Sure, you're probably still catching up on all the books you missed from 2024. But time marches on! So here are a few books out soon (or now!) that are piquing our interest.
Fiction
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (Jan 14)
In this tale, a middling literary writer dips her toes into the world of sci-fi, and writes a hit book about robots and A.I. Okorafor's book bounces between the novel (about the writer) and the novel-within-the novel (about the robots), and the result is an ambitious blend of genres.
Dream State by Eric Puchner (Feb 18)
A guy is getting married and his best friend from college is officiating. Except the best friend ends up marrying the fiancé. The book wonders about the what-ifs in life – what if I married a different person, what if I took that job path, what if guys just talked to each other instead of just letting things sit quietly between them?
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (March 18)
It's a new Hunger Games book, c'mon. The book is another prequel to the original trilogy, taking place 24 years prior to the first novel. In true Suzanne Collins fashion, not a lot is known about the book, other than she was inspired by the Scottish philosopher David Hume as well as by the power of propaganda.
Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah (March 18)
This is Gurnah's first novel since he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021. It's a coming-of-age novel set in a Tanzania that is rapidly changing with tourism and technology, about a couple who take in a young boy and the suspicions that start to bubble up between them all.
Tilt by Emma Pattee (March 25)
Pattee is a climate journalist whose debut novel is a taut and fast-paced thriller about a pregnant woman named Annie trying to survive a trip to IKEA. And then an earthquake erupts. Each decision Annie makes – who she helps and who she leaves behind – is a heavy one, but never weighs down the narrative thrust of the book.
Nonfiction
Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly (Jan 7)
A reported look inside the guts of an app millions of us use daily. The book digs into the app's origins, the economic toll its influence has taken on artists, but also how it's shaped the way we all listen to music – or, maybe I should say, muzak?
Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed To Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman by Brooke Shields (Jan 14)
A surprisingly funny book about aging as a woman in Hollywood from the superstar actor and model. Shields is open about balancing her identities as a mother and as an actor, and calls out the types of roles made available to women "of a certain age."
Bibliophobia: A Memoir by Sarah Chihaya (Feb 4)
For Chihaya, there are certain books she dubs "life ruiners." These are books that have altered your worldview so thoroughly, that they have fundamentally changed how you view your place on this Earth… and not necessarily in a good and healthy way? It's a memoir about mental health and depression told through the eyes of a book obsessive.
How To Sell Out: The (Hidden) Cost of Being a Black Writer by Chad Sanders (Feb 4)
Sanders' career as a writer popped off in the summer of 2020, after an essay of his went viral. He got an influx of new writing jobs – the types of jobs where he'd get paid to mine his experiences as a Black man. This is a book of personal stories about what it costs to be wrung out of your personal stories for cash.
Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's by Charles Piller (Feb 4)
Science magazine journalist Charles Piller expands on his investigative reporting looking at all the years of Alzheimer's research that was based on false data. The book covers what happened but also the profit motives of the key players that got us here in the first place.
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