20 highly anticipated books coming in 2024 we want to read
Book lovers, rejoice: it’s winter, which means the best possible excuse to stay inside with a blanket and read the night away. We’re also approaching the New Year, so if you’re planning on making a resolution to read more books in 2024, you’ll be glad to hear that publishers have you covered.
The first few months of 2024 will bring readers much to choose from, whether you’re a fan of imaginative historical fiction, memoirs about cats and the people they tolerate, essays that touch on music and sports, or short stories that will transport you to places you’ve maybe never been.
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Make sure your fireplace is in working order, and take a look at this list of 20 forthcoming books to keep you company over the next few chilly months.
“You Dreamed of Empires”
Author: Álvaro Enrigue, translated by Natasha Wimmer
What It’s About: Enrigue is a bona fide literary star in his native Mexico. His latest novel to be translated into English is a defiantly modernist look at the early attempts at diplomacy between conquistador Hernán Cortés and the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II.
Publication Date: Jan. 9
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“The Fetishist”
Author: Katherine Min
What It’s About: Min’s novel tells the story of Kyoko, a 23-year-old punk-rock singer determined to exact revenge on Daniel, the violinist who dumped her mother before her death. Min, author of the critically acclaimed “Secondhand World,” died in 2019 at the age of 60.
Publication Date: Jan. 9
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“The Best That You Can Do: Stories”
Author: Amina Gautier
What It’s About: The author’s fourth short story collection focuses on the lives of families with Black and Puerto Rican heritage living in the Northeast. Gautier is a master of the form and won the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in the art of the short story in 2018.
Publication Date: Jan. 16
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“Martyr!”
Author: Kaveh Akbar
What It’s About: Poet Akbar’s debut novel is a darkly funny look at Cyrus, a young poet battling substance use disorder who is determined to get to the bottom of a secret that his mother, who was killed in an airplane shot down over the Persian Gulf, apparently kept.
Publication Date: Jan. 23
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“I Sing to Use the Waiting: A Collection of Essays about the Women Singers Who’ve Made Me Who I Am”
Author: Zachary Pace
What It’s About: The essays in Pace’s collection detail their journey coming out as queer, influenced by their favorite women singers, including Whitney Houston, Cat Power, Madonna, and Rihanna.
Publication Date: Jan. 23
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“Black Women Taught Us”
Author: Jenn M. Jackson
What It’s About: The debut book from the political scientist and Teen Vogue columnist is an essay collection that looks at Black women authors and movement leaders, including Audre Lorde, Ida B. Wells, and Harriet Jacobs.
Publication Date: Jan. 23
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“Come and Get It”
Author: Kiley Reid
What It’s About: Fans of Reid’s popular debut novel, “Such a Fun Age,” have been waiting since 2019 for her next book. This one follows a University of Arkansas senior resident assistant whose life becomes entangled with that of a visiting professor.
Publication Date: Jan. 30
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“With Every Great Breath: New and Selected Essays, 1995-2023”
Author: Rick Bass
What It’s About: Montana-based author Bass is one of the country’s foremost nature writers, with dozens of books to his name, including influential titles like “Oil Notes” and “The Ninemile Wolves.” His latest book collects his essays about locations such as Alaska, Namibia, and the Galápagos Islands.
Publication Date: Feb. 6
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“Fourteen Days”
Editors: Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston
What It’s About: A project from the Authors Guild, this ambitious novel tells the story of a group of New Yorkers sheltering in place in a tenement during the first days of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Each of the characters is written (secretly) by a different author; the lineup includes Celeste Ng, John Grisham, Angie Cruz, Dave Eggers, De’Shawn Charles Winslow, and many more.
Publication Date: Feb. 6
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“Bugsy and Other Stories”
Author: Rafael Frumkin
What It’s About: Frumkin gained critical praise for his first two books, the novels “The Comedown” and “Confidence.” The characters in his new short story collection include an e-girl influencer and her unstable fan, a psychiatrist who hears a mysterious voice in his head, and a young adult who finds a home in a community of sex workers.
Publication Date: Feb. 13
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“Revolutions in American Music: Three Decades That Changed a Country and Its Sounds”
Author: Michael Broyles
What It’s About: Musicologist and veteran music critic Broyles explores the 1840s, the 1920s, and the 1950s in his book that tackles topics including rock ‘n’ roll, the transistor radio, and race.
Publication Date: Feb. 20
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“Ours”
Author: Phillip B. Williams
What It’s About: One of the most anticipated books of the year, this debut novel from poet Williams follows Saint, a 19th-century conjurer who rescues enslaved people and takes them to a secluded community north of St. Louis, where they can live as free people.
Publication Date: Feb. 20
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“Hard Girls”
Author: J. Robert Lennon
What It’s About: The latest from author Lennon, known for his imaginative fiction, is a crime novel about two estranged twin sisters who reunite in order to go in search of their long-lost, mysterious mother.
Publication Date: Feb. 20
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“Anita de Monte Laughs Last”
Author: Xochitl Gonzalez
What It’s About: Gonzalez had a bestseller in 2022 with “Olga Dies Dreaming,” her debut novel. Her follow-up follows Raquel, an upwardly mobile art history student, and the titular character, a promising young artist who died under mysterious circumstances more than a decade before.
Publication Date: March 5
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“Cat and Bird”
Author: Kyoko Mori
What It’s About: The latest from the novelist (“Shizuko’s Daughter”) and nonfiction author (“The Dream of Water”) is “a memoir in animals,” telling the story of her life as a writer through six cats that she’s lived with, and reflecting on the birds that she has helped rescue.
Publication Date: March 5
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“Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring”
Author: Brad Gooch
What It’s About: Gooch’s previous biographies have told the life stories of writers including Flannery O’Connor and Frank O’Hara. His latest tackles influential pop artist Haring, whose promising career was cut short when he died in 1990 at 31.
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“Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling”
Author: Jason De León
What It’s About: UCLA anthropology professor De León embedded with a group of coyotes, or migrant guides, over the course of several years to study the people behind the industry of human smuggling. His book seeks to dispel stereotypes about those involved with moving migrants across Mexico.
Publication Date: March 19
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“James”
Author: Percival Everett
What It’s About: USC professor and author Everett is one of the most critically acclaimed novelists working today. His latest is a hilarious reimagining of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” told from the point of view of the enslaved character Jim.
Publication Date: March 19
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“There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension”
Author: Hanif Abdurraqib
What It’s About: The latest from the acclaimed author of “A Little Devil in America” combines memoir and cultural criticism to reflect on basketball (he’s a lifelong fan), celebrity, and the idea of role models.
Publication Date: March 26
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“Like Happiness”
Author: Ursula Villarreal-Moura
What It’s About: The buzzy debut novel from author Villarreal-Moura follows an art museum worker in Chile who is forced to confront her past relationship with an author who has been accused of assault.
Publication Date: March 26