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33 Highly Anticipated Books of 2020
New year, new you? Nah! There's nothing wrong with the current you, except perhaps you need a new book. Luckily, 2020 is promising to be a year of fantastic reading.
To create our list of soon-to-be favorites across genres, we focused on what Goodreads members can't wait to read. How do we measure that anticipation? By taking a look at how many times a book has been added to Want to Read shelves.
From new titles by beloved authors including Emily St. John Mandel, Elena Ferrante, Yaa Gyasi, N.K. Jemisin, and William Gibson to a Hunger Games prequel, these are the books readers will be talking about this year.
Now, let's get to the good stuff—the books! Which ones are you most eager to read?
To create our list of soon-to-be favorites across genres, we focused on what Goodreads members can't wait to read. How do we measure that anticipation? By taking a look at how many times a book has been added to Want to Read shelves.
From new titles by beloved authors including Emily St. John Mandel, Elena Ferrante, Yaa Gyasi, N.K. Jemisin, and William Gibson to a Hunger Games prequel, these are the books readers will be talking about this year.
Now, let's get to the good stuff—the books! Which ones are you most eager to read?
This highly anticipated novel is the kind of contemporary fiction that feels pulled straight from the collective national conscience. When drug cartels threaten her family, middle-class bookseller Lydia Perez joins the exodus heading north, hoping for safety and salvation in America. A migrant story for our times, the book is already getting traction in the culture.
Release date: January 21
Release date: January 21
Migration and exile also feature heavily in this expansion of the historical record from Isabel Allende. Violently uprooted by the Spanish Civil War, a pregnant widow is forced into a marriage of escape as she heads over the ocean to South America. Allende's story proceeds from actual events and features the famous diplomat and poet Pablo Neruda.
Release date: January 21
Release date: January 21
Author Louise Erdrich, hailed as one of the most significant writers of the Native American Renaissance, draws from her own family experience in her latest novel. Set in the 1950s, the book chronicles the forced dispossession from North Dakota of the Chippewa people, robbed of their rights and their lands by the U.S. government. Erdrich's grandfather is the night watchman of the title.
Release date: March 3
Release date: March 3
From the author of the critically acclaimed Euphoria, her new novel follows 31-year-old Casey Peabody as she struggles against the essential tyranny of traditional adulthood. Waiting tables in Harvard Square, Casey hasn't given up on her dream of the creative life—even as friends and family sink into marriage and concession and sensible careers. A novel about beginnings and endings, and points in between.
Release date: March 3
Release date: March 3
A dramatic novel for the #MeToo moment, My Dark Vanessa chronicles the relationship between a talented 15-year-old writer and her 42-year-old English teacher. In her literary debut, author Kate Elizabeth Russell moves through two timelines—Vanessa's past and present—to examine issues of adolescence, agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood.
Release date: March 10
Release date: March 10
Good fences, it's said, make good neighbors. But in the idyllic town of Oak Knoll, North Carolina, fences can't stop star-crossed teenage love—or the twisted knots of race, class, and status in the 21st century. Powerful and provocative, this cautionary tale from the front lines of middle America poses a surprisingly complicated question: What does it mean to be a good neighbor?
Release date: March 10
Release date: March 10
In the concluding chapter of the Thomas Cromwell Trilogy, author and Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel returns to 16th-century England and the tangle of allegiances around infamous monarch Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn is dead, and the talented Mr. Cromwell must once again rely on his wits and his intuition to survive. Nothing is for certain in this game, except one thing: Sooner or later, the king turns on everyone close to him.
Release date: March 10
Release date: March 10
From the author of the fabulous Station Eleven, a creative riff on a postapocalypse story, The Glass Hotel swerves between three locations—downtown Manhattan, the wilderness of Vancouver, and a massive container ship off the coast of Mauritania. A woman disappears, money changes hands, and ghosts rise up from the past and points beyond. Emily St. John Mandel could write a technical handbook on flip phones and some of us would read it.
Release date: March 24
Release date: March 24
A story about the things that follow us into adulthood, like it or not, All Adults Here tracks the fortunes of three grown children and the mom who raised them. Overachievers and underachievers both have their burdens to bear. Now a third generation of children has arrived to perpetuate the family cycles—or not. From the author of The Vacationers.
Release date: May 5
Release date: May 5
In the drowsy village of Chawton, just after World War II, an odd collection of people (doctor, widow, laborer, movie star) come together to mark the sesquicentennial of Jane Austen's death. United only in their love for this particular strain of English literature, the disparate group strives to preserve the legacy of Jane Austen. Noble work, that. Recommended for fans of The Chilbury Ladies' Choir.
Release date: May 26
Release date: May 26
Retired college professor Antonia Vega has spent a lifetime writing, but now it seems that the universe requires something different of her. Her husband has died, her sister has gone missing, and a pregnant and undocumented teenager has appeared on her doorstep. A book that strives to elevate from the anger and tribalism of our times, Afterlife wonders aloud about the obligations we owe to our human family.
Release date: April 7
Release date: April 7
From the pseudonymous Italian author of the Neapolitan Novels comes a new story set in the city of Naples—or, more accurately, the two cities of Naples. Adolescent seeker Giovanna looks for answers in the refined and moneyed heights of the city as well as in the rough and vulgar depths. She's searching high and low, you might say.
Release date: June 9
Release date: June 9
Author Yaa Gyasi's follow-up to her celebrated debut novel, Homegoing, this restless new story follows a family from Ghana as they struggle to adapt to life in small-town Alabama. The ambitious young student Gifty is studying to be a neuroscientist, but her brother has wandered into the American super-storm that is the opioid crisis. From one of America's most promising new voices comes a story of faith, salvation, and science.
Release date: July 14
Release date: July 14
On the mean streets of Philadelphia, two sisters try to make their way. Kacey is an addict, Mickey is a cop. When Kacey disappears, Mickey becomes obsessed with finding her sister and solving the sudden rash of murders crashing though her patrol district. Long Bright River toggles between the present-day mystery and the girls' troubled adolescence.
Release date: January 7
Release date: January 7
Everyone knows a place like the Sun Down Motel, whether you've seen it from the outside or the inside. A run-down roadside crash pad, the Sun Down is a temporary stop for those passing through or a place for locals to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney is working as the night clerk, and she finds it hard to resist a mystery.
Release date: February 18
Release date: February 18
Rose Gold Watts was a terribly sick child. Confined to a wheelchair and susceptible to every illness, she spent much of her childhood in hospitals and surgical centers. It turns out she didn't have to. Fast-forward five years and Rose's mom, Patty Watts, has just been released from prison for her unconscionable deceptions. Everyone is surprised when Rose takes her mom in. Not Rose, though. She's waited a long time for this.
Release date: March 17
Release date: March 17
Twenty-five years ago, in the woods of Vermont, the Holt family moved into a derelict Victorian mansion known as Baneberry Hall. Three harrowing weeks later, they moved out, spinning shocking tales of eldritch forces. The parents made a fortune with a subsequent book, in the manner of The Amityville Horror. Now little Maggie Holt, just a child the first time around, is moving back into Baneberry Hall. Could be trouble, Scoob.
Release date: July 7
Release date: July 7
See all of our 28 most anticipated mysteries and thrillers of 2020.
Cyberpunk godfather William Gibson (Neuromancer) returns with the second installment of his latest Peripheral story line, which unfolds in two different worlds—a decidedly freaky future and our current, uneasy present. Featuring a mysterious new digital application and an exceedingly cool time-travel premise, Agency is the latest dispatch from San Francisco's reigning prophet of future weirdness.
Release date: January 21
Release date: January 21
As dedicated fans can tell you, some of the planet's very best science fiction can be found in that ancient and dependable format known as the short story. Lauded short fiction ace Ken Liu returns with 16 new selections, plus a new novelette. Double secret bonus tip: The new collection also features an excerpt from the upcoming third book of the Dandelion Dynasty series.
Release date: February 25
Release date: February 25
New from the creator of the Throne of Glass series comes a brand-new fantasy saga set in the twilight realm of Crescent City. Half-fae and half-human Bryce Quinlan must team with the Fallen Angel Hunt Athalar to battle demonic forces tearing up the city. Danger and damnation lurk behind every show. Romance and adventure, too. They're kinda into it.
Release date: March 3
Release date: March 3
It's said that every city has a soul. As with so many things, New York City is an exception: It has five. When things go sideways, Gotham's protectors must come together to stop an ancient evil. Urban fantasy gets another massive overhaul with this new submission from Hugo award winner N.K. Jemisin, author of the Broken Earth series.
Release date: March 24
Release date: March 24
Author Max Brooks essentially invented a whole new template for the apocalypse story with World War Z. Now he's back with another mad mixture of form and content: a rethinking of the Bigfoot legend as discovered through a set of found journals and an extensive original investigation. Part horror story, part survival tale, part science writing, Devolution promises maximum fun immediately.
Release date: May 12
Release date: May 12
Veterans of the 1990s will recall that the internet was supposed to be a good thing. That was before the really heavy money got involved and turned the tech industry into a deranged experiment in unchecked ambition. Where did the dream go wrong? That's one of the questions in this digital age memoir from Anna Wiener, whose experiences in Silicon Valley are a cautionary tale for our times.
Release date: January 14
Release date: January 14
Comedian, author, and alpha blogger Samantha Irby checks back in with her latest collection of essays and extended observations on this weird American life. After relatively successful forays into publishing and Hollywood, Irby has settled into middle-class life: She goes on bad dates with new friends and spends weeks in Los Angeles taking meetings with "skinny, luminous peoples" while being a "cheese fry-eating slightly damp Midwest person." This is going to be good.
Release date: March 31
Release date: March 31
In July 2014, 27-year-old Cody Roman Dial hiked into the Costa Rican jungle with plans for a quick four-day trip. He never returned. Dial's father, Alaskan scientist Roman Dial, launched his own investigation. The Adventurer's Son is the real-time chronicle of that journey, in which the elder Dial treks though the jungle to interview authorities, locals, criminals, and anyone else who might have answers.
Release date: February 18
Release date: February 18
For a minute there, Marie Kondo found the exact center of the zeitgeist with her worldwide bestseller, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Now she's teamed with organizational psychologist Scott Sonenshein to bring the joy of orderliness to the workplace. The book offers stories, studies, and strategies to help eliminate clutter and make space for the important stuff. Remember, gentle reader, a tidy desk makes a tidy mind.
Release date: April 7
Release date: April 7
Seventeen-year-old Cal appears to have it all figured out. A successful social media star with half a million followers, he's used to living life online with radical transparency. But when his pilot father is selected for a prestigious NASA mission, Cal encounters that uniquely American trauma known as a media circus. Making things weirder, he's falling hard for fellow “Astrokid” Leon. First love is always tricky, but this is ridiculous.
Release date: February 4
Release date: February 4
First in a new series, Chain of Gold welcomes readers to Edwardian London and the realm of the Shadowhunters. James and Lucie Herondale—children of the legendary Will and Tessa—have grown up in an idyllic world where good defeats evil and love conquers all. But when a vicious plague falls on the city, London finds itself trapped in expanding darkness. A new adventure from the author of The Mortal Instruments series.
Release date: March 3
Release date: March 3
Writer, poet, and National Book Award winner Elizabeth Acevedo (The Poet X) returns with a unique novel-in-verse about love, loss, and the bonds of family. Camino Rios and Yahaira Rios have spent their lives separated by distance and circumstance—one in New York City, one in the Dominican Republic. But when their father dies in a plane crash, they must navigate their new shared world together.
Release date: May 5
Release date: May 5
Attentive readers may recall a modest little series from several years back called The Hunger Games. Well, author Suzanne Collins returns this year with a prequel story—tagged as installment zero in the series—back in the treacherous world of Panem. Details are being kept in strict stealth-mode secrecy, but word is that the story will begin on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games. So, heads-up on that.
Release date: May 19
Release date: May 19
See all of our 38 most anticipated YA novels of 2020.
Can an epic Twitter meme war really lead to romance? Can barely sublimated aggression indicate secret, hidden passion? We shall find out in this exploration of the Digital Age and all its evolved flirting techniques. The debut novel from author Emma Lord, Tweet Cute chronicles an unlikely connection between two teenage online rivals. It's a romantic comedy about the strange ways we communicate now.
Release date: January 21
Release date: January 21
Where do you see yourself in five years? This dreaded question, a staple of the employment interview, has unnerved applicants for decades. But what if you really could fast-forward, for one hour, to your life in five years' time? And what if there were a strange man in your bed? And a big ring on your finger? And what if you returned to your real life, then spotted that same guy? Wouldn't that be weird?
Release date: March 3
Release date: March 3
Freddie and Lydia are the ideal couple, perfectly matched and deliriously happy. But when tragedy strikes, Lydia has to start all over again. Or does she? Through some wrinkle in the time-space fabric, Lydia finds she is living two lives at the same time. In one life, Freddie is alive again and everything is fine. In the other life, Freddie is gone and everything is…well, things are pretty good over on this side, too. It's complicated.
Release date: March 3
Release date: March 3
See all of our 28 most anticipated romances of 2020.
What books are you most excited to read this year? Let us know in the comments!
Check out more recent articles:
Super Readers Share Their Best Tips to Read More in 2020
January's Most Anticipated New Books
How to Develop a Reading Habit
Check out more recent articles:
Super Readers Share Their Best Tips to Read More in 2020
January's Most Anticipated New Books
How to Develop a Reading Habit
Comments Showing 51-100 of 144 (144 new)
Jaguar wrote: "Hunger Games book 0???!!! Is that even a thing. "Oh, I just read book zero of the blah blah blah series."
I'm still excited!!!"
One of my thoughts too
I.Love.Books wrote: "NEW CASSANDRA CLARE BOOKS AND SUZANNE COLLINS! Yay!"I love both authors and every book they've written.
All of the mystery/thrillers and the Hunger Games prequel
Jeff wrote: "Tom wrote: "Not a single highly-anticipated Fiction book from a male author in 2020?"That was my thought too."
Edward Rutherford’s China to be published in 2020.
I can not wait for Chain Of Gold!!! Now I have to reread Cassandra Clare's other books before her new book is out.
Caroline wrote: "Tom wrote: "Not a single highly-anticipated Fiction book from a male author in 2020?"I thought this as well. Trying too hard to diversify I guess."
What about Ken Liu, William Gibson, Max Brooks, Roman Dial, and Phil Stamper, who are all on this list?
Tanya wrote: I'm looking forward to the .... the Tori Amos memoir. "
OOOH - one of my favorite singers!! I'll have to keep my eyes out for that!
Fin wrote: "I don't think GR has ever put out a list of most anticipated books that included a book I had heard about and wanted to read. There have been a couple of times when I see a book on one of these lis..."Maybe they're trying to give books some screentime that wouldn't otherwise receive it....
Yousra wrote: "Megan Whalen Turner's 'Return of the Thief' should be in the list too."Didn't know that was coming. That's wonderful news!
Kate wrote: "I'm looking forward to The Evening and the Morning, a prequel to Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett."Best books ever!!!!
Sinead wrote: ""Emily St. John Mandel could write a technical handbook on flip phones and some of us would read it"True."
For me also, but if she wrote about my smartphone maybe I'd understand how it works.
Hilary Mantel - exercise your brain and have fun. Her work is wonderful. This one has been too long coming.
I'm looking forward to reading The Land: Monsters: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 8) by Aleron Kong. It came out January 1, 2020. My husband has already finished it. However, since I read books 1-7 very quickly, I know I missed things. I want to start with Book 1 and read thru Book 8 to get the full sense of the series. This is a genre that is not for everyone, but if you enjoy either Role Playing Games or Fantasy novels I highly recommend it.
Looking forward to a bunch of romance books in series I'm loving which are not included on the list - but I guess historical romance and paranormal romance aren't as hot as contemporary right now: Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas, The Bachelor by Sabrina Jeffries, Munro by Kresley Cole, Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean, A Rogue of One's Own by Evie Dunmore, and All Scot and Bothered by Kerrigan Byrne.Also Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs (the newest in the Mercy Thompson series) and How to Be Fine: What We Learned from Living by the Rules of 50 Self-Help Books by Jolenta Greenburg and Kristen Meinzer (of one of my favourite podcasts, By the Book)
Looking forward to Jodi Taylors and Elizabeth Hunts book releases this year the most...
what is up with this list?? 13 Fiction books and then only 4 mystery/thriller? Only 3 romance, though there is at least a link to more. How hard would it have been to put 10 or 5 of each? Pretty disappointed in Goodreads for posting this list.
The Long Bright River and The Night Watchman I've read and are 5* reads, also The Good Neighborhood and The SunDown Hotel were 4+ stars for me, all great reads. Have to look into some of the others
Yaa Gyazi’s first book is called Homegoing not Homecoming
Joy at work by Marie Kondo. I saw her series on Netflix and really liked some of the things she had to say.
Manal wrote: "Stormlight Archive 4 not in the list? We live in a society"My best guess is that this title was not included as it has neither a title nor a cover to promote. It's also not set to publish until November.
Please, Madeline Miller.....write another book like "Circe" and "Achilles"...my favorite books of the last decade. I'm waiting...
Celena Freeman wrote: "A prequel to Hunger Games? Thank you Suzanne Collins! The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is now on my want to read shelf."I am VERY looking forward to this. I want to know how the Hunger Games world came to be.
Tom wrote: "Not a single highly-anticipated Fiction book from a male author in 2020?"Especially since, I believe, John Irving is scheduled to release "Darkness as a Bride," and David Mitchell is scheduled to release "Utopia Avenue." Both are very high on my desirable list!
Manal wrote: "Stormlight Archive 4 not in the list? We live in a society"It's not storming right!? I was expecting Stormlight Archive 4 as well!!
So many good books coming out this year, so short a list! At least let's add Verge by Lidia Yuknavitch, The Lucky Star by William T. Vollmann (who might be our next American Nobel laureate), and The Royal Abduls by Ramiza Shamoun Koya.
Anyone know about final Outlander book, was due out over a year ago?
Oona Our Of Order should be on here
Go Tell the Bees That I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon. Fingers crossed that it comes out this year!
The new Anne Tyler - The Hank Green sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - Shorefall by Robert Bennett Jackson
Hannah wrote: "Piranesi by Susanna Clarke!!!!! It's been 14 years! Give her some respect."Nick wrote: "I don't know about anyone else, I am most excited about the Cormac Mccarthy novel which I hope comes out this year as well as all the new J.D Salinger."
Nick, what news do you have about a new Cormac Mccarthy novel? I haven't found anything about a new work in 2020.
Kate wrote: "I'm looking forward to The Evening and the Morning, a prequel to Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett."Me too. Ken Follett is my favorite author.
I am looking forward to the new Ransom Riggs book, which is a continuation of Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children! I loved the previous books which took me out of the usual genre that I read. I Can't wait!!!
So.many I want to read! The Night Watchman because Louise Erdrivh is one of my favorite authors, A Long Petal To The Sea because Isabel Allende is another fave. The Mirror and the Light, Long Bright River, my.Mystery/Thriller book club will be reading that, Home Before Dark and more!
I am reading an ARC of Writers and Lovers now.It reminds me of those books in the 70s where everyone was super-intellectual and made everything a big
pretentious discussion. I like it but not much.loving it so far. I just got an ARC of Jane Austen Society plus a couple others and waiting for Sun Down Motel from Book of the Month. I ove ghost stories! Also waiting for Things In Jars. It sounds so Victorian weird and twisted!
Wow, No Thank You, has the cutest cover
I'm most excited about She's With Me by Jessica Cunsolo (aka Ava Violet), and its sequel Stay With Me which I believe is releasing in September. I also can't wait for The Betrothed by Kiera Cass!
Caroline wrote: "Tom wrote: "Not a single highly-anticipated Fiction book from a male author in 2020?"I thought this as well. Trying too hard to diversify I guess."
There's definitely some in the YA category (I mean, unless someone named their daughter Phil lol)
I mean, if William Gibson isn't a white male author I don't know who is. The category titles may be a little wonky, but he's not the only one who fits the bill from this entire list. Jeff wrote: "Tom wrote: "Not a single highly-anticipated Fiction book from a male author in 2020?"
That was my thought too."
Yes! can't wait until it comes out. Her books are so good. This book is also on my want-to-read shelf.