Missing Anthony Bourdain’s point (This week in books)

This week! Books!

Thanks so much to everyone who attended last evening’s Office Hours! I hope to upload the recording to YouTube when I have a moment and will share that when it’s ready. Remember, Office Hours are exclusively for newsletter subscribers, so if you haven’t already, sign on up.

It’s been a busy week, so links only, but here are some articles that caught my eye from the past week:

Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers 2025 – Writers Digest

An Open Letter on the Massacre in Gaza from an Editor in Israel – Uriel Kon, LitHub

‘Bourdainposting’ Misses the Point of Parts Unknown – Tres Dean, Vulture

Tough Categories: Five Top Book Editors on Publishing Memoir and Essay Collections – Alia Hanna Habib, Delivery & Acceptance

What hath thou wrought? – Kate McKean, Agents and Books – “You don’t get your money back from the store for the turkey because you overcooked it or your oven is wonky. It’s done and you move on.”

A Book Lover’s Guide to Exploring Paris – Vivian Song, Thrillist

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. Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
2. The Surrogate Mother by Freida McFadden
3. The Color of Death by Trey Gowdy with Christopher Greyson
4. Quicksilver by Callie Hart
5. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
2. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
3. Breakneck by Dan Wang
4. The Idaho Four by James Patterson and Vicky Ward
5. On Power by Mark R. Levin

Young adult hardcover:

1. Hour of the Pumpkin Queen by Megan Shepherd
2. Dream by the Shadows by Logan Karlie
3. Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie
4. A Theory of Dreaming by Ava Reid
5. Glorious Rivals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Middle grade hardcover:

1. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
2. Refugee by Alan Gratz
3. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
4. The School for Thieves by Peter Burns
5. Dream by Barbara O’Connor

This week on the blog

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

• Prime the reader to build anticipation

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Bluesky
• Check out the Bransforums

And finally:

If you have any interest in sports at all you probably heard about Pablo Torre’s bombshell report on Kawhi Leonard’s allegedly salary cap circumventing deal with a defunct green energy company, but the full report is worth a watch, both for its sprawling connections to so many cultural currents as well as Torre’s innovative delivery:

Have a great weekend!

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