Yahoo Lifestyle The 16 Best New Book Releases This Week: Oct. 8-14, 2024
Here are the 16 best new book releases this week: October 8-14, 2024. Every week of new titles surprises with some surprising link (five books that reference cucumbers!) (eight books about the storming of the Bastille!) that crops up for no apparent reason. I mean, a lot of books involving pumpkins in October is not what I’m talking about. (Hey, has anyone seen Linus? Is he still waiting?)
This week, I found a bumper crop of biographies. I didn’t see the point of biographies when I was a kid. Why read a book about Abraham Lincoln when I already know the ending? (Hey, I never said I was bright.) Now I appreciate the challenge and excitement of bringing a person–and the era they lived in–fully to life. So whether you are into science, Black history, or (unlike Chuck D) Elvis Presley, this is a great week for you. I’ve also found an unexpected treat from Trevor Noah, a new Kay Scarpetta, a bold Young Adult novel from MacArthur genius grant winner Jason Reynolds, and so much more. So let’s get reading! At the head of the Parade is…
The 16 Best New Book Releases This Week: October 8-14, 2024
Courtesy of Simon & Schuster, Atlantic Monthly Press, Random House
1. John Lewis: A Life by David Greenberg
2. The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel
3. From Here To The Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough
Maybe you read the best-selling graphic novels Congressman and Civil Rights pioneer John Lewis produced towards the end of his life. Now here comes a nice, fat, old-fashioned Great Man biography of the sort Lewis so richly deserves.
Author Dava Sobel enjoyed an unlikely hit with Longitude, the story about the race to build a clock accurate enough to measure longitude at sea (which is really exciting, actually). She’s since delivered numerous works of popular science and is now back with a bio of Marie Curie, one of the most important scientists in history.
And the late Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter Riley Keough to help her work on a memoir. A few weeks later, Presley died but Keough (the granddaughter of Elvis) helped finish it in moving style.
John Lewis: A Life by David Greenberg ($35; Simon & Schuster) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel ($30; Atlantic Monthly Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
From Here To The Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough ($32; Random House) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
4. Into The Uncut Grass by Trevor Noah; illustrated by Sabina Hahn
Comedian Trevor Noah is a man of parts who speaks multiple languages, is fascinated by tech (he holds at least one patent, I believe) and wrote an acclaimed memoir. Now he’s getting all Antoine de Saint-Exupéry on us with his newest book. It’s a fable for everyone (just like The Little Prince) adorned by charming illustrations and filled with Noah’s thoughts on life embedded in the storyline. Lessons will be learned, but gently, I imagine.
Into The Uncut Grass by Trevor Noah; illustrated by Sabina Hahn ($26; One World) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: Actor Kate McKinnon’s Diabolical Plan To Take over Kids’ Imaginations
Courtesy of National Geographic, St. Martin’s Griffin
5. Infinite Cosmos intro by Brian Greene; by Ethan Siegel
6. Taylor Swift Style by Sarah Chapelle
The James Webb Space Telescope is revolutionary and the coffee table worthy book Infinite Cosmos explains why. A substantial introduction by Brian Greene tells the history of the space telescope, how it came to be and the impact its had on science. Then Ethan Siegel get delightfully geeky on how all the images came to be, what they reveal and so on. But if you’re like me, you’ll first just open it up and gawp at the gorgeous glimpses of the skies.
Mind you, the universe is a lot to take in. So if you want to start a little smaller, you can focus on the Taylor-verse and learn all things Swiftian. In Taylor Swift Style, Sarah Chapelle turns her popular blog about all things Taylor Swift and fashion into a coffee table book. It captures the pop icon’s fashion choices for each album (or if you prefer, era) and explains what Swift is saying with each choice, how it ties into the themes of the album and tour and Taylor’s life and pretty soon you’ll seen an iconic outfit and know exactly what it’s saying.
Infinite Cosmos intro by Brian Greene; by Ethan Siegel ($50; National Geographic) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Taylor Swift Style by Sarah Chapelle ($35; St. Martin’s Griffin) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of The Dial Press, Knopf, Random House
7. What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella
8. Paper Boat: New and Selected Poems by Margaret Atwood
9. Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
Sophie Kinsella faced a devastating illness…and turned it into art. Her new novel is fiction, but also her most autobiographical. “Eve’s story is my story,” says Kinsella. So fans of the Shopaholic novels and so many other bestsellers will be ready for a rom-com with a difference: our heroine wakes up in the hospital and is told by her husband she has a malignant tumor. So Eve faces her mortality and falls in love with life all at the same time. Bring tissues.
Margaret Atwood can do it all, apparently, and do it well, She can write crime novels, science fiction, short stories, essays, children’s books, the dystopian classic The Handmaid’s Tale and (my personal favorite so far) The Blind Assassin. But amidst all of that, Atwood consistently writes poetry. She’s published around 18 books of poetry and if you’re a fan and you haven’t read them, well you’re in for a treat.
Writer Alan Hollinghurst is respected in the U.S. but revered in the UK. His newest novel is acclaimed as perhaps his best yet, quite the claim for the author of the Booker-winning 2004 novel The Line of Beauty. (Was that really 20 years ago? Yikes!) If you’ve never read him and enjoy literary fiction, compelling characters and a panorama of British history, Our Evenings is for you. It begins, as some of the best British fiction begins, at school. In this case, a working class lad of mixed race and gay leanings enters the privileged world of a top-level boarding school. Life ensues.
What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella ($22; The Dial Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Paper Boat: New and Selected Poems by Margaret Atwood ($40; Knopf) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst ($30; Random House) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
10. Wild Chocolate by Rowan Jacobsen
You’ve probably heard about heirloom rice and other foodstuffs which are rescued from the brink of extinction by people passionate about bananas and the like. But how something popular approaches oblivion and why, and the way someone can rescue it? That’s new to me. And best of all it comes in a book about chocolate. Award-winning food writer Rowan Jacobsen heard about people turning out a chocolate bar made entirely from wild Bolivian cacao and say, “Yeah, right, that cacao disappeared centuries ago.” Then he tasted Cru Sauvage, his mouth wept for job and Jacobsen made the delicious decision to track down the artisans, activists and indigenous leaders fighting to save wild and heirloom cacao strains from disappearing forever. The reviews are raves but I’m going to get some good chocolate first and then read the book second. Gotta prioritize.
Wild Chocolate by Rowan Jacobsen ($28.99; Bloomsbury Publishing) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: The 28 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2024…So Far
Courtesy of Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, Kokila
11. Twenty-Four Seconds From Now by Jason Reynolds
12. Fledgling by S.K. Ali
Two top-notch Young Adult novels. Jason Reynolds is one of the best writers around, writing realistic fiction about young people that’s invariably acclaimed and best-selling. Now he’s an official genius, thanks to the MacArthur foundation. (They don’t actually call it a genius grant, but that ship has sailed.) The news arrived just as his bold new book hit stores. It tells about two teenagers who are dating, deeply in love and deciding to go all the way. The raves include one from Judy Blume, who knows something about writing frankly and entertainingly about teens and sex.
YA writer S.K. Ali enjoyed success with realistic novels about kids. Now she’s launched a sci-fi duology about an alternate world where inequality is baked in and people are judged harshly for where they come from. (Ok, not that alternate.) Our hero Raisa of Upper Earth is pledged to marry beneath her, literally, since she’ll be united to a Prince of Lower Earth. Raisa is told this will bring peace to the world and prosperity to the Lowered folk. But rebels know better, suspecting it will mean total domination once and for all. So Raisa is kidnapped and all hell (not to mention conflicting emotions) cuts loose.
Twenty-Four Seconds From Now by Jason Reynolds ($19.99; Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Fledgling by S.K. Ali ($21.99; Kokila) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Grand Central Publishing,Random House
13. Identity Unknown by Patricia Cornwell
14. The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni
Two mystery thrillers will delight readers. Was it really 1990 when blockbuster author Patricia Cornwell launched the Kay Scarpetta series? It’s hard to remember the tv and movie and book world before Cornwell’s emphasis on forensic science changed mysteries and thrillers forever. Scarpetta is back in her 28th thriller and this time it involves a victim who Scarpetta is shocked to realize was a man she once had an intense affair with.
Fans of The Puzzle Master will be delighted there’s a second book in that series. (Clearly, Danielle Trussoni has a lot of catching up to do if she wants to match Cornwell.) Her series stars Mike Brink, a football player who suffers a traumatic brain injury and–holy Oliver Sacks!–becomes a savant at solving complex puzzles in remarkable fashion. In the first book. Trussoni tasked Brink with solving the God Puzzle designed by a real Jewish mystic of the 13th century. Now, in The Puzzle Box Brink travels to Japan to tackle one of the most famous puzzles in the world: the Dragon Box, a legendary work that has confounded–and killed–anyone who takes on the challenge. In Robert Langdon fashion, Brink will crisscross the globe preparing for this impossible task.
Identity Unknown by Patricia Cornwell ($30; Grand Central Publishing) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni ($30; Random House) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
15. Swordcrossed by Freya Marske
Hot bodyguard? Yes. Romantasy? Yes. Swordplay as a naughty metaphor? Oh, yes. Author Freya Marske is a two time Hugo nominee, so she knows her way around fantasy. She’s also an award-winning author in the Romance genre. So fans of enemies-to-lovers storylines and fans of believable fantasy worlds that offer real emotions and not just real dragons (though dragons are cool too) should be pleased by her latest offering. Critics and fellow writers rave.
Swordcrossed by Freya Marske ($28.99; Bramble) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
16. The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Two stars of Young Adult combine their talents for a new novel. Ruta Sepetys specializes in historical fiction, most notably the brilliant WW II novel Salt To The Sea, which tracks four refugees fleeing war in 1945 who converge on the doomed ship the Wilhelm Gustloff. Steve Sheinkein is great at thrilling works of nonfiction, telling about the building of the first nuclear bomb, the Vietnam War whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, a Cold War episode worthy of Le Carré and so on. What brought them together? Bletchley Park, the WW II home of the UK’s eccentric code breakers. Two siblings are at the heart of it all: Jakob is a whiz and working on the problem of Enigma (a German cypher machine they must crack) while his 14 year sister is determined to solve the disappearance of their mother. Then their two life-or-death projects seem to converge in mysterious and dangerous ways that might threaten them both…and the war effort.
The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin ($18.99; Viking Books for Young Readers) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: Reading Rainbow: Randy’s Latest Book and His Favorite Reads
