The Winds of Winter may not be coming in book form soon, but spring, the most interesting season in book publishing, is. With the pressure over to get titles by big name authors into the hands of desperate gift-givers, the way is cleared for debuts, potential breakouts and follow ups to earlier breakouts

In their “First Look” issue on stands now, Entertainment Weekly picks the “25 books we can’t wait to read in 2016,” starting with February titles and running all the way in to September. A few are far enough out that they don’t have listings yet, like Tony Bennett’s untitled memoir coming in August.

For those who want to check their orders, we’ve put together a downloadable spreadsheet, Entertainment. Weekly — 25 books we can’t wait to read in 2016

Among the debuts is a title that received several thumbs up during yesterday’s GalleyChat, Sweetbitter, by Stephanie Danler (PRH/Knopf; May 24; DRC available), with the annotation,  “Danler, working as a waitress, stunned the publishing world with her exquisite manuscript for Sweetbitter, the coming-of-age story of — wait for it — a Manhattan waitress.” GalleyChatter Jen Dayton, Darien P.L. describes it more succinctly, “Puts Danny Meyer [major NYC restaurateur]  in The Devil Wears Prada hot seat.”

Called “one of 2016’s most talked-about debuts,” Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s The Nest (HarperCollins/Ecco; DRC available) features “adult siblings [who] squabble over their joint trust fund after their reckless brother Leo threatens to drain it.” One GalleyChatter commented, “Nothing says family like fighting over money …Sharp, funny debut.”

A note to those going to the AAP Library Reads Breakfast this coming Monday at ALA MidWinter, watch for Adam Haslett whose Imagine Me Gone, (Hachette/ Little, Brown; May 3) is called “one of spring’s biggest books — a heartbreaking, hilarious chronicle of one family struggling to love one another amid anxiety and depression.”

Also listed is Liane Moriarty’s as-yet-untitled novel coming this summer(Macmillan/Flatiron; July 26). There’s no description, but Entertainment Weekly doesn’t need one;  “We’ll read anything the author of Big Little Lies and The Husband’s Secret writes.” We agree, as does Hollywood.

Coming in memoirs is a new book that sounds like the real-life version of We Need to Talk about Kevin. Sue Klebold, the mother of Columbine shooter Dylan, publishes A Mother’s Reckoning  (PRH/Crown) described as “her utterly devastating side of the 1999 Columbine tragedy.”

For those looking for books arriving this month, Entertainment Weekly also lists “11 books you have to read in January.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2016 at 12:05 pm and is filed under 2015/16 -- Winter/Spring, 2016 -- Summer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.