MINNEAPOLIS -- Important Valentine’s Day update: Fake dating is out; second-chance romances are in.

That may or may not be true IRL but it’s definitely a thing in the world of romantic fiction, according to Lauren Richards, co-owner of Tropes & Trifles bookstore in south Minneapolis. “Fake dating,” meaning a character who pretends they�...Read more

A month into the year, the first great novel of 2026 is here.

Patmeena Sabit’s debut, “Good People,” may remind readers of Celeste Ng’s bestselling “Little Fires Everywhere” in that it’s a domestic tale that reads like a propulsive thriller and springs from a clash of cultures. Sabit writes about the Sharaf family, who came to the...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Chill Moody didn’t plan on writing a children’s book.

A story about a young athlete was bubbling in his head. And the West Philly-born rapper and serial entrepreneur wanted to turn it into a screenplay, mirroring the upbeat, have-faith vibe of fellow rapper Bow Wow’s 2002 film, "Like Mike."

“Instead of basketball [like ...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, Jan. 31, 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. "The ...Read more

Elizabeth McCracken is the author of eight books, including the National Book Award finalist, “The Giant’s House.” She’s been on the faculty at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and holds the James A. Michener Chair in Fiction at the University of Texas at Austin.

Here, she talks about her new book, “A Long Game,” and her reading life. ...Read more

One half of “The Typewriter and the Guillotine” is compelling, and it’s probably not the half you’d think.

“The Typewriter” part of Mark Braude’s account of midcentury Paris is the better part (and it’s actually about 80% of the book). It’s about American Janet Flanner, who was hired to write “Letter from Paris” columns ...Read more

When Harlem’s renowned Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture asked me to recommend five of my favorites for its list of 100 books by Black authors, my first reaction was, “I’d be honored.”

My second reaction was, “Only five?”

Because how could I leave off such luminaries as James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, Maya Angelou ...Read more

Writer Neil Gaiman denied sexual misconduct allegations first brought forth against him more than a year and a half ago in a statement released Monday.

Gaiman, the bestselling fantasy author behind "The Sandman" comic books, and novels and shows "American Gods" and "Good Omens," called the allegations, which emerged in the summer of 2024, a "...Read more

NEW YORK — Brooke Nevils, a former NBC News producer who accused Matt Lauer of raping her in 2014, is revisiting the brutal experience in her upcoming memoir, “Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe.”

Years after reporting the “Today” co-host, which led to Lauer being fired in 2017, Nevils reflects on...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, Jan. 24, 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. "Twelve Months...Read more

CHICAGO — The other day the author Sara Levine asked me to meet her at a dog beach in Evanston. I didn’t have a hard time finding her. She said she would be wearing an orange cap and she was. The problem — and here is where I felt as though I slipped suddenly into a Sara Levine novel — was that the beach was padlocked and Levine arrived ...Read more

V. T. Bidania describes her family as “pretty private” and “shy” but they better get used to attention because they’re the stars of her new book.

“I didn’t want to write about them,” said the Arden Hills-based writer of books for young people, including the autobiographical “A Year Without Home.”

“I like to read stories ...Read more

Writing about “99 Ways to Die: and How to Avoid Them” is an easy job, and not just because the descriptive title does so much of the work.

To give you an idea of what to expect from Ashely Alker’s hilarious, surprisingly useful book, the best bet is just to quote from it liberally. The emergency room physician writes with attitude, common...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, Jan. 17, 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. "The ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Loretta Ellsworth needs to be careful when she picks up the Minnesota Star Tribune because, when she does, there’s a decent chance what she reads will turn into a novel.

It’s happened to her twice already, with the latest being “The Jilted Countess,” inspired by the true story of a Hungarian who came to Minnesota in 1948 ...Read more

Tim Sullivan’s screenwriting credits include the films “A Handful of Dust,” “Where Angels Fear to Tread,” and “Letters to Juliet.” He’s also directed TV, including episodes of “Sherlock Holmes.” His series of crime novels, which launched in the U.S. in late 2025 with “The Dentist,” features DS George Cross, who is on the ...Read more

There may be more style than substance in “The Infamous Gilberts” but it is very stylish, indeed.

I kept thinking of Shirley Jackson when I read Angela Tomaski’s debut novel because Jackson wrote both amusingly macabre books about families (“Life Among the Savages”) and darker works that hinted that the cracks in crumbling Gothic ...Read more