10 Books We Can’t Wait to Read: December 2024
Fiction
Sister Snake by Amanda Lee Koe - December 3 (Ecco Press)
A glittering, bold, darkly funny novel about two sisters--one in New York, one in Singapore--who are bound by an ancient secret. Razor-sharp, hilarious, and raw in emotion, Sister Snake explores chosen family, queerness, passing, and the struggle against conformity. Reimagining the Chinese folktale "The Legend of the White Snake," this is a novel about being seen for who you are--and, ultimately, how to live free.
Private Rites by Julia Armfield - December 3 (Flatiron Books)
"Slick and slippery, Julia Armfield's latest novel is the author at her finest. Private Rites is committed to plumbing the depths of what might be unknowable: the monstrous, inexorable thrust of climate change and the delicate, dangerous tangle of family and sisterhood. Armfield writes the kind of books that stick with you for life. I am proud to be one of her biggest fans." --Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of With Teeth
Roland Rogers Isn't Dead Yet by Samantha Allen - December 3 (Zando)
"Roland Rogers Isn't Dead Yet is a wild romp through the graveyard of a writer's dwindling career and a ghost's hidden past. Only Samantha Allen could write a book like this, one that is deeply moving, romantic, hilarious, and, at times, a little gross. Most of all, this book is FUN, so fun I couldn't put it down. It made me want to come out all over again. It made me want to eat cheeseburgers in front of a lover. It made want to call everyone I admire. Readers will no doubt love this incredibly moving story that reminds us some secrets haunt us even after we're dead." --Emme Lund, author of The Boy With A Bird in His Chest
The Shutouts by Gabrielle Korn - December 3 (St. Martin’s Press)
“With The Shutouts, Gabrielle Korn has established herself as one of the brilliant dystopian writers of our generation. This book broke my heart but it also gave me immense hope. It made me cry and laugh and hug my babies and believe in people and in all the ways we take care of each other.” —Marisa Crane, author of I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself
How We Know Our Time Travelers: Stories by Anita Felicelli - December 3 (Wtaw Press)
How We Know Our Time Travelers: Stories, is a dark, intellectual, and surreal collection inspired by the uncertainty of time that explores themes of technology, climate change, reality, love and loss. Atmospheric, speculative stories examine our post-pandemic reality and future. Time travel, as the book envisions it, happens all the time, if not in the way we're used to considering it. Unsettling, uncanny, cerebral and genre-bending, the book reminds us of the fragility and unreliability of memory, and its invisible impact on the larger moments of our lives.
Berlin Atomized by Julia Kornberg (translated by Jack Rockwell) - December 3 (Astra House)
A kinetic, globetrotting novel following three siblings--Jewish and downwardly mobile--from 2001 to 2034, as they come of age against the major crises of the 21st century. From Punta del Este to Paris, Berlin to Jerusalem, Brussels to Tokyo, the novel progresses into a dire near future of constant flight and fire as the siblings search for one another. Defiant and dexterous, percussive and percolating with violent light, Berlin Atomized is Julia Kornberg's napalm-ic debut--a tale about the end of the world, as told by the clear-eyed youth to which that world had been promised.
Alter Ego by Alex Segura - December 3 (Flatiron Books)
Alex Segura, award-winning author of Secret Identity, returns with a clever and escapist standalone sequel set in the world of comic books. In the present day, a comics legend is given the chance to revive a beloved but forgotten character. But at what price? Sharply written, deftly plotted, and with a palpable affection for all kinds of storytelling, Alter Ego is a one-of-a-kind reading experience.
Rental House by Weike Wang - December 3 (Riverhead Books)
"Funny and delightful, Rental House is a story for anyone who's experienced demanding parents, misunderstanding in-laws, a vacation-gone-wrong, or mid-life questions about how to reconcile your own personality liabilities with those of the person you love most." --Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot
Woo Woo by Ella Baxter - December 3 (Catapult)
"Ella Baxter's Woo Woo is hysterically funny, a wild, unhinged journey into the heart of bewilderment. For Sabine, a conceptual artist, all of life, all of emotion, all human relationships, have the potential to become art. What does that mean when her newest exhibition nears, and a stalker makes himself known? This mordant, feral novel is an explosion of art and fury, and it is the best book I've read in a long while." --Lindsay Hunter, author of Hot Springs Drive
What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould - December 10 (Wednesday Books)
"With prose as sharp as snapping branches and a tense yet tender sapphic romance, each page oozes with atmosphere, leaving readers no choice but to contend with the terrifying idea that the monsters lurking in the woods look a lot like the ones we carry with us." -- Adrienne Tooley, author of The Third Daughter and Sweet & Bitter Magic
