Reese Witherspoon Picks 'The Last Story of Mina Lee' for Hello Sunshine Book Club | Book Pulse

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September Book Club Picks

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim (Park Row: Harper) is Reese Witherspoon’s September book club title. Salon has an interview with the author.

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (Knopf; LJ starred review) is Jenna Bush Hager’s new book club title. USA Today reports.

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie (Dutton: Penguin) is the Good Morning America selection.

PBS News Hour and the NYT pick Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor by Steven Greenhouse (Knopf) as their next choice.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (Penguin) is The Guardian’s new book club pick.

Reviews

The NYT reviews Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains by Kerri Arsenault (St. Martin’s Press: Macmillan): “a story rived by cover-ups and uncertainty is only further muddled by meditations on the uncertain nature of storytelling.” Also, Likes by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum (FSG: Macmillan): “The sentences are indeed meticulous, but never for their own sake; they bring to life characters who possess rich inner lives even when navigating moments that feel dreamily sinister or otherworldly.”

USA Today reviews Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (Knopf; LJ starred review giving it a perfect four stars and writing it is “a stealthily devastating novel of family, faith and identity that’s as philosophical as it is personal.” Also, Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam (SLJ starred review), giving it 3.5 stars and writing “It is not easy to break these topics down to adults, never mind children. However, [it] does so effectively through verse that feels honest and clear.”

The Washington Post reviews Set My Heart to Five by Simon Stephenson (Hanover Square: Harper): “Besides echoing such masters of comedic science fiction as Ron Goulart, John Sladek and Tom Disch … Stephenson pays tribute to no one more than Voltaire. For Jared is no less than Candide in bot clothing, a perpetually hopeful soul endlessly ‘bamboozled’ by this best of all possible worlds.”

NPR reviews The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante (Europa Editions): “slinky and scowling as a Neapolitan cat.” Also, Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power by Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck (Hachette): “engrossing … deliver[s] a vivid portrait of treachery and power grabs in the Saudi royal court, and attempt to uncover what drives some of the young royal's often reckless decision-making.”

Briefly Noted

BuzzFeed picks seven new books for the week. Lit Hub has 20 books for the week.

The Washington Post suggests books for September. So does Bustle, GMA, and Shondaland.

The Millions runs its “Most Anticipated” list for September.

Tor.com has “All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in September.”

O: The Oprah Magazine also has a list for the month and picks for the fall.

Amazon picks “Must-read sci-fi and fantasy of fall 2020.”

Popsugar has lists for the best of fall, romances, and thrillers.

In Costco Connection, Pennie Clark Ianniciello picks The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: Hachette). The Buyer’s Pick is Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam (SLJ starred review).

The September Earphone Award titles are out from AudioFile.

The BooktubeSFF Awards are announced.

The Shortlist is announced for the McIlvanney Prize.

Jesmyn Ward writes an essay for Vanity Fair about the death of her husband: “On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by Pandemic.”

The NYT offers “A Beginner’s Guide to Elena Ferrante.” The BBC has “The remarkable cult of Elena Ferrante.” Bustle offers “Ann Goldstein On 15 Years Of Working With The Enigmatic Elena Ferrante.” O: The Oprah Magazine weighs in too. Marisa Tomei is narrating the audiobook of The Lying Life of Adults (Random House). Entertainment Weekly has a sample. Vulture has an excerpt of the print book.

Vulture writes that Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury USA: Macmillan; LJ starred review) “Will Wreck You: The novel establishes Susanna Clarke as one of our greatest living writers.”

Town and Country spotlights The Woman in the Moonlight by Patricia Morrisroe (Little A: Amazon).

People showcases How To Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers by David M Rubenstein (S. & S.).

The NYT has a feature on Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady (Gallery: S. & S.).

USA Today has a feature on Chasten Buttigieg, I Have Something to Tell You: A Memoir (Atria: S. & S.).

Entertainment Weekly interviews Antoni Porowski, Antoni in the Kitchen (Rux Martin/HMH).

Electric Lit interviews Seyward Darby, Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism (Little, Brown: Hachette).

The L.A. Times showcases Emma Cline, Daddy: Stories (Random House).

The Guardian features Yeong-shin Ma, Moms (Drawn and Quarterly: Macmillan).

Bitch Media spotlights The Tragedy of Heterosexuality by Jane Ward (NYU Press).

O: The Oprah Magazine interviews Elizabeth Lesser, Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes (Harper Wave). Also, a feature on Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar (Little, Brown: Hachette; LJ starred review). Lastly, a showcase for Jack by Marilynne Robinson (FSG: Macmillan; LJ starred review).

Tor.com excerpts Battle Ground by Jim Butcher (Ace: Berkley).

Kaveh Akbar is named The Nation’s new poetry editor. Lit Hub has details.

The Strategist has what Erin Brockovich, Superman's Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It (Pantheon: Random House), cannot live with out.

The StarTribune reports that Yaa Gyasi has withdrawn from the Talking Volumes series due to a contractual conflict with another event.

Ann Cleeves, The Darkest Evening: A Vera Stanhope Novel (Minotaur: Macmillan), writes about her efforts to fund bibliotherapists.

People highlights titles Hollywood celebs are reading.

Authors on Air

Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff are working with Alexander Woo (The Terror: Infamy) to adapt The Three-Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin for Netflix. Emma Roberts has a first-look deal with Hulu to adapt books for television. Her first project is Carola Lovering’s Tell Me Lies. Deadline reports.

PBS NewsHour interviews Margaret Sullivan, Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy (Columbia Global Reports).

Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous gets a trailer. It debuts on Netflix on Sept. 18.

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