Watch out 2015, 2016 is gonna be awesome, too! The beginning of the new year is always exciting, because of wonderful book releases to look forward to. I read mostly contemporary literature, but rarely just-released books. I still love to browse websites and publishers catalogues, noting down the most exciting titles in my journal. Even if it takes me a while to read recent works, there’s always a few that I won’t wait long for. That’s usually sequels of a favorite series or a new work by a favorite author.
Fiction:
The Hanging Tree (Ben Aaronovitch) – June 16th
Murder and fantastical mayhem in Mayfair’s villas. This is book 6 in the Rivers of London series about police officer/magician’s apprentice Peter Grant. Highly recommend the audiobooks read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith!
What is yours is not yours (Helen Oyeyemi) – March 8th
A collection of intertwining short stories centering around real and metaphorical keys. Oyeyemi has been on my list for ages, maybe I’ll start with this one.
Blackass (A. Igoni Barrett) – July 9th
One day Furo Wariboko wakes up white. Except for his ass that is. The book follows the changes and privileges of his new life as a white man in Nigeria.
This Census-Taker (China Miéville)– January 12th
New Miéville out this year. This novella is about a boy living with his increasingly deranged parents, when a stranger knocks at the door. I’m sure it’ll be all kinds of weird.
The Obelisk Gate (N. K. Jemisin) – August 16th
Sequel to The Fifth Season will be out this year, hurrah!!! That was really quick and the wait is somewhat bearable.
The Winged Histories (Sofia Samatar) – March 15th
A new book by the author of A Stranger in Olondria! Which I still have to read. However this one sounds amazing: Four women- from soldier to poet- are caught on different sides when war breaks out. I think this is set in the same world as A Stranger, but it doesn’t appear to be a sequel. Correct me if I’m wrong.
The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home (Catherynne M. Valente) – March 1st
This is the fifth book in the fairyland series, I should start with book 1, but it’s always nice to see that when I do start I can just spend the next month in one world and don’t have to wait! This book is about September inheriting the Kingdom.
Indexing: Reflections ( Seanan McGuire) – January 12th
Book 2 of the Indexing series, where fairytale stories become real – with often disastrous results – and the ATI Management Bureau steps in. Still have to read book 1 (notice a theme?), but I might want to cuddle up with both for a long weekend as I loved her October Daye book and really like urban fantasy.
Non-Fiction:
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body (Roxane Gay) – supposedly June 14th
Gay’s not-a-weightloss-memoir about food, weight, shaming and taking care of yourself. It’s Roxane Gay, and also a very important addition to current weight and health debates.
Black Dove (Ana Castillo) – May 10th
Memoir of brilliant Chicana activist and writer Ana Castillo about social injustices through the lens of race, gender and family.
The Feminist Bookstore Movement (Kristen Hogan) – sometime 2016
About the feminist bookstore movement in the 1970s to 1990s and its lesbian, feminist, and antiracist networks. Feminism + bookstores = awesomeness
Blood Sugar: Racial Pharmacology and Food Justice in Black America (Anthony Ryan Hatch) – sometime 2016
“How contemporary biomedicine has shaped race and racism as America’s health disparities increase” (Minnesota UP). This sounds right up my street!
What releases are you looking forward to this year? Let me know in the comments!
If You Can Read This 
This looks like a very interesting and worthy list.
I admire your commitment to reading books relating to social justice issue.
May 2016 be great year for both writers and readers.
Thanks, Brian! It’s gonna be great, I can feel it! 🙂
Good list, I have some of them on mine.Have you entered the GoodReads reading challenge 2016? I am going for 75 books and trying to put a list together to cover the year. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for stopping by! Yeah I’m going for a moderate 52 books this year. Last year I went over and hopefully I’ll manage it this year too. Good luck with your challenge! 🙂
I recently added plenty of upcoming books to my Goodreads TBR list! Like Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible,Alexander Chee’s The Queen of the Night, Leila Aboulela’s The Kindness of Enemies. But somehow forgot about the new Jemisin! And a new Jemisin is always worth celebrating.
Oooh The Kindness of Enemies sounds great, will have to add it to the tbr, thanks! Love that Jemisin is publishing the sequel so quickly!
I can not WAIT for the new Roxane Gay book! It’s right in my wheelhouse and she’s so interesting.
Yay for Roxane Gay! The Hunger book does sound amazing! 🙂
Nice to know there are so many good books coming out this year!
2016 will be a great bookish year 🙂
Aaaaa so many things to look forward to! The Samatar book is one that I’m particularly excited to read. All the things about it sound great. And although I truly would prefer a new novel from Helen Oyeyemi to a bunch of interconnected short stories, I’ll take what I can get and read White Is for Witching to tide me over until her next novel comes out.
The Samatar book does sounds amazing! I still have to read White is for Witching! Hopefully this year!
It sounds like you have so many books to look forward to. I wish you a great reading year.
I hope to read more Robin Hobb this year. Her trilogies are fantastic (pun intended).
Thanks, Delia! Have wonderful reading year, too! Btw I think a new Fitz ‘ the Fool book is coming out this year 🙂 I will try the Farseer trilogy this year.
Oh, I can’t wait for the last book in the trilogy to come out so I can read them all together. I hate waiting years between books in the same series. I still have time to finish the one I started last year, The Liveship Traders, before Fitz and the Fool 3 gets released in July. Thanks for the reminder.
I really hope you enjoy The Farseer Trilogy. You’re in for quite the adventure and I envy you because you get to read it for the first time. 🙂
Thanks I’m keeping the first Farseer book for a long free weekend 🙂
Yes, omg, since I’m new to fantasy I just recently found out about the series thing! I’m very impatient 😀
Like you I don’t tend to rush out and immediately read new releases. I do look forward to new instalments in a series and keep my eyes peeled for interesting new releases on Netgalley too. I am hoping the 2rd and final volume of Colleen Oakes’ Wonderland retelling, Queen of Hearts, will be available this year.
Wonderful list, Bina! The Oyeyemi book looks fascinating. And so does ‘Blackass’ – I want to read that. Thanks for sharing your anticipated books list. More additions to my ‘TBR’ 🙂
Thanks, Vishy! Haha always more for the tbr! 🙂 I think 2016 is definitely the year in which I’ll read some Oyeyemi.
Love this post, Bina. I have added ‘Blackass’, ‘This Census-Taker’, and ‘The Feminist Bookstore…’ to my TBR. Can’t wait for them. 🙂
Thanks, Deepika! 🙂 Yay glad to add more to your tbr 😉 Have you read any Mieville? So far I think The City & The City is my favorite.
Adding that to my TBR too. 🙂
Now after seeing the list again, I want to add ‘The Feminist Bookstore Movement’ also to my ‘TBR’. It looks like such a wonderful book. I loved what you said – “Feminism + bookstores = awesomeness” 🙂
Yay! Doesn’t it sounds like an amazing book? Glad you’re also looking forward to it. I had never heard of this movement before.
Ooo… new Ben Aaronovitch! I can’t wait! I’ve blasted through the entire series in a month.
I’m really looking forward to Den of Wolves by Juliet Marillier when it comes out in November. So long to wait!
Ahaha, yes it is soo ridiculously fun and addictive! 🙂 I even got my only-reads-cozy-crime-mom into River of London! Hope you’ll love Foxglove Summer just as much.
Ooh Den of Wolves…must google!
I’ve not read all of Juliet Marillier’s books, but the ones I have read were excellent. I’d go with Shadowfell for a YA style or Dreamer’s Pool for something more adult.