Last month was crazy. You learned about all these great books published last year. You got worried about the fact that you had only read a couple of them. You got excited about all the ways you’re going to catch up in 2018.
Now it’s January, and with the new year comes list after list of promising new books to overwhelm your readerly ambitions.
Take it easy. Give yourself permission to take things slow; to try new kinds of books; to be OK with non-productive reading. Here are some of the books critics and news editors think will be worth reading in the new year.
Publishers Weekly
The publishing industry magazine has a long list of literary fiction picks coming in spring 2018. Some highlights:
- Speak No Evil, by Uzodinma Iweala (March)
- Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje (May)
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation, by Ottessa Moshfegh (July)
The Millions
The literary news site puts out a detailed list of its most anticipated books twice a year. A few intriguing ones coming out in the first half 2018:
- In Every Moment We Are Still Alive, by Tom Malmquist, translated by Henning Koch (January)
- What Are We Doing Here? Essays by Marilynne Robinson (February)
- The Parking Lot Attendant, by Nafkote Tamirat (March)
- The House of Broken Angels, by Luis Alberto Urrea (March)
- Some Trick, by Helen DeWitt (May)
NPR
Barrie Hardymon, a books editor for National Public Radio in the US, discusses notable upcoming books:
- The Perfect Nanny, by Leila Slimani, translated by Sam Taylor (January)
- Red Clocks, by Leni Zumas (January)
- Circe, by Madeleine Miller (April)
Book Riot
The book news site gives its extensive list of anticipated books coming out between now and June in the US. Some of Liberty Hardy’s selections:
- BRAVE, by Rose McGowan (January)
- This Will Be my Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America, by Morgan Jerkins (January)
- Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi (March)
- Look Alive Out There: Essays, by Sloane Crosley (April)
Bustle
At the women-focused site Bustle, Melissa Ragsdale gives her list of fiction books you’ll fall behind on this year:
- Binti: The Night Masquerade, by Nnedi Okorafor (January)
- Ms. Ice Sandwich, by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Louise Heal Kawai (January)
- The Female Persuasion, by Meg Wolitzer (April)