Most Anticipated Books: January-June 2024
These are the books that we can’t wait to read, host events for and put into readers hands.
Martyr! Kaveh Akbar (January 23)
MARTYR! is nothing short of a literary masterpiece. Kaveh Akbar has created such a moving novel of finding oneself, preserving and understanding history, and accepting difficult truths. We should all be eternally grateful to him for offering such a tender and profound story into the world!
—Amali
Come & Get It, Kiley Reid (January 30)
I loved Such a Fun Age so much, so I can’t wait for this sophomore novel from Reid - sure to be full of incisive and observant character studies. I’m ready!
—Bel
Wrong Norma, Anne Carson (February 4)
HOW COULD YOU NOT FALL ON YOUR FACE WITH DISTRACTION AND ANTICIPATION?????
—Bex
Your Shadow Half Remains, Sunny Moraine (February 6)
No faces, no eyes. Not if you want to survive.
Calling all fans of Bird Box and The Last Of Us! You’re in for a treat with this novella! This was such a delicious fever dream of a story! The entire time I couldn’t help but make connections to the surge of feelings we had when the pandemic swept the nation and so many of us were starved for human contact!
—Tiffany
Bunt! Ngozi Ukazu and Mad Rupert (February 13)
Creator of one of my favorite things of all time, Check Please, is BACK AT IT AGAIN. This incredibly rendered and brilliantly written story about the dramas of financial troubles and art school is simply so perfect. I would read anything Ngozi Ukazu touches.
—Teo
The Book of Love, Kelly Link
I am obsessed with Kelly Link! Get In Trouble, White Cat, Black Dog are both some of my favorite story collections to date and now you’re telling me she’s gracing us with a NOVEL. It cannot come fast enough.
—Isabella
Wandering Stars, Tommy Orange (February 27)
If you thought, "there is no way that Tommy Orange can follow up There There," I was right there with you. Well, we were wrong. Wandering Stars is incredible and even more expansive and touching. Tommy brings so much history and feeling to his remarkable characters and yes, you will cry again. A lot.
—Nick
The Extinction of Irena Rey, Jennifer Croft (March 5)
I am as obsessed with this incredible book as these abandoned translators are with their elusive author! What an incredible exploration of language and power, isolation and ambition, and the unrelenting force of the natural world. THE EXTINCTION OF IRENA REY is everything a novel can and should be—sharp, evocative, funny, mysterious, surreal—I spent a whole weekend reading it and will spend months thinking about it!
—Amali
Those Beyond the Wall, Micaiah Johnson (March 12)
This book wrecked me!!! Micaiah Johnson’s first book, The Space Between Worlds, is my go-to sci/fi recommendation, and her newest book, Those Beyond the Wall is everything I hoped her follow up would be—it’s a gripping, dark, intricately plotted sci-fi adventure, full of fascinating characters. The story explores themes of rage, state violence, technology, and more, and Johnson balances those themes perfectly with strong world-building and a fast-paced mystery plot.
—Julia
The Woods All Black, Lee Mandelo (March 19)
Gender exploration, a sexy, heartbreaking romance, and folk horror all in one, this novella could have been 10 times longer and I would have loved every second. Let trans people become the monster and tear the world apart, it's what they deserve!!!!
—Teo
Spider in the Well, Jess Hannigan (March 19)
I’m so excited for this book!!! With adorable illustrations and an incredible sense of humor, Jess Hannigan tells a story of a busy busy boy who is just trying to take care of people and make a couple deals while he does it. For fans of Jon Klassen!!
—Isabella
NO GODS NO MASTERS! I'm so obsessed with this book that I read the PDF to our UPS guy (and he loved it, of course...)
—Kristina
Rainbow Black, Maggie Thrash (March 19)
Pardon my french, but what a FUCKING ride this was. As a fan of Maggie Thrash’s YA graphic memoir, Honor Girl, I had no idea what to expect from her adult fiction. This book hooked me, and left my jaw totally unhinged from my head. See if you can follow–Lacey is thirteen when her parents, a pair of hippies who run a daycare, are arrested on accusations of ritualistic abuse against the daycare’s children, a classic case of Satanic Panic, or is it? Their arrest sends Lacey’s life into a shocking downward spiral. Together with her older sister, the girls endure a torturous, high-profile trial, harassment and an aching loneliness from losing their parents. There are identity changes, devilish dads and a whole lot of blood.
—Aatia
Diavola, Jennifer Marie Thorne (March 26)
Welcome to Villa Taccola. She’s been waiting for you.
This was such a beautifully unhinged, twisted, folk horror tale! Jennifer Thorne does a devastatingly relatable conveyance of toxic family dynamics, tackling belonging and loneliness. Diavola not only explores those themes but gives you a haunted villa story! This was extremely atmospheric and I couldn’t help but think of Shirley Jackson’s Hill House! Diavola really captures what it’s like to be an outsider in your own family and the severe sense of loneliness that comes along with that.
—Tiffany
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, Hanif Abdurraqib (March 26)
Once again Hanif Abdurraquib has outdone himself. You wouldn’t think an author could feel more real than Abdurraqib already feels. This is an honest, personal collection about love. You see the love that is felt for Columbus, Ohio for his community and of course, basketball. This is the sports book for anyone, regardless of how you feel about sports. This may be one of the best books I have read ever, regardless of being my most anticipated of 2024.
—Nick
Gaga Mistake Day, Emma Straub & Susan Straub (April 9)
There is no book more anticipated than Gaga Mistake Day, the picture book I wrote with my mother, Susan Straub, and which will be out in April. Anticipated doesn’t begin to describe it, in fact—this, my mother’s first picture book, has been decades in the making, a true lifelong dream. I am so proud of the book, and of my mom, and to have the great Jessica Love bring it to life is a gift beyond measure. I hope you all love our Gaga as much as we do.
—Emma
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, Molly X. Chang (April 16)
I am SO excited to read this debut fantasy by Molly X. Chang! It looks like it has everything I love in a fantasy: epic worldbuilding, enemies-to-lovers, death magic. Yes please, can’t wait!!
—Bel
How Do I Draw These Memories? Jonell Joshua (April 16)
As soon as I got a peek at How Do I Draw These Memories? I knew I HAD to get my hands on it. I love a graphic memoir, I love a childhood diary style, I love a scrapbook illustration- this hits for me in every possible way. The sneak peek I’ve gotten has only affirmed my excitement; reading Jonell’s words feels like catching up with a childhood bestie & remembering all those crazy things that happened….wait, did that really happen?!
—Kristina
Reboot, Justin Taylor (April 23)
Former washed up TV actor tries to revive the show that brought him to glory. Sign me up. A Hollywood satire by the great Justin Taylor. Sign me up twice.
—Mike
All Fours, Miranda July (May 14)
I will read/watch/consume anything Miranda July does. I’m such a huge fan - everything she creates is idiosyncratic and singular - and we are so blessed to have another novel coming in 2024!
—Bel
True Love and Other Impossible Odds, Christina Li (May 14)
As a huge fan of Christina Li’s middle grade books, I’m so excited for her YA debut about a freshman at college who invents an algorithm to match everyone up on campus with their seemingly perfect match (and gets matched up with the perfect guy), only to have a burgeoning crush on the girl on her ski team throw everything into question. It’s everything I love in a YA: romance, bisexual hijinks, and discovery of sexuality. I can’t wait.
—Camryn
The Other Olympians, Michael Waters (June 4)
In December 1935, Zdeněk Koubek, one of the most famous athletes in women’s track-and-field sports, announced that he was going to be living as a man. He was widely embraced - until a small cadre of International Olympic Committee officials began devising a system of “sex testing” techniques that, they hoped, would keep trans and intersex athletes out of professional sports forever. One of the things I love about Michael’s writing, published in places like The New Yorker, is the way he finds queer stories from the past that remind us that we aren’t the first to be experiencing what we are going through. The connections to queer people of the past makes me feel like I’m truly part of a community.
—Camryn
Honey, Isabel Banta (June 25)
This debut novel follows the life of Amber, a young girl who loves to sing and perform. Honey tracks her life from her first talent show performance that gets her noticed, to the release of her third studio album Honey, and all the ugliness that comes with fame. Amber grapples with her own confidence, her friendships, and her self-respect in a way that feels very real and incredibly relatable. Banta’s characters materialize on the page and left me wanting to know them and be friends with them and maybe, if I’m lucky enough, even marry a certain producer…
—Isabella
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