Yahoo Lifestyle The 20 Best New Book Releases This Week: Dec. 3-9, 2024
Here are the 20 best new book releases this week: December 3-9, 2024. Okay, you survived Thanksgiving! Heck, maybe it was a triumph! The mashed potatoes! Those pies! And now the end of year holidays loom! More food! More gifts! More stress! And good heavens, New Year’s Eve!!
What you need is a book to lose yourself in. Well, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve found romances to whisk you away to a happy place (and likely a Hallmark worthy Guaranteed Happy Ending), some cool thrillers, two charming books about going all Thoreau and/or really getting into woodwork, a new Dog Man and of course, some Taylor Swift. So let’s get reading. At the head of the Parade are….
The 20 Best New Book Releases This Week: Dec. 3-9, 2024
Courtesy of Gallery Books, Entangled: Red Tower Books, Berkley
1. Pick-up by Nora Dahlia
2. The Last One by Rachel Howzell Hall
3. The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right by Suzanne Allain
Three winning new romances. Writer Nora Dahlia makes her romance debut with Pick-up, which is such an obvious bit of word play about picking your kids up at school while maybe crushing on another single parent waiting in line that it’s amazing no one thought of it before Dahlia.
Author Rachel Howzell Hall is a hit in thrillers and mysteries now making her romantasy debut in which a woman with amnesia must partner with an annoyingly handsome village blacksmith to safely reach the Sea of Devour. Why she needs to get to the Sea of Devour isn’t quite clear and surely something called the Sea of Devour should in fact be given a wide berth but ours not to reason why.
When The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right, confusion creates humor and–it’s important to be earnest about this–everyone enjoys themselves immensely. I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy life in Regency England if you were a commoner but headed into high society posing as your blue-blood cousin and caught the eye of a handsome aristocrat? That is, until you develop feelings for him and he thinks you’re wealthy and the right sort and you are the right sort, just not the upper class, lots of money at your disposal sort of right sort. Oh dear.
Pick-up by Nora Dahlia ($18.99; Gallery Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Last One by Rachel Howzell Hall ($32.99; Entangled: Red Tower Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right by Suzanne Allain ($19; Berkley) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Running Press Adult, Ballantine Books
4. Long Live by Nicole Pomarico
5. Invisible Strings edited by Kristie Frederick Daugherty
Whether you braved the crowds and actually snagged a copy of Taylor Swift’s book at Target or failed in your quest, you’ll still want some more Taylor Swift in your life. Here are two more books, including one about YOU (well, her fans in general) and the other an awesome tribute to Swift by 113 legit poets writing pieces inspired by the music of Swift herself.
Long Live by Nicole Pomarico ($26; Running Press Adult) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Invisible Strings edited by Kristie Frederick Daugherty ($26; Ballantine Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: Need a Quick, Fun Book? Goodreads Has Your Back!
Courtesy of Doubleday, Flatiron Books, Lake Union Publishing
6. The Voyage Home by Pat Barker
7. Alter Ego by Alex Segura
8. White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton
Three works of fiction travel the globe (and into the past).
The Voyage Home by one of England’s best writers is the third and final volume in a work retelling the fall of Troy from the point of view of the women. It’s a triumph for Barker, who enjoyed world-beating success earlier in her career with a trilogy about World War I.
Author Alex Segura has two books out this week. (But we don’t talk about Bruno! Scroll way down to see what I’m not talking about.) His first is Alter Ego, a twisty work about a woman who made her name in the dude-dominated world of comics (not to mention film and other artistic areas). She’s done it all, but now she’s being tempted to reimagine one of her favorite superheroes: the Lethal Lynx. Can she trust the man making the offer? No, she cannot. Can she resist…?
Debut author took inspiration from the life of her grandmother to inform her historical novel White Mulberry. It’s about an eleven year old Korean girl who moves to Japan in 1928, elated to be with her older sister, continue her education and avoid an arranged marriage. Then life gets really complicated, thanks to anti-Korean prejudice, passing as Japanese and a looming world war. Fans of Pachinko will be ahead of the game on the nuances captured here but the reviews indicate any fans of good fiction will be swept up.
The Voyage Home by Pat Barker ($29; Doubleday) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Alter Ego by Alex Segura ($28.99; Flatiron Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton ($16.99; Lake Union Publishing) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of St. Martin’s Press
9. The Cure For Women by Lydia Reeder
Everyone should know the names of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell and Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi. Blackwell was the first woman to graduate from a U.S. medical school. Her success inspired others and created a backlash among male doctors, who “scientifically” declared women unfit to attend medical school, much less practice medicine. Jacobi studied at the Sorbonne and was one of the best educated doctors in the world and wouldn’t stand for such nonsense. She did pioneering work upending centuries of prejudice and misinformation about women and their bodies. Author Lydia Reeder’s work of history tells their stories with a verve that Publishers Weekly calls “urgent and revealing.”
The Cure For Women by Lydia Reeder ($30; St. Martin’s Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Vintage, William Morrow, Atlantic Monthly Press, Soho Crime
10. The Rivals by Jane Pek
11. The Last Kilo by T.J. English
12. Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd
13. Against The Grain by Peter Lovesey
Four works perfect for fans of thrillers, true crime and mysteries.
The Rivals shows the investigators of a “dating detective agency” (is that blind date really who they say they are?) stumbling onto an oh so au courant A.I. conspiracy. The Last Kilo is a true crime corker about Los Muchachos, purveyors of cocaine in 1980s Miami (Don Johnson linen jacket not included). Acclaimed writer William Boyd’s latest literary thriller is Gabriel’s Moon in which a travel writer becomes a tool of an irresistible agent for MI6. And it’s a sad day for fans of the Peter Diamond series as author Peter Lovesey says goodbye to the Detective with his 22nd and last mystery, Against The Grain.
The Rivals by Jane Pek ($18; Vintage) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Last Kilo by T.J. English ($32.50; William Morrow) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd ($28; Atlantic Monthly Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Against The Grain by Peter Lovesey ($28.95; Soho Crime) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of St. Martin’s Press, Ecco
14. Cabin by Patrick Hutchison
15. Ingrained by Callum Robinson
Two memoirs charm and engage. Patrick Hutchison gets all Walden Pond and buys a falling-down cabin in the middle of nowhere (the gravel road leading to it is called Wit’s End) and then does his level best to make it a home. Mind you, he’s never even used a level in carpentry, so it’s a challenge. Think Mr. Blanding Builds His Dream House, but with more bears and less running water.
In contrast, Callum Robinson is a master craftsman who learned how to work with wood as a small boy standing alongside his father. Robinson chased bigger and bigger projects on his own. But a financial scare forced him to refocus on woodwork, on crafting a piece for a customer one by one, creating something that would be passed down from generation to generation. It proved his salvation and Robinson captures that in this book that would make even a tool-phobe like Hutchison decide maybe tackling a bookcase from scratch would be just the thing.
Cabin by Patrick Hutchison ($29; St. Martin’s Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Ingrained by Callum Robinson ($30; Ecco) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Pantheon, Running Press Adult
16. Giant Love by Julie Gilbert
17. Falling In Love At The Movies by Esther Zuckerman
Two books for movie lovers.
Giant Love tells the story of the sprawling Texas saga Giant from start to finish. It begins with author Edna Ferber, a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, one of the best-selling writers of the century and now all but forgotten. Ferber won the Pulitzer early on for her novel So Big. Then she co-wrote a string of hit plays with George S. Kaufman (including Dinner at Eight). While that was happening, her massive best-seller Show Boat became the first modern musical, revolutionizing that most American of art forms and turning into one of the biggest hits ever seen. Ferber wasn’t done. She later wrote Giant, a novel set in Texas that seemed to infuriate half of that state. Director George Stevens convinced Ferber to let him make it into a movie, convinced her to write a first draft of the screenplay and convinced her to approve of the unknown James Dean in a key role against her better judgement . (He died before any of his three films were released.) Giant became the biggest hit in Warner Bros. history, not surpassed until Superman: The Movie some 20 years later. It’s a big story!
Giant features Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean, three of the most romantic stars in Hollywood history. But it’s not a romance. For that, turn to Esther Zuckerman’s Falling In Love at the Movies. It’s the latest in Turner Classic Movie’s coffee table worthy books. This one is nicely compact but it’s bursting with photographs and the stories of romances in every possible configuration. Zuckerman will send you to your DVR to capture some of these classic films for rewatching or just zeroing in on what she calls perfect rom-com moments, those defining scenes that any movie fan can instantly recall. (Marilyn Monroe’s billowing dress above a subway grate; “I’ll have what she’s having” from When Harry Met Sally). Whatever your taste in romance (funny, sad, happy ending-ish), you'll find plenty to enjoy here.
Giant Love by Julie Gilbert ($35; Pantheon) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Falling In Love At The Movies by Esther Zuckerman ($24; Running Press Adult) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: Actor Kate McKinnon’s Diabolical Plan To Take Over Kids’ Imaginations
Courtesy of Graphix, Disney Press
18. Dog Man: Big Jim Begins by Dav Pilkey
19. Encanto: Nightmares and Sueños by Alex Segura
Dog Man! More puns and wordplay than you can shake a stick at! Shake? Why not throw it? Then I can fetch it and bring it back to you and then you can throw it again and I can retrieve it for you and you can throw it again and it’s so much fun! So’s the latest in this series about a half man, half dog, all officer of the law silly series. Which is about to be a movie!
As I mentioned earlier, author Alex Segura has not one, but two books out this week, which is very cool. The first is Alter Ego, set in the world of the comic book industry. The second? Well, in Encanto we don’t talk about Bruno. But apparently we do write about Bruno in this spin-off to the delightful animated movie.
Dog Man: Big Jim Begins by Dav Pilkey ($14.99; Graphix) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Encanto: Nightmares and Sueños by Alex Segura ($18.99; Disney Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Boxer Books
20. Bert The Bowerbird by Julia Donaldson; illustrated by Catherine Rayner
This winning picture book is a winner. It has an engaging story about a bowerbird named Bert trying to woo a mate, who is not pleased with his tokens of affections and keeps demanding more, more, more! You get charming illustrations, a plucky hero and an ever-growing list of stuff Bert collects that is oh so fun to read aloud. What more could you want, other than a mate worthy of Bert. (But I think you’ll discover that, too.)
Bert The Bowerbird by Julia Donaldson; illustrated by Catherine Rayner ($18.99; Boxer Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: The 17 Best Taylor Swift Books Straight Out of Our 'Wildest Dreams'
