21 More Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2021
After making our first book list of 2021, we realized we couldn’t stop there! Here is another round up of books coming out this year that we are anxiously awaiting.
The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. - January 5 (Penguin Randomhouse)
A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.
Dog Flowers: A Memoir by Danielle Geller - January 12 (Penguin Randomhouse)
A daughter returns home to the Navajo reservation to retrace her mother’s life in a memoir that is both a narrative and an archive of one family’s troubled history.
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: Stories by Mariana Enríquez - January 12 (Penguin Randomhouse)
Following the propulsive and mesmerizing (New York Times Book Review) Things We Lost in the Fire comes a new collection of singularly unsettling stories, by an Argentine author who has earned comparisons to Shirley Jackson and Jorge Luis Borges.
The Inland Sea by Madeleine Watts - January 12 ( Catapult)
In this “eloquent debut,” a young Australian woman unable to find her footing in the world begins to break down when the emergencies she hears working as a 911 operator and the troubles within her own life gradually blur together, forcing her to grapple with how the past has shaped her present (Publishers Weekly).
The Divines by Ellie Eaton - January 19 (Harper Collins)
With the emotional power of Normal People and the reflective haze of The Girls, a magnetic novel that moves between present-day Los Angeles and a British boarding school in the 1990s, exploring the destructive relationships between teenage girls.
Homo Irrealis: Essays by André Aciman - January 19 (Macmillan)
The New York Times–bestselling author of Find Me and Call Me by Your Name returns to the essay form with a collection of thoughts on time, the creative mind, and great lives and works.
100 Boyfriends by Brontez Purnell - February 2 (FSG)
Transgressive, foulmouthed, and brutally funny, Brontez Purnell’s 100 Boyfriends is a revelatory spiral into the imperfect lives of queer men desperately fighting the urge to self-sabotage. As they tiptoe through minefields of romantic, substance-fueled misadventure—from dirty warehouses and gentrified bars in Oakland to desolate farm towns in Alabama—Purnell’s characters strive for belonging in a world that dismisses them for being Black, broke, and queer. In spite of it—or perhaps because of it—they shine.
Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler - February 2 (Catapult)
A woman in a tailspin discovers that her boyfriend is an anonymous online conspiracy theorist in this “incisive” and “funny” debut novel that “brilliantly captures the claustrophobia of lives led online and personae tested in the real world” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan - March 2 (Little, Brown and Company)
Combining the intellectual excitement of Rachel Cusk with the emotional rawness of Elena Ferrante, Acts of Desperation interrogates the nature of desire, power, and toxic relationships, challenging us to reckon honestly with our own insatiability.
Justine by Forsyth Harmon - March 2 (Tin House)
Justine, Forsyth Harmon’s illustrated debut, is an intimate and unflinching portrait of American girlhood at the edge of adulthood—one in which obsession hastens heartbreak.
My Year Abroad by Chang-Rae Lee - March 2 (Penguin Randomhouse)
From the award-winning author of Native Speaker and On Such a Full Sea, an exuberant, provocative story about a young American life transformed by an unusual Asian adventure – and about the human capacities for pleasure, pain, and connection.
Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology by Jess Zimmerman - March 9 (Penguin Randomhouse)
A fresh cultural analysis of female monsters from Greek mythology, and an invitation for all women to reclaim these stories as inspiration for a more wild, more “monstrous” version of feminism.
Hot Stew by Fiona Mozley - March 18 (Algonquin Books)
Hot Stew is an insightful and ambitious novel about property, ownership, wealth, and inheritance. It is about the place we occupy in society, especially women, and the importance placed on class and money. It doesn’t shy away from asking difficult questions but does so with humor and intelligence.
Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins - April 6 (Harper Collins)
New York Times bestselling author Morgan Jerkins makes her fiction debut with this electrifying novel, for fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jacqueline Woodson, that brings to life one powerful and enigmatic family in a tale rife with secrets, betrayal, intrigue, and magic.
Second Place by Rachel Cusk - May 4 (Macmillan)
From the author of the Outline trilogy, a fable of human destiny and decline, enacted in a closed system of intimate, fractured relationships.
The Rock Eaters: Stories by Brenda Peynado - May 11 (Penguin Randomhouse)
A story collection, in the vein of Carmen Maria Machado, Kelly Link, and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, spanning worlds and dimensions, using strange and speculative elements to tackle issues ranging from class differences to immigration to first-generation experiences to xenophobia.
With Teeth by Kristen Arnett - June 1 (Riverhead)
From the author of the New York Times–bestselling sensation Mostly Dead Things: a surprising and moving story of two mothers, one difficult son, and the limitations of marriage, parenthood, and love.
Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi - June 8 (Riverhead)
In three critically acclaimed novels, Akwaeke Emezi has introduced readers to a landscape marked by familial tensions, Igbo belief systems, and a boundless search for what it means to be free. Now, in this extraordinary memoir, the bestselling author of The Death of Vivek Oji reveals the harrowing yet resolute truths of their own life.
Animal by Lisa Taddeo - June 8 (Simon and Schuster)
Joan has spent a lifetime enduring the cruel acts of men. But when one of them commits a shocking act of violence in front of her, she flees New York City in search of Alice, the only person alive who can help her make sense of her past. In the sweltering hills above Los Angeles, Joan unravels the horrific event she witnessed as a child—that has haunted her every waking moment—while forging the power to finally strike back.
Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor - June 22 (Penguin Randomhouse)
The acclaimed Booker Prize finalist, Brandon Taylor is back with a series of linked stories. Filthy Animals is set among young creatives in the American Midwest. A young man treads delicate emotional waters as he navigates a series of sexually fraught encounters with two dancers in an open relationship, forcing him to weigh his vulnerabilities against his loneliness. In other stories, a young woman battles with the cancers draining her body and her family; menacing undercurrents among a group of teenagers explode in violence on a winter night; a little girl tears through a house like a tornado, driving her babysitter to the brink; and couples feel out the jagged edges of connection, comfort, and cruelty.
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith - July 6 (Penguin Randomhouse)
Part puzzle, part revenge tale, part ghost story, this kaleidoscopic novel set in Vietnam spins half a century of history and folklore into the story of a missing woman.
