Posted by Anne M on Thursday, Mar 17, 2016
The spring publishing season is just starting up and that means there are so many books to be excited about. Here is a rundown on some of the most anticipated releases of the next few months:
Later this month:
The Year of the Runaways / Sunjeev Sahota
Short-listed for the 2015 Man Booker Prize, we’ve waited a long time for this novel to cross the pond. The book follows the paths of three Indian men, who are recent immigrants to England, as they try to navigate living in a new country and coming to terms with what they left behind. Publishers' Weekly writes, “Sahota’s characters are wonderfully drawn, and imbued with depth and feeling.”
The Nest / Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
This book, about four siblings grappling with the possibility of losing their inheritance, is on everyone’s list as a must-read. Starred review in Kirkus, an Amazon Best Book of March, and a nod from Amy Poehler makes it worthy of your hold list.
Other upcoming March releases: Hold Still by Lynn Steger Strong and The Association of Small Bombs by Kara Mahajan
Coming this April:
Hamilton / Lin-Manuel Miranda
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter write about the six-year development of the Broadway sensation Hamilton, provide footnotes to all the lyrics, and tons of photographs (never before seen!). If you have all of Hamilton memorized and are finding ways to get to Chicago this September, then put a hold on it.
Lazaretto / Diane McKinney-Whetston
Set in a quarantine hospital for immigrants awaiting arrival in Philadelphia during the Civil War (a scene ripe for a story!), McKinney-Whetston follows the African-American staff as their lives entwine with a changing America.
Other hold-worth April reads: Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld, Our Young Man by Edmund White and Maestra by L.S. Hinton
Yay, May!
City of Mirrors / Justin Cronin
Loved The Passage and The Twelve? Well, the final installment of The Passage trilogy is almost here! Stephen King calls it “one of the great achievements in American fantasy fiction,” so if you haven’t picked up the series, it’s probably time.
Joe Gould’s Teeth / Jill Lepore
Jill Lepore set out to find the manuscript of “The Oral History of Our Time,” supposedly the longest book ever written and supposedly composed of everything ever spoken to Gould as a way to show ordinary life. Masterpiece? Maybe. The work received recognition in magazines and newspapers in the 1940's but never was published and disappeared after Gould died (in a mental hospital). So, did it ever exist? Lepore finds out.
Lots of fantastic books coming out in May, including LaRose by Louise Erdrich, Modern Lovers by Emma Straub, The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Fireman by Joe Hill, The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes, Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett, Zero K by Don DeLillo, and Redemption Road by John Hart
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About the Author
Anne Mangano has worked for the Iowa City Public Library since 2008, serving as the Collection Services Coordinator since 2013. In this position, she oversees ICPL's collection, including the selection, cataloging, processing, repair, and removal of materials, including the library's digital collections. Anne holds a Bachelor of...
I enjoyed Geraldine Brooks’ “Horse.” It read fast, I suppose like it’s main subject, one of the greatest racehorses in US history, Lexington. I loved the central idea: what parts of our history seem so important at the time they occur, then forgotten and discarded, only to be found with new meaning. This story centers on a discarded painting of a horse and some equine bones in a Smithsonian storage facility. From that idea, people, places, events are vividly captured on the page: this horse is important in so many different ways. The novel recreates the relationship between Jarrett, an enslaved horse trainer and Lexington, as well as those who come into contact with the painting of Jarret. There was something disjointed and uneven about the narrative, especially the interplay between the past and present. While Jarrett’s story in the 1850’s and 1860’s was deeply rich, the other characters seemed like afterthoughts, there only to make the connection from the past to the present. Perhaps that is the point. Brooks is trying to draw attention to and bring to life through fiction an individual that was unnoted and forgotten but central to racing history. I’ll be thinking more about this at length, which is all I ask of a book. -Anne M