Yahoo Lifestyle The 24 Best New Book Releases This Week: Nov. 19-25, 2024
Here are the 24 best new book releases this week: November 19-25, 2024. This is the last big week in the book world because next week is Black Friday. And most publishers want their big books of the fall to be in stores and waiting for customers when folks start to think about their holiday shopping needs. So this week has a batch of Christmas-themed books, some big biographies, fun works (like books about the sitcom Parks and Recreation and the classic hip hop group De La Soul) and romances and mysteries and more. Plus, Cher!
It’s kind of amazing. Almost any week you can discover a great new book you’ll want to read, share with friends, recommend to co-workers or gift to someone. Literally a book perfect for anyone on your list. Unless of course you have someone in your life who doesn’t like to read. But why the heck would you be friends with them? So let’s get reading. At the head of the Parade are….
The 24 Best New Book Releases This Week: Nov. 19-25, 2024
Courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing, Grove Press, William Morrow Paperbacks
1. Time of the Child by Niall Williams
2. Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishøi
3. Christmas With The Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
Three new books with a holiday setting.
From Ireland, we have the delightful, rich novel Time of the Child by Niall Williams, set decades ago in a fictional small town. An abandoned baby upends the lives of everyone in Faha during the holiday season of 1952. Yes, it's as quietly amusing and heartwarming as one might hope from such a description. But it's not comfort reading that's soon forgotten. It's rich, complex and deeply human thanks to the talent of Booker-nominated author Williams. It’s also one of my favorite books of the year.
From Norway comes Brightly Shining, the story of young sisters who cover for their dad at his new job working a corner selling Christmas trees when he goes off on a bender. So, not so cuddly, but it’s been praised by one and all as heart-warming and memorable, so maybe things aren’t so grim.
From England we get Christmas With The Queen, a novel about young Queen Elizabeth II at Sandringham House. It’s 1952 and she faces the daunting task of her first Christmas Day radio address as Queen. But the real story is told from the point of view of all the people circling around her, like a new female reporter at the BBC and a recently widowed chef starting work at the Royal Family’s holiday residence.
Time of the Child by Niall Williams ($28.99; Bloomsbury Publishing) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishøi; translated by Caroline Waight ($20; Grove Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Christmas With The Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb ($18.99; William Morrow Paperbacks) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: Taylor Swift Honored by 113 Poets Celebrating Her Work
Courtesy of Dey Street Books
4. Cher: The Memoir–Part One by Cher
Seriously, you need me to tell you about Cher? Of course you don’t. Singer, actor, entertainer with one heck of a crazy life. She’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which goes nicely with her Grammy, Emmy and Oscar wins. And now Cher tells her story. Maybe she can take it to Broadway in a one-woman show and get a Tony, so she’ll have a complete set.
Cher: The Memoir–Part One by Cher ($36; Dey Street Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of St. Martin’s Press, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Bramble, Berkley
5. The Mirror by Nora Roberts
6. Is She Really Going Out With Him? by Sophie Cousens
7. The Songbird & The Heart of Stone by Carissa Broadbent
8. The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews
Four works of romance because who doesn’t need a little romance?
Nora Roberts has a new book out. That’s all most need to know. But if you’re wondering, it’s a work of romantic suspense with a fantasy element, the second in her Lost Bride Trilogy.
Author Sophie Cousens had me at her book title, a play on Joe Jackson’s song “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” in this case, it’s a stunt as a divorced columnist lets her kids set her up on dates and chronicles it all in print.
Romantasy fans will gobble up Carissa Broadbent’s latest in the Crowns of Nyaxia series. It’s the third in a connected storyline but the fifth set in the world. But you knew that already.
Finally, in the Victorian (?) romance The Muse of Maiden Lane, a woman of a certain age who loves horses more than people agrees to be painted by a young artist. She can’t imagine ever loving properly, not at her age. He can’t imagine being more in love with anyone his own age.
The Mirror by Nora Roberts ($30; St. Martin’s Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Is She Really Going Out With Him? by Sophie Cousens ($19; G.P. Putnam’s Sons) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Songbird & The Heart of Stone by Carissa Broadbent ($29.99; Bramble) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews ($19; Berkley) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Scribner, Pantheon
9. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
10. The Miraculous From The Material by Alan Lightman
Two works of science and nature that combine the knowledge of the authors’ disciplines with a beautiful openness to philosophical insight.
Robin Wall Kimmerer follows her remarkable word of mouth hit Braiding Sweetgrass with this meditation on the serviceberry and how it models a sharing economy that benefits all. Alan Lightman looks at the science behind natural phenomena like the rings of Saturn and snowflakes. He manages to both explain them and keep himself and us open to the wonder they inspire. The Serviceberry has marvelous illustrations and The Miraculous From The Material includes gorgeous photography, adding to the pleasure of these books.
The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer; illustrated by John Burgoyne ($20; Scribner) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Miraculous From The Material by Alan Lightman ($36; Pantheon) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Orbit, Knopf, Harper Voyager
11. Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone
12. The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami
13. And The Mighty Will Fall by K.B. Wagers
Three works of fantasy and sci-fi for all types of fans.
I was just wondering why more writers hadn’t crossed over from writing comic books to mainstream success in fantasy and sci-fi. (Neil Gaiman is the classic exception that proves the rule, with the great Alan Moore following suit with his terrific new fantasy book The Great When.) Now here comes comic book star Gail Simone (Justice League, X-Men Unlimited, Wonder Woman et al) with her fiction debut. She brings Red Sonja to life in the first of a likely series. Publishers Weekly calls it a triumph and Felicia Day says it’s unmissable. So that’s all I need to know.
Haruki Murakami is one of our best sci-fi writers, though critics rarely see him that way. But there’s no denying The City and Its Uncertain Walls has fantastical elements: a walled city containing unicorns? This world sitting side by side with another world? A Gatekeeper that decides who gets to go in and who can come out? Like all of the best writers (Ray Bradbury, Margaret Atwood), Murakami is most definitely more than any one genre can contain. But sci-fi he is and fans of it shouldn’t leave him to just the high brow literary types anymore.
Sigh. I may never read every book ever written, but that doesn’t mean I should stop trying. How have I missed out on K.B. Wagers? Their near-future series NeoG (Near Earth Orbital Guard) is devoted to those keeping the solar system safe. (I’m already intrigued.) They get great reviews and their newest is dubbed “Die Hard in Space.” Plus, great, flawed characters? Ok, this goes to the top of my TBR pile.
Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone ($30; Orbit) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami ($35; Knopf) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
And The Mighty Will Fall by K.B. Wagers ($19.99; Harper Voyager) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of William Morrow, Dey Street Books
14. Welcome to Pawnee by Jim O’Heir
15. High and Rising: A Book About De La Soul by Marcus J. Moore
Two works of pop culture worth imbibing. Welcome to Pawnee tells the story of the beloved sitcom Parks and Recreation from the inside, since it’s written by actor Jim O’Heir, an actor on the show who also hosts the podcast rewatch dedicated to it. High and Rising tells the story of one of hip-hop’s greatest groups from the outside. De La Soul is a key member of the Native Tongues collective that promoted positivity and love in the music of their various groups. And I’ve almost forgiven them for inspiring so many other acts to add lame skits to their albums, something this group pioneered on the classic 3 Feet High and Rising. Hey, it’s not their fault everyone else did it so poorly.
Welcome to Pawnee by Jim O’Heir ($29.99; William Morrow) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
High and Rising: A Book About De La Soul by Marcus J. Moore ($29.99; Dey Street Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Berkley, Forever
16. The Proof of the Pudding by Rhys Bowen
17. Duchess Material by Emily Sullivan
Romance and a little mystery? Yes, please. The Proof of the Pudding finds Lady Georgiana Rannoch hosting a dinner party that leads…to murder! It’s the latest in the cozy-ish her Royal Spyness series. In Duchess Material, a missing student throws together two bluebloods who most definitely do not want to rekindle their childhood chemistry. Phoebe Atkinson rejects her parent’s castle and works as a schoolteacher so she can maintain her independence. William Margrave, the Duke of Ellis, is set on finding a suitable, unimpeachable woman to be his wife. So Phoebe is out of the question. Really, she is. Presumably, they’ll be searching for that missing student while sorting all this out.
The Proof of the Pudding by Rhys Bowen ($19; Berkley) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Duchess Material by Emily Sullivan ($17.99; Forever) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: How to Read Best-Selling Author John Grisham: All His Books in Order
Courtesy of Knopf, Harper, Flatiron Books
18. Citizen by Bill Clinton
19. The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
20. Master of Me by Keke Palmer
Cher stands alone. But here are three other fascinating works of memoir/biography/self help. President Bill Clinton details his life after the White House. (Spoiler: not as admirable as Jimmy Carter’s, but he tried.) The very juicy life of the Duke of Buckingham (boy to to King James I, thanks to his scheming mother) gets a worthy biography that brings the decades after the reign of Elizabeth I to fascinating life. And actor Keke Palmer tells her inspiring story while offering empowering advice to readers about how to navigate the challenges in their lives, too.
Citizen by Bill Clinton ($38; Knopf) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett ($40; Harper) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Master of Me by Keke Palmer ($27.99; Flatiron Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Mulholland Books, Harper, Europa Editions, Scribner
21. The Last King of California by Jordan Harper
22. Shell Games by Bonnie Kistler
23. The Bishop’s Villa by Sacha Naspini
24. The Collaborators by Michael Idov
Four works in the crime and thriller genre. Buckle up.
The Last King of California features rival biker gangs, a dad serving time for a brutal murder he didn’t commit and a sensitive kid grown hard, because how else can you survive all that? Praise from the likes of S.A. Cosby, Megan Abbott and Don Winslow mean Jordan Harper is one to check out.
The world of South Florida real estate power brokers explodes into a psychological thriller in Shell Games. A self-made dynamo, Kate marries a long-lost high school sweetheart late in life…only to call the police and her daughter in hysterics, saying this man confessed to a decades old crime. Asburd, says the FBI; he couldn’t have done it. Dementia, says the husband of her daughter. Nuts, says the newly married husband; she’s making it up. Hmm, says her daughter.
In The Bishop’s Villa, the Resistance to fascism comes to a small village in Italy in 1943. In this remote town, even World War II seems far away. But no place is immune. The fascists order all Jews to be rounded up at the bishop’s villa for deportation. At the same time, members of the Resistance are reportedly hiding there as well. And a cobbler who has kept his head down, never spoken up, must finally choose to act, if he’s willing and brave enough. He is. But will he succeed?
And for pure thrills, you’ve got The Collaborators. A disheartened C.I.A. officer and the daughter of a Russian-American billionaire who has gone missing team up to discover the truth. They unearth a global conspiracy revealing how Russia collapsed into the oligarchy we know today. Maybe they can’t change Russia’s fate, but maybe they can still save her father. When in Moscow, stay away from open windows!
The Last King of California by Jordan Harper ($18.99; Mulholland Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Shell Games by Bonnie Kistler ($30; Harper) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Bishop’s Villa by Sacha Naspini ($28; Europa Editions) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Collaborators by Michael Idov ($28.99; Scribner) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: Goodreads And Parade Pick 26 Books For Native American Month
