Fifteen Dogs
by André Alexis
I loved Alexis's first novel, Childhood, years ago, and now he's won Canada's top literary award, the Giller Prize, for an intriguing-sounding philosophical novel about gods, dogs, and humanity.
Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon
by Ed Caesar
A relatively unusual sports subject, with comparisons by the British press to Hoop Dreams as well as one of my favorite essayists, John Jeremiah Sullivan.
The Vorrh
by B. Catling
A literary fantasy debut that's been a quiet hit on our new releases table all through the fall.
A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories
by Lucia Berlin
The posthumous collection that has won countless great reviews and accolades, including a spot on the NYT's top 10 list. The one story I happened to read, "My Jockey," was as good as the hype.
Our Spoons Came from Woolworths
by Barbara Comyn
Another of the apparently endless list of wonderful mid-century British women novelists that NYRB Classics continues to unearth.
The Mare
by Mary Gaitskill
I'm a little embarrassed that one of my favorite writers has published her first novel in a decade or so and I haven't read it yet!
Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'N' Roll
by Peter Guralnick
Guralnick, the great biographer of Elvis, on this fantastic crossroads character? Candy! And early customer responses have been very positive.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari
Great customer comments so far too on this brainy and accessible scientific history.
The Cost of Courage
by Charles Kaiser
A slim book, elegantly presented, on the eternally fascinating subject of the French Resistance.
Man Tiger
by Eka Kurniawan
Two new books by this young Indonesian writer were released at the same time by different publishers; this is the shorter, apparently tauter one, which might make a good sample of his style.
A Strangeness in My Mind
by Orhan Pamuk
I loved Pamuk's previous novel, The Museum of Innocence, and only the (similar) length of this new one, apparently another mash note to his beloved city of Istanbul, has kept me from diving in.
Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
by Sam Quinones
The praise keeps piling up for Dream Land as one of the best-reported books of the year.
The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606
by James Shapiro
This one is tempting me the most right this very minute: how I'd love to steal away to 1606 to spend a year with Shakespeare in the time of his last great flourishing.
Captivity
by György Spiró
Liz is already halfway through what might be one of my own post-Christmas books, a fictional romp through the Roman Empire that seems like it could be a surprise hit.
What About This: Collected Poems of Frank Stanford
by Frank Stanford
Perhaps the one I'm kicking myself the most for not making time for this year, a landmark posthumous collection that readers talk about with a kind of giddy awe.
All My Puny Sorrows
by Miriam Toews
I've always wanted to read Toews but still never have. (This novel came out in 2014 but was so hard to get a copy of in hardcover that I think of it as a 2015 book.)
The Big Green Tent
by Ludmila Ulitskaya
Oooh, a big Russian novel from one of the modern masters!
Katherine Carlyle
by Rupert Thomson
I'm not sure if anyone wants to be known as a "writer's writer," since it means you haven't sold many books, but I'm always drawn to them, and many of the writers who love this British novelist think this is one of his best.