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Readers' Most Anticipated Books of May
In any given month, the range of new books hitting the shelves can be frankly astonishing. For the dedicated reader, part of the thrill of a serious book habit is the freedom to bounce from topic to topic, genre to genre. We’ve got a particularly wide-ranging selection in this month’s offerings.
New in May: Maggie Shipstead returns with a split-screen story of two women and two eras in Great Circle. Rivers Solomon tests the borders of fantasy and horror in Sorrowland. And veteran author Jean Hanff Korelitz is back with an intriguingly meta book-about-books thriller in The Plot. Also on display: Boston in 1662, Ukraine in 1944, and the latest sci-fi gem from Andy “The Martian” Weir.
Each month the Goodreads editorial team takes a look at the books that are being published in the U.S., readers' early reviews, and how many readers are adding these books to their Want to Read shelves (which is how we measure anticipation). We use the information to curate this list of hottest new releases.
Astronaut Ryland Grace has just awoken from cryosleep, millions of miles from home. His mission, should he choose to accept it: Save the Earth from an extinction-level event, using a barely functioning spaceship, two corpses, and his very fuzzy memory. Weir, author of the book-to-film success story The Martian, returns with a new spin on the hard science fiction template pioneered by Isaac Asimov and Stanislaw Lem.
Read our interview with Weir here.
Read our interview with Weir here.
This highly anticipated third novel from Maggie Shipstead (Astonish Me, Seating Arrangements) splits its focus into two timelines. In the first, pioneering 1930s aviator Marian Graves rises from obscurity to attempt global circumnavigation over the North and South Poles. In the present day, actor Hadley Baxter is cast as Graves in a film about her disappearance in Antarctica. Two women, two eras, similar troubles with self-determination in sexist society.
Boston, 1662: Mary Deerfield is desperate to escape her cruel and abusive husband. Unfortunately, Thomas Deerfield is a powerful man in their community of New World colonists, and religious mania has the entire village looking for witches. When suspicion falls on Mary, she needs to escape more than just a bad marriage. Bohjalian (The Flight Attendant) delivers a historical thriller set in a time when witch hunts were tragically literal.
Somewhere in the busy intersections of fantasy, horror, and queer fiction, Sorrowland is being billed as a genre-bending update to the venerable Gothic tale. A young mother escapes an oppressive religious compound to raise her kids in the woods, where she undergoes a strange metamorphosis. Author Rivers Solomon leverages the always-flexible mode of speculative fiction to make some observations about history and violence.
The ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur gets an update with this ambitious retelling, which shifts the focus to Ariadne and Phaedra, princesses of Crete. When Ariadne falls in love with Theseus, Prince of Athens, she risks the wrath of her family and the very gods themselves. Jennifer Saint’s debut novel is recommended for fans of for fans of The Song of Achilles and The Silence of the Girls.
Daisy Shoemaker is discontent. Her life in the Philadelphia suburbs is safe and steady, and she should be grateful. But “should” is always such a slippery concept. When she starts receiving misdirected emails to a woman named Diana Starling, Daisy dares to dream of something new. The two women meet and become friends, but was the connection truly accidental? Author Jennifer Weiner (Good in Bed) delivers her usual twists, turns and intrigue.
This historical thriller from Mark T. Sullivan (Beneath a Scarlet Sky) tells the incredible survival story of a family in a very tough spot. It’s March of 1944 and Stalin’s forces are pushing into Ukraine. Emil and Adeline Martel are forced to make an impossible decision: Risk life under Russian occupation or flee with the help of the Nazis they despise. What about Cleveland? Cleveland’s nice.
Mia P. Manansala’s debut novel offers a new spin on the cozy mystery, a subgenre of crime fiction that might be termed “comfort reading.” Lila Macapagal’s family restaurant may be finally turning the corner. That’s good! Her ex-boyfriend, also a nasty food critic, has just dropped dead. That’s not good, exactly, but it’s maybe not bad. The cops think Lila did it. That’s definitely bad. It’s time for sleuthing.
This sounds twisty: Novelist Jacob Finch Bonner, unable to follow up his successful first novel, finds himself teaching in a third-rate MFA program. His student Evan Parker is poised to break out with a story idea so good it will sell itself. When Jacob discovers his former student has died, well…someone needs to write that book. Everything works out nicely until Jacob gets an anonymous email: You are a thief....
Expanding on her acclaimed 2020 essay in The New Yorker, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Americanah) writes about her beloved father’s death during the initial chaos and tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notes on Grief features Adichi’s signature precision with language as she honors her father’s legacy, while reflecting on the one aspect of the human condition that none of us can finally escape.
Which new releases are you looking forward to reading? Let's talk books in the comments!
Check out more recent articles, including:
72 New Books by Asian American Authors to Read Now
Romance Readers' Most Anticipated Books for May
May's Most Anticipated YA Reads
Check out more recent articles, including:
72 New Books by Asian American Authors to Read Now
Romance Readers' Most Anticipated Books for May
May's Most Anticipated YA Reads
Comments Showing 1-22 of 22 (22 new)
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Tanya
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May 02, 2021 01:04AM
I'm a quarter through Ariadne, it's great.
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Really? Why is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie still getting featured so much? Yes, she's one of the most known feminists of our times, but her feminism is hurtful and excluding trans people. (Yes, I read some of her books myself, but I won't continue since I found out about her views - you can easily google this shit.)
"how many readers are adding these books to their Want to Read shelves" doesn't mean most anticipated, really. It means best known in advance. A much better metric would be a ratio of people adding the book to the want read shelf over the number of advance reviews the book has gotten. Or maybe a similar set of numbers that factors out the marketing budget.
Suitcaselife wrote: "Really? Why is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie still getting featured so much? Yes, she's one of the most known feminists of our times, but her feminism is hurtful and excluding trans people. (Yes, I re..."
I'm attracted to this title, but I don't think I can justify it to myself. Such a shame.
Excited for Sorrowland, Arsenic and Adobo, and Ariadne. Maybe Hour of the Witch, because that's a pretty cover. ;)
Not one of these excites me. The Plot sounds like Murder of Crows 🤣
Waiting for The missing sisters by Lucinda Riley
The Hidden Palace: A Novel of the Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. This sequel is due out in June!
Suitcaselife wrote: "Really? Why is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie still getting featured so much? Yes, she's one of the most known feminists of our times, but her feminism is hurtful and excluding trans people. (Yes, I re..."
Can we stop trying to cancel people (Authors) for their opinions. Yes it may be a shitty opinion but it's still their opinion.
M. wrote: "Excited for Sorrowland, Arsenic and Adobo, and Ariadne. Maybe Hour of the Witch, because that's a pretty cover. ;)"Highly recommend Hour of the Witch. One of my favorite authors and I've read all of his books.
Carole wrote: "Suitcaselife wrote: "Really? Why is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie still getting featured so much? Yes, she's one of the most known feminists of our times, but her feminism is hurtful and excluding trans..."transphobia isn't an "opinion"
Looking forward to Rutherfurd's "China" , been waiting for well over a year.
I am excited that “China” is coming out this month!
☆. wrote: "Carole wrote: "Suitcaselife wrote: "Really? Why is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie still getting featured so much? Yes, she's one of the most known feminists of our times, but her feminism is hurtful and ..."exactly!
Sullivan hit a home run with "Beneath a Scarlet Sky", so I'm looking forward to reading "The Last Green Valley".
My most anticipated May book which I paradoxically knew nothing about was Sharon Bolton’s “The Pact”, which came out as a total surprise to me a couple of days ago! Otherwise, “The Plot” and “Great Circle” also sound intriguing...
Well I did Google and Adichie stating "trans women are trans women" & "there is a distinction between women born female and women who transition, without elevating one or the other, which was my point. I have and will continue to stand up for the rights of transgender people."How is that transphobic?
Or her crime is defending Rowling?
