Official Feedbooks Blog

This week, three literary awards were given: the Orwell Book Prize, rewarding political writing of outstanding quality; the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, rewarding comic fiction; and the Ondaatje Prize, given to a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry which evokes the “spirit of a place”. You can see the winners of these prizes below.

Mexican author Carlos Fuentes died a year ago, on May 15th. For this occasion, publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux released more than fifteen works of the author in ebooks, for less than $8.
Most titles are available in the US and in Canada.

The biggest event in the literary world this week was obviously the release of Inferno, the fourth book in the series created by Dan Brown. This time, in Florence, “Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.”.
If you want to discover books from the same genre, take a look at the Esoteric Thriller category.

On the side of literary fiction, several great novels were released this week, praised by newspapers, blogs and magazines. Here are the novels we recommend.
And if this is not enough for you, you can browse the literary fiction category.

Sometimes it takes time for a book to get the recognition it deserves. Do you know John Edward Williams? He was an American author mostly famous for his novels Augustus, which shared the National Book Award in 1973 with John Barth’s Chimera; and Stoner, which “tells of the conflicts, defeats and victories of the human race that pass unrecorded by history, and reclaims the significance of an individual life.”  The novel was released in 1965 and gained new recognition in 2006 when it was reedited by New York Review Books. The book is actually experiencing another recent wave of success since its publication by Random House Vintage in 2012, which gives the chance to a whole new generation of readers to discover this gem. If you want to give this novel a chance, you’re in for a treat.
Please note that this book is only available in Europe.

This week, several awards were given, including the Edgar Awards, honoring the best mystery fiction and non-fiction;  the Arthur C. Clarke Award, honoring the best in science-fiction, and the Believer Book Award, rewarding the “strongest and most under-appreciated” work of fiction.

You can view all the latest literary awards on our dedicated page.

Icelandic author Sjón created a cult historical saga praised by artists such as Björk and translated in numerous languages all over the world. His three most famous works were just released this week in the US, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

If you are a contemporary romance enthusiast, you have probably read Colleen Hoover’s novel Slammed, the first book of an eponymous series which had a lot of success. The third book was just released this week and it is called This Girl.

Do not hesitate to browse our dedicated category if you like contemporary romance.

The work of Spanish writer Javier Marías is known far beyond the country’s frontiers, and has incidentally received the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1997 for his novel A Heart So White. Although his works have been widely translated and published, they have just recently been released in ebook.

On Feedbooks, you can sort the latest releases and bestsellers by origin, you can for example navigate through Hispanophone literature.

Putting yourself  ”out there” is not an easy task, and yet some personal accounts are beautifully written and read like a novel. Funny, informative, heartfelt, thought-provoking… That’s what memoirs can be – but also much, much more.

For more information, you can browse our Personal Memoirs category.

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books took place last weekend at the University of South California, and welcomed hundreds of authors, publishers and celebrities alike.
On Friday, the Los Angeles Times Book prize rewarded authors for works of fiction, non-fiction, and other non book-related prizes were awarded, such as the Innovator’s Award, awarded to Margaret Atwood, or the Kirsch Award, awarded to Kevin Starr.
For more information about the prizes, you can refer to the dedicated page on the website of the festival.
Most works rewarded by the LA Times Book Prize are available in ebook on our platform.

You have probably heard of David Sedaris for his famous collection of essays Me Talk Pretty One Day. His new collection of essays released this week is called Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls, and is “the bold, funny, and mildly offensive return to the Sedaris for which most have long waited” (The Picky Girl), and we could not recommend it any better.

This week, we interviewed American author Alice La Plante. She teaches Creative Writing at Stanford University and San Francisco and lives in Palo Alto, California, with her daughter and her partner. Turn of Mind is her first novel and received multiple literary awards.

“I wanted to explore what Alzheimer’s does to people, relationships, and families”

Read our interview of Alice LaPlante

Spring is coming, trees are blooming… If the weather makes you want to lie down with a light-hearted comedy, you will probably enjoy Sophie Kinsella’s latest novel Wedding Night.

Kirkus Reviews: Bright, bouncy, engaging and perfect for filming.

World famous master of espionage John le Carré is back with a new novel called A Delicate Truth. If you are in Europe, all of his former novels are under £4.99 or €6.49.

Our weekly selection covers such diverse topics as the transformation of food, a crime novel about a crime novelist, and two Young Adult novels taking place in a world which is definitely not ours… Happy reading!

This week, we interviewed Scott Hutchins and Noah Hawley.

Scott Hutchins teaches Creative Writing at Stanford University. A Working Theory of Love is his first novel.

“I consider A Working Theory of Love to be a love letter–not without criticism–to San Francisco”

Read our interview of Scott Hutchins about A Working Theory of Love

Noah Hawley is a TV and movie producer and writer, a composer and a novelist. The Good Father is his first novel.

“Medical mysteries are nothing like the mysteries of human behavior”

Read our interview of Noah Hawley about The Good Father

Last Monday, the Pulitzer Board announced the winners and finalists of the most coveted literary prize in the US. This year, the Fiction Prize was awarded, unlike last year when they chose not to pick a winner between the three finalists Dennis Johnson, David Foster Wallace and Karen Russell.

The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction was awarded to Adam Johnson for his novel The Orphan Master’s Son.

The New York Times: Mr. Johnson has written a daring and remarkable novel, a novel that not only opens a frightening window on the mysterious kingdom of North Korea, but one that also excavates the very meaning of love and sacrifice.

The finalists in this category were Eowyn Ivey for The Snow Child and Nathan Englander for his short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.

The Pulitzer Prize for Biography went to The Black Count by Tom Reiss, a biography of Alexandre Dumas’s father, the real count of Monte Cristo.

The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry was awarded to Sharon Olds for her poetry collection Stag’s Leap.

Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall received the Pulitzer Prize for History.

It’s not an award, but it lasts a long time: this week, British literary magazine Granta published its list of twenty Best of Young British Novelists. Started three decades ago and published every ten years, Granta has foreseen with this list the success of literary icons such as Salman Rushdie or Jeanette Winterson. You can see the full list on their website, and if you want to read them right now, you can refer to the list of those available in ebook on our platform.
Jenni Fagan, whom we had interviewed a few months ago, is in this list! You can read our interview of Jenni Fagan about her novel The Panopticon.

We selected four books of genre fiction among the latest releases: if you like epic fantasy, Promise of Blood is right up your alley! If you have a thing for hard-boiled characters, Bernie Gunther should satisfy your literary cravings in A Man Without Breath, the ninth book of the series written by Philip Kerr. Save the game and save your life: discover the thrilling story of videogame makers in You by Austin Grossman. Would you like to wander through the streets of London in springtime? The characters of London Falling by Paul Cornell do not. Why is that? Because they are otherworldly creatures, and they prefer prowling.

For several years now, zombies have been the main subject of major movies and best-selling novels, such as the recent Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. Why do we find them so fascinating? Did you always wonder how to defend yourself in case they decide to take over? Is their slow motion walking due to a hip problem? So many questions, so few answers. But you may find what you’re looking for in our dedicated category.

Former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died this week, aged 87. Before the release of the authorized biography after her funeral to be held on the 17th April, the biography written by John Campbell is already available.

The cult epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time written by Robert Jordan has finally come to an end. The final installment had a hardcover release in January, but was released in ebook last Tuesday.

If you want to catch up on the series or missed one of the fourteen novels, that is not a problem: the whole series is available on our platform, DRM-free.

British author Anne Perry is famous for her Victorian mysteries featuring Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, “luring us into the multilayered richness of London, from the great mansions and secluded drawing rooms to the city’s festering slums”. If you’re a fan of historical mysteries, don’t hesitate to browse our dedicated category.

And if don’t know what to read this weekend, we strongly recommend Meg Wolitzer’s latest novel The Interestings. According to NPR, “the book is juicy, perceptive and vividly written”.