As usual, I still haven't read all of my anticipated books from earlier in the year, but I'm already eagerly looking ahead to the books being published in May. And there are SO MANY books being published in May which I want to read! In fact, I was lucky enough to get advanced copies of some of them from Netgalley, so I've already read some of them! (But I promise that did not in any way affect my opinions.) Here are some of the ones I'm most looking forward to, in order of publication date.
I’m very picky with my ratings, so I’m happy to say that Project Hail Mary was amazing and my first 5 star review of 2021. When it starts, the narrator wakes up alone with no idea who he is, where he is, or why. As he explores and his memories start to come back, with the book unfolding both in the present and his flashback returning memories, both he and the reader discover that he is alone on a spaceship on a very important mission. There is SO much more to it than that, but because of the nature of the book, pretty much everything about it is a spoiler and it’s so much better to see it unfold yourself. Just know that it is absolutely terrific.
For the vibe, think of the best of intellectual science fiction - books like The Sparrow and Children of Time, movies like Interstellar and Arrival, and of course both the book and movie of The Martian, Andy Weir’s first book. Iit is both a little more science-y (which even though I couldn’t understand it, was interesting), and more science fiction-y than The Martian, but it’s funny and emotional as well. It was a long book but I read it quickly because I couldn’t put it down. I was thrilled to get an advanced copy from Netgalley (it’s out 5/4), and I highly recommend reading it as soon as possible both because it is great, and to avoid spoilers.
If you look at enough book recommendations, sometimes you start to feel like you’re just seeing the same books over and over again. No surprise, and there’s nothing wrong with that - plenty of popular books are absolutely terrific and among my all time favorite reads! But sometimes you want a recommendation that is a little more off the beaten path - whether because you’re a voracious reader that has already read the usual suspects, or maybe you’re looking for a book that might actually be on the library shelf instead of having a miles-long waiting list. So today I thought I’d share with you some of my favorite books that are a little more obscure, books you don’t see people talking about much. If you have read these before, it might be because you have similar taste to me - or if you’re someone who has been following me for a long time, it might just be because you saw this book on one of my top 10 lists of old! These are all books that I rated either 4.5 or 5 stars, and mostly books that were on one of my top 10 lists in the past, and as a criteria for “less popular,” I chose only books that had less than 5,000 ratings on Goodreads.
I’ll admit, I’m still not done reading my anticipated books of March. (Though I've read 6 out of 10 and am in the middle of the 7th, not bad!) But March was heavy on historical fiction for me and still waiting on the library for some, so I couldn’t just read them all straight through. Luckily April seems to be bringing a wave of lighter books! So here are some of the books I’m most excited for publishing in April 2021.
Mysteries and thrillers are two popular genres, so I'm often asked for my recommendations for mystery and thriller books. I’ve previously written about some of my favorite mysteries and thrillers, but it’s been a few years, and it’s definitely a genre I get asked about a lot, so it seemed like it was high time for an update! Some of the authors I had just discovered in 2018 when I wrote those entries have become favorites, and I’ve discovered some new authors and books since then as well.
Since people seem to enjoy my posts about anticipated books, I thought I’d start doing them more regularly - which also allows me to tell you about even more books. Speaking of which, how am I ever supposed to catch up on the books I want to read when more books keep getting published that sound so good? Here’s a round up of some of the books coming out in March that I’m excited about.
Although I read a lot of different genres, overall I probably read the most contemporary women’s fiction/chick lit. I’ve previously written about my all time favorite authors in both genres, to the extent they ever are separate genres as it is hard to distinguish them sometimes! Anyway, if you like these types of books, please go check out these posts on contemporary women's fiction and chick lit from 2018 as those authors continue to be some of my favorites whose new releases I eagerly anticipate. But since it’s been a few years since I wrote those, it seemed like a good time for an update on some additional authors I've either discovered or read more of since then. Since I have so many to recommend, I’m going to stick with authors who have written or from who I’ve read at least two books.
