As the quote goes, there’s a big difference between being mostly dead and all dead, and in the publishing world, 2019 is only mostly dead as publishers are wrapping up their offerings and looking forward to 2020. But for readers, 2019 is more than slightly alive with plenty of notable titles hitting shelves in November and December. And with the 24 hour news cycle churning away, the possibility of some last minute newsmakers running up the bestseller lists is a definite possibility. Here are some of the highlights left to come in 2019:
-The publisher Twelve announced late in October that they would be publishing A Warning by an unnamed senior Trump official. The same individual wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times late last year, in which he or she announced they and other senior officials were ‘working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations’. Expect to hear quite about A Warning from your favorite news sites when it hit shelves November 19. For a slightly different perspective on the current state of political affairs, CNN reporter and East Wing specialist Kate Bennett offers a take on the enigmatic First Lady in Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography, due out early December.
-Author Erin Morgerstern had a massive word-of-mouth hit in 2011 with her novel The Night Circus. Eight years later, she’s penned a follow up, The Starless Sea, featuring grad student Zachary Ezra Rawlings’ adventures into a fantastical world of a subterranean library, where time misbehaves and magic abounds. It’s already getting rave reviews from the industry publications; it’s on shelves early November. Jeff Lindsay created everyone’s favorite serial killer in the form of Dexter Morgan; his new series introduces master thief and killer Riley Wolfe. Bored with the spectacular heists that have made his name and fortune, the parkour master and morally flexible Wolfe decides to take on something a bit more challenging—like the theft of the Iranian Crown Jewels. Easy, right? Just Watch Me is on shelves early December.
-There are strong offering in the genres again this month and next, with new titles coming from genre stalwarts such as Val McDermid, Martha Grimes, M. C. Beaton and Alexander McCall Smith. Thriller readers can look forward to additional installments from favorites like David Baldacci (a new Atlee Pine novel A Minute to Midnight), Lisa Jewell (The Family Upstairs) and J. T. Ellison (Good Girls Lie). Romance readers are likely already familiar with Nalini Singh’s paranormal romance; she broadens her appeal with her newest, A Madness of Sunshine, a thriller set in the criminal underbelly of New Zealand. It’s out early December. Jeff VanderMeer has already penned speculative classics with the Area X novels; his newest, Dead Astronauts, considers the ramifications of biotech gone wrong. Kirkus calls it his best book yet—look for it in December. Fans of life stories have a couple of anticipated biographies on the horizon. Sheila Weller (Girls Like Us) takes a deep dive into the life of the iconic actress with Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge, which has already garnered some newspaper headlines when the Fisher family denounced it: it’s out in mid-November. Multi-disciplined author Michael Eric Dyson considers the career and impact of the multi-faceted hip-hop artist Jay-Z with Jay-Z: Made in America, appearing in late November.
-Click on through for the full list of titles. Happy reading!