The It Books of April 2026

Everybody shush William Shatner has something to say cat and Jethro box of oddities the show is examined weird things What do you do when the woman you love dies? Well, of course you dig her up and you live with her That is really mysterious the strange the bizarre the unexpected Cat and Jethro box of oddities listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts the box of oddities This is the book right podcast. I'm Jeff O'Neill and I'm Rebecca shinsky and it's April it's spring There's like three cherry blossoms on our trees outside. They're just like pop like it's just getting ready to go We have a 70 degrees on Saturday. I'm gonna roll around start sneezing here pretty quick But springing spring is Rebecca and it's it's a wonderful month of books It took me about 11 minutes to get to 10 and so it's a fun month There's not like triple a triple a triple a like a September but a lot of fun stuff for us to talk about this month Yeah, I was looking at some titles doing some catalog research going into the spring because in another couple of weeks We've got to do our draft Yes for the summer season which for us is May through August and then I Realized that I was seeing April titles and tried to like no no look away Look away so that I can be as fresh as possible for it books But you always managed to surprise me even when I know we've got a few shared things that we're looking at Yeah, there's several things I'm going to throw at you here It's March madness time a little bit after but we're gonna have a play-in tournament because I have 11 So but we need 10 and 11 are gonna play in which is just really an extra round I'm just cheating really is what's happening there Let's see elsewhere over on zero to well read in the feed right now You can go listen to us talk about much of do about nothing by one William Shakespeare and the stars of the show there of course Beatrice and Benedict who are the original recipe Zinger-laden Cording-dueling lovers that I would watch a thousand versions of it's it's the it's the They hate each other, but they love fighting each other that launched a thousand Versions of this the banter. It's just so good. It's so good as I'll quote you from the show Cuz I'm as a quoted you in the newsletter for it saying like I just want this will they won't they word sex? This is all I want in rom-coms, and it's just it's what a fun vibe We had a great really really fun to get to talk about that if you haven't listened to that show ever That was a really good time to jump on board We wanted to do a comedy for Shakespeare through the second half of our first year We did of course Hamlet to begin our Shakespeare experience and then over the course of time We'll get to a tragedy and a late romance and a history and all the things that go into it there Will be fun a certain tragedy that was adapted by Baz Lorman is turning 30 this fall The adaptation is so we might we've had occasion to talk about that particular before but you know Yeah, we might be doing that one again. We'll see and if you're new to it books This is the monthly feature where Jeff combs the catalogs comes up with usually 10 interesting new releases and we pit them against each other in a knockout round so ten goes up against number nine then I decide which ones go forward and Every now and then we argue about which one should actually say or go So we arrive at the end at the it book the predicted it book of the month and then in a couple weeks We'll be doing the hot list and we can see if I was right or not and then at the end of the year We go back. Yes through the month and say check our one. What do we get a C plus? I mean, I guess we get a 70% hit rate. We got seven out of ten last year. We felt good about you know a gentleman See for us here on the it books episodes With that we're gonna take a quick sponsor break and get into the list Today's episode is brought to you by 11 Reader if you listen to audiobooks a lot the narrator problem can be so real 74% of audiobook listeners have stopped or considered stopping a book because of the narrator's voice 11 Reader helps by letting you choose from more than a thousand natural sounding voices for any title You can even design your own narrator So there are more than 50,000 audiobooks to choose from there are bestsellers hidden gyms and guilty pleasures The catalog spans every genre and you can pick the narrator that fits the story and you can listen to anything You can turn your documents your PDFs your ebooks into life like audiobooks This gives you the freedom to upload any text and hear it read in studio quality voices Your reading list becomes a listening list There's premium listening at a fair price and plans start lower than audible with no credits to track or expire and you can of course Cancel anytime so you get three days premium entirely free try before you commit it's available on iOS Android and the web just go to book riot Com slash 11 Reader again, that's book riot comm slash 11 Reader And thanks again to 11 Reader for sponsoring this episode Today's episode is brought to you by poetry magazine wishing you a happy poetry month this April Book riot fans are invited to celebrate poetry all year long with a special deal Subscribe to one year of poetry and receive a free limited edition notebook Practice makes poetry and we'd like to offer you a space for your own reflections and creativity The subscription includes 10 beautifully created print issues of poetry immediate unlimited digital access via the poetry magazine app and The premium poetry month notebook Your subscription to poetry supports living artists in a living art form which this cutting-edge publication Has been championing for more than a hundred and ten years Be a part of poetry's present and future Subscribe today at poetry.org Take note take note is one word so no slashes or spaces there again That's poetry magazine.org Slash take note and thanks again to poetry magazine for sponsoring this episode So we have a play in tournament here I guess we'll start with them They're two that I think are both obliquely referencing Edna St. Vincent Malay, which is nice for me to break that out But they also are authors I really like who have had one giant hit and then some other stuff Okay, and this is a new book by them. So the first one is go gentle by Maria Simple I think is a version of do not go gentle on that good night by an estate Vincent Malay Malay pardon me and this one is The main character Rebecca her name is believe it or not a Dora hazard Which is maybe too clever by half but also amazing it feels very Maria simple it does and She is a stoic philosopher and divorcee. I mean who among us doesn't want to have that as a life goal This is middle-aged lady core and I'm so here for we talked about this with him with the with the with the winter draft or spring draft and she She applies this to her life where she just wants to relish her teenage daughter being single Being a moral tutor for twin two twin boys of an old manly family She's even assembled a quote-unquote coven of like-minded women who live on the same floor in the legendary and Sonia Which I don't I think it is a real building But it's also the Arconia, you know one of these big upper-west side buildings might as well be the Arconia from Only murders in the building and something happens by black market art deals of all things you hate to see it Rebecca I don't know man. I love to see it. Have you ever stumbled into a black market art deal or all your black market art deals intentional? You know, I wish that I had stumbled into a black market art deal I feel like that would be the right flavor of intrigue for me And Maria simple of course the writer of one of our favorite books to recommend of all time Where'd you go Bernadette? Which is a Family zany go find the mom who ran away story that turned into an okay adaptation with Kate Blanchett Who's good in everything but the actual book itself is quite wonderful Gilmore girls for grown-ups is not the worst way of putting Where'd you go Bernadette? And I mean that is no slide as Gilmore girl. Yeah, I do And I reside in my heart in stars hollow. So I'm one of you, but so that's one. So that's the first one of our two So anything to say about that before I get into any I mean I'm really looking forward to it the books that Maria simple has done since Bernadette kind of were not as well received Bernadette set a very high bar, but this feels like at least for me straight up the middle It's being pitched into the same kind of reader that was into all fours Which I think is fascinating because as far as I can tell there's not like a Sex angle to go gentle, but it is Middle-aged ladies doing stuff and as you said she's assembled her group of friends that she calls a coven and who among us Does not call their group of middle-aged lady friends a coven. I am personally guilty of this. Yes This is I'm I feel like I'm having a little trouble being objective about it because this book feels so squarely pitched right at me I'm very much looking forward to it before you if you've already started to email me stop I know that rage rage die against the dying light is Dylan Thomas I've got light related for both the other one is Edna statements of labor reference I think and this one is we burn so bright by one TJ clune who of course had a mega bestseller crossover kind of a new genre frankly of this cozy YA inclusive fantasy Fantasy gem of a book. He's had some other stuff come out, but we burn so bright is the story of two men who have been together for a long time multiple years they are their partners in love and life and Low and behold a wandering black hole kind of wanders into our solar system and we've got a month to live oh And so they go on a road trip to take care of some business Which frankly if a year if a black hole is gonna develop the earth. I think you don't need to get your affairs. I don't know Yeah, I'm okay It's it's my tie-o clock as soon as I'm concerned when the black hole come with but they go on a road trip from Maine to Washington State To do this and a course of this road trip they encounter all sorts of people who don't believe it's coming that are welcoming it kind of a road trip of eschatology here along with it and Sounds like kind of a great time even as the earth is coming to an end and it's we burn so bright by TJ So it sounds like a TJ Kloon book against sounds like a Maria's simple book Rebecca and this is not about our personal taste except that it always and forever is that we try to hold an advance when we can Which of those for it book consideration would you? Proffer such a good question the good job on this play in thank you very much this one this and this is an adult book right Kloon I Think so okay cuz the other ones are YA I Can first print run of a half a million copies hey Okay, the TJ Kloon is gonna sell more copies But Maria simple is going to be all over the place in interviews and has some literary bonafides Yeah, I think there will be more of a publicity push Because there are already so many readers ready for TJ Kloon I'm gonna give the edge here to Maria simple But just really by virtue of being literary fiction Yeah, because the it book is about a claim and Sales and will people like it and will there be buzz and I think we kind of know what a TJ Kloon book is at this point Even if he's writing for adults here instead of young adult where Maria simple This could be anything if it's great. It'll be really really great like when she's in her bag She's excellent. I'd be surprised about awards contention for either of them But I think simple has an edge on TJ Kloon for that So it rings more bells Maria simple rings more of the it book bells. So go gentle will become Our first contender here. I think I don't know if this matters We don't really consider this at this stage of the game generally speaking But adaptation potential is something in a close in a close call. Maybe we should look at it I think this lead character of a Dora hazard You'd have all kinds of actresses of a certain age clam ring to play this. This is good On the other hand, I think if the teaching is good You could have a very good pairing there of two guys of a certain age You know holding hands in their Winnebago shooting through the Arizona desert and trying to be you know Einstein's theory of relativity and all that it portends. So it kind of comes out in the wash. I think it's close I think they're both very close. I look forward to both of them. This is a guy I think they're both gonna be really interesting and it will be Maybe there is more likelihood for an adaptation for the Kloon than his YA books simply because you don't have to build a whole young adult Fantasy world to do them. It's this guys on a road trip. That's not a huge budget Actually, I'm stoked for that. Let's do it, right? Yeah, it's kind of like that one last of us episode of But but make it little miss sunshine To some degree that should be very cool. I'll have a road trip. Let's do that We burn so bright by TG. Kloon is a hundred and seventy six pages. So it's gonna be a fella, which is also okay What's the hard-cover price? You know as soon as I closed it down you ask me the hard it is 48. No, it's a 25 Okay The the Maria sample is $30 for probably 350 384 pages, so you get right in the sweet spot. That's something you want there Okay, so we're gonna move along go gentle enters the regular tournament here and up first It gets to go against something we've talked about a couple times on the show Authors that are having have books out in the spring that have source story collections out and this is my dear you by Rachel Kong comes out April 7th hardcover 248. Excuse me 240 pages I know you're gonna be surprised that this follows a you know a bunch of characters facing extraordinary choices in scenarios That range from the everyday to the absurd Listen, I love Rachel Kong and we both really loved her novels which are all already like very tight and On the shorter side she doesn't ever waste a word I'm really curious about what she'll do with short stories But I think that just by virtue of being a short story collection any short story collection has a hard time in the itbooks Yes, so few people read them So few people read them. What would it take? What does it take honestly? Like what is it? Have we ever had a short story collection emerge? I cannot remember this. Oh as the it book I don't think so. No, what would it take Rebecca? I mean, I know Salman Rushdie contended last year for novellas. Yeah, that's what the 12th hour, but that was He made the 10, but he did not make the it books I mean don't know what it would be maybe like a a new Jumbo Laheri short story collection somebody who made their name as a short story. I love you think that but that is Join me over here on wishful thinking Island. Yeah, you'd have to do like George R. Martin does more nights of the seven Kingdom nevels Masses Story aqatar something like that you'd have to remora eel against the whale of a larger Yeah, but like literary short stories are just a hard sell even when an author has an Established base and Kong I think is solidly mid-list. She has established fans King solver, but oh Yeah, King solver would be interesting And patch it can sell essays, but I don't think we've ever seen an and patch it short story collection right King solver would be interesting I think if anybody big with big commercial crossover potential it would be her So this is going to go to Maria Semple. Yeah, also the cover of go gentle is hot pink and very eye-catching It's gonna look great in bookstores. Yeah a Salacious statue which is not a phrase. I think has ever been said in the English language also adorns It kind of it's it's giving me some like a touch a test of Mosvig vibes Like they're going for something edgy literary fiction there from reassemble which I think is interesting to see okay So we're moving right along here. I I'm I'm betting that Emma's Straub was stoked to see that there was no namespace pollution for the book American fantasy because you'd think there's already a bunch of books called American fantasy, but they're really aren't Emma Straub of course is You know, I got to that of course and I'm like, what is Emma Straub of course a very well known if not hugely successful on a grand scale of like an Ellen Hildebrand or something like that She's a little more literary a little more weird a little more owner of an indie Bookstore in Brooklyn, which is a little more daughter of a kind of a hard-boiled crime writer Which he is I really like Emma Straub's book her new book is American fantasies. I just said it's a cruise ship story and The it's a cruise ship where it's a cruise for the boy band Yeah, it's like new kids on the block and then things happen Also middle-aged ladies doing things but they're on like a nostalgia cruise for boy bands Yeah, I think Emma Straub like 15 years ago We would have talked about her as like upmarket chiclet or literary chiclet like whip tip basically kind of that women's fiction So she writes about family relationships marriages friendships really fun tons of heart Like tons of high concept like time traveler fantasy new kids on the blockboats. Yeah, there will be a high concept She pulls it off. They're always just a delight to read like this is what I want to read on the beach is Emma Straub Yeah, I agree, you know her characters are smart. They talk like real people This is an interesting pairing Emma Straub against a sample here Emma Straub also not for nothing good friends now with Jenna Bush Hager and makes appearances on The Today Show to recommend books I don't remember if any of her past novels have been read with Jenna picks but would not be surprised and Even if this one doesn't get picked for read with Jenna Straub will almost definitely be on the Today Show talking about this getting like big publicity Her books sell She's well liked her writing is well liked she'll end up in like Goodreads best of the year Even if she's not on the New York Times best of the year Where simple has more of a chance I think at some of the high brow Stuff this is a really tough one. I Feel like I lead us towards simple. Is that yeah, I was gonna say I feel like it's simple Yeah, I just feel like she has a little more edge There's more possibility of a claim than there is I think that's right I think Emma Straub will be a lot of fun and really smart. I think I Might go I might do one of those pleasurable Oh with the Maria simple like kind of like you know running your tooth Oh, you're tongue over a cold sore like that pleasurable pain and sharpness that comes along with that It's kind of what I'm looking for with Maria simple So I'll go with you there another favorite writer of mine So Joe Gonzalez has a new book out and this one is really a for me situation because it's about it's said in the early 20s and it said in Brooklyn and it's like young knowledge workers doing things now again It is more directly related to you know Latina women this but I was around people who are making their way in the world Then I'd be I'm fascinated to see what Joe Gonzalez does this with it sounds like her kind of peer group Living parallel lives in different parts of the gentrifying borough of Brooklyn in the early parts of the 21st century another one where Straddling the line between commercial thick and lit fix of Jill Gonzalez Rebecca. What is your sense of her in her career right now? Hmm. I just keep waiting for her to really break out Like I know the publisher had a lot of hope for the last one to really yeah The last couple books have felt like oh this might be it like this really might be the big Zoshida Gonzalez moment Award nominated often highly acclaimed like reviewers like her award groups She's she does lean more literary there will be like surprising sentence constructions Interesting word choices and the kinds of things that literary readers are looking for Oh But I think Maria Semple will sell more copies. Yeah. Well so picked the Anticipated book book riot lit up publishers weekly us today people electric lick open This is a really tricky call It's really hard and I can see either of them go gentle or last night in Brooklyn showing up on like You know the prestigious end of year lists. Yes, so she told Gonzalez is more likely to get an award nomination You think so. Yeah, I hadn't really thought about that, but I think that makes sense I think so and the last book was on at least some long lists for big awards and a de Monte last last It was is really good and I talked to her for first edition I really like I like both of these authors and I want both of these books to do very well So I'm also feeling that well and there's also like Zoshida Gonzalez We've heard from more recently Maria Semple might be a new name for some. Oh great point readers Which could be great for them like welcome to Maria Semple. Please go back and pick up where'd you go Bernadette? I think I'm gonna give this one to this round to Zoshida Gonzalez. It's just a spidey sense. I Can I can get behind that for sure? Oh, yes, this is exciting to be next I'm surprising myself as I open my tabs here because I forget which order I didn't I didn't stack the deck this month I should say and move anything around April 7th. This is next week from Adelweiss come on. You're killing me about Knopp Yes, do you're by caro claire Burke? So another high concept where a tradwife Influencer sort of wakes up in actual tradwife times in 1855. Oh And has to figure it out good luck to her Sounds like an is this a horror story a Gimlet I'd look at tradition fame faith in the grand performance of womanhood. It sounds like a horror story to me Yeah, yeah, tradwives are having a moment in fiction So like and this is by far not the first one I think that I'm either we're not gonna have like a big breakout tradwife novel We're just having sort of a mini moment of them. I think this is Zoshida Gonzalez Really? I do I think the tradwife novel like it might get a momentary bit of buzz Wait, can I can I give you one bit of information? Sure So when this book was sold the film rights were sold immediately at July 31st, 2024 Okay, a half million a two million dollar deal with Amazon MGM, which you know what it's got in its pocket right now a little project I'll project a little Mary and right now and half the way is attached to star and producing this flipping show. Okay. Well, that's great Except the people who see this book just on a bookstore shelf or like an ad for it online are not gonna know that so this book might have a Moment when Anne Hathaway is on screen With it although that does make me inclined to think there's a big marketing budget here And so she don't Gonzales does not typically get a big marketing budget and it's a it's a simple good hook Influorate wakes up in 1855 and has to actually do the thing It could be a great time if it's fine. It will be very early reviews are good boring. Okay who Okay, you know, let's give it to yesteryear. Let's keep it interesting. I think I think it has to be at this point There's a lot of buzz for this book. It's a big it's like Knopf's lead title I think for the for the Spring okay, so anyway What do we have next? Oh? Oh, yes You know how all the film bros and Film ladies too, I think all the film people and film between the gender gender fluid film people are all lining up for the Odyssey I do I do know that we are my Odyssey comes out April 7th because it's been learners new book Yes, I've been looking at this 144 pages which were I'm paying $25 and hardcover with just gladly or pre-ordered I should say Announce first print run Rebecca. Do you have any sense of this? You're shockingly good at this though. I should I shouldn't be surprised anymore I Could I would have no idea and even the number when I saw it surprised me and I was ready to be surprised Would you like to hazard a guess? I should say this is also the published Print run grain of salt grain of salt grain of salt Interesting, I mean Ben Lerner is like as you're saying there's a pretty nice audience for him But you asking me this question makes me inclined to think it's higher than I'm gonna that I would normally think 200,000 that's a great guess 150k okay good for him Ben Lerner who I adore and also hate because he grew up about apparently like 25 miles before I grew up in a very parallel you know Young man with vaguely literary aspirations and he has turned into burnt Ben Lerner and I am the meat sack You see before you or listening to before you don't know fine But come on Ben Lerner one of my I look forward to him every single time comes out New York Times magazine He has the blurb of all blurbs the franz and like the most talented writer of his generation And this is high concept the narrator unnamed narrator I think travels to Providence to conduct an interview with his 90 year old mentor and father of his college friend and so he's one of these pin pin shown like John and He starts interviewing him and then the record his recorder breaks. Oh and he I Don't know what happens that a dream like circumstance. I don't know what this is. I'm looking forward to it You don't have a coob rick Ian Like cover with just like a bar of gold I think it's supposed to be the back of a smartphone, but it looks like the chimp monolith I don't know what I'm getting into but I'm very very excited Tell the people about the hallmarks of a Ben Lerner book since he is kind of a niche well, it's it's High concept super cerebral literary Yeah, I mean there's a little bit of I don't want to get crazy here But there's like some delilo things happening. There tends to be a concept or a spec fic But also there's a fever pitch and good-hearted. I want to say at the same time like This is not a nihilist, right? This is not Camus or something like this Like I think this is someone who sees a fallen world and is trying to make the best of it that they can But also has a lot of introspection. Let's put it that way going on at the same time Yeah, what an interesting pairing now. Yes, I was against Ben Lerner. I mean Short of an Anne Hathaway adaptation I think Ben Lerner has the edge like this will be like Ben Lerner gets the literary Acclamation there will be rave reviews everyone who reviews books that are literary have a word Aspirations will review and talk about this. Yes. Yeah, he's just he's in the awards Contention just by virtue of being Ben Lerner. It's a brand-name where this book matters and that's rare Yeah, if this is not on the long list for the National Book Award, I'll be shocked Pages do we matter? I mean, I haven't looked I haven't done a longitudinal study of page counts in the words But I feel like it doesn't matter as much. I don't think it matters. It doesn't matter anymore Romantic has done this for us. The people will read really long books. That's right. That's no but 144 It's a very short hundred and short day even better packs a punch, you know, probably Not gonna get an immediate adaptation announcement probably not gonna be picked for one of the big book clubs But like it will be well reviewed in literary circles people will talk about it You're not gonna be alone lining up to pick up your pre-ordered copy on April 7th I think this goes to Ben Lerner like welcome to the book riot podcast. Hmm. I Couldn't betray you I'm gonna my cup coming no matter what you can't do anything to stop my copy from coming Everyone I'm gonna be reading this next week, too. We should talk about it. I'm looking forward to it Alright, I like to throw some debuts in something. It's notable getting some buzz here today's this month Is a book called the Vonia Chow mein by Abigail Savage Lou it is a 100 year story of a Chinese restaurant Basically, it sounds like so in 1978 to tenements on the Vonia Avenue in Brownsville burned to the ground killing someone displacing others and the survivors are convinced it's someone named mr. Wong and It sounds like this four generations of this family gets mixed up with some other people in This part of Brooklyn over the course of the century and it sounds like this story that the absurd the restaurant is part of the story for Multiple generations. I'm trying not to spoil it for myself Sometimes they do you debuts they give you even extra explanation because they want you to read it So I do this thing where my eyes just sort of blur out in the third paragraph of five Five paragraphs synopsis come on. Well, there's a couple sentences each so I love a New York story Multi-generational multicultural. It's got a really wonderful James McBride blurb Which I'm excited now. I'm listening and in the veins of happiness fall and family lore both books I really liked I really like happiness fall by Angie Kim So I've never heard of this person. I wish them all the best and I included here for your consideration I'm afraid it's gonna get mowed down by the Oppenheimer like juggernaut that has been learner for those of us who have Trifold prescription glasses at this age of our life, but there we are feeling a little personally attacked with the progressive lenses This sounds like a great time and I love a story that's like Years in the life of this building or this place, you know, notably Daniel Mason really just elevated that with Northwoods But this sounds really fun. I think I'm delighted to hear about this as a debut. It was not on my radar Yeah, catchy title, but Ben Lerner wins in this in this round The next one I'm never really sure what to do with translations because they were this one was published more almost 20 years ago Shreve and I were talking about this recently and I don't remember why the book is called the witch by Mary Maria and Jai and It is a mediocre witch in a small French town trapped in a cruel marriage And she's trying to pass on her gifts to her twin daughters Who twin daughters who must make a choice stay close to the nest and the mother who nurses them or soar away from the dead in Clostrophobia their selfish father. I like the idea of a mediocre witch. This is a new thing This unto me so even even a witch has some trouble getting out of their stultifying Heteronormative relationship Maria and Jai I was first exposed to her with a chef Which really blew me away a while ago now. I She off she's sort of in the conversation at the margin for the Nobel someday not that it matters just to say the kind of like global Place she has yeah as we're recording this just this morning the short list for the International Booker Prize was announced And this is one of the finalists. Yeah, I saw that I was I'm glad you came drop that I was about to do that You did it right back to me. You've got awards acclaim already I mean she's in the conversation for the Nobel someday Yeah, the idea of a mediocre witch is really fun and like not for nothing TikTok is open to books in translation. Yes stuff that has kind of a twist to it I've never known men, you know, this has been out here very much calculation of volume all of those I've not read this author before so have you I don't have a sense of like, okay, okay? I think you should I think you would like her How is 144 pages like what is the literary experience of her? What should I expect? I mean, it's not like I Don't know I think it's pretty squarely literary thick, okay, you know it tends to be a little more evocative It's also know because it's like the translator matters, right? And I don't know that is consistent translator I don't know how this works this way one of my we're not in like the Hong Kong zone No, no, no short of that, but it's on the road to Hong Kong but it Feels like it can be a little more playful Maybe it's because I read the Hong Kong nonfiction where I'm like whoa, it's actually dark It thought it was dark is actually darker than I think I think of Maria Jaya's as notably I don't want to say she's light But light her in touch. Yeah, and this sounds like maybe a satire this one specifically So now we have her up against bin learner. They're both literary Yeah, juggernauts High acclaim low book club chances for either I agree there high book award chances for both very high A book called the witch with a great cover is going to sell more copies probably Then transcription though. Are we namespace pollution with witch books? This is also something that was a grand There's a lot of which books out now This is a tough one tough tough I think I'm giving the edge to re enjoy Well, I'm happy with that if you decide my my note would be this book has been out for 20 years And it's getting an English translation. So does that you know evacuate some of the this is not an Title that most Americans even know right fewer people fewer American lit thick readers know her than bin learner They just do and translate. Yeah translation can't be tough to sell. But then again the tiktokers are open to it Wherever you want to go and find I don't know We might end up re re adjudicating this but let's go on with the witch for now. Okay. All right I got this in the mail the next one. This is another april 7th. April 7th is enormous day for the big day Huge day I got this and I didn't know what it was and sort of picked it up and put it to the side and then I was going through You know looking at my my sources for april And I was like, oh whoa So is that a sign of anything? I just put that to you here So the book is the ending writes itself by Evelyn clark except it's not written by Evelyn clark It is written instead by two people Okay, v e Schwab. Oh, yes ever heard of her And a long time friend and screen our cat clark that they should write a book together. So it's a evlyn clark is a Portmanteau of people a joint pseudo name Yeah, I have been seeing this pop up in a lot of places. I had missed that it was v e Schwab and clark Let me do the synopsis for people it's a meta mystery because the Protagonist Arthur Fretch is one of the world's best-selling novelists and he's a reclusive genius Right And six authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private scottish island And Arthur Fletch is dead. So it's a little, you know proofs out manuscripts out knives out five here pens out and they have to They have 72 hours to finish Fletch's last great work And then they get something there's like a prize or something going on. Is this amazing Or am I tired just thinking about it right now Rebecca? I put it to you. Well I think it all depends on how good the book is because it could be great turns out. This is a great concept probably not like mainstream award nomination Contenders I mean, you know, you can do those things. Yeah, I mean, I think this knocks Ben Lerner and Marie and Jai out of contention 250,000 copy first. Yeah huge print run and once Schwab is out there talking about how it's her That's gonna be that will move the needle. That's a big deal for readers. She has such a devoted fan base The cover of this is also great people love a book about books like I'm tired because of course It's about a writer and he's reclusive and he was a genius, but that's my personal stuff Just my personal taste. I I think this one has the edge now that's Yeah, a lot of possibility there. It'll sell Is this a demerit that I can think of about one other book that matters that was written by two people Oh, it's a weird game Well, maybe except that it doesn't have two people's name on the cover. Is that better or worse? This is no one. Is this two people? Is this less than the sum of its parts? Like the genre readers aren't familiar with this This is only weird to us because we mostly exist in literary fiction But like genre readers are down with like there's pen names all over the place. It's two people writing this one This person uses this name when they write mysteries, but this other name when they write romances Like I don't think well riddle me this bad girl If this was by ve schwaab it sells three times as many copies because now we have to go through the clutter of wait This I mean in all respect to their friend and I'm sure they had a great time But for our purposes, I'm trying to be right. I'm not trying to be fair Oh, yeah If you're like if you're ve schwaab's agent on the day she calls up and is like I'm gonna write this book Here's the pitch and you're like this sounds great. We're gonna sell a billion of them And she's like and I'm writing it with my best friend and we're gonna put a different name and we're gonna use this replacement replacement level Sudan him. Yeah, that's a bummer. I think it'll still do fine I did it quick talk potential there I did a quick things that just if I could think of written by two people Okay, number one on my list is good omens by terry pratchett and neil game And I'm so sorry to bring that up, but that's just I think in terms of literature that's sold and people like Good open is number one currency litter in potato peel society that was Finished by someone else, right? It was like a mother daughter mother daughter kind of situation there Amal el motar had a co-writer and I cannot remember his name off the top a max gladstone. I just looked it up So that's one And I'm out rebecca. Those are the three I was like what else is there? It's not common in fiction. No, but I think there's a common elsewhere I mean nonfiction lots of co-writers. Yeah, but name one Name five robins I direct you to like the catalogs filled with nonfiction. No, my point is like that they just don't write like it's actually I think that's indicative that you just oh, yeah that one right like right. Yeah, it's not like in child. I guess President that's a good one. I can't Podcast at book ride.com. I'm really Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy write some romances together. Yeah, that is not evidence in your favor if there's a bunch of these that people I'm just thinking that two people with a pseudonym is a huge demerit in the itbook status of this book huge All right, well, it's it's carrying the current round anything I did nothing all my all my entreaties were for not The pitch for it is still great. Yeah, and who's it by? I don't know two people. Okay I am not someone I like it when people try hard. I'm just gonna say that out loud. Okay, and hathaway James Franco stuff James Franco put that aside But the try hard theater kid I I like those people people want to make art they want to put in the world Show up. I'm with you. Yes And so I do not have any residual Lena Dunham stink. I'm looking forward to her memoir fame sick And it comes out april 28th. It's a random house And it's a rowdy frank reflection on illness fame sex and everything in between Dunham can write. She's a super interesting person Having said that I have no idea where the zeit where the zeitgeist is at on ld here, right, rebecca. Do you have any sense of this? I don't know. She's been reappearing on some stuff recently. She had a show she had a series that people liked Yes, yeah, oh and I watched that. Yeah, she produced and was like a minor character I don't remember without my list in front of me tough look for lena dunham's q rating right now. I guess Uh, I think this is a great moment to be a famous woman putting out a memoir that deals frankly with issues like sex and bodies Because of the lindy west of it all right now We have to talk we have to talk about them the hot list episode, aren't we? We are the lindy west book is going to be on there. There's now pieces in the new Dueling think pieces the new york times about the lindy west thing Yep, we're gonna have to talk about it a whole lot Dueling think pieces was of course the name of my um ep that I put out as a techno artist Yes, venessa and erica covered the uh the lindy west shenanigans on monday for us But yeah, we're gonna have to talk about that lina dunham. I mean like this the book will be everywhere She'll probably give a ton of interviews if it's Deemed to be good it will go everywhere memoirs don't really get book club picks Now I feel like I'm in a weird place with the V. E schwa book up against lina dunham as the contenders for it book of the month I might need to like You did you did this to yourself. I just put I all I did is put him in a dock man. I mean, I think I I might rewind the tape and just give the month to hang yourself with This happens like once a year where I'm like wait. No, go back to the middle. How do we hear? How did we get here? This is the nature of the knockout round and Two sliding doors and now I'm gonna dumpster in the back of a Chuck E cheese. That's not right Yeah, it's like the string theory of pop. Yeah, really a multiverse Yeah, I do feel like I'm in the multiverse. I I Mean there's a world where the lina dunham memoir is the it book of the month. Mm-hmm And could spark a lot of conversation She sparks discourse just by existing How many juicy gossip nugs is this one you're gonna produce that's another great question for me and People will write about this just to hate on it because that's right like hating on lina dunham is its own whole internet sport Yeah, I don't I don't think what would be the best zag lina dunham could say like what what would be What would be actually really surprising for her to I don't know Yeah, right? I mean like I would have been watched girls and like read other things about her. I would believe just about anything which Is its own whole statement about lina dunham. I don't know about this I do not know about this. Let's let's just advance. We're gonna hold in the bands here because we got one more Oh, we have one more. Okay. We have one more and and maybe The world's most interesting man can get you out of your jam because pat and rad and kief as a book coming out of Yes, patrick save me. It's london calling which I talked about I believe in front of this way last week because I Just listened to it and I couldn't not talk about it. It's his new Narrative nonfiction it centers on a young man a 19 year old who jumps He descends rapidly from a balcony. Let's put it that way in a expensive from the expensive I it's an expensive apartment. That's above the Thames multiple stories above the Thames It's found dead a few days later Down the river and it's how did this happen? But also how does it connect a larger forces at work in the world and in london in particular About money about policing about social media About lying and trying to be some a fake it till you make it assumes at some points that you make it And what if you don't what if you just faked it and then someone found out that maybe you were faking it Fascinating and then maybe what happened a family story a cultural story But prk he's probably wearing some sweet drip from j crew and some photo shoot the author on this list That's been a j crew model. Yeah An important day in the shinski household April 7th is squid game for upmarket commercial and literary nonfiction I mean does london following get you out of the shinski and not you tied for yourself at this point? Now I can just play an imaginary game where patrick ratt and kief and ben learner are up against each other Oh, okay that I like to have I think it's patrick ratt and kief like this is one for the dads both literal and spiritual Yes, he's I mean he's so reliably good And he feels like an author to me from like before internet times like he's just really digging into stuff He tells a great story The books stand on their own and he could get some internet juice like, you know, it's nonfiction So it's not going to get a big book club pick, but he could get some award nominations He consistently appears on best books of the year lists like When there's an announcement that a patrick ratt and kief book is coming They're probably just like saving a spot for it on the new york times end of year stuff when it happens And a clash reference is the title Yeah, the dads the dads now we're not we're not zeppelin dads anymore. We're clash dads now Love this. I love this for all of us and the dads and I love it for me because patrick ratt and kief has saved me from a weird dilemma Entirely of our own construction ours ours Our construction Sometimes you reorder them to make the but this was a very interesting Round like there's so many good books coming out in april that we had a lot of interesting head-to-heads here even without You intentionally setting them up. I feel good about this. Thank you patrick ratt and kief Should I do a couple honorable mentions as things that I noted just hear something other things that are coming out tabs You got a load man. Come on internet. You got to help me out. Okay. Yeah, let's see here The infinite sadness of small appliances by glenn dixon It's brave little toaster meets walley for the literary set. So basically when the internet of things goes sentient And stuff happens when you're a rumba like, you know has feelings and wants to do things I'm not sure I feel about that Let's see This is for me if this be magic the unlikely art of Shakespeare in translation I've had this on my radar people in different, you know languages and cultures trying to Capture Shakespeare for Shakespeare but also in a way that makes sense For their own cultures and languages. So that was very cool to see very jeff cor Yeah, um, let's see We feel about a new tom parada right now ghost town. Have you heard about this one? Yeah, I have I'm always paying attention To a new tom parada, but I'm still waiting to like is this going to be buzzy Where are we? The last couple new tom paradas have just sort of come and gone, but I'm Very much a stand for like early 2000s tom parada I just made up this comp and I'm not sure it's right because I haven't read this book But it's called it's a killer in the family by a min amad I it's sounding to me like what if crazy rich Asians was a murder mystery. Oh fun Killer in the family. It sounds pretty cool a lot of good buzz. It's gonna be pretty squarely like Commercial genre crossover, but so so what great dear monica luinsky. Hmm I don't know I need more information. Yeah, so This novel is like a biography of luinsky you written in the style of the lives of saints Where she's like a saint Like saint monica luinsky was like a martyr It sounds super weird and I'm gonna read 25 pages in it and let that decide if I'm gonna continue I look forward to hearing about how I do not know Ada limone has a nonfiction book about poetry. That's all I need to look at it's breaking National poetry month get out there. It is that for sure Jane and phillips has a memoir out Jane and phillips who won the Pulitzer prize for night watch in a real surprise But Jane and phillips can write a sentence And I think this is sort of in the jenette winterson You know tarot west over hard scrabble literary woman growing up story a small town girl should grow up in west virginia But it's 22 essays But it's called a memoir So i'm not sure if they're pulling an amy tan here where it's like these are 22 out of the biography of essays Let's just call it all a memoir. It's short stories, but we'll call it a novel. That's fine So there's that I mean a memoir in essays is not an unheard of thing No, not unheard of i've just i'm just saying let's be careful with our nomenclature out there We don't have any genre fraud I also want to note that the correspondent is getting a deluxe edition in april. I thought that were out there As well bought that for my mom last week. Mm-hmm I think that kind of does it for me. There's some other things, but I think i'm pretty comfortable With this It's a good. I don't need to talk about anything. Yeah, it's a good month It's it's a lot of fun. Should it's email podcast at book ride dot com if one of those Really is getting you super excited if there's things that we left off the list at the same time Oh the award for the worst timing Uh of a book release I don't remember the guy's name, but the head chef like founder of noma basically that me tooed And the noma guide to building flavor is coming up Renee redzephy. Yeah, yeah, Renee redzephy I think there's the pub the publicity hits for that are going to be really Few and far between surprise. They're not just I don't mean to make out a joke out of that, but it's just too long That's that's tough. That is tough Um, while we're in the it books corner gem I think that we have to crown a new airport book queen Because I have not I've stopped seeing eval and hugo everywhere and in airports last week It was theo of golden all over the place really more than the correspondent. Do you see any correspondence? I didn't see any correspondence out in the wild. I think it's because it's still in hard cover and theo of golden is paperback Man, do you have golden is selling? I think I don't actually know which one is outsold the other My sense right now is that the old golden has sold more than the correspondent But the correspondent like is still in hard cover so it feels like it's still front list. I think you're absolutely right about that All right, so there we go. Go book right comm slash listen for a show new to go to patreon to listen to our Bonus episodes. What's next on the picture? The next one is we're going to talk about our favorite debuts of the last five to ten years Oh lord a mercy. I got homework to do. Uh-huh. Yeah, I'm behind on that Go check out zero to well read. Yeah very much so go check out zero to well read much to do And How we've got some good ones coming. I mean, they're all good But we've got some real great ones coming out pretty soon And i'm reading something for our friday recording which me too I think listeners of this show will be especially glad to No exists and definitely will stay in the can and not be lost to the digital ether Yeah, we might might do a little something special for patreon members over here who Didn't get a book club conversation a few years ago that they expected right that's right. It's a good one You know sometimes sometimes you can't catch them all it's gonna be fun All right, reka. Thank you so much. Happy april. Happy reading. Happy spring everybody