction of inequality if the story didn’t feature a cast of compelling characters and a plot worthy of their complexity.
And sci-fi legend Jeff VanderMeer gets all Douglas Adams on us and delivers the fourth book in his Southern Reach trilogy. It’s a return to Area X, with VanderMeer reportedly exploring the mysterious Forgotten Coast without spoiling its essential unknowability with any sort of complete “explanation.” It’s a return to Area X and all its mysteries, not a solution, thank goodness.
The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke ($16.99; Bloomsbury Publishing) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Thief of the Heights by Son M.; illustrator Robin Yao ($18.99; HarperAlley) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer ($30; MCD) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Holiday House, Amulet Books
14. Bye Forever, I Guess by Jodi Meadows
15. Hot Mess: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 19 by Jeff Kinney
More and more books include a tagline, like a movie poster. The graphic novel Bye Forever, I Guess includes a tagline that sums it up nicely: “Friends online? Easy. Friends IRL? Complicated.” Ingrid is a 13 year old girl who is shy at school but rocks it online in her favorite game and via social media. Then she connects with a boy from her school online and when Ingrid suspects it’s a super cool boy who is out of her league (not! Just saying) then Ingrid has to gamble on whether to spoil the fun by making the leap into seeing him In Real Life.
Life may be a Hot Mess in the latest Wimpy Kid diary, but it still feels a lot simpler than Ingrid’s social angst. Greg is on summer vacation with his family but sweltering heat and a tiny beach house make things…combustible. Author Jeff Kinney’s series is approaching 300 million copies worldwide! That’s pretty amazing. Just think of how many kids (wimpy and otherwise) who first fell in love with reading thanks to his goofy series.
Bye Forever, I Guess by Jodi Meadows ($18.99; Holiday House) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Hot Mess: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 19 by Jeff Kinney ($14.99; Amulet Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
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