There are so many major releases scheduled for April, May and June that choosing just 12 for this list was quite difficult. Make room on your TBR list because here they are:
MOM & ME & MOM
by Maya Angelou (Random House • April 2—that’s today, folks!)
After spending most of their childhood with their grandmother in Arkansas, Maya Angelou and her brother—both teens at the time—were sent to California to live with their mother. In the loving memoir Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou reflects upon her complicated relationship with her mother, Vivian Baxter Johnson. The ups and downs and lessons learned while mother and daughter get to know each other are both moving and inspiring. (Read our interview with Angelou about the book here.)
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THE INTERESTINGS
by Meg Wolitzer (Penguin • April 9)
Meg Wolitzer’s latest novel, The Interestings, introduces six teens who meet during the summer of 1974 at a camp for aspiring artists, musicians and writers, and follows them through four decades, up to the present day, as they endure life’s joys and disappointments, successes and failures—within the context of real-life historical events (the AIDS epidemic, 9/11). A thought-provoking page-turner. (Read a Behind the Book essay written by Meg Wolitzer about the book here.)
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LET’S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS
by David Sedaris (Little, Brown • April 23)
David Sedaris published his last collection of essays almost five years ago, so we can’t wait to crack open—and crack up while reading—his latest. In Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls—which has to be in the running for one of the oddest titles ever—Sedaris takes readers on a global tour, with essays on an eclectic group of topics that range from the eating habits of the Australian kookaburra to the squat-style toilets in Beijing.
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NOS4A2
by Joe Hill (Morrow • April 30)
Horror writer Joe Hill returns with NOS4A2, which is sure to send shivers down countless spines. Villain Charles Talent Manx preys on young children, picking them up in his 1938 Rolls-Royce and taking them to a fantastical place called Christmasland. Victoria (Vic) McQueen has special powers of her own and is the only child to have escaped Manx’s clutches—a fact that neither Vic nor Manx have been able to forget. Years later, Vic is forced to confront Manx again in a showdown between good and evil. We’re hooked already.
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THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT
by Rick Atkinson (Holt • May 14)
The Guns at Last Light is the third book in Rick Atkinson’s WWII Liberation Trilogy. As in the first two books, Atkinson uses personal letters and diaries from war participants at all levels—from presidents to infantrymen—resulting in a riveting and well-rounded chronicle of the triumphs, horrors, defeats and moments of great humanity that took place during the last couple of years (1944–45) of the war, including D-Day, the liberation of Paris, the Battle of the Bulge and the fall of the Third Reich.
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INFERNO
by Dan Brown (Doubleday • May 14)
Robert Langdon is back! Even though the plot details of Dan Brown‘s Inferno—a surefire blockbuster—have been a closely guarded secret, the publisher has revealed that “Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.” Sounds like another wild ride with the world’s favorite symbologist.
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AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED
by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead • May 21)
And the Mountains Echoed, the third novel from best-selling author Khaled Hosseini, revolves around families and the relationships within them—between parents and children, brothers and sisters, and even extended family members. Taking place all over the globe—from Paris to Kabul to San Francisco—the book explores how family members love one another and how their decisions affect not just themselves but also the generations that follow.
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THE SON
by Philipp Meyer (Ecco • May 28)
Power. Greed. Family. These three themes shape Philipp Meyer’s epic novel The Son, which begins in the newly created Republic of Texas in 1849. Thirteen-year-old Eli McCullough is kidnapped by a marauding band of Comanches and raised by them. After disease, starvation and warfare with Americans take their toll on the tribe, Eli eventually finds himself alone. His ruthless quest to forge an identity for himself and his thirst for success and power shape not only the rest of his life, but also the lives of his son, Pete, and granddaughter, Jeannie. (Read more about The Son on our blog.)
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THE ENGAGEMENTS
by J. Courtney Sullivan (Knopf • June 11)
The Engagements digs deep into the lives of four couples, each at a different stage in their relationship—one married 40 years, one heading for bitter divorce after infidelity, one with two young children and too little income, and another together for 10 years but not married. This rich and layered novel by J. Courtney Sullivan also tells the true-life story of Frances Gerety, a successful Madison Avenue copywriter in the 1940s and ’50s who came up with the infamous tagline “A Diamond Is Forever.”
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A MILLION YEARS WITH YOU
by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (HMH •
June 11)
From legendary naturalist Elizabeth Marshall Thomas—now in her 80s—comes A Million Years With You, a memoir of an extraordinary life spent observing and interpreting other cultures and species. With her keen insight and unfailing eloquence, Marshall Thomas will captivate readers—whether she’s discussing her days spent with the Ju/wa Bushmen in the Kalahari; her magical childhood and, later, building her own family; being in Uganda just before Idi Amin came to power or her study of various animals.
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THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB
by Lily Koppel (Grand Central • June 11)
Few people these days may realize that back in the early ’60s, the young wives of America’s first astronauts—the Mercury Seven—were nearly just as famous as their husbands, having tea with Mrs. Kennedy, posing for spreads in Life magazine, and attending countless glamorous galas. They formed The Astronaut Wives Club and became integral parts of each other’s lives, many still friends more than 40 years later. The heroes behind the heroes finally get their due in Lily Koppel’s fascinating, behind-the-scenes peek at their lives.
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THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE
by Neil Gaiman (Morrow • June 18)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is not a children’s book, even though the narrator is looking back 40 years, recalling horrifying events that happened when he was only seven years old. Neil Gaiman’s latest is a tale of suicide, dark forces, otherworldly creatures and a child’s fight for survival. He turns to three women who live at the end of the lane for help, one of whom claims to remember the Big Bang. Sounds mysterious, imaginative, dark—a story that is sure to be beautifully woven by the brilliant Gaiman.
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What do you think? Which of these books will you be reading? And what other spring books are you most looking forward to?
According to the press release, Clinton will discuss not only those events, but also her views on how the United States can best position itself in the global diplomatic landscape. Lots of personal reflection and anecdotes are promised.
This October, Knopf will publish Longbourn, by Jo Baker, a British author whose first novel to be published in the U.S., The Undertow, came out last spring. Baker’s twist? She’s telling the story from the point of view of the Bennett family’s servants. Film rights have, of course, already been snapped up.
I enjoy a good love story, but I write the way I like to read—with more going on than just “boy meets girl.” I like to get into the heads of all the characters. This story has a secondary romance, an eccentric uncle, the town’s teenage troublemaker and even a finicky cat. Smithville was the perfect place to set this fun story.
