For “Cool Machine,” the 1980s-set final novel in his Harlem crime trilogy, Colson Whitehead drew inspiration from another classic American story.

That’s right, “Die Hard.”

While there aren’t any obvious parallels between the movie and his novel’s three sections, Whitehead says the idea of the 1988 blockbuster action film, which ...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, July 18, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2026 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2026, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "Ransom: A ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The first challenge writer Craig Fehrman faced as he considered writing a book on the Lewis and Clark Expedition was whether there was enough fresh material to warrant the project.

After poring over the journals of Merriweather Lewis and William Clark, a million words in all, Fehrman decided there was.

“After I read the ...Read more

Krys Malcolm Belc wrote a new book so he could stop worrying about his last one.

The St. Paul, Minnesota, man’s new memoir, “What I Made for Dinner,” comes five years after his first, “The Natural Mother of the Child.”

“When my book came out, I asked some writers, ‘What is the best way to deal with the anxiety of having a book ...Read more

CHICAGO -- At the end of a particularly difficult shift in the University of Chicago Trauma Center, Dr. Selwyn Rogers Jr. came home, put some Miles Davis on and started to write.

During that shift in the summer of 2022, Rogers and the team of trauma surgeons he leads at UChicago Medicine had treated two teenage boys who were each shot multiple ...Read more

Look, it’s happened to all of us: Late one night, you’re on the couch, an overwhelming menu of Netflix shows radiates unwatched on the screen, and you snatch up a handheld repository of short, attention-grabbing items.

A poetry collection.

That could happen, right? Instead of pawing for your doomscrolling device, you could instead pick up ...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, July 11, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2026 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2026, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "Yesteryear: A...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, July 11, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2026 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2026, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "Yesteryear: A...Read more

Daniel Mason fans know what to expect from his new novel: the unexpected.

Mason’s last book, “North Woods,” set on the same spot in Massachusetts over the course of about 400 years, was my favorite fiction of 2023. It’s absolutely nothing like Mason’s Pulitzer Prize finalist story collection, “A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — In James Ellroy‘s new “Red Sheet,” it’s October 1962 in Los Angeles, and in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the city is on edge with rumors of communist sleeper cells and hit squad conspiracies.

Detective Freddy Otash is back in the Los Angeles Police Department, given a badge to do the dirty work the ...Read more

Before “Remember the Main” arrived in bookstores, its subject, Bob Jansen, knew who should play him in a movie version: George Clooney.

“I do wish they’d make a movie,” said Meg Gorzycki, who wrote “Remember,” subtitled “The Gay Bar That Started a Movement in the Northland.” The wide-ranging book touches on many forms of ...Read more

In April, Chiara Barzini appeared at North Figueroa Bookshop with Matthew Specktor to talk about her book “Aqua.” Barzini, a journalist, translator and the author of the short story collection “Sister Stop Breathing” and the novel “Things That Happened Before the Earthquake,” discussed her time growing up in Southern California and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Emily Ratajkowski's viral essay detailing her sex life as a single mom just landed her a seven-figure book deal.

According to Page Six, the model's essay in the Cut had publishers champing at the bit in a 12-way bidding war that culminated in the hefty pay day. Editor Helen Rouner at Penguin Press — who also edited Lauren ...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, July 4, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2026 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2026, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "Yesteryear: A ...Read more

CHICAGO — As you progress through your summer reading, ask yourself: Do I really want to tackle “The Odyssey”? The Christopher Nolan-directed, star-jammed adaptation of the Greek epic arrives in movie theaters on July 17. And yet, do you want to lug Homer out to the beach this summer?

In need of some encouragement?

The ideal person for ...Read more