Recommended Reading: Most Anticipated 2021 Releases (Vol. 2)

There were so many titles our booksellers are excited about this year that we had to split the list into smaller, more manageable pieces. Check out the spring releases we just can’t wait to get our hands on, and catch up on on the first installment here.

Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney (April 6)

Finally, a second novel by Sweeney, the author of The Nest! I loved this book about marriage and parenthood and long-term friendships. –Emma

Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins (April 6)

Literally, what can’t Morgan Jerkins do? After loving her first two books, both non-fiction, I can’t wait to read her debut novel, about a Harlem family full of secrets and magic. –Emma

I’m Waiting for You by Bo-Young Kim (April 6)

Translated, here, for the first time in English, are the probing and existential stories of one of South Korea’s most influential sci-fi writers. Written in pairs of thematically interconnected stories, two of the stories follow an engaged couple separated in space, but hoping to meet again at their wedding ceremony on Earth. The other two offer a glimpse into the world of gods; when one of the gods’ creations rebels against the natural order of existence, that very order is put into question. Bong Joon-ho calls the collection “a groundbreaking, mystic literary and cinematic experience.” It sounds sick as hell lol. –Serena

An Apprenticeship, or The Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector (April 6)

New Directions is at it again with another translation from legendary author, Clarice Lispector. Her books are surreal and cuckoo bananas but what's more cuckoo bananas is that she fell asleep smoking a cigarette one day and woke up to her house in flames. She suffered severe third degree burns and during her months recovering in the hospital, she wrote a romance novel. An Apprenticeship came after her metaphysical magnum opus, The Passion According to GH. Writing a romance novel as your follow up just sounds spicy and I can't wait to read! –Natalie

Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi (April 6)

A new mysterious fairytale from the queen of mysterious modern fairytales! This new novel is about a couple on a magical train and sounds transporting indeed. –Emma

Astrid Sees All by Natalie Standiford (April 6)

Two things I love more than most things in life: New York City and the 1980s. This book has both. Sign me up! –Emma

First, Become Ashes by K.M. Szpara (April 6)

I loved Szpara’s debut, Docile, which was a disturbing work of speculative fiction, and his sophomore novel looks to be just as intense and incredible. –Abby

Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho (April 13)

Published by my favorite press of all time, Spirits Abroad lives in the intersection of many genres like the best SFF does. Zen Cho’s writing is funny, engaging, and brilliant. This collection of short stories is especially great for those of us who want to sit down with a chunky little fantasy paperback but don’t have the time right now. But definitely sometime later this week-month-year. –Shulokhana

The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken (April 13)

Hot damn, I just love Elizabeth McCracken. I cackled with appreciate and awe throughout. If you love short stories, put this on your radar immediately. –Emma

How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino (April 13)

I was first drawn to this book because both Hayao Miyazaki and Neil Gaiman recommended it! It’s been a cult classic in Japan since 1937 and now it’s freshly translated into English. If you’re a fan of The Alchemist or The Little Prince, you’ll find this book pure magic! –Jacque

Permafrost by Eva Baltasar (April 16)

There are so many things I could say about why I can’t wait to inhale Permafrost: the love for novels by poets which my colleagues have inculcated me with (they were right); the vibrancy of Eva Baltasar’s prose and her sharp sense of place; the “no-bullshit” and “wickedly funny” lesbian narrator; its clear-eyed treatment of sex, desire, and the body. Intense and intoxicating, Permafrost checks all the boxes. –Nika

A Perfect Cemetery by Frederico Falco (April 16)

I love Charco Press, so when I saw that they were publishing a book translated by Jennifer Croft of Olga Tokarczuk fame–another favorite of mine–I couldn’t resist. This collection promises stories full of dark humor, obsession, and longing, and if the jacket copy is any indication that’s only the beginning. –Nika

Defekt by Nino Cipri (April 20)

Finna, the first book in this series by Nino Cipri, absolutely blew me away: it was fresh and fun and snarky, exactly what I needed to read in the middle of a slump, playing with all sorts of exciting ideas around time and space and reality. I can’t wait to see what they do with the sequel. –Abby

Popisho by Leone Ross (April 20)

I’m super into magic right now (I mean I think we can all use a little break from our established reality, right?) so when I heard about this “wildly imaginative” and “sensual” novel about a mysterious, fictional archipelago called Popisho, where all the citizens are born with a magical gift, I was sold! And with comparisons to Marquez, Morrison, and Roy? I mean c’mon! I’m ready to be enchanted by this book that promises to be as bold, bright, and beautiful as it’s cover. –Serena

Terminal Boredom by Izumi Suzuki (April 20)

Let’s start with the title, then add the alarmingly orange cover and the descriptor “charmingly deranged”. Are you really telling me you’re not intrigued? Because I certainly was. Terminal Boredom seems a little twisted and a lot unsettling, which means it's right up my alley. –Nika

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (April 20)

Michelle Zauner’s New Yorker piece of the same name is one of the best personal essays I have read to date. It’s a heart wrenchingly honest look into grieving, food, and identity. –Shulokhana

Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri (April 27)

A dreamy, pocket-sized book of wanderings around an Italian city, this novel made me want to quit my jobs and move to Rome, not because the book is particularly cheery, but because Lahiri’s prose is so magnificent. (Also of note: Lahiri wrote this book in Italian, and then translated it into English. All hail the majestic Jhumpa.) –Emma

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O'Neal (April 27)

A wildly fun YA about a college freshman dealing with the fallout of contracting Lyme disease, and her online best friend--who may or may not be a werewolf? This hits all the beats of growing up online, all the way down to the ridiculous Discord nicknames, and is the first YA novel I’ve read that really nails the eccentric gen Z energy. –Abby

White Magic by Elisa Washuta (April 27)

I simply cannot wait to read these essays about reclaiming indigenous spiritualism and witchcraft from the white-washed capitalist clutches. Washuta explores the devastating effects of a mental health misdiagnosis & substance abuse, cultural inheritance, and colonization in her search to reconnect with ancestral spirits and find restorative love as a Native woman. –Colleen

Voices in the Evening by Natalia Ginzburg (May 4)

New Directions has steadily been releasing these beautiful translations of Natalia Ginzburg's works. This novel looks to be just as mesmerizing and incredible as all her others. If you have not read any of Ginzberg's work you must start now! –Nick

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead (May 4)

Maggie Shipstead gets better and better and better, and this book is astonishing. (Nudge nudge to all my fellow Shipstead-heads.) About a woman pilot from Montana in the 1930s, and then flying off from there, around the world and through time, zowee. An incredibly satisfying read. –Emma

The Mysteries by Marisa Silver (May 4)

I am always on the hunt for books featuring intense female relationships and this novel definitely fits the bill. Seven-year-olds Miggy and Ellen are best friends and complete opposites--one wild and reckless, one quiet and cautious. But when a mysterious tragedy strikes, the characters are forced out of their wild, playful childhood and must confront the concept of a new future. –Lindsay

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (May 11)

Emily Henry is a pretend friend of mine, by which I mean, we have never met, but I follow her on Instagram. Mike (my husband, and co-owner of the store) read her last book, Beach Read, which left me envious. So this time I’m having all the fun. –Emma

Brat by Andrew McCarthy (May 11)

Andrew McCarthy is a wonderful writer, and I’ve loved his previous books, but I would be lying if I said this wasn’t the one I’d been waiting for. Fame is obviously a horrible fate, but McCarthy is a very good and honest writer, and how lucky for all of us that he’s willing to let us behind the curtain of his experience as a big-screen heartthrob. –Emma

Stamped (For Kids) by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi (May 11)

We got a version for adults, then young adults, and now it is time for KIDS to join the club! The best clubs are the antiracist kind; you know you want to join! –Jacque

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver (May 11)

Early on in the pandemic, I was recommended Ashley Weaver’s Amory Ames mystery series and absolutely ate it up, one book after another. While it looks like Amory’s story may have come to an end (*sobs*), Weaver is beginning a new series that promises to be just as addictive. A Peculiar Combination is set in World War II era England and is full of murder, spies, and Weaver’s signature witty style. Honestly, what more could you want from a cozy mystery series? –Lindsay

The Atmospherians by Alex McElroy (May 18)

A rehab for toxic masculinity sounds like what the world needs right now! –Mike FS

Heaven by Mieko Kawakami (May 25)

Mieko Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs was my December Staff Pick of 2020. Of course, I have to put her new book on my 2021 anticipated list! You can check out my blog about how much I love Japanese women in translation here. –Jacque

Cheat Day by Liv Stratman (May 25)

Sure to be as sharp and funny as its author, I can’t wait for this electric debut about a Brooklyn-based couple battling with their varied hungers and respective commitments (or lack thereof) to capitalism, wellness, and each other. –Serena

If this novel is an ounce as hilarious and clever as its author, we are in for a ride. Its premise, that a cycle of fad diets leads its protagonist into a series of self-starved bad decisions, is sure to offer a knife-sharp send-up of modern wellness culture. Cheat Day can’t come soon enough. –Michael C

Desire and all its trappings are at the center of this funny, sexy novel about Kit who is seduced by a cultish exercise fad and by a hunky carpenter at her dead-end bakery job while her husband’s career takes off. With a sharp critique of mainstream diet and “wellness” culture, as well as acute musings on post-capitalist ambition and fulfillment, I’ve been waiting to read this book for years (really!). As the former manager at Books Are Magic, I know Liv’s keen eye and wit are unparalleled, and we can’t wait to welcome her back to the store to host her launch May 25! –Colleen