USA TODAY International Edition
New and noteworthy
USA TODAY’s Jocelyn McClurg scopes out the hottest books on sale each week.
1 Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, non-fiction, on sale Tuesday)
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: A biography of legendary, complex boxer Muhammad Ali (“The Greatest”), who died in 2016 at age 74.
THE BUZZ: “Evenhanded…sharp quotations and expert pacing make the 600plus pages light on their feet,” says Publishers Weekly.
2 Origin by Dan Brown (Doubleday, fiction, on sale Tuesday) Harvard WHAT IT’S ABOUT: symbologist Robert Langdon (The Da Vinci Code) returns in this thriller set in Spain, on the hunt (and run) again as he searches for a cryptic password. Brown’s series featuring THE BUZZ: Langdon has sold millions of copies. The last title, Inferno, hit No. 1 on USA TODAY’s BestSelling Books list in 2013.
3 Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan (Scribner, fiction, on sale Tuesday)
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: During World War II, a woman goes to work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and her search for her missing father leads her into the world of gangsters, showgirls and graft.
THE BUZZ: The novel has been long-listed for the National Book Award fiction prize.
4 Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York by Roz Chast (Bloomsbury, non-fiction, on sale Tuesday)
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: A humorous graphic memoir by the native Brooklynite about excursions into the Big City. THE BUZZ: Chast also wrote the much-buzzed about Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, a graphic memoir about her elderly parents.
5 Lies I’m Fine…and Other by Whitney Cummings (Putnam, non-fiction, on sale Tuesday)
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: In this memoir, the comedian/writer (2 Broke
Girls) tells some wild tales from her life, including her too-close encounter with a Guatemalan prison.
THE BUZZ: Cummings joins the parade of funny women penning their stories (Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Amy Schumer ...)