New Year, New Voices: Most Anticipated Books of 2019
What Books Can Readers Look Forward to in 2019?
Standout titles from all the listicles
I perused as many listicles as I could find announcing new book releases for 2019 and to save you time, I picked my own personal “standout titles” from each list.
My criteria for “standouts” are simple:
Is the book written by a writer of color?
Is the book written by a woman?
Is the story one that we readers have not yet heard before? AKA is this book another fun, typical crime thriller or does it have something totally new to offer us? I have nothing against genre reads, but I’d prefer to give this space to books that are doing something different. Genre reads are fun and engaging and exciting, so truly, I mean no offense by this criterion.
Now, I deviate from these points sometimes, but I tried my best not to.
Why?
Because I’m a reader and I need to do a better job of reading titles from writers of color and women in 2019/throughout the rest of my life. So this was an easy way for me to make sure I add the right titles to my wish list for the new year. If you feel the same way, then I hope this list can aid you in that pursuit as well. If you don’t feel the same way, maybe check out a few of these titles for yourself; they might just change your mind.
Disclaimer: Many of the listicles I read repeated these titles over and over again, which is why I am not attributing one blog per title.
Another Disclaimer: I tend to get excited about Fiction, so many of the listed titles belong to that genre. I tried to include other genres like Fantasy, Thriller, Memoir, etc. But I’m admitting openly there will be fewer of those titles listed here than those belonging to General Fiction. If you have titles in other genres you are excited about that I have not included, shoot me an email and I will consider adding it to the list!
Another Another Disclaimer: I tried to find the exact dates of release for these titles on the publisher’s website, but if any are incorrect that you notice, please feel free to let me know and I will fix the error.
Without further ado…
“The Gilded Wolves” by Roshani Chokshi. Fiction. Jan. 15, 2019.
“The Far Field” by Madhuri Vijay. Coming-of-Age Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Political fiction. January 15, 2019.
“We Cast a Shadow” by Maurice Carlos Ruffin. Literary Fiction. January 29, 2019.
“Black is the Body” by Emily Bernard. Memoir. January 29, 2019.
“King of Scars” by Leigh Bardugo. Fantasy. January 29, 2019.
“Black Leopard, Red Wolf” by Marlon James. Historical Fiction. Feb. 5, 2019.
“Where Reasons End” by Yiyun Li. Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction. Feb. 5, 2019.
“On the Come Up” by Angie Thomas. Young Adult Fiction. Feb. 5, 2019.
“Lost Children Archive” by Valeria Luiselli. Literary Fiction. Feb. 12, 2019.
“The Source of Self-Regard” by Toni Morrison. Literary Collections. Feb. 12, 2019.
“The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls” by Anissa Gray. Women’s Fiction. Feb. 19, 2019.
“Bangkok Wakes to Rain” by Pitchaya Sudbanthad. Literary Fiction. Feb. 19, 2019.
“We Set the Dark on Fire” by Tehlor Kay Mejia. Young Adult Fiction. Feb. 26, 2019.
“A Good Wife” by Samra Zafar. Memoir. March 5, 2019.
“Gingerbread” by Helen Oyeyemi. Literary Fiction, Fairy Tales. March 5, 2019.
“Era of Ignition” by Amber Tamblyn. Memoir, Politics. March 5, 2019.
“Children of Virtue and Vengeance” by Tomi Adeyemi. Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy. March 7, 2019.
“Internment” by Samira Ahmed. Young Adult Fiction. March 7, 2019.
“Sing to It: New Stories” by Amy Hempel. Literary Fiction. March 26, 2019.
“Dig” by A.S King. Young Adult Fiction. March 26, 2019.
“The Island of Sea Women” by Lisa See. Historical Fiction. March 2019.
“Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams. Coming-of-Age Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Urban fiction, Biographical Fiction. March, 2019.
“Lost and Wanted” by Nell Freudenberger. Women’s Fiction. April 2, 2019.
“Trust Exercise” by Susan Choi. Coming-of-Age Fiction. April 3, 2019.
“The Meaning of Birds” by Jaye Robin Brown. Young Adult Fiction. April 16, 2019.
“The Unpassing” by Chia-Chia Lin. Literary Fiction. May 7, 2019.
“The Farm” by Joanne Ramos. Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction. May 7, 2019.
“With the Fire on High” by Elizabeth Acevedo. Young Adult. May 7, 2019.
“Romanov” by Nadine Brandes. Young Adult Fiction. May 7, 2019.
“Disappearing Earth” by Julia Phillips. Women’s Fiction, Suspense & Thriller. May 21, 2019.
“The Gone Dead” by Chanelle Benz. Literary Fiction. June 25, 2019.
“Keeping Lucy” by T. Greenwood. Historical Fiction. August 6, 2019.
“The World Doesn’t Require You” by Rion Amilcar Scott. Literary Fiction. August 20, 2019.
Blogs/articles/videos I referenced:
“Here Are 25 of the 2019 Books We Can't Wait for (so Far)” by Leigh Haber and Michelle Hart on The Oprah Magazine.
“15 Books Coming Out in 2019 to Bring to Your Book Club,” by Leah Thomas on Cosmopolitan.
“2019 BOOKS WE CAN’T WAIT FOR” by Jesse Dorey on Savvy Reader.
“The most anticipated books of 2019” by Ashley Johnson on What She Reads.
“The 25 Most Anticipated Books of 2019” by Adrienne Westenfeld on Esquire.
“20 new books coming out in 2019 you'll want to read” by Jessica Booth on Insider.
“Spring 2019 Announcements: Literary Fiction” by Gabe Habash on Publisher’s Weekly.
“These Are the 30 Must-Read Books of 2019” by Sabienna Bowman on Popsugar.
“Highly Anticipated Books of 2019” by Rachel Rae’.
“2019 MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASES” by MikaylaReading.
“25 MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2019” by alliembooks.