Some of the books that I’m especially excited for include The Girl on a Train, The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty, The Unloved, Hausfrau, and Our Souls at Night – the rest of them come after the break!
Almost Famous Women, by Megan Mayhew Bergman | January 6th 2015 by Scribner
From “a top-notch emerging writer with a crisp and often poetic voice and wily, intelligent humor” (The Boston Globe): a collection of stories that explores the lives of talented, gutsy women throughout history.
Hall of Small Mammals, by Thomas Pierce | January 8th 2015 by Riverhead Books
The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins | January 13th 2015 by Riverhead Books
A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people’s lives. A compulsively readable, emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller that draws comparisons to Gone Girl, The Silent Wife, or Before I Go to Sleep.
There’s Something I Want You to Do, by Charles Baxter | February 3rd 2015 by Pantheon
Each story has at its center a request or a demand, but each one plays out differently: in a hit-and-run, an assault or murder, a rescue, a startling love affair, or, of all things, a gesture of kindness and charity. Altogether incomparably crafted, consistently surprising, remarkably beautiful stories.
A History of Loneliness, by John Boyne | February 3rd 2015 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
The riveting narrative of an honorable Irish priest who finds the church collapsing around him at a pivotal moment in its history.
At the center are Barb and Lily, two women at opposite ends of the beauty spectrum, but with the same problem: each fears she will never find a love that can overcome her looks. A magical and comedic take on modern love, the power of friendship, and the allure of disguise.
The Half Brother, by Holly LeCraw | February 17th 2015 by Doubleday
A Reunion of Ghosts, by Judith Claire Mitchell | March 1st 2015 by Doubleday
A compulsively readable literary masterpiece, A Reunion of Ghosts is the shared confessional of three sisters who have decided to kill themselves at the end of the 20th century, honoring the dark legacy that has haunted their extraordinary family for decades.
Decoy: A Novella, by Allan Gurganus | March 2nd 2015 by Liveright Publishing Corporation
Like Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day it is a haunting lyrical portrayal of a life half-led. Set in mythical Falls, North Carolina, this mysterious and compelling tale maps the lifelong eroticized friendship between two married men.
The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro | March 3rd 2015 by Knopf
A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara | March 10th 2015 by Doubleday
For readers of Claire Messud and Mary Gaitskill comes a striking debut novel of marriage, fidelity, sex, and morality, featuring a fascinating heroine who struggles to live a life with meaning.
The Animals, by Christian Kiefer | March 23rd 2015 by Liveright Publishing Corporation
Seemingly rid of his troubled past, Bill hopes to marry the local veterinarian and live a quiet life together, the promise of which is threatened when a childhood friend is released from prison.
It has become such a big part of our lives it has begun to feel weird and empty when there isn’t anyone to be furious about. A radically empathetic book about public shaming, and about shaming as a form of social control.
The Dream Lover: A Novel of George Sand, by Elizabeth Berg | April 7th 2015 by Random House
A passionate and powerful novel based on the scandalous life of the French novelist George Sand, her famous lovers, untraditional Parisian lifestyle, and bestselling novels in Paris during the 1830s and 40s.
Our Souls at Night, by Kent Haruf | May 26th 2015 by Knopf
Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee | July 14th 2015 by Harper
The book is set during the mid-1950s, some 20 years after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father Atticus and is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand both her father’s attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood.
Some of those sound interesting. The only book that comes out this year that was on my radar is Beneath the Surface by John Hargrove, and it’s not fiction. He was one of the trainers that was part of Blackfish, so I’m really looking forward to what he has to say. I might have to check some of these out though.
I haven’t seen the documentary yet, but it does sound interesting.
Great list! Already noting down those I’m going to keep a look out for.
Thank you, and that’s exactly why I made this list – so that people will hopefully read and enjoy some of these books! I hope they’re as good as they sound.
oh no, this will be the end of my social life as I know it… books books books. Im behind a bit with my reading, 52 in 2015, hopefully some of these will make it to my own night table..
haha, don’t I know what you mean! I already started The Girl on the Train (kind of misleading title btw, she’s a grown woman and an alcoholic), so I can in good conscience recommend that one to you, since you liked Gone Girl, right?
I bought 4 books.. now I have even more books to read. *cries*
The Girl on the Train, There’s Something I Want You to Do, A History of Loneliness, The Unloved, and A Little Life sound interesting. Go Set a Watchman is on my list, but I have to read To Kill a Mockingbird first. (For some reason, we read the screenplay in high school instead of the book.)
I liked The Girl on the Train! I need to read To Kill a Mockingbird first, too.