A Kernel on Our Most Anticipated Books of 2024
…and why we think you’ll want to read them, too
If you’re anything like us, you worry that the towering to-be-read pile on your nightstand might topple and bury you in your sleep. Still, that probably won’t stop you from adding to it as the new spring releases start to roll out.
Here are the books that will be topping our stack in the first half of 2024:
Sarah’s Picks:
Parade by Rachel Cusk
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (June 18, 2024)
I will read pretty much anything by Cusk, who created a genre all her own in her Transit trilogy, challenging the demand for basic craft conventions like character and plot. Parade promises more of the same: a series of stories that are loosely—and I mean loosely—connected to an artist named G, “whose life contains many lives,” according to the publisher.
Habitations by Sheila Sundar
Simon & Schuster (April 2, 2024)
In Habitations, Vega Gopalan leaves South India after the death of her sister to study in the U.S., where she strives for a career in academia while also navigating life as a single mother. The publisher describes it as “a universal story of womanhood, and the ways in which women are forced to navigate multiple loyalties: to family, to community, and to themselves,” and I could not be more excited about this novel, which touches on all of the issues most important to me and my own writing life.
Even More:
Bite by Bite by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Ecco Press (May 7, 2024)
Plaything by Bea Setton
Penguin UK (June 27, 2024)
In the Shadow of the Fall by Tobi Ogundiran
Tordotcom (July 23, 2024)
Shelby’s Picks:
Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin
Atria Books (January 30, 2024)
I read an advance reader copy (arc) of Austin’s sophomore novel Interesting Facts About Space and loved it. I’ll read anything from Austin, who has a knack for portraying mental illnesses and neurodivergence with such relatable authenticity. In this story, the protagonist, Enid, is obsessed with space, afraid of bald men, dating women from dating apps, connecting with her estranged half sisters, and convinced that someone is stalking her. Filled with humor and sincerity, you won’t be able to put this book down.
A Good Happy Girl by Marissa Higgins
Catapult (April 2, 2024)
Higgins’ debut novel is a literary delight. I devoured an arc of the book last fall and am excited to recommend it to customers once it’s released. The story centers on a young woman who becomes romantically involved with a married lesbian couple. Through their time spent together, the couple uncovers the family tragedy and trauma that the young woman’s been carrying with her through life.
Even More:
Piglet by Lottie Hazell
Henry Holt & Company (February 27, 2024)
Loneliness & Company by Charlee Dyroff
Bloomsbury Publishing (May 7, 2024)
All Fours by Miranda July
Riverhead Books (May 14, 2024)Shelby’s recommendations:
Natalia’s Picks:
Here in Avalon by Tara Isabella Burton
Simon & Schuster (January 2, 2024)
Full disclosure, I’ve never read anything by Tara Isabella Burton, but she’s recently been recommended to me by a few different people. This novel is a New York City fairytale that involves a cabaret troupe, a dangerous cult, and materialism. What could be more intriguing? Tara Isabella Burton will be a part of an in-person event put on by the Cracks in Postmodernity podcast and I’m planning on attending. I’m hoping to read this work before the discussion, which is about novels in a disenchanted age.
The Morningside by Téa Obreht
Random House (March 19, 2024)
When I read The Tiger’s Wife the year I graduated from university, it clarified for me what writing, fiction, and the novel could do to impact an adult life. I couldn’t stop thinking about it or recommending it to everyone. If Téa Obreht ever writes anything, I’m all over it and so eagerly awaiting her forthcoming novel that’s set in New York City with her signature “myth-touched” way of writing.
Even More
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft
Bloomsbury Publishing (March 5, 2024)
Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (March 12, 2024)
Lucky by Jane Smiley
Knopf Publishing Group (April 23, 2024)
Neidy’s Picks:
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty
Tin House Books (June 4, 2024)
There are some authors that win your allegiance with a single work, and, for me, Morgan Talty did just that with his collection Night of the Living Rez. Talty's ability to weave a tangible setting—from the smell of the air to the attitude of a community—has me excited to read more of his words. This upcoming book, Talty's debut novel, will return readers to the Penobscot reservation and promises to be full of the same complicated family dynamics and captivating descriptions that won me over. In Fire Exit, Talty tells the story of Charles, an estranged and unknown father, who has spent twenty years watching his daughter from across a lake—and must now decide if he can reveal the truth of her parentage.
Knife by Salman Rushdie
Random House (April 16, 2024)
Admittedly, I have never read any of Rushdie’s nonfiction, however, his fiction—rich with political commentary, magical realism, and an unabashed support for uncensored storytelling—is the kind of work that gets my head spinning. Knife will be published less than two years after the attempt on Rushdie’s life, the examination of which is the central concern of the book. I am fascinated by the author’s ability to write about such a traumatic event so immediately.
Even more
The Book of Love by Kelly Link
Random House (February 13, 2024)
I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both by Mariah Stovall
Soft Skull (February 13, 2024)
Inspiration, Information, & Insight
Two weeks into a new routine and Sarah is starting to get into a groove: writing two hours a day—and actually looking forward to it! She also read a book this week that so gutted and triggered her that it has put her off reading (more time for writing, right?). Julie Myerson’s Nonfiction purports to be a work of fiction about a toxic mother and a child in the throes of drug addiction, yet many of the book’s details bear a striking resemblance to the author’s own life, as told through her works of published nonfiction. That said, Sarah highly recommends it for its apparent lack of artifice, its striking voice, and the way it grapples with the dangers of competing obligations: to a parent, a child, and one’s own art.
Shelby hosted another engaging book club this month for the bookstore she works at. They read Yours for the Taking by Gabrielle Korn, which is a queer dystopian climate novel that poses the question: What would a society look like without men?
This week Neidy read We the Animals by Justin Torres. There was so much she loved about this novel-in-flash, including a perfectly rendered child narrator, a nuanced examination of trauma and abuse, and a mastery of description that let her melt all the way into the book.
Natalia finished A Man’s Place by Annie Ernaux and loved how beautiful the writing was in its simplicity and directness. Towards the beginning Ernaux admits to attempting to write a work of fiction using her father as inspiration but ultimately how unfair it was to who he truly was and so she chose to write about his character with “no lyrical reminiscences, no triumphant displays of irony.” This “neutral way of writing,” as she calls it, spoke to Natalia’s love of pyrotechnics-free and incisive writing. After finishing Outline over a long stretch of time, which challenged Natalia’s interest, she’s starting Second Place, which is also by Rachel Cusk, and she is hoping to finish this book in a shorter time span to get the immersive effect of the character’s strong internal voice.