It’s a whole new year in publishing and reading - and if you’re already making up your ‘to read’ list, we can help. A plethora of publications have just published their lists of books to look out for in 2013. Here’s a taste of what’s out there, from Margaret Atwood to Anna Krien, Jonathan Safran Foer to John Safran.
The Age
In the Age, Jane Sullivan shares her reading research, covering both Australian and overseas titles. Her list is headed with two much-anticipated Australian debut novels that have already sold rights around the world and earned their authors advances of over a million dollars. Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites is based on the true story of the last woman to be publicly beheaded in Iceland, in 1829 (Picador, May).
And Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project has gone from strength to strength since it won the Victorian Premier’s Award for an Unpublished Manuscript last year; it will be published by Text in February. This screwball romance about a 40-year-old man with Asperger’s searching for a compatible partner, with the aid of a comprehensive questionnaire and his mischievous Casanova best friend, is warm, funny and engaging.
Other Australian books to look out for, as identified by Sullivan, include Anna Krien’s book on the rape trial of a footballer, Night Games (Black Inc., May), John Safran’s account of the killing of a white supremacist, *Murder in Mississippi (Penguin, July) and Anne Summers‘ new book on feminism (NewSouth, April).
The Australian
In the Australian, books editor Stephen Romei published his guide to 2013 on the weekend. He leads off with mention of J.M. Coetzee’s new novel, The Childhood of Jesus (Text, late February). It’s the story of a boy, separated from his parents, who arrives by boat in a new country - and yes, there are obvious parallels to be drawn with the contemporary ‘boat people’ debate.
Margaret Atwood will conclude the dystopian trilogy that began with Oryx and Crake with her new novel, Maddaddam (Bloomsbury, September). Lionel Shriver tackles obesity in Big Brother (Fourth Estate, May), about a sister who puts her life on hold to help her morbidly obese brother. It’s a novel with personal resonance, following her own brother’s death from weight-related complications in 2009.
Chris Womersley’s new novel, Cairo, about art and murder (Scribe, September), follows his Miles Franklin shortlisted Bereft. And Krissy Kneen, writer of an erotic memoir and an erotic novel, will publish a ‘mainstream’ novel, Steeplechase (Text, April), about two sisters forced to confront the wounds of childhood.
The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast’s list of books to watch out for includes our own Steven Amsterdam’s What the Family Needed (published here by Sleepers in 2011).
All publication dates quoted below are based on the US.
In February, Karen Russell (Swamplandia) will publish her second short-story collection, Vampires in the Lemon Grove. And this month, Lawrence Wright expands on his New Yorker article on Scientology for a book, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief, drawing on more than 200 interviews to try to understand the religion’s appeal for the entertainment industry.
The Millions
And The Millions has a long list of books to look forward to, including a new Sam Lipsyte short-story collection, The Fun Parts, the 14th book to be published in English by Spanish writer Javier Marais, The Infatuations (May) and a new book from Jonathan Safran Foer, Escape from the Children’s Hospital.
This is always a list well worth checking out.