New Books to Read in Spring 2016
Blackass by Igoni Barrett
A young Nigerian man wakes up to discover he’s become a white man, which changes everything from his employment prospects to the way his family interacts with him.
Out March 1, Graywolf Press.
All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister
Traister examines the increasing marital age in America, alongside historic times when women remained unmarried longer, and the social movements that accompanied those times.
Out March 1, Simon & Schuster.
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
This new book of short stories comes from the acclaimed author of 2015’s Boy, Snow, Bird.
Out March 8, Riverhead Books.
High Dive by Jonathan Lee
This novel tells a fictionalized account of a real event: the 1984 bombing at a Brighton Hotel that was part of a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Out March 8, Knopf.
The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
A group of dysfunctional adult siblings comes together to try to ensure that they all receive a huge family inheritance.
Out March 22, Ecco.
The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota
A Man Booker prize nominee, this book finally gets its US release, and explores the lives of a group of four Indian immigrants in England.
Out March 29, Knopf.
The Killing of Osama Bin Laden by Seymour M. Hersh
Hersh’s investigation of what actually happened the night Osama Bin Laden was killed was none too flattering to the Obama administration. Whether you think his reporting was flawed or not, you can now read a longer version of his article (rejected by the New Yorker) in book form.
Out April 12, Verso.
My Struggle Book Five by Karl Ove Knausgaard
If you’re a Karl Ove Knausgaard fan, you’ve probably already read parts one through four of his opus, so get ready for part five in April.
Out April 19, Archipelago.
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
The writer of Prep and American Wife takes on Pride and Prejudice. Here, “Liz” is a magazine writer in her late 30s, who takes an interest in a certain Fitzwilliam Darcy, a persnickety neurosurgeon.
Out April 19, Random House.
Mission Hill by Pamela Wechsler
The protagonist of this debut novel—Suffolk prosecutor Abby Endicott—has a career that closely mirrors Wechsler’s own. Read more.
Out May 3, Minotaur Books.
Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo
If that title sounds familiar, it should: This is Russo’s sequel to his massively popular Nobody’s Fool, and revisits the same characters.
Out May 3, Knopf.
The Assistants by Camille Perri
What happens when you hit 30, but you’re still drowning in student loans and serving as someone’s assistant? This book, an inside look at New York’s high-powered literary world, lets you know.
Out May 3, G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Zero K by Don DeLillo
If you could put your body into a suspended sleep until it could awaken healed, would you? Should you? Billionaire Ross Lockhart and his son Jeffrey grapple with the morality of immortality.
Out May 10, Scribner.
LaRose by Louise Erdrich
Erdrich returns with a troubling premise: After a man accidentally shoots his neighbor’s son in a hunting trip gone awry, he and his wife give the neighbors their own son.
Out May 10, Harper.
The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes
Barnes’ latest is a deep dive into the life of Dmitri Shostakovich, and what it took to survive as an artist under Soviet rule.
Out May 10, Knopf.
Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman
A dark morality tale set in the 1990s explores the obsessive friendship between two girls in the wake of a suicide in their hometown.
Out May 17, Harper.
The Afterparty by Anton DiSclafani
Two women take on the Texas social scene in the 1950s and all its attendant glamor and scandals. You’ll just have to imagine the accents for yourself.
Out May 17, Riverhead.
The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin
If you’ve been enjoying Justin Cronin’s epic (and epically long) post-apocalyptic vampire series, you’re probably pretty excited for this book, since it’s the grand finale.
Out May 24, Ballantine.
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
A trio of former bandmates tries to grapple with middle age, and the growing awareness that their kids have more or less taken their place as hip youngsters (who may or may not have feelings for each other).
Out May 31, Riverhead.
