The Best New Books to Read During the Holidays

By Southern Living
Robbie Caponetto
‘Tis the season for long afternoons spent nestled in a cozy reading nook and immersed in a fantastic new book. Whether you’re traveling for Christmas or hunkering down at home, there will be plenty of time to start a new book (or two or three) over the holiday break. 2017 has been filled with exciting new releases as evidenced here and here, but the end of the year is bringing some truly groundbreaking and fun-to-read new work. From all of these great new releases, we’ve chosen our favorite picks in nearly every genre—we may have even made up a few genres in the process.We have to tell you: These end-of-the-year releases are good. Really good. Read-all-night good. These volumes rise to the very top in the midst of a great season for new books across the genres. So check out our picks for the best new end-of-the-year releases, and let us know which ones are going on your must-read list for the holidays. Choose a few for your holiday reading pleasure, and ready yourself, because you’re bound to become immersed in new worlds, compelling stories, and fantastically engrossing prose. Season's readings!
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Best New Fiction

amazon.com

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

Buy it: $28.99, amazon.com

In this engrossing dystopian tale by lauded author Louise Erdrich (The Round House, LaRose), time has begun to run backwards, creating effects that ripple across the world’s social and political landscapes.

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Best New Historical Fiction

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The Revolution of Marina M. by Janet Fitch

Buy it: $30, amazon.com

This big buzzy book by the author of White Oleander crafts a view of the early-20th century Russian Revolution through the perspective of Marina M., a young woman whose life is upended politically and personally.

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Best New Love Story

Southern Living

In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende

Buy it: $28, amazon.com

The latest from Isabel Allende is a moving love story between two 60-somethings living in the same apartment building in Brooklyn. It’s also a thoughtful exploration of human rights, immigration, and negotiations of dignity.

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Best New Essays

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The Art of Loading Brush: New Agrarian Writings by Wendell Berry

Buy it: $26, amazon.com

This collection of deeply considered essays and connected stories link cultural and agrarian issues, illuminating urban and rural American communities and the landscapes upon which they rely.

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Best New YA Novel

amazon.com

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Buy it: $19.99, amazon.com

This highly anticipated new book—the fifth by YA author John Green—introduces readers to 16-year-old Aza as she becomes immersed in a search for a missing billionaire and struggles with obsessive compulsive disorder.

6 of 28

Best New Reimagining of a Classic

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Mrs. Osmond by John Banville

Buy it: $27.95, amazon.com

The subject of Booker Prize-winning author John Banville’s new novel is Isabel Archer, a character first brought to life in Henry James's classic novel The Portrait of a Lady.

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7 of 28

Best New Biography

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Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

Buy it: $35, amazon.com

In his latest biographical exploration, Walter Isaacson turns his eye to Leonardo da Vinci and his thrillingly creative and productive life during the height of the Italian Renaissance. It’s a must-read for biography buffs.

8 of 28

Best New Mystery

amazon.com

Little Broken Things by Nicole Baart

Buy it: $16, amazon.com

Nicole Baart’s new novel begins with a mysterious text message and spins itself into a thrilling, suspenseful story of family and fate. Because you’ll devour it in one night, you’ll hate to see those last pages turn.

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Best New Pick for Book Club

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The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg

Buy it: $26, amazon.com

The power of intergenerational friendships—specifically one that blossoms between high schooler Maddy Harris and widower Arthur Moses—is at the core of this heartwarming new novel by Elizabeth Berg.

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Best New Southern Debut

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The Floating World by C. Morgan Babst

Buy it: $26.95, amazon.com

Native New Orleanian C. Morgan Babst’s debut novel is set in her hometown in the months after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina descended on the coast. It’s a story about family, trauma, and race, and it reckons with difficult histories that reverberate profoundly in the present.

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Best New Southern Novel

amazon.com

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Buy it: $26, amazon.com

We’ve been singing the praises of Jesmyn Ward’s new novel for months—have you read it yet? If not, now’s the perfect time to immerse yourself in this story of family, love, sacrifice, and a road trip across the Mississippi landscape.

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Best New Science Fiction

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Artemis by Andy Weir

Buy it: $27, amazon.com

This sci-fi thriller from The Martian writer Andy Weir is a must-read heist caper set in Artemis, the first city settled on the moon.

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Best New Prequel

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The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

Buy it: $27.99, amazon.com

Alice Hoffman’s latest provides readers the magical midcentury backstory to the spellbinding tale she told in 1995’s Practical Magic.

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Best New Short Stories

amazon.com

The King Is Always Above the People: Stories by Daniel Alarcón

Buy it: $27, amazon.com

Longlisted for the National Book Award, Daniel Alarcón’s powerful new collection explores immigration, loneliness, war, love and the specific, stunning struggles within the vastness of human experience.

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Best New Shakespeare Adaptation

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Dunbar by Edward St. Aubyn

Buy it: $25, amazon.com

Edward St. Aubyn’s new novel is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series, in which contemporary authors reimagine Shakespearean classics. In Dunbar, St. Aubyn reshapes King Lear, relocating the action to present day and making the titular character into a media mogul institutionalized by his cruel daughters.

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16 of 28

Best New Poetry

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Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver

Buy it: $30, amazon.com

While the poetry in it isn’t necessarily new, this collection was just released, prompting readers to look anew at Mary Oliver’s remarkable work and gathering poems from the last five decades of Oliver’s singular poetic enterprise.

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Best New Science Memoir

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Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone by Juli Berwald

Buy it: $27, amazon.com

Juli Berwald’s book entangles her life with those of jellyfish—it’s a story of personal discovery, rediscovery of the underwater world, and an earth-spanning journey to study these complex creatures, all the while throwing into stark relief the importance of understanding and protecting our increasingly endangered marine ecosystems.

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Best New Illustrated Text

amazon.com

Ungrateful Mammals by Dave Eggers

Buy it: $29.99, amazon.com

Call it a picture book for grown-ups. In this new collection, celebrated writer Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Heroes of the Frontier) turns his pen to illustrations paired with clever, winking text—it’s beyond engrossing.

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Best New History

amazon.com

The Mayflower: The Families, the Voyage, and the Founding of America by Rebecca Fraser

Buy it: $29.99, amazon.com

Rebecca Fraser’s newly published history brings the Mayflower voyage to surging life alongside the Winslow family, who set sail seeking religious freedom during the tumultuous seventeenth century.

20 of 28

Best New Fairy Tale for Adults

amazon.com

Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire

Buy it: $26.99, amazon.com

From the mind behind Wicked, the much-loved retelling ofThe Wizard of Oz, comes a reimagining of a new sort—one set in Germany and perfectly timed to the season—which delves into the Nutcracker legend.

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Best New Title

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A Selfie As Big As the Ritz: Stories by Lara Williams

Buy it: $17.99, amazon.com

When you can collide F. Scott Fitzgerald and pop culture so seamlessly in a title, you can bet the stories within will be good. These are about people navigating relationships, family, and loneliness—and making their way through the world when it throws nothing but the unexpected in their path.

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Best New Memoir

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Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir by Amy Tan

Buy it: $28.99, amazon.com

In this compelling memoir, The Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan delves into the moments and the memories that spurred some of her best-loved novels.

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Best New Object History

amazon.com

Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature by Marion Rankine

Buy it: $16.99, amazon.com

If you’re looking for something truly unexpected, pick up this quirky book. It’s a wonderfully readable history of the humble umbrella, which author Marion Rankine traces through the centuries and through its notable appearances in literature (Mary Poppins gets a mention, of course).

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Best New Children’s Book

amazon.com

Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth by Nicola Davies and Illustrated by Emily Sutton

Buy it: $15.99, amazon.com

From birds and fish to elephants and giraffes, this beautifully illustrated book teaches the value of earth’s many species, the importance and interconnectedness of all flora and fauna, and the essential job we have of protecting the astonishing diversity of life with which we share the world.

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Best New Coffee Table Book

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Wise Trees by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel

Buy it: $40, amazon.com

You’ll spend hours savoring this new book from landscape photographers Diane Cook and Len Jenshel. They’ve compiled majestic photography alongside the stories of 59 of the world’s most historic trees, 13 of which are located in the American South—including Oklahoma’s Oklahoma City Survivor Tree, Texas’s Wedding Oak, and Virginia’s Walt Whitman Trees.

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Best New Book about Food (and Life)

amazon.com

The Reporter’s Kitchen: Essays by Jane Kramer

Buy it: $26.99, amazon.com

This essay collection from The New Yorker staff writer Jane Kramer traces the food and adventures—and food adventures—of a life spent traversing the world in pursuit of stories. It also collects her much-loved food writing from the magazine, where she has written since 1964.

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Best New Inspirational Collection

amazon.com

The Wisdom of Sundays by Oprah Winfrey

Buy it: $27.99, amazon.com

If you plan to gift this book—which is filled with essays by Oprah Winfrey and boundless wisdom collected over years of her Super Soul Sunday conversations—you’ll also want to get a second copy to keep and enjoy yourself.

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28 of 28

Best New Garden Book

amazon.com

The Grumpy Gardener: An A to Z Guide From the Galaxy's Most Irritable Green Thumb by Steve Bender

Buy it: $25.99, amazon.com

We might be biased with this pick, but we’ve already put our favorite new garden book (by none other than our very own Grumpy Gardener) on our Christmas wish list this year.

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