25 books we can't wait to read in 2016

The hottest titles of 2016 include buzzy debuts, stunning memoirs, and long-awaited new novels from literary heavyweights such as Louise Erdrich and Michael Chabon. Read on to find out what we’ll be reading in the year to come.

Can’t-wait memoirs

A Mother’s Reckoning, Sue Klebold (Feb 16)

Dylan Klebold’s mother shares her utterly devastating side of the 1999 Columbine tragedy.

Reasons to Stay Alive, Matt Haig (Feb. 23)

British journalist Haig has written a memoir of depression so painful and powerful that it’s destined to become a modern classic.

Untitled, Tony Bennett (August)

The rehabilitation of Bennett continues — and if this is his unvarnished story, it’s one we’re dying to read.

Hottest fiction

The Queen of the Night, Alexander Chee (Feb. 2)

The Second French Empire comes alive in the beautiful story of a courtesan-turned Parisian opera star.

Innocents and Others, Dana Spiotta (Mar. 8)

The Stone Arabia novelist’s anxiously awaited new work is about two best friends — both L.A. filmmakers — who tangle with a mysterious older woman who likes to seduce men over the phone.

The Nest, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney (Mar. 22)

In one of 2016’s most talked-about debuts, adult siblings squabble over their joint trust fund after their reckless brother Leo threatens to drain it.

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, Dominic Smith (Apr. 5)

Smith transports us from past to present and back again in this tale of a female Dutch painter and the forger behind the only painting she was known for.

Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld (Apr. 19)

In the Prep author’s modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, “Liz” Bennett is a magazine writer, Darcy is a pesky neurosurgeon, and Jane is a yoga teacher — but first impressions are just as problematic.

Imagine Me Gone, Adam Haslett (May 3)

Haslett’s latest — one of spring’s biggest books — is a heartbreaking, hilarious chronicle of one family struggling to love one another amid anxiety and depression.

LaRose, Louise Erdrich (May 10)

When a man accidentally shoots his neighbor’s 5-year-old son, both families deal with the emotional fallout.

Sweetbitter, Stephanie Danler (May 24)

Danler, working as a waitress, stunned the publishing world with her exquisite manuscript for Sweetbitter, the coming-of-age story of — wait for it — a Manhattan waitress.

Modern Lovers, Emma Straub (May 31)

The author of 2014’s summer hit The Vacationers focuses on a tight-knit set of college pals who now have college-age kids themselves.

The Girls, Emma Cline (June 14)

Cline’s novel, loosely based on the Manson murders, follows a teen drawn in by an alluring group of older girls who turn out to be members of a cult.

Untitled, Liane Moriarty (July 26)

We’ll read anything the author of Big Little Lies and The Husband’s Secret writes.

The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead (Sept. 6)

Whitehead showed us a future in the postapocalyptic Zone One — and now he takes us into the past with his thrilling tale of a young enslaved woman racing to freedom in the South.

Here I Am, Jonathan Safran Foer (September)

Foer’s first novel in a decade follows the breakup of a Jewish family unfolding against disaster in the Middle East.

Today Will Be Different, Maria Semple (September)

Fans of Where’d You Go, Bernadette‘s Bernadette Fox, meet Eleanor Flood — a woman who finds life getting in the way despite all her great intentions.

The Wangs vs. The World, Jade Chang (Oct. 4)

A moneyed Chinese-immigrant clan loses it all, then takes a healing, uproarious road trip across the United States.

Moonglow, Michael Chabon (Nov. 1)

Pulitzer-Prize winning Chabon’s latest adventure explores faith and creation.

The Fate of the Tearling, Erika Johansen (Nov. 29)

Find out the results of Queen Kelsea’s bejeweled sacrifice in the finale of our favorite fantasy trilogy.

Don’t-miss nonfiction

All the Single Ladies, Rebecca Traister (Mar. 1)

The literary world is already buzzing about journalist Traister’s history of the unmarried American woman.

The Gene, Siddhartha Mukherjee (May 17)

He explained the biology of cancer in The Emperor of All Maladies; now Mukherjee hopes to do the same for genes.

Tribe, Sebastian Junger (May 24)

This sequel to 2010’s War — about troops in Afghanistan — follows soldiers after they return home.

Urban Guerilla, Jeffrey Toobin (Aug. 2)

Toobin crafts compulsively readable takes on law and true crime, like this one about Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army.

Advice & How-to

How to be a Person in the World, Heather Havrilesky (July 12)