Jake the growling dog: a kids’ book launch party
Samantha Shannon of Virginia Beach will introduce her new book next Sunday, July 26. It’s “Jake the Growling Dog Goes to Doggy Daycare: A Children’s
Book about New Experiences, Friendship, Comfort, and Kindness” (Rawlings Books; illustrated by Lei Yang). 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sage Kitchen, 1925 Fisher Arch, Virginia Beach (outdoors, socially distant event). Free, but RSVP via Eventbrite: tinyurl.com/yb84sfqk.
Mary Trump’s account of family dysfunction, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” sold 950,000 copies, including pre-orders, by the end of its first day, said Simon & Schuster. A publisher’s record. (L.A. Times)
The National Book Awards ceremonies this year will be virtual, on Nov. 18. Which also presents “a profound financial challenge” for the National Book Foundation, since the in-person, black-tie event is a major fundraiser, its executive director told Publishers Lunch. Colson Whitehead will be awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, the LOC said. At 50, he’s the youngest to receive this lifetime achievement award. He’s won Pulitzer Prizes for both “The Nickel Boys” and “The Underground Railroad.”
In the Pipeline: From Andrew Weissmann, a top prose
cutor for special counsel Robert Mueller, “Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation.” Weissmann gained prominence as a prosecutor investigating organized crime in New York City and for his leadership of a task force looking into the Enron scandal. In a statement, he said in part, “I am deeply proud of the work we did and of the unprecedented number of people we indicted and convicted — and in record speed. But the hard truth is that we made mistakes. We could have done more. ‘Where Law Ends’ documents the choices we made, good and bad, for all to see and judge and learn from.” Due Sept. 29 from Random House. (AP)
Also, Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to Be an Antiracist” will be published in Spanish, as “Cómo ser
antirracista,” due Oct. 27 from Vintage Español.
Obituaries: India Cooper, a longtime freelance copy editor, was 67. Colleagues at Oxford University Press — where she edited more than 100 books, including four Pulitzer Prize winners and six volumes of the Oxford History of the United States — wrote in a blog tribute: “Anyone who had the honor of being edited by Cooper knew that copyediting was more than a living; it was an art form in her hands. And her work will live on in the pages of so many books, invisible to most readers but absolutely critical to those books’ accuracy and mellifluous prose.” … Brad Wat
son, whose novels included “The Heaven of Mercury” and “Miss Jane,” and who directed the creative writing program at the University of Wyoming, was 64. (Publishers Lunch)
New and recent
“COVID-19: The Pandemic that Never Should Have Happened and How to Stop the Next One” by Debora MacKen
zie, a science journalist specializing in infectious diseases. She includes a history of significant outbreaks (SARS, Zika and more) and a quick course in epidemiology basics. (Hachette, 304 pp.) From Kevin Kwan, “Sex and
Vanity” (Doubleday, 336 pp.). A stand-alone novel that follows his “Crazy Rich Asians” trilogy. It dwells in the ridiculously posturing lives of the wealthy, launching with an over-the-top wedding and going from there. Inspired by E.M. Forster’s “A Room With a View,” with Kwan’s usual snark but little substance. (Angela Haupt for The Washington Post)
From David Mitchell, “Utopia Avenue,” a novel of four musicians who, coming together in 1967, struggle to find, to create, a band’s unified voice. (Random House, 574 pp.) “Along the edges, we can hear the messy mechanics of pop culture at the height of the ’60s with its social unrest, psychedelic experimentation and international carnage,” writes Ron Charles. “But the novel stays focused on the lives of these four band members — stereotypes of the genre redeemed from cliche by Mitchell’s insight and sympathy.” (Washington Post)