Book News You Can Use 12/5/14

Relax in Paradise Kent Haruf, Mark Strand,  P. D. James and Claudia Emerson.

Congratulations to all of the Morris Award nominees.

The Best of 2014 lists keep coming in with Slate (they also had an overlooked books list), BookPage, New York Times (they also have a children and YA list and have narrowed it down to 10),  Huffington Post, NPR, BuzzFeed, PopSugar (over 200 books) and Time adding theirs.

GoodReads users also got a chance to vote for their favorites of 2014.

Was 2014 the year of the debut author?

Jacqueline Woodson addressed the National Book Award controversy in an essay in the New York Times.

Claudia Rankine didn't win the National Book Award for poetry, but she did get props from the New York Times. And spoke about the violent deaths of black men on PBS NewsHour.

Musician PJ Harvey is releasing a poetry book in the new year.

Vox suggested people read Men We Reaped as a book that will help the public understand the Ferguson protests.  You don't have to read it just because of that. You should read it because it's a good book.

Writers at the New York Times also made suggestions for books to read to help understand Ferguson. Both were written before the Eric Gardner grand jury results.

The President and the First Daughters got out of the White House and bought some books when they shopped during Small Business Saturday.

Maurice Sendak's estate is being controlled by his former housekeeper and some are not happy about it.

A Nigerian author wrote about how she would like to see African literature become more popular in Africa.

Here are five African novels to read before you die.

Publishers Weekly wrote about the growing diversity of romance novels.

Are you into science fiction and are looking for something to read over the holidays?  BuzzFeed has some suggestions.  And at least two of the authors are African-American.

Here are some new children's books to read in the new year.

Zoella did what the Jenner sisters wish they could have done....write a best seller.

Take part in the #giveabook challenge!

Need help finding someone a book for the holidays? Email the Penguin Hotline!

Karen Quinones Miller writes about the popularity of African-American book clubs.