Can you believe it’s already the season for year-end booklists, “best of” booklists, and retrospectives on 2017’s most incredible reads? Here at Pickerington Library, we’re looking ahead instead: these five books are out in January, and about to grace the shelves at Pickerington, and we really can’t wait to carve out a little vacation time to read them! Start the New Year off right with our top five for January:
Iron Gold, by Pierce Brown (January 16): Their revolution and quest to defeat the Golds and take down the caste system has resulted in a seemingly endless war: Darrow and the Rising are back, and ready to tackle a new enemy in the fourth book in the Red Rising Saga. Or rather, the first book in a new saga that picks up ten years after Morning Star ended, and begins a completely new mission (and a new adventure for fans of the bestselling series).
Perfect if you love: The Hunger Games or Red Queen series. Yes, they’re young adult fiction, but these series will definitely resonate with adult readers who love riveting dystopian fiction, especially where futuristic rebellions are concerned!
The Girl in the Tower, by Katherine Arden (December 5): Arden’s follow-up to her beautiful fantasy debut The Bear and the Nightingale (a January 2017 Library Reads selection!) sees Vasya – now orphaned, and suspected of being a witch by the people of her small village thanks to her magical abilities – escape provincial life on an epic journey across 14th century Russia. Arden has written a gorgeous update of Russian folklore, and Vasya is one of the most memorable heroines in fantasy fiction, so it’s fortunate that this is only the second book in the planned Winternight trilogy: one more book for fans to love, and for new readers to discover!
Perfect if you love: Fantasy fiction and fairy tale retellings with resilient heroines. Try the brilliant Uprooted, by Naomi Novik, or for a young adult spin on Russian folk tales, try Vassa in the Night, by Sarah Porter.
Need to Know, by Karen Cleveland (January 23): A former FBI and CIA analyst writes what she knows – espionage! – in her debut novel: a CIA analyst specializing in Russian intelligence has her life completely upended – and her family in peril – when her file on sleeper agents hits much closer to home than she ever realized. And that’s all we can say without massive spoilers!
Perfect if you love: When lies and spies complicate an already-complicated life: try the works of Alex Berenson and Daniel Silva, or pick up the first season of acclaimed TV series The Americans.
The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin (January 9): If you learned the date of your death, how would you live your life? Benjamin answers this question with the story of the Gold siblings, whose visit to a psychic in 1969 changes the course of their lives, from their careers, to their loves, to their relationships to each other. A family history as well as the history of the American dream, this book is garnering acclaim and buzz – definitely one to watch!
Perfect if you love: Alice Hoffman: an author who can also seamlessly blend coming of age fiction with a dose of magical realism.
Still Me, by Jojo Moyes (January 30):
The third book in Moyes’s Me Before You series sees indomitable Louisa Clark moving to New York City for a year to act as caretaker to the pampered wife of a wealthy man. Homesick, weary of her new employer, and lost in the fast-paced city, Lou is down – but not out, thanks to her irrepressible humor and spirit. Feeling the winter blues? Lou is the heroine, and Still Me is the book, you need!
Perfect if you love: A must-have if you enjoyed the first two books about Louisa Clark (Me Before You and After You), but if the holds list for this book is daunting, try British imports like The Bookshop on the Corner, by Jenny Colgan, or Seven Days of Us, by Francesca Hornak, for equally heart-warming winter reads.
Get more reading recommendations from our staff: find our booklists for adults and teens online, and subscribe to our Recommended Reads e-newsletter for a monthly delivery of staff picks!
