A 2024 Book Preview - Part Two

Summer books!

We’ve reached the second trimester of the book publishing season, which I’ve noticed is often populated by titles best read while plopped down somewhere scenic: a beach, a park, in the back of a dimly lit restaurant. Somewhere you can surrender to the page uninterrupted, bonus points if there’s a breeze. There’s something atmospheric about the spring/summer novels. I imagine that somewhere in the marketing department of the Big Five publishers, there’s a woman using words like “engrossing” and “propulsive” to describe them. While compiling this list, I also noticed something about myself. I have a type. I often gravitate toward big novels that are ambitious in scope and tackle something unexpected or “smaller” novels that delve deep into the interpersonal relationships of the characters. The stakes feel high in either direction. Bonus points if you add something I don’t know much about, like the art world or the Nigerian caste system. I’m also always down to read about someone coming home because I’m endlessly interested in what happens when someone revisits a place that nurtured them once they’ve been changed by someplace else (I also wrote a novel about this very thing). All that to say, there’s some thematic repetition here, but I think every book on this list is worth a read or at least a moment spent perusing the jacket copy. 

This list wraps up with the August releases. But I'll be back in early September with a final book preview list, rounding up reads for the rest of the year. And on a final note, pre-order if you can! Your pre-orders and library requests are not just a favor to the authors (though we all do a small dance when it happens). They're a way to signal to the powers that be that the author's words matter to you. 

With that said, onto the books! 

Books I missed in April 

There’s Going to be Trouble by Jen Silverman

I picked this one up at my local indie and am excited to read it! It’s about a woman who tries to live a quiet, private life but finds herself embroiled in a scandal in her small town. She leaves for Paris and gets with an activist, unknowingly repeating a pattern in her family’s past. I’m always compelled by a family drama, and even more so by family secrets so this one is high on my TBR. Bonus points for the cover—it’s gorgeous.

Reboot by Justin Taylor

I also bought this one last week (book buying is a hobby, and I’m a devoted practitioner). It's about a former child actor who’s trying to reboot his life and career. There are lots of other details, but honestly, that’s enough for me.

In Universes by Emet North

I also have a copy of In Universes on the proverbial bedside, which I’ve been watching closely because the editor of Homebodies, Ezra Kupor, also edited this one. It’s a book about a scientist named Raffi who barely understands their research but knows they’re into Britt, a sculptor in their orbit. Raffi grows increasingly curious about dark matter and the multiverse as their fixation grows, searching for a world where Raffi and Britt are on equal footing. I love an epic love story and can’t wait to dig in. 

May

Big books and fun summery reads

May 7th

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

I’ve been waiting for this book all year! This is another time-travel, universe-bending romance that follows a civil servant tasked with monitoring an expat from the 1800s. Initially, things are stilted, but it becomes something more over time. It sounds like a good time and the kind of book I can curl up with and lose an afternoon in.

Shanghailanders by Juli Min

Shanghailanders is about one family living in Shanghai and how they evolve. What interests me most about this book is the form: it's a novel told in reverse, starting in 2040 and working backwards to 2014. 

Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang

A gay couple in New York City’s love story stretches back to rural Fuzhou, where they met while cruising in a movie theater. The novel follows their story across decades, traversing post-socialist China, 80s-era Chinatown, and contemporary New York.

The Skunks by Fiona Warnick

Love a coming-of-age, quarter-life-crisis, girl-in-her-hometown situation (see Homebodies), so naturally, I’m excited about Skunks, a book about a girl who graduates from college and finds herself back home and working at a yoga studio. She’s trying not to hyper-fixate on boys, so she turns her attention to the baby skunks in her backyard. She eventually has a crush on the son of the family she’s housesitting for, an ambiguous relationship she’s trying to navigate. It sounds like the kind of novel that’s more vibes that plot, which is more than fine by me.

Loneliness & Company by Charles Dyroff

Set in near-future New York, Loneliness & Company follows Lee, a recent graduate who works at an obscure company training an AI how to be a friend. It’s part of a bigger government project to combat loneliness, and Lee does increasingly risky things in an attempt to make the AI better.

Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda

Another beautiful book cover! This book of short stories examines Nigerian society through a series of vignettes illuminating how the past influences the present and the tension between being an individual and part of a broader lineage. As I’ve said before, I love a book set in Nigeria, so I think this one will scratch that very specific itch in my brain.

May 14

Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru

In Blue Ruin, a promising artist’s trajectory is thwarted, and he ends up being an undocumented worker living in the US and scraping to make ends meet during COVID. One day, he runs into an old classmate, which sets off a series of events that are decades in the making. I’ve had White Tears on my shelf for nearly six years now, so I’m hoping, similarly to Percival Everett and the release of James, that the new book will push me to get to the backlist.

All Fours by Miranda July

All Fours is Miranda July’s fourth book (ha!) and is about a semi-famous artist who tells her family she’s driving cross-country, only to make it thirty minutes up the road and embark on a different journey. It’s being billed as a “new quest for freedom” and will likely join the ranks of “woman artist discovering self through escaping the trap of domesticity” novels, which are psycho-dramas as much as social commentaries. It promises to be funny and cerebral. I think it’ll be interesting!

The Witches of Bellinas by J. Nicole Jones

A woman moves to a coastal town only to be swept into a hedonistic cult. It’s giving Big Little Lies meets The Sullivanians, which is precisely my kind of book. 

May 21

Cecilia by K. Ming Chang 

I have an abiding love for Killing Eve, and this book is not at all the same, but it feels a little like that bus scene in season three without all the violence and spy plots. In this novella, Seven runs into Cecilia (the titular character), who she’s been obsessed with since they were in school. They get on the same bus, claiming not to be following each other, but over the course of the book, the memories of what they’ve shared flow back until they begin to bend Seven’s perception of reality.

Shae by Mesha Maren

In this coming-of-age novel, Shae and Cam meet in a rural town in West Virginia. The two become close, get pregnant, and then Cam transitions. In the same breath, Shae has a traumatic c-section and gets addicted to the pain meds they prescribe her to heal. The novel illuminates the experiences of both women and deals with their relationship and how they navigate their environment.

Exhibit by R.O. Kwon

I’m in a two-person romanceish book club with my friend Alex, and this is our first read! It’s a classic girl-meets-girl-and-then-girl-considers-blowing-up-her-life situation, the kind of novel that begs to be discussed over dinner.

Perfume and Pain by Anna Dorn

A lightly canceled author with a waning career moves into a small bungalow and dates a college student obsessed with 50’s lesbian pulp fiction. She’s also interested in her neighbor, an older vegan woman living off Urban Outfitters settlement money (whatever that means). I love a love triangle, so I’m excited to dig into this one, which is apparently an homage to pulp fiction—a genre that was considered popular and commercial but not necessarily “literary” and “good.” 

Butcher by Joyce Carol Oates

I’m curious about this new JCO novel, which follows the career of Dr. Silas Weir, considered the “Father of Gyno-Psychiatry.” While at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he’s allowed to experiment with very little interference. As the novel progresses, he becomes obsessed with an Irish indentured servant, who eventually causes his demise. 

May 28

The Winner by Teddy Wayne

The Winner is billed as a "dark, explosive literary thriller that brilliantly skewers the elite." Consider me sat, as I'm a loyal Big Little Lies viewer and loved The Undoing (okay, fine, I love Nicole Kidman). The plot is compelling. Tennis instructor Connor O'Toole moves to an idyllic town near Cape Cod to work for the summer. While there, he meets a woman who offers double his rate and also wants double the services. As the summer goes on, he also falls for an artsy girl he meets on the beach. Considering it's a thriller, things obviously go left, but I'm intrigued about how Wayne will pull it off. 

Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg

Housemates is one of my most anticipated books of the year. It’s a friendship story, a queer story, and also the story of a road trip across America that deals with the nature of art and the pursuit of it in collaboration with someone else. After devouring the unputdownable Idlewild, another queer friendship novel, and hearing nothing but good things about this, I can’t wait to read it.

June

June 4

Godwin by Joseph O’Neill

I really loved the movie Hustle, so I was immediately drawn to Godwin, a book about two brothers trying to track down this elusive soccer star Godwin, whom one brother believes to be the next Lionel Messi. In addition to being an international adventure story, it also promises to investigate the legacy of colonialism and capitalism—a take I find interesting. 

Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh

As I've said before, I love a book set in Nigeria, so I'm excited about Blessings, a novel about a gay teen experiencing his first love on the verge of the country criminalizing same-sex relationships. The novel's main character is Obiefuna, the black sheep of his family. After his father discovers him with another boy (ah!), he's sent away to boarding school. While there, he finds himself and learns to hide in his new environment. I love a queer coming-of-age situation, so this one is very high up on my TBR. 

June 11

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

I’ve been saying that this might be the year lit fic actually gives us some plot, and it seems God of the Woods will add to this tradition. Set in a summer camp in the Adirondacks, it begins with a disappearance. The missing person is a 13-year-old girl who happens to be the daughter of the camp owners. And what’s more, her brother disappeared a decade before. In addition to a mystery, the book promises to explore the working class community around the camp, a layer of depth that I think will elevate it beyond a classic mystery novel. 

Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

This already-buzzy book is set to be adapted by A24, and after reading the synopsis, it seems right up their alley. Margo is the daughter of an ex-pro wrestler and Hooters waitress who is trying to navigate adulthood and motherhood. She gets pregnant by her junior college professor during a brief affair and decides to keep the baby. Broke but responsible for an infant, she decides to start an OnlyFans and becomes a runaway success. Fun, right? 

Tehrangeles by Porochista Khakpour

I have been waiting for Tehrangeles all year! It follows the Milanis, a Kardashian-like family on the brink of reality TV fame. There are four daughters, each with something to hide. And although I’ve heard a single mixed review thus far (a friend wasn’t into the ending), it sounds interesting enough to give it a shot. 

Ask Me Again by Clare Sestanovich

And we have...another coming-of-age novel (I’m predictable! The cover is good!). Ask Me Again is about Eva and Jamie, two unlikely friends living in New York. She’s from middle-class Brooklyn, and he’s from a wealthy family in Manhattan. The story tracks the ways they choose to navigate growing up in their circumstances while also existing in proximity to each other. 

The Sister’s K by Maureen Sun

The Sister’s K is a contemporary retelling of Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. It follows estranged sisters Minah, Sarah, and Esther, who are forced together because their father is dying. As a final act of pettiness, the patriarch pits his daughters against each other to see who will try to curry favor and win his fortune. It’s a great setup for what I’m sure will be an insightful and heart-wrenching read. 

Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin 

Seven kids who were abandoned at a remote conversion camp reconvene sixteen years later to shut it down. Apparently the fate of the world depends on them doing so, though it isn’t clear how. I guess I’ll have to read it to find out. 

June 18

Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera

In this epic love story, two children, Annelid and Leveritt, meet in the middle of the Sri Lankan war and become bonded forever. The two reincarnate many times over, their bond fixed and everlasting. How romantic!

God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer by Joseph Earl Thomas

After returning from the Iraq war, Joseph Thomas tries to navigate life post-deployment. Set in North Philly, the novel follows Joseph as he tries to balance working as an EMT while being a doctoral student and single father. He’s also grappling with his relationship with his father, who’s serving time in prison for the statutory rape of his mother. The novel promises to be a snapshot of Black life while investigating themes of race, punishment, sex, and the socio-political circumstances that define his life.

June 25

The Liquid Eye of a Moon by Uchenna Awoke

After watching the latest season of Real Housewives of Potomac (okay, I watched TikToks about the newest season), I’ve become interested in the Nigerian caste system, which I’ve learned is made up of four hierarchies. At the top are dialas, or free people, and then beneath that are ohu, osu, and ume. Uchenna Awoke’s debut, The Liquid Eye of a Moon, follows Dimpka, a fifteen-year-old whose family is ohu. When the novel opens, Dimpka’s father is set to become village head, an opportunity for social migration. When he’s passed over for someone younger, Dimpka realizes he must chart his own path.

Hombrecito by Santiago Jose Sanchez

I’ve had my eye on this debut for a while. It’s a queer coming-of-age story about a boy who moves from Colombia to Miami and finds himself. In the same breath, he’s navigating a complex relationship with his mother, who is often absent but remains a specter over his life. When he finally returns to Colombia, he is a young man, a different one, trying to make peace with the place and people he left behind.

Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi 

I rarely read YA, but when I do, it’s Children of Blood and Bone. I am a Tomi Adeyemi stan and have been waiting for book three for what feels like a decade. I’m so excited to return to Orisha and see if Zelie finally succeeds in bringing magic back to the region. 

Pearce Oysters by Joselyn Takacs

I tend to avoid eco-fiction (bleak!), but after reading the synopsis of this family drama set in Louisiana during the 2010 oil spill, I was convinced to rethink it. Pearce Oysters has everything you could want in a novel: a family member trying to escape the family business, another trying to sustain it, and a widowed matriarch who presides over them all. 

July

July 2 

The World After Alice by Lauren Aliza Green

Another family drama! This one takes place over a wedding weekend in Maine when two families reunite for the first time since Alice, the bride’s best friend and the groom’s sister, passed away. The wedding is already a surprise—a shock on its own—but then everyone has secrets and agendas that unfold over the course of the novel. I love a complex family drama and want to see how Lauren Green pulls it off. 

The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kolawole

Nothing sounds worse than being a random bystander to a dramatic event that suddenly alters the trajectory of your life, but that’s exactly what happens to Able God, a hotel worker who interferes with a sex worker servicing a very powerful client. Suddenly implicated, he has to flee, which leads him to fall in with a group of migrants who are worshiping a man who calls himself Ben Ten. Things go left, and they find themselves subject to human trafficking and starvation. It sounds heartbreaking but suspenseful, an ideal read. 

July 9 

The Great Hemisphere by Mateo Askaripour

Mateo Askaripour’s latest, The Great Hemisphere, is a huge departure from Black Buck, a satire about a man working in a startup. In his latest novel, an invisible woman named Sweetmint is on a quest to find her brother, who is presumed dead but is now the suspect in a murder. In an attempt to find out the truth, Sweetmint goes off on a quest to find her brother before anyone else.

State of Paradise by Laura Van Den Berg

In State of Paradise, a ghostwriter moves back to her Florida town only to find that her childhood trauma is still simmering beneath the surface, and her sister is spending lots of time in a virtual reality device provided to her by a shadowy corporation named ELECTRA. But that’s not the only thing going on. People in the town are also going missing, and no one knows why. Alarm bells are ringing loudly, but things become more urgent when a violent rainstorm disappears her sister for a few days. When she comes back, she’s muttering about other dimensions and the missing people, and the ghostwriter goes full Nancy Drew to figure out what’s really going on.

My Parent’s Marriage by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond 

I’m a firm believer that the dogged pursuit of trying not to become your parents only puts you on the path of becoming eerily similar, which is exactly what happens for Kokui. She grew up witnessing her parent’s unstable, turbulent marriage and seeks out a man who’s the exact opposite of her father. Despite her best efforts, her marriage still comes apart, and she moves back to her childhood home in Ghana to heal the parts of her that are too big to confront. 

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher

A pulled-together woman falls apart. That’s the premise of The Coin, which follows a wealthy Palestinian woman who seems to have it all but is grappling with feeling stifled and unable to access her idealized self. As a reaction, she becomes obsessed with purity, which is the one thing she can control. It sounds intense, but there’s some funny stuff here, too, like teaching a group of underprivileged middle schoolers, pulling said students into her schemes, and linking up with a Birkin bag reseller to pull off an international grift.

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner 

I’ve reread the first 20 pages of Fleishman is In Trouble no less than five times, and I’m always impressed by Taffy’s ability to write precise, observant, and voicey characters. She skillfully deposits the reader inside her character’s heads and ensures we’ll have a good time there. The tone of Fleishman makes me excited to read her sophomore novel Long Island Compromise, which follows a family after the patriarch is kidnapped and returned. The jarring event casts a long shadow over their lives, and the novel spends its time examining its effects. It reminds me a bit of Hope by Andrew Ridker (which I loved), and I’m interested to see if they share similar themes and vibes.

July 16

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

Every once in a while, I get in the mood for a high fantasy novel, and this one from Lev Grossman, a reimagining of the King Arthur legend, seems to be good. It opens with a young knight named Collum going to Camelot to compete for a spot on the round table only to learn that the king died two weeks prior and only a few oddball knights remain. Together, they have to rebuild Camelot, which I’m sure will be an interesting, twisty ride. 

Banal Nightmare by Halle Butler 

Banal Nightmare is another book about a woman returning to her hometown after a breakup. At this point, I feel I have to name the genre because so many novels fall into it—the hometown hero’s journey, if you will. There are details that interest me and make it different from the others—middle-aged reunions, an artist residency, and old loyalties taken to the extreme. Will be reading!

July 30 

Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengetsu

As I said before, I’ll read anything set in the DMV, so I’m excited about Someone Like Us. It has the trappings of everything I like—a return home, a stoic mother, and a mysterious tragedy. I’m interested to see how all these elements come together, and I’m excited about the underexplored setting of the Ethiopian community in the DC area. 

Colored Television by Danny Senna

I first heard about Danzy Senna when I interviewed Britt Bennett a bunch of years ago, and she mentioned Caucasia, Senna’s most famous work. Bennett read it while writing The Vanishing Half, and it is also about passing but with different emotional stakes. Senna’s newest novel is about an author trying to finish her second novel (real), but when things don’t go as planned, she pivots to screenwriting (realer!) and links up with a producer to create a biracial comedy. I’ve been meditating on the function of contemporary race fiction for a while, so I’m interested to see if this offers any new answers or perspectives. 

August

August 6

All That Glitters by Orlando Whitfield 

This nonfiction book tells the story of failed art dealers Orlando Whitfield and Inigo Philbrick, who met in college, started a business, and immersed themselves in the art world. Orlando opened his own gallery, while Inigo went on to become a high-profile art dealer, but all that comes crashing down when Inigo’s fraud and lies are revealed. The fact that it is a true story is absolutely wild, and I have a feeling it’ll read like fiction.

August 13

The Hypocrite by Jo Hamya

The Hypocrite sounds like an artist parent’s worst nightmare. At the center of the novel is a young playwright, Sophia, the daughter of a famous author. Her father’s work is iconic but hasn’t aged well, complicating his legacy. The book takes place during the staging of her newest play, which, unbeknownst to her father, is about a trip the two took to Sicily and paints him as a staid product of his generation. The setup of this novel is what compels me—I love books about the complexity and nuance of relationships—and am interested in the idea of how we see ourselves versus how we’re seen by the people who love us up close and are impacted by our actions and choices. 

August 20

Survival is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde  by  Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a meticulous steward of Audre Lorde’s legacy. In this biography of the poet and author’s life, she explores the full depth of Lorde’s archive and illuminates her work beyond the quotable phrases that float around on Twitter and in novel epigraphs. This book expands our understanding of Lorde and looks at not just her powerful essays but also her poetry, which is urgent in its understanding of Earth and our relationship to it. 

Thanks for reading!