It’s March and we’re reading. What are we reading, you might ask? If this list is any indication, a good mix of debut novels and new work from longtime favorites. Throw a literary journal with a lot of intriguing names (and some Vol. 1 Brooklyn contributors) into the mix and you have a very promising month. Here are some of the books that have caught our eyes.
Amal El-Mohtar, The River Has Roots
(March 4, Tordotcom)
Pretty much, you had us at “new book by one of the co-authors of This Is How You Lose the Time War,” an intriguingly structured and moving story of time travel. El-Mohtar’s new book takes on a timeless concept: the idea of a town situated on an ethereal border and the conflicts that emerge from that location.
Jeremy Gordon, See Friendship
(March 4, Harper Perennial)
In his review of See Friendship for the New York Times, Ryan Chapman called this book a “smart novel on the warping effects of nostalgia and technology.” Podcasts, grief, and not-entirely-reliable narrators converge in this debut novel.
Scaachi Koul, Sucker Punch
(March 4, St. Martins Press)
A new work of nonfiction by Scaachi Koul, you say? We were very impressed by this book’s predecessor, the memorably-titled One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, and we’re equally excited for this one, which memorably reckons with a bleaker array of subjects.
Emily St. James, Woodworking
(March 4, Zando)
First and foremost, that cover! Much like See Friendship, this is the debut novel from a writer whose writings on culture have impressed us for years. It’s the story of a trans high school teacher in South Dakota and the unlikely connections she makes during an unexpectedly turbulent time for her and her small town.
Kurt Baumeister, Twilight of the Gods
(March 11, Stalking Horse Press)
Do you like riffs on classical mythology? Do you hate fascists? Well then: you will almost certainly find plenty to like in frequent Vol. 1 Brooklyn contributor Kurt Baumeister’s new novel, in which the Norse god Loki finds that several of his fellow deities have signed on with fascists, and decides to push back against their sinister plans. And if you’d like to read our review, you can do so right here.
Sanjena Sathian, Goddess Complex
(March 11, Penguin Press)
Goddess Complex, the second novel by Sanjena Sathian, reckons with big questions: intimacy, matrimony, and parenthood among them. In their review, Kirkus dubbed this book “a whip-smart satire of Millennial womanhood” — an encouraging combination for sure.
Etel Adnan, Voyage, War, Exile
(March 15, Litmus Press)
In the wake of writer and artist Etel Adnan’s death, Laure Adler wrote, “Each thing that existed in the world provoked her curiosity, and often her wonder.” This new collection of essays finds Adnan ruminating on several weighty topics and considering her own relationship to Beirut.
Kristen Arnett, Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One
(March 18, Riverhead)
New Kristen Arnett novel! About a clown and a magician! What’s not to like? (Though it’s likely that if you have coulrophobia, this may not be your cup of tea.)
Marcy Dermansky, Hot Air
(March 18, Knopf)
Dating is weird most of the time; I think we can all agree on that. Know what makes dating even weirder? When a billionaire in a hot air balloon enters the picture. That’s the complication at the heart of Marcy Dermansky’s new novel, a comedy of manners that memorably explored contemporary anxieties personal and societal.
Erika T. Wurth, The Haunting of Room 904
(March 18, Flatiron)
Haunted houses are one thing; haunted rooms are something else entirely. Erika T. Wurth’s new novel tells the story of a paranormal investigator reckoning with her own family’s history as she endeavors to better understand the mystery of a room where, every few years, someone turns up dead.
Rose Books Reader – Vol. 01
(March 20, Rose Books)
We’re big admirers of the work Rose Books has done to date, and we’re thrilled to see them expanding into the world of journals. The first installment of Rose Books Reader features a powerhouse lineup including Juliet Escoria, BR Yeager, and frequent Vol. 1 Brooklyn contributor James Jacob Hatfield. We are, as they say, chuffed.
Joni Murphy, Barbara
(March 25, Astra House)
Publisher Astra House called this novel “[a] deep character study of a woman losing hold and recapturing her identity through the art and technology of moviemaking.” Joni Murphy’s fiction has taken bold formal swings whenever we’ve encountered it, and adding a cinematic lens to the proceedings here feels like an inspired choice.
Nell Zink, Sister Europe
(March 25, Knopf)
In a recent chat with Publishers Weekly, Nell Zink said that her latest novel, Sister Europe, “was inspired by encounters with old and new money in ‘poor but sexy’ Berlin.” For a writer whose work reckons with societal malaise and ethical dilemmas, this sounds like an ideal milieu for a novel of social class and fraught relations.
Note: all cover artwork and release dates are subject to change.
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