Our Favorite (and Most Anticipated) Books of 2023 So Far

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The year has already brought with it a crop of impressive, headline-driving books (see: Prince Harry’s explosive memoir Spare, Emma Cline’s The Guest, and R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface), but the remainder of 2023’s library promises to be just as enthralling. Apologies in advance to your mile-high TBR list; it’s about to get a lot taller.

Ahead, you’ll find almost 100 recommended reads from this year’s slate of new releases. These recently published and soon-to-be-available books come from a broad range of categories, including historical nonfiction, celebrity memoirs, essay collections, romance, and literary fiction. (The only thing you won’t find here is young-adult books and certain genre series, which we reserve for other, more specific lists.)

Narrowing down the most anticipated titles from a list of thousands is never not a daunting task, and so to make up for any gems we’ve missed, you can check back on this page as we update it throughout the year with the true best of the best. Better clear your bookshelves, and happy reading.

The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley

Rich with the wit and insight that has made Kashana Cauley such a joy in comedy writers’ rooms and on Twitter, The Survivalists is the author’s fiction debut, and an ambitious one: The story follows Aretha, a talented lawyer who finds her career—and, perhaps, sanity—slipping away as she descends into the paranoid world of her boyfriend’s survivalist roommates. Capturing our modern terrors with both humor and tact, The Survivalists is a surprisingly fun read for such a dire topic. —Lauren Puckett-Pope, culture writer

Out now.

The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise by Pico Iyer

Humming with wisdom and a profound appreciation of nature’s inherent contradictions, Pico Iyer’s meditation on paradise—where it is, what it means, if it can be found on Earth—is much more than a diary of his country-spanning travels. It’s a work of philosophy, probing the scientific and the spiritual to understand why the most beautiful places often become such sources of pain, and how paradise might be re-discovered. —LPP

Out now.

Spare by Prince Harry

The man on the cover needs no introduction, nor is his story one the world is unfamiliar with. As one of the most famous sons of one of the planet’s most famous families, Prince Harry is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of celebrity. And yet, his memoir, Spare, promises to tell us a few things we don’t know about his aching upbringing, his romance with Meghan Markle, and the future he’s still figuring out in America. —LPP

Out now.

Vintage Contemporaries by Dan Kois

In this warm fiction debut, Slate editor Dan Kois skewers the myth of the “one right path” through life, while gently acknowledging our continued belief in it. A coming-of-age story built on unlikely friendships, Vintage Contemporaries is a novel of contradictions; it’s all there in the name. The story zigzags between the 1990s and the 2000s, and at its center is Em/Emily, a New York City transplant caught up in the diverging lives of her two very different friends, who have two very different things to teach her about the creative crossroads of adulthood. —LPP

Out now.

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey

Held aloft by television writer Monica Heisey’s light touch—you’ll recognize her voice from series like Workin’ Moms and Schitt’s Creek—Really Good, Actually is an uproarious millennial existential crisis novel: At 29, Maggie is already a divorcée with a languishing graduate thesis and an empty bank account, and she’s about to start dating again. Don’t worry; it’ll be fine. Really! —LPP

Out now.

The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen

A monumental feat of melodic prose and astute observation, Hanna Pylväinen’s historical fiction novel The End of Drum-Time transports readers to the otherworldly tundra of Scandinavia, circa 1851, where minister Lars Levi is “always after” the “heart” of the native Sámi reindeer herders, whom he seeks to convert. When one of these Sámi falls for Lars’s own daughter, the resulting adventure is one as powerful and profound as the book’s awe-inspiring setting. —LPP

Out now.

Central Places by Delia Cai

Journalist Delia Cai has always possessed an uncanny—and entertaining—ability to sift the truth from troubled waters, but it’s a treat to see her turn that skill inward and outward. Drawing settings, questions, and hilariously specific humor from her own Midwestern upbringing, Cai’s Central Places follows New York transplant Audrey Zhou as she returns home to Hickory Grove, Illinois, for the holidays. With her is her white fiancé, whom she’s wary of introducing to her Chinese immigrant parents. Then there’s the old high-school sweetheart she bumps into in a Walmart parking lot. The stakes feel as high as they did in all our aching days of adolescence, and the result is a gentle, frustrating, and whole-hearted tale of love and acceptance. —LPP

Out now.

Maame by Jessica George

Already set to be adapted for television—an announcement came the same day it was published—Maame by Jessica George is a vivacious debut. The story follows 25-year-old Londoner Maddie, the daughter of Ghanian immigrant parents, one of whom has Parkinson’s and is dependent on her care. Forced into early maturity, she discovers a sudden, wrenching bout of freedom when a tragedy rewires her understanding of her role in the world. The resulting journey is as overwhelming—and bright—as the book’s colorful cover. —LPP

Out now.

What Napoleon Could Not Do by DK Nnuro

A carefully captured account of sibling rivalry, diverging ambitions, and the rot at the heart of the American Dream, What Napoleon Could Not Do follows Jacob and Belinda Nti, siblings both born in Ghana. Belinda accomplishes what Jacob did not: She moves to America and marries a wealthy professional, Wilder. Yet neither Belinda, Wilder nor Jacob share the same opinions of what their lives have become. —LPP

Out now.

Brutes by Dizz Tate

With easily one of the most cinematic covers of the year’s new release slate, Dizz Tate’s Brutes is marketed as The Virgin Suicides meets The Florida Project. That’s an apt comparison, considering the violent, dangerous pleasures lurking in this coming-of-age story, which follows a group of young girls who flock around the radiant local televangelist’s daughter—until she one day disappears. This is a riveting tale, one that refuses to sacrifice nuance nor insight for the sake of its propulsive narrative. —LPP

Out now.

Victory City by Salman Rushdie

One of the world’s most acclaimed authors, Salman Rushdie, is back with his first novel after narrowly surviving an attack on his life in August 2022. Victory City is a fitting title for such a book, which features all the hallmarks of Rushdie’s best work: An epic adventure stoked in magic, the story follows a nine-year-old girl who becomes a vessel for the goddess Pampa, breathing the great city of Bisnaga to life. —LPP

Out now.

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez and translated by Megan McDowell

Astounding in its ambition, this upcoming translation of Mariana Enriquez’s Our Share of Night jumps between countries and time periods to flesh out the tale of a father and son, united in grief—and in their shared family legacy, a cult-like Order obsessed with the pursuit of immortality. Wicked, wise, and stuffed with supernatural intrigue, Our Share of Night is a mighty feat of creative prowess. —LPP

Out now.

Venco by Cherie Dimaline

A delight for fans of urban fantasy and legends with a twist, VenCo is no ordinary tale of witchcraft. Its very title is an anagram of “coven,” as well as the name of a front company for a group of witches gathering in traditionally feminine spaces—think Tupperware parties and pilates classes—to share their power. But as these witches (and the women they seek to champion) rise, so too does the witch-hunter set against them. —LPP

Out now.

Culture: The Story of Us, from Cave Art to K-Pop by Martin Puchner

As much a book of philosophy as a sweeping history, Martin Puchner’s Culture is calculated but bold in its approach to traversing and analyzing centuries of art, entertainment, and knowledge. Culture hops through countries and eras to deliver a resonant argument for the necessity of our common creativity. —LPP

Out now.

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

The Pulitzer-nominated author of The Great Believers has returned this year with the kind of murder mystery Netflix seems all-but-guaranteed to snap up, set at a boarding school in New Hampshire. Film professor and podcaster Bodie Kane never wanted to return to The Granby School, but an old tragedy—the death of a fellow student—and the promise of leading a two-week class draw her back, and deeper into a mystery she’d once thought resolved. —LPP

Out now.

Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Michael Schulman

You’ve likely already read one, if not many, of Michael Schulman’s viral New Yorker stories. (His Jeremy Strong profile in 2021 caused quite the stir.) But even if you’re not familiar with Schulman’s unique talent for capturing Hollywood madness, you’re sure to find something of intrigue in Oscar Wars, Schulman’s comprehensive volume on that glittering, golden show, birthplace of the Moonlight fiasco and the slap heard ’round the world. —LPP

Out now.

Users by Colin Winnette

As irresistible as it is horrifying, Users is not your average treatise on the dangers of our tech-obsessed today (and tomorrow). The novel presents itself as an immersive spiral into the mind and reality of Miles, a VR developer whose new product, “The Ghost Lover,” simulates an ex-lover haunting what feels like the user’s very real life. But when the product earns some furious backlash, the stakes in Miles’ own life grow more and more serious. —LPP

Out now.

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

Bizarre and brilliant, Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s Monstrilio is a sort of modern Frankenstein, in which a mother’s grief materializes in Monstrilio, a creature born from the lung of her deceased son. There is some solace in this renewed life, she finds, but that solace soon turns to horror as grief—as always—has its way. —LPP

Out now.

Confidence by Rafael Frumkin

Perhaps we’ve always lived in the era of con artists, but there’s something about the rise of wellness empires that threatens to reinvent the term altogether. And so enters Rafael Frumkin’s Confidence, about friends-turned-lovers Ezra and Orson, who meet as teenagers and go on to found Nulife, a corporation that promises its buyers a life of happiness. What could possibly go wrong? —LPP

Out now.

Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell

By now a legend thanks to the simple but impactful wisdom of her first book, How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell furthers her argument for escaping the so-called “attention economy” in Saving Time. This volume’s focus is the corporate clock, and particularly the ways it orders and re-arranges every facet of our lives. As she argues that time is not, in fact, determined by money, so she also stirs up her audience’s kinship with the planet, that other entity so ravaged by consumerist culture. This follow-up promises to be as satisfying, optimistic, and enrapturing as Odell’s original bestseller. —LPP

Out now.

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

Man Booker Prize-winning author Eleanor Catton’s newest drop is a psychological thriller combining two seemingly incompatible elements: a guerrilla gardening group known as Birnam Wood and the survivalist billionaire who wants them tending the land around his bunker. The subsequent moral battles, compromises, and mysteries fill in the beating heart of this smart book. —LPP

Out now.

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

Aptly described as “zeitgeisty” for its setting amongst an old-money family of Brooklyn one-percenters, Knopf Vice President Jenny Jackson’s Pineapple Street is a witty, easy-to-devour story of wealth and love’s never-ending war in the modern age. —LPP

Out now.

What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez

The Ramirez family is marred by a tragedy: the disappearance of middle child Ruthy. But when a woman who looks strangely like Ruthy suddenly appears on a reality TV show, the Ramirez daughters hit the road in pursuit of their (maybe) long-lost sister, igniting a rollicking, heartfelt tale of intergenerational healing. —LPP

Out now.

Now You See Us by Balli Kaur Jaswal

In this tender, lovely novel from Balli Kaur Jaswal, three Filipina women working in the homes of Singapore’s upper-class unite when one of their own—a fellow domestic worker—is accused of murdering her employer. The ensuing mystery is not only a pleasure to read but a smart dissection of race, class, and womanhood. —LPP

Out now.

Take What You Need by Idra Novey

Not all books about art can capture the power of such a pursuit without slipping into saccharine platitudes, but Idra Novey’s Take What You Need is sharp and invigorating. In Appalachia, step-mother Jean and step-daughter Leah are pulled back together following the former’s death. In her step-mother’s absence, Leah discovers a home filled with shocking, enormous sculptures, carved from the scrap metal used by local workers. Amongst the artworks Leah also discovers a man she doesn’t recognize; the facts they fill in together illuminate the complexity of Jean’s life and art. —LPP

Out now.

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Posed as a modern homage to Little Women, Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful is a love story and a family drama, in which a young man—with no small amount of baggage—falls for a fiery woman and her sisters, eternally attached at the hip. But when that baggage threatens to float to the surface, the family begins to fray at the seams. —LPP

Out now.

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

Matthew Desmond clinched the Pulitzer for his book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, and in his follow-up Poverty, By America, he further explores why poverty is not only a persistent presence in American life but also a system willfully upheld. Still, Desmond does more than address the “why”; he makes a crucial case for how this cycle might finally end. —LPP

Out now.

Y/N by Esther Yi

If you came of age in the Tumblr era of internet fandom, you’ll immediately recognize the title of Esther Yi’s clever debut. If not, I’ll attempt to explain: “Y/N” stands for “your name,” a fill-in-the-blank word used in internet “imagines,” in which readers insert themselves into a pre-written situation, typically a love story involving a celebrity. Yi’s novel takes the concept to new heights as her protagonist, a fervent K-pop stan, follows her boy-band hero to Seoul, where he has retired seemingly without reason. The resulting adventure is as absurd as it is extraordinary, a true novel of the era. —LPP

Out now.

Above Ground by Clint Smith

The Atlantic staff writer Clint Smith captivated thousands with his monumental bestseller How The Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, one of the best books of the past two years. (Just ask The New York Times.) In 2023, he’s back, this time with a poetry collection intimately parsing parenthood, legacy, and lineage. —LPP

Out now.

The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmer

The long and winding name of this assertive debut matches the magnitude of the stories within, which draw on folklore to capture the dynamic between two sisters, Zora and Sasha Porter. Their mother’s illness and their father’s violence has fractured their relationship, but their bond is reforged as an old family secret—and a surrounding cache of remarkable tales—roars to the surface. —LPP

Out now.

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

The bestselling author of the profound memoir The Glass Castle turns her attention to the Prohibition era in her latest, Hang the Moon. Our fearless protagonist is Sallie Kincaid, content enough in her wealthy family in a small town until she’s cast out for an accident involving her half-brother. Almost a decade later, she returns to town, where she becomes a relentless bootlegger. —LPP

Out now.

A Living Remedy: A Memoir by Nicole Chung

It’s been a few years since the release of Nicole Chung’s searing 2018 memoir All You Can Ever Know, which chronicled her hunt for the truth and complexity of her adoption story. Where All You Can Ever Know addressed her childhood, its follow-up, A Living Remedy, turns to Chung’s life as an adult raising her own family. A changing portrait of middle-class America collides with the death of both her parents, and the resulting fusion of grief and wisdom is peeled back in this delicate, painful, magnificent book. —LPP

Out now.

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

I first fell for Curtis Sittenfeld’s writing style while tearing through her short story collection You Think It, I’ll Say It. She’s intelligent but accessible, quippy but never cheap. And she has a keen eye for relationships, particularly romantic ones, which is what makes her upcoming book, Romantic Comedy, so enticing. Centered around a sketch comedy writer who’s given up on love, her Pete Davidson-like co-worker, and the handsome music guest working with her on the week’s skits, Sittenfeld’s latest takes a shot of SNL and makes sparks fly. —LPP

Out now.

Homecoming by Kate Morton

A gorgeous new work of historical fiction from the author of The Clockmaker’s Daughter, Homecoming sends readers to South Australia, where a Christmas Eve murder from the 1950s transfixes an adrift journalist in the present day. Paging through the resulting investigation—and seeing how the pieces all fit together—is a rewarding experience. —LPP

Out now.

Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison

A slim volume that delivers an outsized wallop, Tiffany Clarke Harrison’s remarkable Blue Hour is told from interwoven first- and second-person points of view, as a Black-Japanese woman and her white Jewish husband stand on the precipice of parenthood in the wake of police brutality. The result is a gorgeous book told in a prose that’s both artful and urgent. —LPP

Out now.

The One by Julia Argy

A clever spin on the reality TV romance craze, Julia Argy’s The One is set amongst a Bachelor-like set, where protagonist Emily has arrived as one of several contestants vying for true love. A natural performer, Emily is soon an obvious front-runner, but as the episodes wind up to a grand finale, she starts to realize that what she really wants likely isn’t—well, “the one.” —LPP

Out now.

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

One of the most masterful historical nonfiction writers working today, investigative reporter David Grann has turned his attention to a 1742 shipwreck off the coast of Brazil. I have not one single doubt that Grann can take this centuries-old crime story and turn it into something that feels as prescient and timely as today’s front page. —LPP

Out now.

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer

Claire Dederer asks one of the most pertinent questions of the era (and, really, every era): What do we do with the artists we love when we learn those artists aren’t good people? Who does “separating the art from the artist” ultimately serve? Dederer’s book hums with the irreconcilable nature of such inquiries—and a fierce desire to answer them anyway. —LPP

Out now.

Happy Place by Emily Henry

The queen of beach reads continues to reign. (It helps that one of Emily Henry’s bestsellers was, in fact, called Beach Read.) Henry returned with another of her surefire-hit romantic comedies this spring, this one about a forced-proximity fake relationship. (Oh, that wonder of tropes!) The book was on vacationers’ Instagram feeds all summer long, and deservedly so. —LPP

Out now.

Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst

Another intriguing ripped-from-the-news title on this list, Tembe Denton-Hurst’s debut follows a young Black media writer who, after she’s replaced at work, pens a fiery letter about the racism she experienced in the industry. But the letter doesn’t break through the noise until weeks later, when our protagonist is settled back in her hometown and a scandal transforms her letter into a viral sensation. —LPP

Out now.

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

A momentous work spanning the nearly eight decades between 1900 and 1977, The Covenant of Water is a richly researched family epic set in Kerala, on the Malabar Coast of India. In detailed descriptions of colonialism, medical history, religious influence, food, clothing, art, war, and water, Abraham Verghese connects the threads that tie them all together—and tie families together as well. —LPP

Out now.

Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Vividly imaginative and startling in its clarity of intent, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Chain Gang All-Stars is a sort of The Hunger Games meets Gladiator meets WWE meets the modern private prison system. In Adjei-Brenyah’s uncanny version of America, prisoners become gladiators and fight for their freedom as part of the controversial-but-profitable CAPE, Criminal Action Penal Entertainment. As one prisoner prepares to win her escape through lethal force, so she must face what she leaves behind and its twisted, racist legacy. —LPP

Out now.

You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg

As a Y2K kid, I have a special nostalgia-shaped place in my heart for decrepit shopping malls, which makes Karin Lin-Greenberg’s thoughtful, empathic You Are Here such a bittersweet treat. The novel is set in a dying mall where the workers’ lives converge unexpectedly—and dramatically—after an incident in upstate New York. —LPP

Out now.

Oh My Mother!: A Memoir in Nine Adventures by Connie Wang

A sort of road trip through a complex mother-daughter relationship in nine essays, journalist Connie Wang’s collection is electric with warmth, humor, and intellect, as so well-captured in the book’s title. A literal translation of the closest Chinese expression to “Oh my God,” Oh My Mother! is a glowing debut. —LPP

Out now.

The Guest by Emma Cline

The bestselling author of The Girls is back in 2023 with the eerily captivating The Guest, in which a young woman floats across Long Island’s East End wearing an identity that’s not her own. That gives her access to the gated driveways she might not otherwise have open for her, but it also introduces a dangerous—and intoxicating—risk. —LPP

Out now.

Quietly Hostile: Essays by Samantha Irby

“Frequent chortling” is the only apt descriptor for my reaction to comedian Samantha Irby’s essay collection Wow, No Thank You, which I read in a practical fugue state on the subway in pre-pandemic 2020. Naturally, her follow-up Quietly Hostile is a book my dear husband has had to bear through as I read—and wheezed with laughter—late into the night. —LPP

Out now.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

There are few authors who have wrapped me into the contours of their worlds with quite the intensity of R.F. Kuang, author of the popular fantasy books Babel and The Poppy War trilogy. So I was intrigued to learn of Kuang’s first literary novel coming this year: Yellowface, about a white author who steals an Asian American writer’s work, claims it as her own, and passes herself off as ambiguously POC with a pseudonym. —LPP

Out now.

A Renaissance of Our Own: A Memoir & Manifesto on Reimagining by Rachel E. Cargle

First and foremost: Look at that stunning cover. That alone would sell me on activist Rachel E. Cargle’s memoir, but thankfully the inside will prove just as dazzling—a loving, bold tale of imagination, bravery, and radical action in the face of injustice. Through an account of Cargle’s own complicated life journey, she provides a framework for our own acts of courage as brutality threatens to strip us of humanity. —LPP

Out now.

Dances by Nicole Cuffy

This mesmerizing debut tracks the career of Cece Cordell, thrown into fame as the first Black principal ballerina in the New York City Ballet. But even as her ambitions are realized, the past lurks around the corner: Cece realizes that to find herself, to trust her own prowess, she needs to find her long-absent, once-beloved brother. —LPP

Out now.

The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

I zipped through my preview copy of The Late Americans in late December, and I find myself thinking about it almost every day since. A complex web of loosely connected characters drift through this novel-meets-short-story-collection set in Iowa City—famous, of course, for the artists it attracts. But Taylor’s artists (and baristas and meatpackers and mathematicians) are all aching for something they perhaps can’t describe, and their resulting relationships are rendered with tragicomic lucidity in this intense, finely tuned book. Taylor is an inimitable talent. —LPP

Out now.

Pageboy: A Memoir by Elliot Page

Celebrity memoirs are a fascinating genre, often erratically hit or miss. But something tells me Elliot Page’s highly anticipated memoir might change the score. After publicly coming out as transgender in December 2020, Page has become one of the transgender community’s most ferocious advocates, something that Esquire writes has “made him the target of indescribable hate but has also brought him unimaginable joy.” Pageboy posits to tell the whole story, beginning with Page’s early, crushing fame after the success of Juno. —LPP

Out now.

Lucky Dogs by Helen Schulman

Lucky Dogs at first feels like a whole new world for Schulman, whose past work has so masterfully depicted the complicated world of family and marriages, but while it skews more thriller than some of her other books, the richness of character development makes clear the pedigree. When a secretive actress hiding from Hollywood meets a striking and mysterious woman in Paris, they both share a legacy of trauma, but one has unspeakable motivations. Schulman was inspired by the targeting of Rose McGowan and by an agent hired by Harvey Weinstein, but the story still remains fascinatingly unexpected. —Adrienne Gaffney, associate editor

Out now.

The Mythmakers by Keziah Weir

With a premise vaguely reminiscent of the 2021 “Bad Art Friend” debacle, the talented Vanity Fair senior editor Keziah Weir’s debut is about a struggling journalist and a short story seemingly written about her life. The journalist’s resulting shock sends her on a collision course with the writer’s wife and daughter, as each of them assess who really owns a story. —LPP

Out now.

Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris

Aisha Harris is one of our smartest, most entertaining modern cultural critics, and so her upcoming essay collection, Wannabe, is something I’m desperate to get my hands on. The nine pieces offer insight on Stevie Wonder, the Spice Girls, Pen15, and New Girl—among many other pop artifacts, of course—which might as well be parlance for, “Read me immediately.” —LPP

Out now.

Adult Drama: And Other Essays by Natalie Beach

You might recognize Natalie Beach’s name from her viral 2019 The Cut essay, “I Was Caroline Calloway,” dissecting her time spent as influencer Caroline Calloway’s ghostwriter. This year, with essay collection Adult Drama, she chose to examine her own life with one eye on wider pop culture, keeping her wit honed on a razor’s edge all the while. —LPP

Out now.

Watch Us Dance by Leila Slimani and translated by Sam Taylor

Translated by Sam Taylor and inspired by Leila Slimani’s own experiences, Watch Us Dance follows two “children of the revolution” amongst 1960s countercultural upheaval in Morocco. Siblings Aicha and Selim seed rebellion inside and outside of their half-Moroccan, half-French family as they explore the contours of their home country, and the dangers that lurk along their search for liberation. —LPP

Out now.

Banyan Moon by Thao Thai

A riveting mother-daughter tale spanning two different timelines, and anchored by the magnetic pull of a Gothic home known as the Banyan House, Banyan Moon is author Thao Thai’s debut. The story follows the nuanced relationships between protagonist Ann Tran, who’s carefully pieced-together life erupts after a positive pregnancy test; her mourning mother, Huơng; and her fascinating grandmother, Minh, who came of age amidst the backdrop of the Vietnam War. —LPP

Out now.

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

I love books that play with language as a concept, so I’m eager to dive into Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi’s The Centre. Protagonist Anisa Ellahi is continually surprised by her boyfriend’s aptitude for languages until she learns of his secret weapon: his invite-only acceptance to The Centre, where students can become fluent in any language in mere moments. But the cost of such an effortless education might be more than Anisa bargained for. —LPP

Out now.

The Vegan by Andrew Lipstein

Andrew Lipstein’s latest is the story of a hedge fund manager determined to keep his gaze fixed on what’s “right,” even as he pines after investors. Blurbed as “Crime and Punishment for the Brooklyn brownstone set,” according to author Andrew Martin—which, okay, sign me up—The Vegan skewers capitalism, consumerism, and milquetoast morality in its pointed teeth. —LPP

Out now.

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead

A new Colson Whitehead book is always a cause for celebration; the two-time Pulitzer winner’s apparently never heard of a slump. And Crook Manifesto sounds as delectable as its predecessor, Harlem Shuffle. Set in lively 1970s Harlem, Whitehead’s newest release is a years-spanning chronicle of crime and family, art and ugliness, humor, and corruption. —LPP

Out now.

Onlookers: Stories by Ann Beattie

“Powerful” might be too trite a descriptor for Ann Beattie’s new story collection, in which the pieces are fastened together by a common presence: the Confederate monuments that stamp her setting of Charlottesville, Virginia. These “onlookers” serve as a constant reminder—of what, exactly, depends on the story—as Beattie’s characters move through the COVID pandemic and rising tides of unrest. —LPP

Out now.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

I’m one of many fans who will eagerly devour whatever Ann Patchett puts out into the world, and Tom Lake is just as warm, contemplative, intelligent, and powerful as so many of her beloved works, including The Dutch House and These Precious Days. The story of a mother and her three daughters, and the old love she reveals to them as they isolate themselves together in Northern Michigan during the pandemic, Tom Lake is a rich reward for Patchett devotees. —LPP

Out now.

The Lover by Rebecca Sacks

Sacks’ stunning sophomore effort deftly imagines both the basic beauty of young love and the stunning complexity and emotional dissonance of life in Israel. A Canadian scholar falls deeply for a younger soldier, but as she quickly grows closer to him and learns more of what his service requires, her morals, values, and understanding of the world distort to something that feels unrecognizable. —AG

Out now.

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

Triumphant and humane, Nicola Dinan’s Bellies gently turns over that essential question: What are we willing to sacrifice to know ourselves? Dinan’s debut novel follows lovers Tom and Ming, who chart out a life together ahead of their college graduation. Upon their move to London, Ming announces her intention to transition, sending waves through their relationship and circle of loved ones. But Ming’s not the only one making major self-discoveries, and as the two grow up, they’re forced to ask if it’s possible for them to grow together. —Erica Gonzales, culture editor

Out now.

Witness: Stories by Jamel Brinkley

An instantly classic portrait of contemporary New York City, beamed through the lens of our modern, fractured existence, Witness combines 10 separate stories across multiple neighborhoods. What the characters have in common is what is asked of them: each one is called to “witness” as bystanders—and participants—in moral ambiguity. —LPP

Out now.

Time's Mouth by Edan Lepucki

An Edan Lepucki novel—any Edan Lepucki novel—is a treat. But this one involves a Californian woman who can time-travel through her own memories. Zooming back to the 1950s, she starts what sounds dubiously like a cult, and they all live together in a Victorian mansion where things get a bit, uh...dicey. Anyway, I was sold on “time-travel,” how about you? —LPP

Out now.

Mobility by Lydia Kiesling

The newest novel from the author of The Golden State, Mobility fuses the traditional coming-of-age story with the geopolitical strife of the late ’90s and 2000s as American teen Bunny Glenn grows up in Azerbaijan. She later moves to the States and secures a job in the oil industry, a decision that returns her to the setting of her youth, and confronts her with the political turmoil in which her life—and the lives of so many around her—was shaped. —LPP

Out now.

The Peach Seed by Anita Gail Jones

A novel of legacy and long-lost love, author Anita Gail Jones’ The Peach Seed flows between 1800s Senegal and modern-day America to tell the story of the Dukes family, and the carved peach seed monkeys that each generation of Dukes men has passed onto their sons. When Fletcher Dukes gifts one to the love of his life, he breaks decades of tradition, but he loses her—at least temporarily—when a peaceful protest grows violent. The Peach Seed is an epic, enchanting debut. —LPP

Out now.

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

National Book Award winner Elizabeth Acevedo, known for her YA masterpieces including The Poet X, published her first novel for adults this year. Set amongst a large cast of characters in a Dominican-American family, Family Lore is told between Santo Domingo and New York City, where one sister’s gift of predicting death brings the group together for an eventful wake. —LPP

Out now.

Congratulations, the Best Is Over!: Essays by R. Eric Thomas

In the interest of transparency, I must inform you R. Eric Thomas is a former ELLE.com staff writer. But even if he weren’t, I’d still fervently recommend anything he publishes; I can’t recall another writer who’s made me laugh so consistently. In this exciting follow-up to his bestselling essay collection Here For It, Thomas assesses the curveballs the past few years have thrown him: In particular, moving back to Baltimore and being forced to referee the wrestling match between his new and former selves. —LPP

Out now.

Under the Influence by Noelle Crooks

Inspired, in part, by author Noelle Crooks’ own experience as a brand director at Rachel Hollis’ The Hollis Company, this debut novel sounds deeply juicy. Protagonist Harper Cruz is desperate for a publishing job in New York when she encounters self-help influencer and guru Charlotte Green, who hires her to join her company, The Greenhouse. There, Harper is swept up in the WeWork-like mentality, where co-workers are treated like family... until she discovers a corporate “family” just might be a scam. —LPP

Out now.

Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue

Looking to be as emotionally stirring as her bestseller Room, Emma Donoghue’s Learned by Heart is based on the true story of Anne Lister and Eliza Raine. The two met at the age of 14 in 1805, new students at the Manor School for young ladies in York. There, they became fast friends and eventual lovers, the story of which Lister chronicled in a diary that Donoghue drew upon for this book. —LPP

Out now.

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

Miracle Creek author Angie Kim is back this year with a riveting, suspenseful read that doubles as a nuanced family tale: When the happiness-obsessed father in a biracial Korean American family in Virginia goes missing, his wife and children—including his son, Eugene, the only witness to the crime in question—must uncover what exactly happened, and why. —LPP

Out now.

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

Astounding in its scope and nuance—but who’s surprised, really, when we’re describing the work of Zadie Smith?—The Fraud is the result of the acclaimed author’s trip into the annals of Victorian England. Grounded by the real-life events of the Tichborne Trial, Smith’s multiple main characters (and their distinct narratives and timelines) intermingle for a tale that’s both challenging and clever. —LPP

Out September 5.

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

Matrix and Fates and Furies author Lauren Groff returns this fall with a survival story set in 1609, during what was known in Jamestown, Virginia, as “The Starving Time.” A famished young girl escapes the colonial settlement for the surrounding wilderness, where she confronts the possibility of her own death and the source of her salvation. —LPP

Out September 12.

Normal Rules Don't Apply: Stories by Kate Atkinson

Life After Life author Kate Atkinson has a gift for blending the mundane and the surreal, and throughout the 11 stories in Normal Rules Don’t Apply, she hops between genres and objects of fascination with her signature wit and eye for craft. A brilliant collection. —LPP

Out September 12.

Daughter by Claudia Dey

Claudia Dey’s Daughter is an unflinching yet tender look into the dark heart of family-inflicted trauma, and the love that persists in spite of betrayal. Told through the perspective of one particular parent-child relationship, complicated by the father’s aspirations and affairs, Daughter is a raw, robust portrait of a young woman’s loss—and the courage she needs to live with it. —LPP

Out September 12.

The Last Devil to Die: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery by Richard Osman

I was misty-eyed when I received my early copy of The Last Devil to Die. I believed it was the final entry in the Thursday Murder Club series, and that was something I was fully unable and unwilling to accept. But then, oh, the relief! While author Richard Osman will be moving on to write a second series, he assured me (and the many other readers who are similarly invested) that he’ll return to the funny, sweet stories of my favorite retirement home sleuths. The Last Devil to Die is a beautiful send-off that will get us through the wait. —AG

Out September 19.

Wellness by Nathan Hill

Fans of Nathan Hill’s 2016 debut The Nix will revel in his sophomore novel, Wellness, an equally amusing, skewering, and intimate portrait of marriage in the time of Facebook algorithms, Goop, and popularized polyamory. It’s a treat for those who relish Hill’s wit. —LPP

Out September 19.

People Collide by Isle McElroy

In this fascinating portrait of a marriage, The Atmospherians author Isle McElroy introduces readers to married couple Eli and Elizabeth, who discover they’ve inadvertently switched bodies. Oh, and Elizabeth—now living as Eli—has suddenly disappeared. What follows is an entertaining, thoughtful depiction of how we choose to exist, and its implications for how we love. —LPP

Out September 26.

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

How Much of These Hills Is Gold author C Pam Zhang says “yes, chef” this fall with Land of Milk and Honey, a dystopian novel about a young chef grappling with privilege, decadence, and hunger in the wake of climate change. —LPP

Out September 26.

Extremely Online by Taylor Lorenz

Taylor Lorenz, Washington Post reporter and sage of the internet influence era, takes what is arguably one of the most complex issues of our time—social media’s unstoppable sociopolitical force—and makes it not just intelligible but entrancing. Tracing the rise of social media from the earliest blogs to the savviest TikTok influencers, Extremely Online hones in on those who truly transformed power online: not the platforms’ creators, but the creators on the platforms. —LPP

Out October 3.

Death Valley by Melissa Broder

Equal parts survival story, surrealist romp, and a tale of grief observed, Melissa Broder’s undefinable Death Valley is one of the best books I’ve read in years: funny, brilliant, gutting, and easily devoured over the course of one blissful afternoon. —LPP

Out October 3.

A Man of Two Faces by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The astounding Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Sympathizer, turns even further inward in this memoir-biography hybrid. A Man of Two Faces opens up Nguyen’s own history like a wound, widening it with his remarkable observations into the intersections between race, violence, colonization, the refugee crisis, and the long shadow of the Vietnam War. —LPP

Out October 3.

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

A stirring account of one woman’s break from the parameters imposed on her upbringing, How to Say Babylon follows Jamaican writer Safiya Sinclair’s childhood under the patriarchal constructs of her father, who believed Babylon—the “impure” influences of the Western world—would corrupt his daughter. Hiding both her body and her innermost thoughts, Sinclair discovers courage in poetry, and its teachings lead her to face a culture she both loves and knows she must rebel against. As she nurtures her voice, so too does she understand the colonialist influences that shaped her and her family’s lives and beliefs. —LPP

Out October 3.

Opinions by Roxane Gay

Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay has reached the level of cultural cachet where she can stick the label “opinions” on a collection of her work, and people will line up to read—yours truly very much included. Such is the literal case for Opinions, gathering a decade of Gay’s most revelatory criticism and essays. —LPP

Out October 10.

Down the Drain by Julia Fox

Julia Fox’s prophesied “masterpiece” is upon us. The actress, model, and viral sensation is finally dropping her memoir this fall, and it promises a treasure trove of insights into her magnetic life, including anecdotes from her complicated childhood and her adult friendships, her observations on drugs, sex work, marriage, and parenthood, and—of course—her short-lived relationship with Kanye West, whom she refers to as “The Artist.” —LPP

Out October 10.

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri returns this October with a collection of utterly absorbing stories set in Rome, where the city serves as both location and protagonist. Translated from Italian, the nine pieces probe the quotidian and the ever-evolving lives of Roman citizens, particularly women and immigrants as they navigate a transforming Italy. —LPP

Out October 10.

The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok

Searching for Sylvie Lee author Jean Kwok’s latest, The Leftover Woman, is a heart-wrenching examination of transracial adoption and its influence in the lives of a Chinese American child and the two mothers who love her. One is Jasmine, the child’s biological mother, a woman on the run from her husband; the other is Rebecca, the wealthy American executive who adopted Jasmine’s daughter. The resulting intersection of their lives makes this book not only a suspenseful read, but also an introspective journey into the bonds of family, country, class, and race. —LPP

Out October 10.

Black Friend: Essays by Ziwe

Ziwe—famous for her delightfully uncomfortable, satirical interviews with celebrities and cultural luminaries—turns her piercing gaze toward a wider audience with the essay collection Black Friend. Her signature blunt humor and deadpan delivery on issues of racism and “cancellation” make Black Friend compulsively readable and unrelenting. —LPP

Out October 17.

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward’s fourth novel, Let Us Descend, is a magnificent magical realist tale grounded firmly in the rot of slavery, as experienced by protagonist Annis while she travels from the Carolinas to a plantation in Louisiana. Ward is at the height of her powers in this immersive, resolute story that combs the American South for all its horrors and riches. —LPP

Out October 24.

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

Easily one of the most hotly anticipated books of the year, Britney Spears’ long-awaited post-conservatorship tell-all could cement itself as an all-time great in the celebrity memoir space—that is, if it truly represents Spears’ perspective. For now, there’s little we know about the book’s contents, making the rush to get a copy all the more thrilling. —LPP

Out October 24.

My Name Is Barbra by Barbra Streisand

Of course, Spears isn’t the only major icon with a story to tell this fall. EGOT-winner Barbra Streisand’s own account of extraordinary fame is expected to be a major hit, particularly given the scope of the stories promised within, ranging from her youth in Brooklyn to her political activism to her dazzling leaps between stage and screen. —LPP

Out November 7.

The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez

New work from The Friend author Sigrid Nunez is always a cause for celebration—and I’m thrilled to dive into her latest, The Vulnerables, a book about pandemic isolation, the pursuit of art, and the importance of connection in a turbulent reality. —LPP

Out November 7.

Comedy Book by Jesse David Fox

That which makes us laugh reveals what we value, or so Jesse David Fox argues in this deft and detailed history of comedy through the 1990s into the 2020s and its path to cultural and political dominance. Both humorous and intellectually rigorous, Comedy Book is an essential read for anyone who’s curious how and why comedy became a perspective through which we make sense of the modern age. —LPP

Out November 7.

The New Naturals by Gabriel Bump

Author Gabriel Bump has remained on my radar since I read (and loved) his 2020 book Everywhere You Don’t Belong, and his next project—The New Naturals—teases a fresh direction with the story of an underground utopia, whose residents fight to prevent the outside world’s failures from infecting its ecosystem. —LPP

Out November 14.

Songs on Endless Repeat by Anthony Veasna So

The late Anthony Veasna So is the author of one of my favorite story collections, Afterparties, and after his tragic death in 2020, it is a wonder to see his next posthumous collection, Songs on Endless Repeat, bring together his excellent essays—as well as his previously unpublished fiction—and introduce them to a new audience. —LPP

Out December 5.

Yours for the Taking by Gabrielle Korn

For her fiction debut, Gabrielle Korn teleports into the alarming future with a queer climate fiction novel that opens in the year 2050. A resident of a now-sinking Brooklyn, Ava has the chance to escape the inevitable when she’s admitted to the refuge that is The Inside Project, created by girlboss par excellence Jacqueline Millender. But, as you might imagine, this supposed feminist utopia is not all that it seems. Korn manages to grapple with weighty topics while also delivering a compelling read, rife with twists—and a sequel is already in the works. —Véronique Hyland, fashion features director

Out December 5.

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