Novels and nonfiction are among the excellent books coming out in the coming months. (Covers courtesy of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Flatiron, Graywolf, Harper, Little Brown, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Riverhead)
After this surprisingly wet winter, the arrival of spring means you can get back to the beach, hit the hiking trails or finally try to play some pickleball as the weather warms up.
Or, you know, read.
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No matter what the weather’s like, it’s always a good time to head to your local bookstore or library. The next few months will bring a bounty of exciting new books from both debut and veteran authors, covering a variety of topics and genres.
Here are 15 books we’re looking forward to reading:
“Losing Music”
Author: John Cotter
What It’s About: In this heartbreaking memoir, “Under the Small Lights” novelist Cotter writes about his experiences adapting to the hearing loss and vertigo that accompanied an illness he was first diagnosed with in his thirties and how he came to terms with living with a disability.
Publication Date: April 11
“The Weight”
Author: Jeff Boyd
What It’s About: This debut novel from author Boyd follows Julian, the drummer for a Portland, Oregon indie-rock band. A Black man living in a mostly White community, Julian finds his life thrown into disarray after the woman he’s been seeing ghosts him, his house catches fire, and his band threatens to fall apart.
Publication Date: April 11
“The Haunting of Alejandra”
Author: V. Castro
What It’s About: Texas-born author Castro returns with a horror novel about a woman haunted by visions of La Llorona, the weeping ghost of Mexican legend. When Alejandra digs into her family history, she realizes that she’s not the only person to be haunted by the specter.
Publication Date: April 18
“Hestia Strikes a Match”
Author: Christine Grillo
What It’s About: The title character of journalist Grillo’s debut comic novel is having a bad year — her husband has left her, she’s estranged from her parents, and her dating life could be better. Making things worse: the U.S. happens to be engaged in a new civil war.
Publication Date: April 18
“To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse”
Author: Howard Fishman
What It’s About: Essayist and musician Fishman has long been fascinated with Converse, the singer-songwriter who was briefly active in the 1950s New York music scene and disappeared without a trace in 1974. In this biography, he seeks to know the enigmatic Converse, who is now a cult favorite among music aficionados.
Publication Date: May 2
“Elixir: In the Valley at the End of Time”
Author: Kapka Kassabova
What It’s About: Author Kassabova wowed the literary world with her 2017 book “Border,” about her return to her native Balkans. Her latest book reflects on the ecology, culture, and people of the land that surrounds the Mesta River in Bulgaria and Greece.
Publication Date: May 16
“King: A Life”
Author: Jonathan Eig
What It’s About: Eig has written phenomenal biographies of Lou Gehrig and Muhammad Ali; his latest book, the product of years of extensive research, tells the story of the life of the legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
Publication Date: May 16
“Sing Her Down”
Author: Ivy Pochoda
What It’s About: The latest thriller from acclaimed L.A. novelist Pochoda follows Florida, a woman in an Arizona prison whose cellmate, Dios, is convinced she knows the truth about her crime. When both are released, Dios refuses to give up her obsession with Florida, leading to a chase across the Southwest.
Publication Date: May 23
“Lesbian Love Story: A Memoir In Archives”
Author: Amelia Possanza
What It’s About: The debut book from author Possanza is part memoir and part love letter to New York as well as to several lesbians throughout the ages who serve as her role models.
Publication Date: May 30
“Good Night, Irene”
Author: Luis Alberto Urrea
What It’s About: The award-winning author of “The Hummingbird’s Daughter” and “The House of Broken Angels” returns with a novel about two American women who volunteer with the Red Cross in Europe during World War II. It’s inspired by Urrea’s mother’s service with the humanitarian organization.
Publication Date: May 30
“All the Sinners Bleed”
Author: S.A. Cosby
What It’s About: Crime author Cosby is one of the brightest stars in crime fiction today; his novels “Blacktop Wasteland” and “Razorblade Tears” were both critically acclaimed bestsellers. His newest book follows a Black sheriff in the South who is forced to reckon with racism while tracking down a serial killer.
Publication Date: June 6
“Between Two Moons”
Author: Aisha Abdel Gawad
What It’s About: Gawad’s debut novel follows two Arab American twin sisters in Brooklyn who hope to find themselves in the summer after their high school graduation; their plans are altered when they have to contend with the arrival of their older brother, who has just been released from prison.
Publication Date: June 6
“You Can’t Stay Here Forever”
Author: Katherine Lin
What It’s About: Bay Area attorney Lin makes her literary debut with a novel about a widow who discovers her late husband was cheating on her. She uses his life insurance money to flee to French Riviera with her best friend, where the two befriend a couple — but things soon get complicated.
Publication Date: June 13
“Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class”
Author: Blair LM Kelley
What It’s About: Historian Kelley wrote about the post-Plessy v. Ferguson streetcar boycotts in the early 20th century in her critically acclaimed previous book; her latest is a history of Black workers in the U.S. — a group that too often has been ignored in the story of American labor.
Publication Date: June 13
“Holding Pattern”
Author: Jenny Xie
What It’s About: UC Berkeley grad Xie’s novel tells the story of a woman who moves back to Oakland after a series of setbacks and finds herself navigating a new relationship with her mother, who is preparing to get married to a tech entrepreneur.
Publication Date: June 20
