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Big Books of the Week

Hope Rises by David Baldacci (Grand Central) leads holds this week.

Other titles in demand include:

Go Gentle by Maria Semple (Putnam)

Famesick: A Memoir by Lena Dunham (Random)

Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell (Morrow; LJ starred review)

Last One Out by Jane Harper (Flatiron; LJ starred review)

These books and others publishing the week of April 13, 2026, are listed in a downloadable spreadsheet.

Librarians and Booksellers Suggest

Six LibraryReads and four Indie Next picks publish this week:

The Lost Cities of El Norte: Coronado’s Quest, the Unconquered West, and the Birth of American Indian Resistance by Peter Stark (Mariner)

“In 1540, Spanish conquistador Francisco Coronado set out to seize the unconquered American West from the indigenous nations residing across the Plains through the Southwest. Though his expedition marked the first European sightings of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, it was ultimately unsuccessful, as Native resistance forced the Spaniards back into Mexico. Stark’s ambitious and well-told narrative adventure of the early Americas will be welcomed by history buffs and book groups.”——Kaite Stover, LibraryReads Board Member

Hall of Fame pick Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell (Morrow; LJ starred review) is also an Indie Next pick:

“Rainbow Rowell is incomparable! Her characters are real, like they could lift off the page and have coffee with you. She doesn’t shy away from their flaws, and that’s what I loved so much about Cherry Baby.”—Honor Hamilton, The Doylestown & Lahaska Bookshops, Doylestown, PA

Happy Ending by Chloe Liese (Gallery; LJ starred review) is also a Hall of Fame pick.

Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker (Hanover Square; LJ starred review)

“A troubled young man in 2026 begins communicating with the ghost of a female samurai from 1877 when he visits his father’s new home in Japan. Both hold bloody secrets. A gory and suspenseful horror read that combines lyrical, dream-like writing with a compelling story of past meeting present.”—Mara Bandy Fass, Champaign Public Library, IL

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“This story pulses with emotions, creating an overwhelming atmosphere of anxiety as you accompany the protagonists on their quest to unearth the secrets haunting their lives. Lee Baker’s work reveals itself in unexpected but satisfying ways.”—Anna Koennecke, The Open Door Bookstore, Schenectady, NY

The Left and the Lucky by Willy Vlautin (Harper)

“Vlautin has a knack for writing about the downtrodden, the unlucky, and the have-nots, and he does it again with The Left and the Lucky. His writing is spare and simple, but his stories are powerful. In this one, he explores the sweet relationship between middle-aged housepainter Eddie and his eight-year-old neighbor Russell, who is smart, lonely, forlorn, and bullied severely by his older brother. They make a found family that enhances both of their lives.”—Kelly Currie, LibraryReads Board Member

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“In his latest novel Willy Vlautin returns to working class Portland, OR. His sensitively written characters range from troubled young neighborhood boys to a garrulous drinker, a punk guitarist, and a house painter who answers most problems with love.”—Catherine Weller, Weller Book Works, Salt Lake City, UT

Go Gentle by Maria Semple (Putnam)

“Adora is an Upper West Side philosopher who seems to have her life together. She practices stoicism, and it keeps her grounded and happy—until it doesn’t. Who is the mysterious man who wants her to deliver a letter? What are her employers up to? How did she become a stoic? Readers follow along with Adora as she tries to find answers.”—Joan Hipp, LibraryReads Ambassador, NJ

It is also an Indie Next pick:

“Semple is a master at creating well fleshed out middle aged women characters. If you loved Where’d You Go, Bernadette, dare I say you will like this one even more! A romantic thriller/mystery with a side of philosophy.”—Stephanie Kitchen, City Lit Books, Chicago, IL

In the Media

People’s book of the week is Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Knopf). Also getting attention are Harmless Women by Rebecca Sharpe (Minotaur) and A Killer in the Family by Amin Ahmad (Holt). “Stellar Showbiz Stories” include The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke (Harper; LJ starred review), The Midnight Show by Lee Kelly & Jennifer Thorne (Crown), and Like This, but Funnier by Hallie Cantor (S&S).

The “Picks” section spotlights The Testaments, based on Margaret Atwood’s novel, on Hulu; The Miniature Wife, based on the short story by Manuel Gonzales; and the 50th anniversary of All The President’s Men, based on the book by Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein. 

The cover story features Jennie Garth and her new memoir I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose & Embracing Reinvention (Park Row). There is also a feature on RFK Jr. and the new book RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise by Isabel Vincent (Morrow). There is also a new photo book, Prince: Black, White, Color by Steve Parke (ACC Art Books), which celebrates the musician Prince 10 years after his death. Plus, there are recipes from Rene Subash, There’s Rice at Home: 80 Global Recipes Celebrating Rice (Quadrille), and Clodagh McKenna, Clodagh’s Happy Cooking (Kyle Bks.). 

Reviews

NYT reviews Go Gentle by Maria Semple (Putnam): “She amps up the mayhem in Go Gentle, her fourth novel and her first in 10 years. Like all her work, it’s a social satire full of dopamine-releasing one-liners and sparkling writing. But it can be frustratingly uneven”; The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land by Aziz Abu Sarah & Maoz Inon (Crown): “The achievement of Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon’s short but immensely poignant account of a shared journey across Israel and the West Bank is that it remains true to the horror while refusing to be defeated by it”; Empire of Skulls: Phrenology, the Fowler Family, and a New Nation’s Quest To Unlock the Secrets of the Mind by Paul Stob (Counterpoint; LJ starred review): “The greatest flaw of the book is its refusal to consider that these men, who trafficked in their theories to great financial success, may not have always been as well intentioned as Stob charitably imagines”; The Monuments of Paris by Violaine Huisman (Penguin Pr.): “The Monuments of Paris is perplexingly reportorial, and would be significantly improved by the invention typically mandated by fiction”; Lázár by Nelio Biedermann, tr. by Jamie Bulloch (Summit): “Biedermann aims for a grand European saga in the mode of The Leopard or Buddenbrooks, and at its best, the novel achieves a powerful rhyming between daily life and the demise of an epoch”; and A Terrible Intimacy: Interracial Life in the Slaveholding South by Melvin Patrick Ely (Holt): “Using records from six carefully selected criminal cases, each dissected in detail, Ely convincingly reveals how the antebellum social order was defined both by violent white supremacy and by a surprising variety of interracial relationships.”

Briefly Noted

The Canada Reads battle of the books kicks off today. CBC has coverage. 

CrimeReads suggests 10 new books for the week.

USA Today recommends eight heartfelt books. 

The Guardian shares 25 books to read before age 25. 

Tucker Carlson will launch a new imprint with Skyhorse Publishing. WSJ has the news. 

NYT has an interview with Lena Dunham, author of the new memoir Famesick (Random). 

NYT talks with Nelio Biedermann about his novel Lázár, tr. by Jamie Bulloch (Summit), and comparisons to Thomas Mann. 

LA Times chats with Rachel Khong about her new book, My Dear You: Stories (Knopf; LJ starred review). 

Authors on Air

NPR’s Up First talks with Cheryl W. Thompson about her book Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen (Dafina). 

Jennie Garth, I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose & Embracing Reinvention (Park Row), appears on GMA, Today, and Live with Kelly and Mark.

Lena Dunham, Famesick (Random), visits The View.

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