Home
Books
The best books to keep you warm this January

The best books to keep you warm this January

By Seija Rankin

December 21, 2020 at 11:00 AM EST

1 of 14

The Push by Ashley Audrain

Credit: Pamela Dorman Books

A woman's uncertainty in pregnancy becomes uneasiness in the early months of motherhood becomes something a little more sinister, as her daughter not only fails to bond with her but displays increasingly alarming behavior — that goes wholly diminished by her husband — in this compulsively readable thriller. Let's just say: never distrust a mother's intuition. (January 5)

2 of 14

Nick by Michael Farris Smith

Credit: Little, Brown and Company

The first novel to take advantage of the expiration of The Great Gatsby's copyright, this prequel imagines Nick Carraway's life in war-torn Paris and on the battlefront of World War II before he gets to West Egg. (January 5)

3 of 14

The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.

Credit: G.P. Putnam's Sons

A love story of the most tragic proportions, revered writer Robert Jones, Jr. uses his debut novel to pry open our collective hearts. Isaiah and Samuel are two enslaved teenagers living on a plantation in the American South, whose bond both threatens their safety and provides one of the only reasons to hope within their community. (January 5)

Continued on next slide.

4 of 14

Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter by Shani Mahiri King

Credit: Tilbury House Publishers

A children's tome filled with Black excellence, celebrating — and providing the historical context for — accomplishments of Black musicians, artists, journalists, politicians, scientists, and more. It goes without saying that this book offers something to adults as well as kids. (January 5)

5 of 14

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

Credit: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Darren, a young Black man from Bed-Stuy, is recruited onto the sales team of a successful tech start-up — plucked, if you will, from his gig as the manager of the Starbucks in the lobby of the company's office building. What comes next is a combination of character study, searing indictment of all the problematics of white corporate culture, and some good old-fashioned enjoyable sarcasm. (January 5)

6 of 14

Life Among the Terranauts by Caitlin Horrocks

Credit: Little, Brown and Company

The author of The Vexations turns her sights back onto short stories (this is her second collection); the works within take on a genre-bending, hauntingly environmental quality. (January 12)

Continued on next slide.

7 of 14

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

Credit: Balzer + Bray

The prequel we never knew we needed — until author Angie Thomas announced its pending arrival, and then this story became as necessary as the original. Rose tells Maverick's backstory in fine detail, offering up insight into how he became the man we met in The Hate U Give and giving us more reasons to love the Carter family. (January 12)

8 of 14

Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu

Credit: Sceptre

Nadia Owusu, an urban planner and writer who pens her debut from the vantage point of her 28-year-old self, seems the perfect candidate for a memoir: The daughter of a U.N. public servant, she’s lived in Dar es Salaam, Addis Ababa, and Rome. Her mother left her as a toddler, and as a teen, her father died of what Owusu thought was cancer. She dispatches all of this heartache with blistering honesty, but does so with prose light enough that it never feels too much to bear. (January 12)

9 of 14

The Divines by Ellie Eaton

Credit: William Morrow

A remote British boarding school provides the backdrop for the reflections of protagonist Josephine, who finds that although she may have escaped to Los Angeles, her past at St. John the Divine is never as far behind as she'd prefer. (January 19)

Continued on next slide.

10 of 14

This Will Be Funny Someday by Katie Henry

Credit: Katherine Tegen Books

If The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel were a YA novel, it would be this YA novel. Main character Izzy is a high school student who stumbles into a standup comedy career after pretending to be in college — but without all the divorce drama, of course. (January 19)

11 of 14

Unfinished by Priyanka Chopra Jonas

Credit: Ballantine Books

The actress tells her life story in her own words, starting with her childhood in India and spanning her stint as Miss Universe, her entrée into Bollywood and eventually Hollywood. (January 19)

12 of 14

The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Namura

Credit: W. W. Norton & Company

This nonfiction story of the first hospital staffed entirely by women could not be more timely. (January 19)

Continued on next slide.

13 of 14

Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion

Credit: Knopf Publishing

The venerable journalist is back on our bookshelves with a tome full of never-before-collected essays and reported stories, mostly from the 1960s. Didion dug up tales on everything from a Gambler's Anonymous meeting in Gardena, Calif., to her own rejection from Stanford University. (January 26)

14 of 14

Consent by Annabel Lyon

Credit: Knopf

Beyond its intoxicating cover, this novel captivates in plot, too — it follows two sets of sisters whose lives converge and diverge in eerily similar ways. (January 26)

Replay gallery

Up Next

By Seija Rankin @@seijawrites

Account

The best books to keep you warm this January

1 of 14

The Push by Ashley Audrain

1 of 14

2 of 14

Nick by Michael Farris Smith

2 of 14

3 of 14

The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.

3 of 14

4 of 14

Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter by Shani Mahiri King

4 of 14

5 of 14

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

5 of 14

6 of 14

Life Among the Terranauts by Caitlin Horrocks

6 of 14

7 of 14

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

7 of 14

8 of 14

Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu

8 of 14

9 of 14

The Divines by Ellie Eaton

9 of 14

10 of 14

This Will Be Funny Someday by Katie Henry

10 of 14

11 of 14

Unfinished by Priyanka Chopra Jonas

11 of 14

12 of 14

The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Namura

12 of 14

13 of 14

Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion

13 of 14

14 of 14

Consent by Annabel Lyon

14 of 14

Share the Gallery

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Everything in This Slideshow