Most Anticipated Books of 2018

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Best of 2017 has come and gone, now here are the most anticipated books of 2018, according to major media:
Entertainment Weekly50 books we can’t wait to read in 2018

THE HAZEL WOOD by Melissa Albert
One of the most anticipated debuts of the year — having set off an auction frenzy — THE HAZEL WOOD is a contemporary fantasy of an aggressively literary bent, centered on a 17-year-old whose mother is stolen away.

LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE by Sloane Crosley
Crosley may have put essays aside for her 2015 novel THE CLASP, but she returns with her particular brand of sardonic wit in this new collection. The tone, she told EW, is “somewhere between jaded misanthrope and easily amused child.”

A HIGHER LOYALTY: Truth, Lies and Leadership by James Comey
What will James Comey reveal in this anticipated memoir? Publisher Flatiron Books isn’t giving much away, just saying that the former FBI director promises to give a vital lesson on sound leadership, drawing on his own experiences to provide a manual that certain world leaders desperately need.

USA Today10 big books to kick off 2018

THE WIFE BETWEEN US by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
What it’s about: In this twisty psychological thriller, a woman dumped by her rich husband is determined to prevent his remarriage to her “replacement.”
Why it’s hot: Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners, which brought THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN to the big screen, has picked up film rights for THE WIFE BETWEEN US.

A HIGHER LOYALTY: Truth, Lies and Leadership by James Comey
What it’s about:
The former FBI director, famously fired by President Trump in May, writes a book about leadership based on his own experiences and observations in government.
Why it’s hot: According to the publisher, Comey’s book will examine what “good, ethical leadership looks like and how it drives sound decisions.” The burning question: What will he say about Trump?

The Washington PostLeadership Books to Read in 2018

A HIGHER LOYALTY: Truth, Lies and Leadership by James Comey
The former FBI director — fired by President Trump and now, some say, a Zen-like master of throwing subtle shade on Twitter and Instagram — inked what was reported to be a multi-million dollar book deal in August. The book’s publisher has said the book by Comey, also a former Justice Department official and lawyer, promises to give readers “unprecedented entry into the corridors of power, and a remarkable lesson in leadership itself.” Comey, who frequently uses social media to share quotations about character, justice, leadership and power, tweeted an image of the Statue of Liberty on Dec. 5, saying he was in New York to meet with his publisher, with the note: “Hope leadership book will be useful. Reassuring to see Lady Liberty standing tall even in rough weather.”

InStyleBooks We Can’t Wait to Read in 2018

THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah
A Vietnam POW returns from overseas and opts to relocate his family to a remote area of Alaska, far removed from the threats of war-torn societies, for a fresh start. All seems well until his PTSD kicks in during the harsh winter and turns their tiny cabin dream into a living nightmare.

LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE by Sloane Crosley
If accolades from Steve Martin and David Sedaris are any indication, Sloane Crosley’s new collection of essays delivers, with hilarious takes on fertility, mingling with swingers, and her blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo on Gossip Girl.

EsquireThe 27 Most Anticipated Books of 2018

OLIVER LOVING by Stefan Merrill Block
Oliver Loving has been paralyzed and locked in his own mind for nearly a decade, the result of a shooting in his small Texas town. In Stefan Merrill Block’s psychologically astute novel, the damaged people that surround Oliver try to piece together their own versions of what happened that night and since then, even as doctors prepare a new treatment that might help Oliver communicate again.

THE HAZEL WOOD by Melissa Albert
Here is one of those rare young adult fantasy novels that holds a self-contained world in only a few hundred pages. So much world-building, so little space. If the novel’s heroine is a teenage girl, then her story will appeal to readers of all ages, with its intrigue and strange fairy tale magic and very grown up writing.

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? by Marilynne Robinson
Even in her fiction, Marilynne Robinson has a nonjudgmental, earnest way of writing about religion that could make an atheist long for spirituality. President Obama is a fan. In this essay collection theology and current events and philosophy take center stage, and it’s through the clarity of Robinson’s words that hope in times of political strife feels appropriate and urgent.

SOME HELL by Patrick Nathan
A heartbreaker of a book, Patrick Nathan’s debut novel captures the hell of adolescence under particularly dire circumstances: Colin is reeling from his father’s suicide even as he navigates coming of age as a gay teenager. As they are wont to do, sex and death dominate Colin’s thoughts as he makes his way, in agony but with an eye towards a hopeful future.

THE MERRY SPINSTER: Tales of Everyday Horror by Mallory Ortberg
Look out, Angela Carter. There’s a new feminist fairy tale queen in town, and her imagination is as sharp as her wit. Ortberg, co-founder of the beloved website The Toast, takes her column “Children’s Stories Made Horrific” to new heights in this collection of twisted tales that will shock and delight you.

Elle19 of the Best Books to Read This Winter

THREE DAUGHTERS OF EVE by Elif Shafak
From the most widely read female writer in Turkey, here’s a novel that sees violence and nostalgia vie for one woman’s attention on one intense night. In Istanbul, a relatively minor crime—an attempted robbery—sparks a wave of memories as the wealthy Peri ponders an old photograph of her college friends. As terrorist attacks break out, the religious and cultural differences between the three women demand her attention in the fraught present.

WHEN THEY CALL YOU A TERRORIST: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
Patrisse Khan-Cullors co-founded one of the most vital activist groups of recent years. Now, get to the heart of Black Lives Matter with her account of how the movement began, and marvel at the brilliance and persistence of her mission despite a continuing lack of understanding and compassion from many.

PEACH by Emma Glass
In the wake of a horrific sexual assault, titular protagonist Peach attempts to navigate a life that has tilted on its axis. As accounts of sexual assault and misconduct have arisen in recent months, our inability to reckon with such events and their aftermath has only become more clear. This short novel—under 100 pages—confronts the enormity with impressionistic grace.

FORCE OF NATURE by Jane Harper
Wow, this crime novel just gave me my newest nightmare: Five colleagues go on a hike (first mistake), and one doesn’t return. Four different stories makes it hard for Agent Aaron Falk (whom we met in Harper’s debut, THE DRY) to discern the truth. Don’t read this one during the workweek.

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? by Marilynne Robinson
Equipped with a heart and mind that seem more capacious than ours (though she might have a match in fan Barack Obama), Marilynne Robinson has made a career out of writing life-expanding novels and wonderings, like Pulitzer Prize–winning novel GILEAD. Soon, she’ll give us a new set of essays about faith, life, and culture.

Cosmopolitan33 Books to Get Excited About in 2018

GIRLS BURN BRIGHTER by Shobha Rao
GIRLS BURN BRIGHTER, the debut novel from Shobha Rao, tells the story of Poornima and Savitha, two girls whose friendship is tested by distance, family, and various other obstacles.

THE MERRY SPINSTER: Tales of Everyday Horror by Mallory Ortberg
Mallory Ortberg, cofounder of beloved website The Toast, puts her signature spin on classic fairy tales. (The book is adapted from her popular Toast column “Children’s Stories Made Horrific.”)

LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE by Sloane Crosley
After releasing her debut novel THE CLASP in 2015, Sloane Crosley returns to the form that made her famous in LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE, her third collection of essays.

NUMBER ONE CHINESE RESTAURANT by Lillian Li
In her first novel, Lillian Li tells the story of the Han family, who own the Beijing Duck House in Rockville, Maryland. When one brother decides he wants to leave the business for something a little nicer, other members of the family and Duck House employees have to keep it all together.

Ms. MagazineFeminist Reads for Winter

RIOT DAYS by Maria Alyokhina
After Pussy Riot’s widely publicized “Punk Prayer” performance at Moscow’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral, in which the radical all-woman rock group slammed the church for supporting Vladimir Putin, band members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were imprisoned for “hooliganism.” In fragmented, diary-like prose, Alyokhina describes preparations for their daring anti-Kremlin protest: band members cutting holes into balaclavas to make the infamous Pussy riot masks, rehearsals in an old factory. But mostly she writes of her dehumanizing two years in a penal colony, with five months in solitary confinement. in this provocative memoir, she continues Pussy riot’s fearless, middle-finger defiance of the Russian patriarchy.

THE MERRY SPINSTER: Tales of Everyday Horror by Mallory Ortberg
The short stories in this collection are based on folktales and children’s fairy tales, but they’re dark, twisted and (with their feminist perspectives) a far cry from Hans Christian Andersen: no flawless princesses and happy endings here. Ortberg writes of a murderous mermaid, a Cinderella named Paul, a sociopathic version of the Velveteen Rabbit and more. MERRY SPINSTER is just the ticket for those who want bedtime reading that comes with a bite of subversive fun.

ELOQUENT RAGE: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper
Cooper, a fiery intellectual, dismantles the “angry black woman” trope to celebrate the power of rage. She critiques mainstream feminism and the racism of white women, the militarized surveillance of black communities and patriarchal family structures, and argues that black women are left to do the hard work of preserving U.S. democracy, a job for which they are uniquely qualified. Her ardent book reminds us that what you build is infinitely more important than what you tear down—and that rage makes great mortar.

PRAIRIE FIRES: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser
This no-holds-barred biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the iconic, semi-autobiographical Little House on the Prairie series, uncovers the writer’s real childhood—one she withheld from the pages of her novels. This look at her arduous Great Plains up-bringing describes a harsh land, violent interactions between settlers and native Americans, and the Ingalls’ poverty and rootlessness. Wilder’s adulthood was just as tumultuous, full of grief, controversy, fame and wealth. She lived to be 90, and Fraser illuminates each of those eventful years.

GIRLS BURN BRIGHTER by Shobha Rao
Poornima and Savitha are two hopeful girls growing up in Indravalli, a village in southern India. When Savitha, who scavenges for garbage, appears outside Poornima’s father’s textile workshop, she’s taken in, and the two form a nurturing bond. Together they work the clacking looms, cook potato curry and walk the banks of the Krishna river, sharing stories and dreams. When tragedy rips Savitha from Indravalli, landing her in Seattle, Poornima embarks on a journey to rescue her friend. Rao layers her debut novel with issues that face many young women worldwide, from street harassment and domestic abuse to oppressive societal norms.

Huffington Post60 Books We Can’t Wait To Read In 2018

PEACH by Emma Glass
Even as the world confronts report after report of famous men who are sexual predators, we rarely confront the horrific pain that can result from sexual violence. In PEACH, a stream-of-consciousness narrative about a girl reeling in the aftermath of a brutal rape, Glass confronts us with the bodily and psychological trauma left behind.

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? by Marilynne Robinson
The title of Robinson’s latest book of essays — many of which were given as lectures over the past few years — should be read with a rueful sigh. In her measured but strongly argued pieces, she takes on American self-mythologizing, the role of faith and values in our history and the roots of our divided politics.

GIRLS BURN BRIGHTER by Shobha Rao
The first novel from an award-winning short fiction writer, GIRLS BURN BRIGHTER tells the story of two young girls growing up in a small Indian village. They form a fast friendship, only to be torn apart. Rao’s novel should be a treat for Ferrante fans, exploring the bonds of friendship and how female ambition beats against the strictures of poverty and patriarchal societies.

THE MERRY SPINSTER: Tales of Everyday Horror by Mallory Ortberg
Toasties, assemble! The cofounder of the beloved, if short-lived, website The Toast has transformed one of the site’s literary humor columns, “Children’s Stories Made Horrific,” into a book of twisted tales inspired by classic fairy tales. We could not be more excited.

A LUCKY MAN: Stories by Jamel Brinkley
Brinkley’s debut collection, which explores young black men and boys coming of age and finding their places in the world, arrives loaded up with glowing blurbs from literary stars like Daniel Alarcón, Charles Baxter, Garth Greenwell, Paul Yoon and Laila Lalami.

MOTHERHOOD by Sheila Heti
The author of the acclaimed novel-from-life HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE?, Heti turns her attention away from the 20-something indulgences of friendship, casual sex, and single-minded artistry to the 30-something anxiety of whether, and when, to have kids.

THE THIRD HOTEL by Laura van den Berg
In this dream-like novel, a woman travels to Havana for a film festival. The trip was planned by her recently deceased husband, but when she arrives, she finds him there — not looking very dead. The reality-defying narrative explores inescapably real questions about the human condition.

BuzzfeedThe 33 Most Exciting New Books Of 2018

LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE by Sloane Crosley
Sloane Crosley’s new essay collection LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE is as hilarious and witty as we’ve come to expect from Crosley. Whether she’s writing about egg freezing or volcano climbing in Ecuador, LOOK ALIVE OUT THERE is Crosley at her best — insightful, refreshingly honest, and relatable.

THE THIRD HOTEL by Laura van den Berg
In Laura van den Berg’s novel THE THIRD HOTEL, a widow traveling in Havana for a film festival begins to see her dead husband. Surreal and highly original, THE THIRD HOTEL is a fascinating rumination on marriage, grief, death, and art.

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? by Marilynne Robinson
Marilynne Robinson’s new essay collection WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? looks at the state of our modern politics and faith. Fans of Robinson and new readers alike will be stimulated by this perceptive, deeply intelligent collection.

THE MERRY SPINSTER: Tales of Everday Horror by Mallory Ortberg
THE MERRY SPINSTER is a collection of fairytales retold with Mallory Ortberg’s signature whip-smart humor and snark. Mischievous, unsettling, and often feminist, the stories in THE MERRY SPINSTER are a delightful, ingenious spin on beloved classics.

THE CURSE OF THE BOYFRIEND SWEATER: Essays on Crafting by Alanna Okun
THE CURSE OF THE BOYFRIEND SWEATER is Alanna Okun’s memoir on crafting, a collection of essays and stories on truths gleaned through using knitting and yarn to cope with anxiety and the wild uncertainties of life. Okun’s writing is entertaining, often funny, and relatable even to noncrafters.

A LUCKY MAN: Stories by Jamel Brinkley
Jamel Brinkley’s debut short story collection A LUCKY MAN looks at the strained relationships among brothers, fathers, sons, and friends, in a world marked by the divides of race, class, past mistakes, and history. The nine stories in A LUCKY MAN establish Brinkley as a talented new voice to watch.

Nylon50 Books We Can’t Wait To Read In 2018

PEACH by Emma Glass
This marks the debut novel for Emma Glass, and it’s a stunning read. I don’t use that word lightly, by the way; I found myself under the spell of Glass’ words while reading her provocative prose, which thrummed in my head, words plucking at my very nerves. The narrative centers around a young woman, Peach, who has survived an assault, but must deal with the fact that life goes on as normal around her, even though she feels anything but. Glass makes clear the cost of reckoning with sexual assault, and while it’s a particularly pertinent topic to be reading about right now, the mythic dimensions of Peach’s stuggle with her trauma make clear that this is an age-old story, and must never stop being told until everyone starts to actually listen.

THE MERRY SPINSTER: Tales of Everday Horror by Mallory Ortberg
Ortberg’s uniquely hilarious voice lends itself well to the dark and twisted milieu of fairy and folk tales, and her reimagining of the classics is predictably perverse, but also offers wonderful insight into the reasons why humans are so drawn to these stories of horror and loss.

WAITING FOR TOMORROW by Nathacha Appanah
This compelling novel tracks the complicated relationship of a married couple, who struggle with preserving their separate identities within their relationship, their individual artistic freedoms, and integrity, and teases out the myriad ways in which we’re all capable of destroying our own lives, and the lives of those around us.

WADE IN THE WATER by Tracy K. Smith
A new book of poetry by the poet laureate of the United States? Do you really need to know more? Well, if so, consider this: Few living Americans use words to the profound effect that Smith does, and in her latest work, she tackles our complicated horror show of the current political reality, and contrasts it with past American struggles, giving our present difficulties some much-needed context. Her words have a glow to them, their shine imprints itself on you, so you can carry them around with you always.

EYE LEVEL: Poems by Jenny Xie
For a poet so capable of taking readers on far-flung journeys to places like Corfu, Cambodia, and New York, Xie is perhaps most remarkable for her ability to take readers deeper inside themselves than they have ever been. Her poems capture the power within us, the persistent questioning of ourselves that then propels us to move through the world and around it, restlessly searching everywhere for the answers that we fear we can’t find within, or maybe just aren’t capable of yet answering. Plus with language like this— “For years now, I’ve been using the wrong palette. Each year with its itchy blue, as the bruise of solitude reaches its expiration date”—Xie’s work is just a thing of pure, piercing beauty.

THE COMEDOWN by Rebekah Frumkin
Beyond having one of our favorite covers of the year (which isn’t important, necessarily, but it also isn’t not important), THE COMEDOWN also happens to be exactly the kind of wide-ranging, epic story, dealing with all the big issues—love, power, desire, drugs… Florida—that we want to read right now. Frumkin treads through that darkest of comedic territories—America—in this devastatingly smart look at our relationships with those who surround us, who, by accident of birth, are our neighbors, our friends, and our family. That this is Frumkin’s debut makes the ambition of this story all the more remarkable.

A LUCKY MAN: Stories by Jamel Brinkley
This spectacular debut signals an important new literary voice in Jamel Brinkley, whose exploration of the dynamics between fathers and sons, between black men and a society that takes from them but rarely gives back, is quite simply stunning. In each of the nine stories in this collection, Brinkley explores and explodes the myth that any of us are anything but the products of our pasts and our surroundings; he deals with issues of race, class, identity, love, and desire, and is willing to go headfirst into territory that most people would run away from. Instead, he shines a light on difficult truths, making it easier to confront them, even if no solution to their problems is available.

MOTHERHOOD by Sheila Heti
Apparently, the big word in publishing this year was “mother,” because there are a lot of prominent books centered around the topic and even, literally, this word. But that’s fine by me! Especially when it means that we get a new novel from the brilliant Heti, who here brings her acerbic wit to the topic of motherhood, and how women must navigate its treacherous shores in a way that is wholly unique to us, collectively, as a sex, but then also individually, as we seek to understand not only “how should a mother be,” but “how should I, specifically, be as a mother.”

STILL LIFE WITH TWO DEAD PEACOCKS AND A GIRL: Poems by Diane Seuss
Taking its title from the name of one of Rembrandt’s still life paintings, Diane Seuss’ new poetry book meditates on all the different aspects of the Dutch master’s piece. Seuss analyzes each small part as a means to better understand the whole thing, and, in doing so, allows readers to gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which it is possible to make sense of the seemingly incomprehensible, if only we take the time to pay enough attention.

ALTERNATIVE REMEDIES FOR LOSS by Joanna Cantor
Joanna Cantor’s debut deals with parental loss and the many ways in which we search for our true selves, even though we have no idea what we’re looking for or what exactly we might find. In the book, Olivia is 22 when her mother dies, and this event leads her on a journey of self-discovery (why, yes, there are many bad experiences with men along the way). Along the way, Olivia realizes what things from her earlier life she should hold onto and learn from, and what is okay to surrender to the past.

Bustle14 Debut Books By Women Coming Out In 2018 That You Need In Your TBR Pile

SOMETIMES I LIE by Alice Feeney
For readers who love unreliable narrators, SOMETIMES I LIE by Alice Feeney tells the story of Amber Reynolds — a woman who wakes up paralyzed in a hospital and unable to communicate, but very much awake in her mind. Amber doesn’t remember her accident, but she knows what she was doing the week before, she knows that her husband doesn’t love her anymore, and she knows he had something to do with her accident. She also knows that, sometimes, she lies.

BustleBooks From Indie Publishers to Look Forward To In 2018

TOMB SONG by Julián Herbert
The first English-language work from Julian Herbert, TOMB SONG takes place at the foot of a deathbed, as Julian reflects on the life of his mother, a prostitute, now dying from leukemia. A portrait of life and death in Mexico, TOMB SONG blends fiction, memoir and essays in a genre-bending trip through memory.

WADE IN THE WATER by Tracy K. Smith
From the poet laureate of the United States comes a poetry collection that plucks strands from our nation’s history, weaving them into an explanation of how we’re here, now, in this moment.

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