Starred Review

Accidents Happen

by F.H. Batacan

Filipino journalist F.H. Batacan's Philippine National Book Award-winning debut, Smaller and Smaller Circles, is widely regarded as the first Philippine crime novel. All manner of crimes--corruption, assault, murder--along with everyday injustice, haunt Accidents Happen, Batacan's magnificent, searing collection of 11 partially linked stories.

At least three irresistible recurring characters are ready for standalone titles of their own. The trio--police officer Mike Rueda, journalist Joanna "Joe"

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Fagin the Thief

by Allison Epstein

One of Charles Dickens's most memorable and problematic characters emerges in a more fully developed and freshly sympathetic light in Fagin the Thief, a gripping and atmospheric reimagining of Oliver Twist by Allison Epstein (Let the Dead Bury the Dead; A Tip for the Hangman).

Epstein's version of Fagin was raised in a Jewish enclave of London by a widowed mother, his father having been hanged for theft before his birth. She named him Jacob after "the cleverest of the patriarchs" and imagined a great future

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How Elegant the Elephant: Poems About Animals and Insects

by Mary Ann Hoberman, illus. by Marla Frazee

Beasts, birds, and bugs come out to work, play, and lounge poolside in the lighthearted, lavishly illustrated poetry collection How Elegant the Elephant: Poems About Animals and Insects by former children's poet laureate Mary Ann Hoberman (Forget-Me-Nots: Poems to Learn by Heart), with art by Marla Frazee (In Every Life).

Porcupines run backwards, squirrels metaphorically enter the hotel industry, and a common pest is the solution to a riddle in Hoberman's 68 posthumously published poems. Frazee's illustrations

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Song So Wild and Blue: A Life with the Music of Joni Mitchell

by Paul Lisicky

The music of Joni Mitchell has provided more than simply a much-loved soundtrack to eras of author Paul Lisicky's life. It's been his companion through heartache and despair; it has taught and inspired him, certainly, but it's also been an object of study, even during periods of time when his allegiance strayed to other singers and sounds.

Having discovered Mitchell's music when he was a budding songwriter, Lisicky (The Narrow Door; Later: My Life at the Edge of the World) examines the artist's work with a

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Is It Real?: The Loch Ness Monster

by Candace Fleming

Is there something in the water? Sibert Award-winning author Candace Fleming (Honeybee; The Enigma Girls) teaches readers the foundational skills for conducting a thorough and proper investigation in the engrossing, wholly accessible middle-grade nonfiction Is It Real?: The Loch Ness Monster.

"You are an investigator for the Black Swan Scientific Investigation (BSSI) team. Your job is to unravel--if you can--the natural world's greatest mysteries." Beginning with the first sightings in April 1933, Fleming

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Luminous

by Silvia Park

Robots are ubiquitously integrated into human society throughout Silvia Park's extraordinary debut novel, Luminous--as servants and staff, but also as daughters, sons, siblings, friends, even lovers. In a fast-approaching future, Korea is reunified, and robots and humans coexist symbiotically. A robot named Yoyo, once a son and a brother, is the focal point amid a disparate cast of characters who come together via serendipitous meetings, unexpected reunions, and wrenching losses.

Ruijie is the first to

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Say A Little Prayer

by Jenna Voris

A queer teen forced to attend Bible camp decides she will commit seven deadly sins in seven days--finding romance with the pastor's daughter along the way--in this humorous, sincere contemporary YA novel.

Seventeen-year-old Riley Ackerman came out as bisexual, got very tired of Pastor Young's sermons about "the dangers of homosexuality," and stopped going to church. Her family continued to attend until Pastor Young shunned Riley's older sister, Hannah, for having an abortion; now the Ackermans are pariahs

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Welcome

Shelf Awareness is a free e-newsletter about books and the book industry. We have two separate versions:

For Readers: Every Friday, discover the 25 best books published that week as selected by our industry insiders. Sign up now.

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Learn more about Shelf Awareness.

Shelf Discovery

True Failure

by Alex Higley

True Failure is an eccentric, comedic novel of how deception shapes the lives of three people struggling to find their places in the world.

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Cold Thief Place

by Esther Lin

Cold Thief Place is a perceptive collection from a poet with a powerful voice, unafraid to name injustice or face raw truths as she probes a complicated family history.

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The Antidote

by Karen Russell

Through the stories of four characters in a small Nebraska town, Karen Russell paints a moving and memorable portrait of the Dust Bowl era.

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Stag Dance: A Novel and Stories

by Torrey Peters

Torrey Peters's superb sophomore title collects a novella and three stories exploring transgender identity, while hauntingly highlighting a universal longing for connection and empathy.

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Glitch Girl!

by Rainie Oet

This stunning, metaphor-rich middle-grade novel-in-verse chronicles a neurodivergent nonbinary girl's exploration of self through gaming and a powerful crush.

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Death Takes Me

by Cristina Rivera Garza, trans. by Sarah Booker, Robin Myers

In Cristina Rivera Garza's Death Takes Me, a literature professor named Cristina Rivera Garza finds a castrated body on her evening run and becomes enmeshed in an unusual and weirdly literary mystery.

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The Blanket Cats

by Kiyoshi Shigematsu, trans. by Jesse Kirkwood

In this slice-of-life story collection, people going through unbearable hardships rent special cats for three days and find themselves changed by the encounter.

Read Full Review »

Crash Course Books: Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green
Shelf Awareness

Media Heat

Thursday, March 13, 2025

Drew Barrymore Show: Rawaan Alkhatib, author of Hot Date!: Sweet & Savory Recipes Celebrating the Date, from Party Food to Everyday Feasts (Chronicle, $35, 9781797226446).

The View: Kara Swisher, author of Burn Book: A Tech Love Story (Simon & Schuster, $19.99, 9781982163907).

Sherri Shepherd Show: Tabitha Brown, author of Hello There, Sunshine (HarperCollins, $21.99, 9780063342262).

Jennifer Hudson Show: Big Sean, author of Go Higher: Five Practices for Purpose, Success, and Inner Peace (Simon Element, $28.99, 9781668045732).

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Today Show: Yung Pueblo, author of How to Love Better: The Path to Deeper Connection Through Growth, Kindness, and Compassion (Harmony, $27, 9780593582275).

Drew Barrymore Show: Amy Griffin, author of The Tell: A Memoir (The Dial Press, $29, 9780593731208).

Late Night with Seth Meyers: Michael Kosta, author of Lucky Loser: Adventures in Tennis and Comedy (Harper Influence, $32, 9780063418066).

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Here & Now: Peter Wolf, author of Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses (Little, Brown, $30, 9780316571708).

Fresh Air: David Enrich, author of Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful (Mariner, $32.99, 9780063372900).

CBS Mornings: Eric Adjepong, co-author of Ghana to the World: Recipes and Stories That Look Forward While Honoring the Past (Clarkson Potter, $40, 9780593234778).

Good Morning America: Tori Amos, author of Tori and the Muses (Penguin Workshop, $19.99, 9780593750346).

Drew Barrymore Show: Savannah Guthrie, author of Mostly What God Does Is Love You (Zonderkidz, $19.99, 9780310160281).

Tamron Hall: Olga Khazan, author of Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change (Simon Element, $28.99, 9781668012543).

Late Night with Seth Meyers: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of Dream Count: A Novel (Knopf, $32, 9780593802724).

Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Ezra Klein, co-author of Abundance (Avid Reader Press, $30, 9781668023488).

Monday, March 10, 2025

Good Morning America: Lakeysha Hallmon, author of No One Is Self-Made: Build Your Village to Flourish in Business and Life (Dey Street, $29.99, 9780063315891).

CBS Mornings: Dylan Mulvaney, author of Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer (Abrams Image, $28, 9781419770395).

Drew Barrymore Show: Ione Skye, author of Say Everything: A Memoir (Gallery, $29.99, 9781668048269).

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Sherri Shepherd Show: Judy Collins, author of Sometimes It's Heaven: Poems of Love, Loss, and Redemption (Andrews McMeel, $18.99, 9781524894368).

Drew Barrymore Show: Giada De Laurentiis, author of Super-Italian: More Than 110 Indulgent Recipes Using Italy's Healthiest Foods (Rodale, $35, 9780593579831).

Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Reid Hoffman, co-author of Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future (Authors Equity, $32, 9798893310108).
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