If you’re looking for even more buzzy books, there’s the darkly funny Astronaut! by Oana Aristide, the power-focused Famous Men by Julie Buntin, and Chosen Family by Madeleine Gray, which has friendship at its center.
New Books
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In the books below, you’ll find Pulitzer and National Book Award winners, a fashion memoir, stunning debuts centered around family, love, and tragedy, and more.
Country People by Daniel Mason
The latest from Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason follows Miles, a man who’s just kind of meh. He’s meh when it comes to his PhD on Russian folktales (he’s 12 years late) and meh on making his family proud in general. But then his wife accepts a visiting professorship in Vermont, and it seems like maybe he’ll have a chance to progress. And progress he does—the new people befriends there all have something zany going on (there’s a snowflake photographer and the tree surgeon, for example). Not only that, but soon enough, Miles discovers a weird local legend. One that might be more than a legend. —Erica Ezeifedi
It Will Come Back To You: Stories by Sigrid Nunez
This is the first short story collection by a National Book Award-winner. In 13 stories collected from around 30 years of work, Nunez guides readers through art, love, and death with great insight and wit. —Erica Ezeifedi
Every Inch a Lady: My Amazing Journey from Dear Harlem to Haute Couture and Beyond by Audrey Smaltz
Fashion icon Audrey Smaltz has done it all: model, Wall Street broker, editor, and entrepreneur. Her eclectic resume of unique experiences gave her the unique qualities that made her successful in the fashion world. Now she’s drawing back the curtain to let us see her childhood and what drove her to strive for the best. From her childhood in Harlem to becoming an international cultural powerhouse, Smaltz’s story is one-of-a-kind. —Kendra Winchester
Hustle, Baby by Priya Guns
Dilo—a Tamil teenager who fled from civil war with her family—has just found out that the American Dream is more of a nightmare. To survive, she has to hustle, which might, occasionally, entail doing something a little unsavory. And then Mark, her aunt’s new boyfriend, comes along, and he, like a sort of Financial Jesus, turns $50 into $200 through day trading. Suddenly, Dilo’s whole family is down for Mark, and set out enthusiastically to find new people to become involved in his scheme. But then it starts to hit the fan, and Mark is nowhere to be found. Not only that, but Dilo has lost more than anyone else. But not for long. Sis is about to get her get back. —Erica Ezeifedi
Everything to the Sea by Alicia Upano
This debut is equal parts love story and coming-of-age story. Jane is preparing for her last year of college, working to save money, and looking forward to leaving her Hawaiian island town when she meets Kenji. The two start an intense summer fling that gets interrupted by great tragedy. A tsunami tears their families—and the two of them—apart. Kenji stays behind to rebuild, while Jane has to leave for her sanity. Then, seven years later, after they’ve already tried putting their lives back together with other people, they find the opportunity to recover some of what they lost. —Erica Ezeifedi
Should the Waters Take Us by Stephanie Soileau
This family saga is based around water, too, but this time it’s the water of the Louisiana bayous. For generations, Boy Broussard’s French Acadian family has been struggling to make it. Now he ekes out a living on land that isn’t his while raising his estranged daughter. When an offshore rig explodes and his town is threatened by a hurricane, an already resentful and untrusting environment leans toward violence. —Erica Ezeifedi
Other Book Riot New Releases Resources:
- All the Books, our weekly new book releases podcast, where Liberty and a cast of co-hosts talk about the books out this week we’re most excited about.
- The New Books Newsletter, where we send you an email of the books out this week that are getting buzz.
- Finally, if you want the real inside scoop on new releases, you have to check out Book Riot’s New Release Index! That’s where I find 90% of new releases, and you can filter by genre, age category, and even LGBTQ new releases!
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