Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 9h

Don't miss Jordan Castro, author of MUSCLE MAN, at Story Fest '25 next week! He'll be participating in a panel on Saturday, 10/18 at 2pm — details here:
westportlibrary.org/storyfest-20...

Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 10h

"Nuria, who had a young daughter, wondered what pleasure a killer might derive from murder. And, even worse, what pleasure a child killer might derive from the act."

Read the full excerpt from Brenda Lozano's MOTHERS via @literaryhub.bsky.social: buff.ly/ydrdtUY

Mothers

The little girl’s case became a topic of conversation on the street and in offices and homes. Thanks to their privilege, the Miranda Felipe family had been able to get special treatment from the po…

lithub.com

Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 11h

🌲 COVER ANNOUNCEMENT 🌲 Dane Bahr fans can rejoice! We're here to share the cover of his forthcoming novel THE DEAD RINGER, designed by Victoria Maxfield with art direction by Nicole Caputo!

THE DEAD RINGER goes on sale 4/21/26. Preorder now 📚
buff.ly/xMgZTPa

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 3d

Happy pub to @kaychronister.bsky.social's THIN PLACES and THE BOG WIFE in paperback! Just in time to add to your spooky season TBR...🎃

✨ “Chronister’s writing is beautiful . . . But there is a clinging dread and mystery in these stories that will stay with you.” — @literaryhub.bsky.social

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 3d

Happy publication day to Brenda Lozano's MOTHERS! 💗

⭐ “An unforgettable portrait of maternal envy gone mad." — @publisherswkly.bsky.social (starred review)

⭐ "Another ambitious and original work from a writer who is always worth watching." —Kirkus Reviews

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 4d

MOTHERS hits bookstores tomorrow! @nytimes.com calls it "Propulsive. . . An insightful and sprawling book, clever enough to turn its formal contradictions into a strength."

Read the full review here: buff.ly/QTXGruk

Book Review: ‘Mothers,’ by Brenda Lozano

A cheeky narrator recounts a parent’s worst nightmare in Brenda Lozano’s new novel.

www.nytimes.com

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 8d

DIALOGUE WITH A SOMNAMBULIST by Chloe Aridjis is on sale now in paperback! 📚

“This fabulist work goes beyond the experimental; it is simply an experience—unsettling, monstrous and lovely.” — @nytimes.com

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 8d

THIN PLACES by @kaychronister.bsky.social was dubbed "the ideal book to kick off your Halloween season" by @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social!

chireviewofbooks.com/2025/10/01/1...

12 Must-Read Books of October 2025 - Chicago Review of Books

Here are the 12 books you need to read this October.

chireviewofbooks.com

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 9d

We're so excited to share that we have TWO books on the @americanbookseller.bsky.social November 2025 #IndieNext list! Thank you so much to the indie booksellers who helped make this possible 📚🫶

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 9d

"Nearly every one of Castro’s acerbic, unfiltered paragraphs contains a bristling insight about literature, weight lifting, or academic politics." — @newyorker.com

buff.ly/RQ2nrxJ

Briefly Noted Book Reviews

Short reviews of recent releases.

www.newyorker.com

Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 9d

📵 COVER ANNOUNCEMENT 📵 We are so excited to share the cover of NO CONTACT: Writers on Estrangement, edited by Jenny Bartoy! Cover design by the fabulous Nicole Caputo ⭐

NO CONTACT will hit bookstores on April 28th and is available to preorder now:
books.catapult.co/books/no-con...

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 10d

"THE DEVIL'S CASTLE is a sobering and disheartening — yet important — text. It shines a light onto a neglected history of World War II and onto a population that, too, has been neglected and mistreated." — @jewishbookcouncil.bsky.social

The Devil's Castle: Nazi Eugenics, Euthanasia, and How Psychiatry's Troubled History Reverberates Today

In a deft blend of memoir and historical account, Susan Paola Antonetta’s The Devil’s Castle: Nazi Eugenics, Euthanasia, and How Psychiatry’s Troubled History describes the ways in which e

www.jewishbookcouncil.org

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 10d

"She was like a mouse sniffing cheese in a trap, testing it out with its whiskers to see if it’ll snap shut, then when nothing happens, sticking in its whole head. Doesn’t even notice the trap swishing past its ears."

Read the full excerpt from PLAYING WOLF via Lit Hub.
buff.ly/ftSsyf9

Playing Wolf

The heat is so scorching it hurts even to breathe. You have to take the air in sips. Heavy, sticky heat clogs the lungs, hot gobs of spit come out your throat as you exhale. The wooden gate at U Fa…

lithub.com

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Reposted by Catapult Book Group

Alex Zucker @alexzucker.bsky.social · 10d

🎉 Happy pub day to PLAYING WOLF! @catapultbooks.bsky.social

To celebrate, here is a fun clip of Zuzana Říhová and me at @brooklinebooksmith.bsky.social Saturday night.

🙌 Shoutout to Pierce Alquist. L-o-v-e-d her suggestion that we read a section synchronously!

www.youtube.com/live/AcQkRXZ...

Brookline Booksmith is live! Transnational Series: Zuzana Říhová and Alex Zucker

YouTube video by Brookline Booksmith

www.youtube.com

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 10d

Read an excerpt from Susanne Paola Antonetta's THE DEVIL'S CASTLE on the forgotten history of disabled children during WWII via @motherjones.com.

buff.ly/4quVcD8

The forgotten history of disabled children under Nazism

Hitler's first order of mass murder wasn't about Jews.

www.motherjones.com

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 10d

PLAYING WOLF is on sale today! 🐺 Thanks to all who came out to Zuzana & @alexzucker.bsky.social's events over the past week. Here are a few snaps from their events at @volumesbooks.bsky.social and the Czech Consulate in Chicago!

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 11d

Big news! We’re so excited to share that FLAT EARTH by Anika Jade Levy will be available as an October Book of the Month add-on! 📚

🌟 “Not to be missed if you want to keep up with the literary zeitgeist.” — @gqmagazine.bsky.social

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 11d

🌿 COVER ANNOUNCEMENT 🌿 We're thrilled to share the cover of Pamela Steele's forthcoming novel IN THE FIELDS OF FATHERLESS CHILDREN, designed by Victoria Maxfield with art direction by @nicolecaputo.bsky.social!

Arriving on 3/24 — preorder now! buff.ly/2FBJWXl

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Reposted by Catapult Book Group

Matthew Rice @matthew-rice.bsky.social · 16d

Reading from plastic @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social @catapultbooks.bsky.social 💙🤍

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Reposted by Catapult Book Group

Alex Zucker @alexzucker.bsky.social · 13d

🤩 Amazing turnout tonight! Great questions from readers! First-rate moderating by Pierce A! Warm welcome from all of @brooklinebooksmith.bsky.social staff!

📚 Autographed copies of PLAYING WOLF @catapultbooks.bsky.social at Brookline Booksmith now, in the Transnational Literature section!

Bookcase at Brookline Booksmith displaying books autographed by authors and translators featured in the store’s Transnational Literature Series

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 17d

Happy publication day to Susanne Paola Antonetta's THE DEVIL'S CASTLE! 📚

THE DEVIL'S CASTLE delves into the forgotten history of eugenics and links it to present-day psychiatry to explain how we as a culture continue to get mind care so wrong.

www.counterpointpress.com/books/18125/

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Reposted by Catapult Book Group

Alex Zucker @alexzucker.bsky.social · 20d

PLAYING WOLF on tour! 🧺 🐺 👧

By Zuzana Říhová, translated by @alexzucker.bsky.social, published by @catapultbooks.bsky.social

🌟 9/21: @bkbookfest.bsky.social
🌟 9/22: Czech Center New York
🌟 9/25: Volumes Bookcafe, Chicago
🌟 9/26: Czech Consulate, Chicago
🌟 9/27: @brooklinebooksmith.bsky.social

Image shows the cover of the novel Playing Wolf, by Zuzana Říhová, translated from Czech by Alex Zucker. Text is crimson red on a black background. Cover illustration shows a pale, feeble-looking hand, bleeding a large drop of pink blood. Main text: Playing Wolf. Tour sponsored by (logos) Czech Center New York, Czech Lit, Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chicago, and Czechoslovak Heritage Museum, Cicero, Illinois

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Reposted by Catapult Book Group

Barbara J. King @bjking.bsky.social · 19d

Wheeler always called him by his full name, "Sunfish," out of respect, which he gave along with awe and love, because the horse by his presence and bearing seemed to require it. --Wendell Berry, Marce Catlett: The Force of a Story, forthcoming. @catapultbooks.bsky.social #SundaySentence #Booksky

The cover notes this is a Port William novel coming in October. The cover image shows a rural scene with a farm building that may be a tobacco shed.

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 18d

RESTING BITCH FACE is an Audacious Book Club pick! 📚 Join @taylorbyas.bsky.social and @roxanegay.bsky.social for a virtual conversation on September 23 at 5PM PT/8PM ET.

Register here: buff.ly/hnP05V8

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 21d

Big news!! WHAT HAPPENS AT NIGHT by Peter Cameron is coming to the big screen and will be starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence! 🤩 Huge congrats, Peter!

Read more here: ift.tt/STGO93v

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