Cormac McCarthy is not on Twitter (This week in books)

This week! Books!

After the sudden death of longtime Scholastic CEO Richard Robinson, there’s now a succession drama surrounding his estate that’s worthy of, well, HBO’s Succession. This would be merely the stuff of tabloids, and not fit for the esteemed halls of This Week in Books, except that control of a $1.2 billion publisher who has US rights for the likes of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Clifford the Big Red Dog is at stake.

A lot of smart people who proooooobably should have known better retweeted a viral tweet by the latest Cormac McCarthy impersonator on Twitter, which had been mistakenly verified with a blue checkmark. (Which is actually a white checkmark, but you know what I mean). Cormac McCarthy remains off Twitter, which seems a wise choice.

Chanté Griffin reflects on the treatment of Blackness in The Baby-Sitters Club and her reactions to it then and now. In some ways BSC was ahead of its time given the stark lack of diversity in children’s literature at that point, but for Griffin it “lacked the kind of cultural sophistication I needed as a young reader.”

In writing craft news, Kristen Lamb has a great post on the good, bad, and ugly of physical description, and Lincoln Michel wonders what’s up with people treating “plot” like it’s a bad word.

And agents Jessica Faust, James McGowan, and Kim Lionetti talk about how they read queries.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

1. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
2. People We Met on Vacation by Emily Henry
3. The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
4. The Cellist by Daniel Silva
5. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. American Marxism by Mark R. Levin
2. I Alone Can Fix It by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker
3. The Authoritarian Moment by Ben Shapiro
4. How I Saved the World by Jesse Watters
5. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

Young adult hardcover:

1. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
2. Star Wars the High Republic: Out of the Shadows by Justina Ireland
3. Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
4. Small Favors by Erin A. Craig
5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Middle grade hardcover:

1. Refugee by Alan Gratz
2. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
3. Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
4. Food Network Magazine: The Big, Fun Kids Baking Book edited by Food Network Magazine
5. Ali Cross: Like Father, Like Son by James Patterson

This week on the blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

• Don’t over-explain “default” objects and gestures
• How to rediscover your passion for writing
• The reader needs context (page critique)

Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:

• Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
• Nominate Your Query for a Critique on the Blog

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Twitter
• Follow my page on Facebook
• Join the Facebook Group
• Check out the Bransforums

And finally, just another normal week at normal Goodreads…

Have a great weekend!

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