The first half of the year was filled with so many good books. The most anticipated list for the first half of the year ballooned to 60 titles. The second half of the year is competing with a presidential election, which means there are usually fewer books being published. Still, I managed to read dozens of books that are coming out between now and the new year.
Here are 25 titles that I had the pleasure of reading and cannot wait for the rest of the world to discover.
July
The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kolawole (Amistad; July 2)
From the publisher: As wrenching and luminous as Omar El Akkad’s What Strange Paradise and Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, a searing exploration of the global migration crisis that moves from Nigeria to Libya to Italy, from an exciting new literary voice.
Kolawole’s debut is incredibly moving. Not only is it an eye-opening guide into Nigeria, but it expertly explores migration and community. On top of all of the heart is exquisite writing that will inspire you.
Anyone’s Ghost by August Thompson (Penguin Press; July 9)
From the publisher: An extraordinary debut novel in which the transforming love and friendship between two young men during one unforgettable teenage summer in rural New England haunts them into adulthood
An expansive coming-of-age novel where Thompson isn’t afraid to lean into heartbreaking moments. It’ll make you cry but it’s so much more than that. Thompson finds the funny, the horny, and the uncomfortable in growing up and finding yourself when everything around you just doesn’t seem right.
Lo-Fi by Liz Riggs (Riverhead; July 9)
From the publisher: In the sweaty music clubs and late-night house parties of Nashville, an aspiring songwriter tries to make friends, find love, and write songs–without losing herself
This is such a fun romp! Riggs provides a portrait of young people partying and listening to damn good music. As someone who spent my early 20s writing about indie music, this brought me home. It’s funny, sexy, and electric as hell.
More, Please by Emma Specter (Harper; July 9)
From the publisher: An unflinching and deeply reported look at the realities of binge-eating disorder from a rising culture commentator and writer for Vogue.
This is the type of memoir I wish I had a decade ago. Society has their opinions and advice about food, body, weight, fat, and what’s healthy. Those opinions are, in fact, unhealthy. Specter explores our relationship with those topics and will help reshape how you think about your body and your relationship with food. Simply brilliant and a must-read.
The Coin by Yasmin Zaher (Catapult; July 9)
From the publisher: A bold and unabashed novel about a young Palestinian woman’s unraveling as she teaches at a New York City middle school, gets caught up in a scheme reselling Birkin bags, and strives to gain control over her body and mind
A lusciously written and completely captivating debut. This is one of those books that was recommended to me by so many different people from writers to booksellers for months. Once I finally got my hands on it, it wasn’t a question of whether or not it was good. It was a question of how brilliant it was. I devoured this. It will easily be a book of the year and talked about for years to come.
Smothermoss by Alisa Alering (Tin House; July 16)
From the publisher: n turns both terrifying and otherworldly, author Alisa Alering opens the door to the hidden world of Smothermoss–a mountain that sighs, monsters made of ink, rabbits both dead and alive, and ropes that just won’t come undone. Unsettling, propulsive, and wonderfully atmospheric, Alering’s stunning debut novel renegotiates what is seen and unseen, what is real and what is haunted.
Where do I begin with this one? It starts with a vicious death and then spirals into a supernatural tale filled with pitch-perfect tension and atmosphere. The longer I sat with this book the more I realized how much Alering was doing. It’s a stunning book that stayed with me long after I read it.
August
There is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes Jr. (Mariner; August 6)
From the publisher: An electrifying debut story collection about Central American identity that spans past, present, and future worlds to reveal what happens when your life is no longer your own.
This collection gives life to Salvadoran characters through gorgeous stories that run from realism to the fantastical. Reyes succeeds on every level from genre, to dialogue, to pacing. It’s a beautifully crafted collection with equally as beautiful and memorable characters.
Mystery Lights by Lena Valencia (Tin House; August 6)
From the publisher: Set against the stark background of the Southwestern desert, Lena Valencia’s Mystery Lights glows with the promise—and fear—of the world we know and the worlds we don’t, following women and girls as they navigate dangers both supernatural and existential.
These dark and moody stories are such a treat to read. They’re quick-witted and filled with unexpected twists and turns. Valencia drops readers into evocative worlds with skillfully crafted characters. Read this if you want something a little off-kilter. It delivers on making you squirm, gasp out loud, and think hard.
Yr Dead by Sam Sax (McSweeney’s; August 6)
From the publisher: “It’s not just that I trust Sam Sax’s imagination. My sincere belief is that Sam’s creative freedom unlocks the potential for our liberation.” –Saeed Jones, author of How We Fight for Our Lives
I was late to the game in reading Sam Sax. They’re a brilliant poet with brilliant collections like PIG and Madness. Their first foray into long-form fiction is a wonder. Sax’s language is as gorgeous as you’d expect. Their mind is amazing and this book is an unbelievable achievement as it explores space and time through dazzling and magnetic fragments.
Five-Star Stranger by Kat Tang (Scribner; August 6)
From the publisher: In Kat Tang’s exciting and resonant debut, a “Rental Stranger”– a companion hired under various guises–walks the line between personal and professional in surprising new ways.
Tang’s book is a sharp page-turner about our culture’s commodification of everything. Here, people can rent strangers for a variety of reasons and the book questions the sincerity of relationships and transactions. It is equally a breezy and thought-provoking read.
The Singer Sisters by Sarah Seltzer (Flatiron; August 6)
From the publisher: Two generations of a folk-rock dynasty collide over art, love, longing, and family secrets in this captivating and poignant debut
Strap in for a very fun ride. Seltzer explores the music scene of two different times and asks what legacy means. The intergenerational relationships are creative and crafty while the scenes all feel alive. Reading this book was like being at a rock concert. It completely engulfed me while I read it.
Napalm in the Heart by Pol Guasch; trans. by Mara Faye Lethem (FSG Originals; August 16)
From the publisher: Survival is a moral quandary in this jagged, otherworldly debut charting forbidden love during an apocalypse.
Reading this book was an out-of-body experience. Set in the near future, live as we know it is over. Something devastating happened and Guasch drops readers right in it. The book is a meditation on survival told very artfully. It felt so safe but also so dangerous at the same time. It may be about the end of the world, but it felt like the beginning of something new. I must read more Guasch.
The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera (Pantheon; August 20)
From the publisher: A searingly original debut about two sisters and their flight from genocide–which takes them from Hollywood to Paris to San Francisco’s Cannery Row–each haunted along the way by the ghosts of their murdered friends, who are not yet done telling their stories
Balibrera offers a new book to be entered into the historical magical realism canon. It is a staggering tome of sisterhood, disaster, and myth. Readers can expect an imaginative roller coaster of emotion as the sisters do everything they can do to reconnect.
Kayfabe by Chris Koslowski (McSweeney’s; August 27)
From the publisher: Kayfabe is a window into life on the fringes of a uniquely brutal American pastime and an intelligent, self-aware commentary on modern identity, artifice, and violence. In the vein of National Book Award finalist Chris Bachelder’s The Throwback Special, Kayfabe explores the boundaries of sport, spectacle, entertainment, and exploitation.
This book is a chokeslam. It will grab your attention, lift you above its head, and slam you down with emotion. It uses wrestling, which is often looked down upon, to survey human nature earnestly and kindly. I love it when novels use sport as the backdrop and Kowlowski did it perfectly here. It is honest on every page and moved me in ways I didn’t think a book about wrestling could.
September
States of Emergency by Chris Knapp (Unnamed Press; September 3)
From the publisher: “That was the lesson: that what so often passed for love was mostly a desperate construct of your own vanity, a steamroller with which the self pressed the other flat until a smooth, reflective surface was all that remained…”
Knapp brings readers into a pressure cooker as a couple undergoing fertility treatment faces the truth about their love and their future. It’s taut, tense, and tender and feels wholly intimate while reflecting on relationship at large.
Still Life by Katherine Packert Burke (W.W. Norton; September 10)
From the publisher: Katherine Packert Burke’s debut novel unfolds like a rusty pocketknife, jagged and lacerating. Infused with pop culture, cigarettes, and Sondheim, Still Life traces the lives of three friends, authentic and evolving, loving and cruel, here and gone, to craft a tableau of modern womanhood.
This is a beacon of hope. Set in Texas, where trans rights are being taken away, the characters find themselves fighting for their future while struggling to confront a death in the past. Burke writes with such clarity. I felt inside this friendship and experienced the love, tension, relief, and loathing that come along with complex dynamics. It is a quintessential novel for our time and for our future.
Olive Days by Jessica Elisheva Emerson (Counterpoint; September 10)
From the publisher: A smoldering novel about an exhausted young mother in an Orthodox Jewish community of Los Angeles whose quest for authenticity erupts in a passionate affair following a night of wife swapping
Emerson’s book is a very lustful book about sex and religion. What do we want from these things? Can they coexist? Can you be yourself with both or none? The questions tackled in the book are tackled in a careful and sincere manner. A very hot book, indeed.
Us Fools by Nora Lange (Two Dollar Radio; September 17)
From the publisher: A tragicomic, intimate American story of two precocious sisters coming of age during the Midwestern farm crisis of the 1980s.
The sisters in this book are two of my favorite characters. The two come of age with a backdrop of how capitalism can bring everything down. Lange’s cleverness and charm ooze off the page.
October
Obligations to the Wounded by Mubanga Kalimamukwento (University of Pittsburgh Press; October 8)
From the publisher: In formally adventurous stories rooted in Zambian literary tradition, Obligations to the Wounded explores the expectations and burdens of womanhood in Zambia and for Zambian women living abroad.
These stories! These stories! They are opulent, clever, and ingenious. While they follow these women’s lives, they also offer insight into large themes seen across the globe. Kalimamukwento is a graceful writer who has already hit her stride. Her future is bright.
Diversity Quota by Ranjan Adiga (University of Wisconsin Press; October 8)
From the publisher: Complicating the idea of a single immigrant narrative, the stories in Diversity Quota move from the US to Nepal and back again, showing how displacement can lead to suffering or hope–sometimes simultaneously.
Set across the globe, Adiga offers insightful stories about migration and cultural acclimation. The stories are enlightening and from the heart. Getting to know these characters and their stories was a delight.
Country Queers by Rae Garringer (Haymarket; October 8)
From the publisher: Part photo book, part memoir, part oral history project, this volume paints a vivid portrait of queer and trans experiences in rural areas and small towns across the US.
I haven’t yet physically read this book, but I have been a fan of what Garringer is doing with Country Queers for quite some time. I expect the book to be as hopeful and thoughtful as all of the work done so far. I truly cannot wait to dive into it.
Sad Grownups by Amy Stuber (Stillhouse; October 8)
From the publisher: Inhabiting these worlds of disconnection and dislocation are the “sad grownups”: a middle-aged queer couple arguing over whether to have children, a college professor dying from cancer, two recent high school graduates plotting a robbery, a sixty-year-old counselor at a boys’ summer camp sheltering herself from the realities of life—all connected more closely to the landscapes around them than to other people.
The short stories in Stuber’s collection are kind. They take care of these characters and take care of readers. “Sad” may be in the title and inhabit a lot of the stories, but there is also hope. Reading this collection was like being wrapped in a warm blanket.
Blue Light Hours by Bruna Dantas Lobato (Grove/Black Cat; October 15)
From the publisher: From the National Book Award-winning translator, an atmospheric and wise debut novel of a young Brazilian woman’s first year in America, a continent away from her lonely mother, and the relationship they build over Skype calls across borders
There is a lot to praise in Lobato’s book but I have to compliment one thing: the vibes. This book felt right. It is quiet and haunting as it invites readers to meet a Brazilian woman who is spending her first year in America away from the comforts and love of home. She encapsulates loneliness and longing while offering a future filled with love on the horizon.
November
The Man in the Banana Trees by Marguerite Sheffer (University of Iowa Press; November 5)
From the publisher: The stories in The Man in the Banana Trees take place in the past, present, and future–from the American Gulf South to the orbit around Jupiter. We meet teachers and students, ghosts and aliens.
The unique blend of stories in Sheffer’s collection gives new insight into our world. She uses genre and setting to explore the unfamiliar and push readers into using a mirror to see our reality in them. I never knew what to expect from story to story. Sheffer kept me on my toes and each story felt like the story of the collection. She outdid herself time and time again.
What We Tried to Bury Grows Here by Julian Zabalbeascoa (Two Dollar Radio; November 12)
From the publisher: A masterly crafted and haunting tale of survival, longing, and empathy, set during the Spanish Civil War.
A kaleidoscopic historical fiction that introduces readers to distinct voices with a lot to say. This is a complex and engrossing tale that will make you forget we’re almost in the 2030s and not in 1930s Northern Spain.
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