While I have previously vowed to read more from my own shelves in the new year, and I will do so!, one cannot easily turn a blind eye to some of the new books coming out in 2019. :-)
Here are some of the ones I have my eye on and some of which are already On Hold for me at the library:
I so enjoyed Lucy Foley’s The Invitation (which was wrongly described as a “dazzling romance”) that I cannot wait to read The Hunting Party! I also own Foley’s Book of Lost and Found, which still waits patiently on my bookshelf.
I also enjoyed Conklin’s debut, The House Girl, so when I saw she has a new one due in 2019, it was quickly added to the list!
The Familiars has been described as Essex Serpent meets The Miniaturist and has been called “the most spellbinding novel of 2019”. That’s a lot of hype to put on its shoulders, so I’m really hoping it lives up to it, but it does sound like an interesting read.
I own a few of Patrick Gale’s novels (Notes from an Exhibition and A Place Called Winter and also have A Perfectly Good Man marked as TBR) and Take Nothing With You has been receiving excellent reviews so I’ve got this one On Hold for me!
I love Lyndsay Faye’s novels! I read the first in her Timothy Wilde series (The Gods of Gotham) and Jane Steele was a ton of fun to read, so The Paragon Hotel is high on the 2019 list of most anticipated.
When I saw the description for When All is Said, it immediately flew onto my TBR! This is my reading kryptonite right here! An elderly gentleman reflecting on his life story? Sign me up!
I’ve just discovered Charles Todd’s Inspector Ian Rutledge series by jumping in at #20! The Black Ascot is #21 in the series and is certainly a most anticipated! It will certainly be listened to via audiobook since Simon Prebble is my new favourite narrator.
I had excellent reading experiences in 2018 with (chunky) historical thrillers, mysteries and tales, and The Wolf and the Watchman was named Best Debut Novel of 2017 by the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers, so I’m intrigued to read this historical mystery set in 1793.
A new Lisa See is always immediately added to the list of books to read! Our in-person book club was delighted with the opportunity to find out about this book well before the details of its publication were made public! Lisa See joined us one evening via Skype and it was a fun experience! This is a bit of a departure for her in content, but still has many classic See elements, so I’m highly anticipating it!
There is a theme going here – the one where “I’ve read the author’s previous books therefore I’m interested in reading their latest…” This applies to Siri Hustvedt’s Memories of the Future too. I read the Man Booker Longlisted The Blazing World and was impressed by it. Memories of the Future has been described as “intellectually rigorous”. It sounds like it could be a rewarding reading experience!
Again, as above, Christopher Castellani is an author I’ve read before. His novel, All This Talk of Love, was such a wonderful one about family, and while Leading Men sounds like something wildly different, it’s his writing style that will draw me into checking this one out when it is published in February.
The one I’m most intrigued by, but also very cautious about is The Binding by Bridget Collins. There has been A LOT of hype surrounding this book and I’m scared it’s one that won’t live up to that amount of hype. Too many of my most anticipated in 2018 turned up in the dud pile sadly. I’m truly hoping The Binding doesn’t end up there as well, because I mean, look at it! It’s gorgeous! It’s a book about books. Fingers crossed!
Okay, here we are again with another author I’ve read before! Julie Orringer wrote The Invisible Bridge. It was beautifully written, very suspenseful and teetered at doorstopper at just over 600 pages. The Flight Portfolio is another chunky one – but just a touch less than 600 pages (it’s 576 pages) and holds all the promise of another richly satisfying story.
:-) We’re on a roll now! Anna Jean Mayhew was a debut author at the age of 71 with The Dry Grass of August, and it was a book I really loved. (The audio was excellent! I highly recommend the audio version.) It’s been many years since we’ve heard from Anna Jean (8 years!), and I’m delighted for the opportunity to read this new one by her, Tomorrow’s Bread. It sounds like it’s going to be another excellent Southern and satisfying story!
The Woman in the Lake has such a haunting cover! The description of the book sounds just as intriguing so I just had to put it On Hold (and entered to win on Goodreads). The Woman in the Lake is a delicious tale of jealousy, greed, plotting and revenge that spans the generations between decadent Georgian society and present day. (from description)
So far, If You Want to Make God Laugh is the only Canadian on this list, but I’m sure it won’t be the only one for 2019! I absolutely loved Hum If You Don’t Know the Words (robbed of a Giller nomination!). It was a 5-star read for me, so anticipation for Marais’s new one is high!
I’m sure there are many more I can add to this list, but for now, these are what I have On Hold at the library and are ones I’m anxiously awaiting their release dates in 2019. I’m also anxious for the 49th Shelf’s Most Anticipated post (and the Globe and Mail’s and Quill & Quire’s lists too) on new CanLit for 2019 to flesh out my list with Canadian books.
I’m already seeing a few more that I will want to read: Nickolas Butler has a new one out (I still have to read The Hearts of Men too!) Little Faith; I still have to read The Last Hours by Minette Walters, but the 2nd in this series is due out, The Turn of Midnight; C.J. Tudor has a new one out with a change in the name from the UK version to The Hiding Place here in North America; The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan looks interesting, and there are continuations of series I fell in love with in 2018 like the Lane Winslow series, so I’m certain to be adding to the list constantly.
What are your most anticipated for 2019?
(This is the first time I’m writing using the new editor in WordPress. It’s taking some getting used to, so apologies if this post looks a little strange. :-) The jury is still out over here about the change! Like, how do I delete this below?? I can’t figure it out for the life of me! Sorry.)
I also really enjoyed Conklin’s The House Girl
