New Arrivals: The Best Recent Book Releases

Fans of the unique and thought-provoking work of Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings will find a new translated novel from the Japanese author, set in a world where sex between married couples has disappeared, and children are born through artificial insemination. “Murata's blunt and bizarre humor is on full display, as is her incisive commentary on contemporary Japan,” praised Publishers Weekly. “This nightmarish fable is impossible to shake.”

First acquired by Toni Morrison during her years as a legendary editor at Random House, Fish Tales follows a free-spirited woman living a life of excess, navigating the vibrant worlds of New York City and Detroit. Amidst a whirlwind of champagne, cocaine, and lovers, her carefree existence is upended by a charismatic and dangerous man, launching her into a battle for control and power. "A sharp, fast-paced look at the highs and lows of the human heart,” according to The Atlantic.

This debut from the acclaimed Irish poet and author of the memoir All Down Darkness Wide is set in a remote village in the north of England and unfolds over the course of one year, during which two teenage boys meet and transform each other’s lives. “Hewitt’s language is lush and beaming,” observed The Brooklyn Rail. “Open, Heaven is a soaring demonstration that ‘heaven’ is a place we ourselves create—gilded over and rippling in our imaginations.”

Featuring rebellious medieval nuns, powerful adolescents and mothers facing otherworldly forces, this magical mix of folklore, fairy tales, Southern Gothic and horror transports readers from a plague-stricken medieval convent to supernatural art colonies in the North Carolina mountains, and beyond. Publishers Weekly promised that the book’s “rich and magical landscape will pull readers in."

Vital and transformative, What’s Left confirms the Palo Alto author as a next-generation historian-activist, akin to David Graeber or Mike Davis. Harris shows how combining progressive, socialist, and revolutionary strategies can unite us to prevent a climate apocalypse. "A trenchant meditation on the failure of climate politics to avert catastrophic change and on the possibilities now fanned out before us," observed The New York Times.

The author of the Read with Jenna pick Bright Burning Things returns with a story of two friends at an elite Dublin university whose bond unravels under the sway of a manipulative older student. As secrets mount and tensions rise, one woman must confront the past to reclaim the truth—and her voice.

“Kitamura’s novels are short, sharp, and deadly. I’m not sure there’s anyone better writing in America today,” declared The Guardian in their roundup of fiction to watch in 2025. In Audition, an accomplished actress and an attractive younger man meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. As the encounter unfolds, competing narratives emerge, questioning the roles we play and the truths we conceal.

In a book that Booklist calls “provocative, challenging, and concerning,” Pulitzer finalist Vauhini Vara unpacks how tech companies have both fulfilled and exploited our desire for understanding and belonging.

From their earliest days to the height of Beatlemania and beyond, John Lennon and Paul McCartney shaped the sound of a generation. In this groundbreaking book, writer and human behavior expert Ian Leslie uses their songs to explore the evolution of their artistry—before, during, and after The Beatles. Drawing on newly released recordings and footage, Leslie offers a fresh, insightful portrait of two cultural icons and the creative force that changed music forever.

The prize-winning Irish author of Where They Were Missed whisks readers to war-ravaged Belfast in 1941, where two sisters try to carry on amid the bombing and the rubble. SJP hailed this “intimate celebration of sisterhood and a moving tribute to childhoods cut short by war. Rich in voice and beautifully rooted in place, Lucy Caldwell's characters leap from the page in all their joy and devastation. The result is a novel of stunning ambition."