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Exciting new works from award-winning authors Natalie Haynes, Ladee Hubbard, Sarah Moss, and Todd Robert Petersen and rising-star debut novelist Robert Jones Jr.

Gabriel Byrne and Cicely Tyson reflect on life and acting, while Emily Rapp Black, Justine Cowan, Charlie Gilmour, and Liz Tichenor discuss parents and children. 

Hillybilly Elegy author J.D. Vance leads a group of authors discussing crucial issues today.

Marie Benedict, Sadeqa Johnson, and more key authors revisit the past to appreciate the present.

A miniboom of titles examining the countryside’s heart of darkness.

Seven best-selling thriller authors help readers launch the new year.

Historicals, police procedurals, and a narcolepsy-prone detective.

Roya Hakakian limns the immigrant experience, Pulitzer Prize worthies cover leading issues, the president of Emily's list explains campaigning, and a just-dropped-in September title considers the political consequences of pandemic. 

New works by major writers William Boyd, Peter Ho Davies, and Allan Gurganus, plus multi-honored short story writer Danielle McLaughlin and rising star Madeleine Watts writing their first novels. 

#BlackLivesMatter—and Black voices matter, too. Here is a necessarily selective list of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry from Black authors appearing in 2020. 

An Artificial Friend and the meaning of love.

Eight key award winners, best-selling authors, and promising first novelists who will draw in readers this January.

New works from Joan Didion, George Saunders, and Simon Winchester always excite, and  Ty Seidule, a Southern-raised retired brigader general, demands a reckoning with the Confederacy. 

Callender’s Caribbean-inspired historical fantasy series wraps, horror master Miller returns, and more.

James Patterson on John Lennon’s last days, scientist Camile Pang addressing her Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Ijeoma Oluo on the dangers to society of having always given white men a break.

Biographies of Harriet the Spy author Louise Fitzhugh and El Chapo and memoirs from AIDS activist Ruth Coker Burks and Homeira Qaderi, who writes about having to leave her son in Afghanistan.

Cooking effectively and cheaply on a diet, combining fasting with healthy food choices. 

A Robin Hood thief, domestic suspense, supernatural thrills, and newcomers like Kia Abdullah and Jasmine Kia will keep readers busy during the holidays. See also "Thrillerfest 2020 Goes Virtual."

Smart December fiction reading starts out with Smiley and a remarkable horse in Paris, then expands to include under-your-skin stories from Emma Glass, Neel Patel, and others.

Eleanor of Aquitaine, World War II titles, Lady Bird Johnson, and a photographic study of Barack Obama entertain history and biography readers in the winter months. 

Free programming and classes with the experts should interest both librarians and their patrons.

For December, an accent on police procedurals, women sleuths, and historicals that take us from Tudor England to 1944 Berlin.

Numerous big self-help titles give readers a jump on New Year’s resolutions—and ongoing assistance in pandemic recovery.

Just announced for October, French’s new bone chiller joins a juicy list of historicals, saga, women’s fiction, and romance publishing in November.

Some key players in film, TV, theater, and music tell their stories and/or the stories of others, and big literary titles loom.

Tackling issues from contemporary media to murder at Harvard to the impact of Spiro T. Agnew’s crimes.

Two National Book Award finalists, a Miles Franklin Award winner, four promising debut novelists, and outstanding fiction in translation.

A short but potent list of memoirs, cooking techniques and fruit cakes, and caring about dogs, cats, and the larger natural world.

Five major studies in the run-up to the holidays.

For the run-up to the holidays, here are November thrillers from big-name writers to chill you to the bone. 

Lethen and Roberts in sf/fantasy mode, fantasy stalwarts Kuang, Sanderson, and Winter with new works, and Chloe Neill shape-shifting to a new subgenre. 

Check out Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas E. Ricks's study of how our first four presidents were shaped by their classical education, plus biographies on Henry Adams and Prince Philip. 

Late fall mystery ranges in setting from Scotland, Sweden, and Suffolk, England, to Evanovich’s New Jersey, with plots from gritty to cozy holiday. 

Science from the medieval era to today’s black holes, plus battling specific illnesses/conditions.

Women’s fiction includes the popular Elin Hilderbrand and Cecily von Ziegesar, while historical fiction includes two novels in translation, David Diop’s At Night All Blood Is Black and Annette Hess’s The German House, that treat World War I and World War II, respectively.

From music (let’s hear it for Jimi Hendrix and Mozart!) to film/TV (Cary Grant and Jerry Seinfeld, anyone?) to literature (hey, pick up The Call Me Ishmael Phone Book).

Books on regime change, Afghanistan’s Pech Valley, and chemical warfare in Syria: perspectives on fighting that never ends.

Big books on wildlife, childhood longevity, climate change, and the meaning of science.

The last of top October nonfiction, from Anthony Bourdain’s World Travel to Sarah Wilson’s Your One Wild and Previous Life. 

These authors come with major awards and a lot of good writing.

Key history and biography for October.

Key cookbooks, quick-and easy-cooking, pastry making, and a deeper look at the science of cooking, issues in the food industry, and James Beard as shaper of great American cuisine. 

From Lee Child/Andrew Child to Viet Thanh Nguyen, essential fiction for October. 

Big-print-run authors, astonishing short fiction, names new to us, and historical thrillers—all will keep readers glued to their seats. 

From graphic memoir and the Pioneer Woman's reflections on life, to a rescued kitten and two dogs in love, to Métis author Toni Jensen's Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land, memoirs for everyone. 

A sleigh full of Christmas fiction for the holidays.

Mystery writers Donna Andrews, Carolyn Haines, Anne Perry, and David Rosenfelt add to the swirl of holiday fiction.

Featuring John Banville, Faye Kellerman, Alexander McCall Smith, & more.

Key nonfiction for early fall. 

Women's fiction (Jodi Picoult), historicals (Ronald Balson), sf/fantasy (Naomi Novik), and more chillers (Sandra Browne) wrap up the month of September

Finding ourselves at home and (sometimes far) abroad through early fall nonfiction.

Kevin Kwan, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Nick Hornby are among the authors whose novels will soon brighten the literary scene, with Sarah Shun-lien Bynum and Walter Mosley adding short fiction to the list. 

Jimmy Carter, Adolf Hitler, and Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, known as the Shawnee prophet, are among those holding court for biography readers in September.

World War II and its Cold War consequences remain a top draw for history readers, with general history titles ranging from archaeologists duking it out over the fabulous finds beneath Egypt's sands to the sex scandals involving U.S. presidents. 

From Iris Johansen and James Patterson to Sean Parnell and Wendy Walker, 12 thrillers for all libraries.

New directions from former defense secretary Robert M. Gates and Rev. Al. Sharpton, studies on free speech from Ellis Cose and Stanley Fish, Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel on the tyranny of merit, and more essential titles. 

Books to ponder in the run-up to the election. 

Four fun reads for launching your autumn reading in style. 

Award winners catch our eye again with important new books. 

Four leading mystery writers keep readers at the edge of their seats in September. 

Not just pop queens Meg Cabot and Danielle Steel but upcoming Kirsty Manning, Orange Award–winning Valerie Martin, and four debut authors.

Sf/fantasy veterans Laurell K. Hamilton, Richard Kadrey, and J.R. Ward are joined by up-and-coming Linden A. Lewis. 

Helen Macdonald’s new essay collection, Michael Gorra’s reassessment of William Faulkner, Ron Lieber's look at the cost—and value—of college, and more. 

Big new works from multi-award winners Margot Livesey and Ali Smith, Australian newbie Charlotte McConaghy, and translated authors Hans-Olav Thyvold and A.B. Yehoshua. 
 

Six essential titles for those who love history. 

This August, leading authors Akwaeke Emezi, Daisy Johnson, Susan Minot, Alice Randall, and Edmund White offer challenging new works for gung-ho readers, as do stars ranging from Randall Kenan and Ron Rash to Susan Abulhawa and Megan Hunter. And look for lots of big debuts. 

A look at national and international divisiveness, how dirty money supports dirty politics, what technology means for human relationships, and more. 

Top thrillers this month include a stand-alone from the multi-award-winning Ryan, a moody look at small-town England from the mega-best-selling Watson, and an eye-opener about drugs invading the reservation from debut author Weiden. Plus big-name stars (T. Jefferson Parker), newbies (Amber Garza, Perry O’Brien), and authors Karen Dionne and Emily Schultz featuring heroines who don’t know whether they committed a crime way back when. 

Poets and bakers, and if not candlestick makers then certainly photojournalists, celebrities, and others recall how they have been shaped by tough upbringings and current friendships.

Nine mysteries from top authors to beguile away the dog days of summer. 

Get serious at the beach with books ranging from promising debuters to Man Booker long-listed Clegg, MacArthur Fellow Li, Costa/Maugham winner O’Farrell, and other good stuff. 

From Raymond E. Feist new Firemane Saga to mega-award-winning Tor authors, speculative fiction for everyone.

Friends, family, lovers, and historical figures to keep you reading at the height of summer. 

Baker probes the Freedom of Information Act, Conn offers a tale of two Syrian brothers, Deresiewicz assays the artist’s life in the 21st century, Lozado reads 150 books about Trump, and Thompson considers the issues surrounding the 2016 Dallas police shooting. Plus more public issues of importance. 

An anonymous twitterer (Duchess Goldblatt), two Pulitzer Prize winners, struggling parents, struggling children, an African American woman who acts as an emergency room physician—all have stories to tell.

In July, police officers and private investigators from ancient Rome to the Amish community to Spain’s Basque region swing into action, but mystery really goes to the dogs with Spencer Quinn’s Of Mutts and Men and David Rosenfelt’s Muzzled.  

Choosing 200 titles to represent an entire year’s worth of books is no easy task. Those here are suggested as the most important but also tell a story of where our interests lie as readers and a nation. Our newest residents, race relations, climate change, political tensions—all are issues reflected in 2020’s fiction and nonfiction.

This preholiday sneak peek of July fiction will get you set for the summer with some big-name popular fiction.

This preholiday sneak peek of July nonfiction will get you set for the summer with sure-to buzz books in political science and memoir. 

More literary titles to add to last week’s list, and no fiction reader can go wrong with works by the perennially best-selling Jill McCorkle and rising star Brit Bennett, plus a range of veterans and exciting newbies. 

June has a crowded pop fiction field, so big it's hard to pick picks. In women's fiction, stellar names like Jenny Colgan, Elin Hilderbrand, Kristan Higgins, and Danielle Steel come calling, while historical fiction focuses on World War II, and speculative fiction offers an all-star cast from Terry Brooks to Zoje Stage.

Issue-oriented books like Michelle Bowdler Is Rape a Crime? and DW Gibson’s 14 Miles (of border wall). A strong showing in science (from evolution and neurology to nature and astrophysics). Some intriguing art titles, including coverage of pianos in Siberia. Titles to help and inspire, like Pittsburgh Steeler James Conner’s Fear Is a Choice. Plus Gerald Marzorati’s Seeing Serena. All big June nonfiction. 

The “Jesus” trilogy wrap-up from Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee, soulful drinking in Dublin with Roddy Doyle, memoirist Sam Lansky’s debut novel, elegant family saga from Martha McPhee, Stefano Massini’s novel behind the hit play, love likely lost from Spencer, and an idealist’s road trip from Tobar, plus more top literary fiction

Our white supremacist roots from National Book Award winner Edward Ball, Jewish women resistance fighters from Judy Batalion, Dan Hampton on killing Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Jonathan Kaufman on the Jewish families who ruled early 20th-century Shanghai, Bob Schron on activist African American athletes, Tim Weiner on U.S. and Soviet/Russian political warfare, and more. 

Barry takes us on a wild ride with her second novel, while Connolly explains how his enduring Charlie Parker first got into the game. Hart exhibits his usual moral rigor in a thriller involving a Vietnam vet and his brother, accused of murder. Jones introduces two sisters to their half-sister, while in Mina’s new work, a woman seeks out her biological mother only to find that she was murdered. Plus a James Patterson doubleheader, veterans like Johansen and Woods, three high-print-run debuts, domestic suspense, and more.

David Adjmi considers growing up a gay Syrian Jew in Brooklyn before the borough got cool, journalist Diane Cardwell finds a new life and a new community by surfing at New York's Rockaway Beach, and linguist Deborah Tannen reconstructs the life of her inspiring father. In contrast, Hayden Herrera recounts a neglectful upbringing by art-besotted parents, and Dan Mathews examines life with an off-kilter mother only recently diagnosed with mental illness. Other stories of difficult parents come from Sara Faith Alterman, Stephanie Danler, and Vicki Laveau-Harvie. Finally, among top memoirs, former Navy SEAL Douglas Michael Day communicates a story of service and survival.

Icelandic crime king Jónasson wraps up his series starring Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir with a visit to a snowed-in cabin, and Steiner continues her successful new series with Det. Manon Bradshaw of the Cambridgeshire police investigating a mysterious hanging. Plus multiple series starts from well-known authors (e.g., Hart, Sears), British-set work ranging from the medieval era to today, and more big chills. 

The late Rep. Elijah Cummings’s memoir, Thomas Frank with an unexpected view on populism, Bill Gates on the climate crisis, Litt on restoring our challenged democracy, and NBC/MSNBC’s Soboroff on the consequences of separating children and parents at the border. Plus more current affairs titles, with a strong selection of titles on racism and particularly white nationalism today. 

Max Brooks revisits Bigfoot, Christopher Moore revisits A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Kate Mosse revisits early France in religious turmoil, and Emma Straub revisits contemporary parent-child tensions. Amy Jo Burns follows her memoir Cinderland with the story of a teenager facing the world from which she’s been locked away, and Francesca Serritella detours from essay writing with mother Lisa Scottoline to encounter the Ghosts of Harvard. Plus historicals (e.g., Alison Weir), beach-based reads (e.g., Barbara Delinksy), and tales of love, family, and friendship (sometimes with suspense). 

Veteran journalist Steven Dudley on a notorious street gang, New York Times best-selling author Bruce Feiler on a new way of seeing our stories, Bay Area reporters Gee and Anguiano on the lethal Paradise Fire, award-winning novelist Laila Lalami on an immigrant’s sense of conditional citizenship, famed astrophysicist Mario Livio on Galileo defying the science deniers, the National Book Award–winning Charles Johnson with advice on grandparenting, and the New York Times best-selling Judith Warner on the travails of middle school. Plus self-help and newsworthy stories to wrap up the month. 

Gregory joins with drama critic Todd London to talk about his passion for performing, Windham-Campbell Prize winner Laing argues that today we need the arts more than ever, Lippman offers an essay collection reflecting on her life and work, and Perl wraps up his big Alexander Calder biography. Plus Fifth Harmony’s Ally Brooke on inspiration in her life, Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on his life in music, veteran journalist David Kamp on 1970s American children’s TV, and critic Wendy Lesser on Scandinavian crime fiction. 

Celebrated historian Bernard Bailyn offers a career retrospective, Robert Dallek assays the presidency, Morgan Jerkins retraces her family’s steps during the Great Migration, and Matthew Van Meter recaps Duncan v. Louisiana, a significant case of the Civil Rights era. 

Books on James A. Baker III, John Maynard Keynes, and John McCain will keep biography fans busy in May. 

Elliot Ackerman’s first fiction without a military setting, Richard Ford and Daniel Mason with short stories, Catherine Lacey with a stranger upending a Southern town, Eimear McBride with a disaffected young woman living in hotels, Micheline Aharonian Marcom on a young Guatemalan American’s struggle to return to America, Millet’s first novel since the National Book Award long-listed Sweet Lamb of Heaven, and Shriver on a couple undone by aging and exercise. Plus rising young writers, the moral consequences of World War II, and the immigrant’s life, touched by magic.

Just in for April: great fiction from National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree Amity Gaige, breakout author Peter Geye, NYPL Young Lion Adam Levin, Booker Prize winner Graham Swift, and beloved best-selling author Anne Tyler. 

Scott Turow and Kimberley McCreight profile lawyers flummoxed by what they discover when trying to help a friend. Liv Constantine pits a jilted wife against a woman with a past, while Ivy Pochoda brings five women together to face a serial killer. Brian Panowich sets bad guys after a numbers-genius teen. And Stephen King offers four fresh novellas. Plus Jeffery Deaver, Janet Evanovich, James Patterson, and more. 

Jaouad recounts three and a half years spent conquering leukemia, then learning to live again, while Owusu unfolds a childhood fractured by family tragedy and constant travel to arrive at a coherent sense of self. Plus three more significant memoirs with larger context: comedian/storyteller Mike Birbiglia on becoming a parent, mountaineer/explorer Vanessa O’Brien on her worldview after scaling the heights, and journalist Schwarz on her grandparents’ guilt during World War II. 

The prolific and popular McCall Smith offers the second in his Swedish-set “Detective Varg” series, headlining a bunch of great series additions forthcoming from authors ranging from Rita Mae Brown to Martin Walker. In addition, Caroline Cooney, best known as a successful YA author, steps up with adult mystery.

Coverage of the news of the day includes presidential historian Holzer on fake news, plus Gellman on the surveillance state, Nossel on balancing free speech and inclusiveness, and Omar on her life before, during, and after being elected to Congress. Plus more on the Trump era and on key business factors today. 

Leading off with cautionary stories of children threatened (Beah and Dalcher) and reverberantly written historical fiction set in the late 1800s (Jiles, McGuire), many April titles will appeal broadly to readers of both literary and popular fiction.