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    16 Awesome New Books To Read This Spring

    Spring into reading a new book.

    1. God Help the Child by Toni Morrison

    God Help the Child is Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison's 11th novel, and one of the most anticipated books this spring. A mother-daughter story at heart, God Help the Child examines childhood trauma through the lens of a woman named Bride whose dark skin drove away her light-skinned mother.

    Publication date: April 21, 2015

    2. Delicious Foods by James Hannaham

    James Hannaham's Delicious Foods follows 11-year-old Eddie and his mother Darlene after she is lured to and imprisoned on a remote farm by a shady company named Delicious Foods. Shattered by her husband's sudden death, Darlene becomes addicted to drugs and is forced to work in the fields to pay for the steady supply provided to her, all the while desperately seeking to reunite with her son. Powerful and moving, Delicious Foods will make you feel alive as nature begins to stir again outside.

    Publication date: March 17, 2015

    3. The Uses of the Body by Deborah Landau

    Deborah Landau’s third poetry collection, The Uses of the Body, is an evocative meditation on womanhood and the complex challenges it entails, and the perfect complement to spring — the season of change and growth. Elegant and tender, The Uses of the Body is haunting in its images and language about the vulnerabilities and “uses” of the female body.

    Publication date: April 21, 2015

    4. The Sellout by Paul Beatty

    Paul Beatty's The Sellout is a sharp, satirical novel as biting as the crisp air outside that challenges the foundation of the United States Constitution, urban life, and the civil rights movement. The Sellout follows the isolated childhood of a man born on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court after his father's death.

    Publication date: March 3, 2015

    5. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

    The Buried Giant is the first novel in almost a decade from Kazuo Ishiguro, author of Never Let Me Go and the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day. The story of a couple who embarks on a journey in historical, war-ravaged Britain to find a son they have not seen in years, The Buried Giant is a rumination on love, memory, war, and revenge that will be the perfect accompaniment to the changing of the seasons.

    Publication date: March 3, 2015

    6. Breezeway by John Ashbery

    Pulitzer Prize-winning poet John Ashbery returns with Breezeway, a new collection of poems that shows off his versatility of language. One of the most anticipated poetry collections this spring, Breezeway is delightfully ambitious and imaginative — which is to say, everything we've come to expect from Ashbery.

    Publication date: May 12, 2015

    7. The Only Ones by Carola Dibbell

    Carola Dibbell’s The Only Ones introduces a post-pandemic world where a woman immune to the disease, Inez, makes her living as a test subject. When a mother backs out on experimental genetic research, Inez is left responsible for her baby girl, who is a scientific breakthrough, and must protect her from both religious fanatics and the authorities. Tender and heartbreaking, The Only Ones will make you appreciate the world outside coming into bloom.

    Publication date: March 17, 2015

    8. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

    Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life is an epic novel about brotherly love and friendship in the 21st century. The story of four classmates who move to New York after college, A Little Life is an examination of memory, human endurance, and heartbreak that will leave you gasping for the cool, spring air.

    Publication date: March 10, 2015

    9. The Dead Lands by Benjamin Percy

    Benjamin Percy's The Dead Lands is a post-apocalyptic thriller set in a world devastated by both a superflu and nuclear fallout, where only a few humans remain in outposts like the Sanctuary, a community in what used to be St. Louis. When a rider arrives from beyond the Sanctuary's walls reporting of a thriving civilization to the west, a small group secretly sets out to find it and must fight to escape the Sanctuary. A reimagining of Lewis and Clark, The Dead Lands will rejuvenate you this spring.

    Publication date: April 14, 2015

    10. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

    Viet Thanh Nguyen's debut novel The Sympathizer offers an important new perspective on the Vietnam War through the eyes of a narrator whose political beliefs conflict with his loyalties — a communist sympathizer who becomes a double agent. A spy novel that also encompasses a love story, The Sympathizer will both startle and grip you this season.

    Publication date: April 7, 2015

    11. I Refuse by Per Petterson

    I Refuse is the highly anticipated new book from internationally acclaimed novelist Per Petterson, and the perfect read to transition from winter to spring. I Refuse follows the story of two men who grew up together before growing apart after an incident on a frozen lake, and their accidental encounter almost four decades later.

    Publication date: April 7, 2015

    12. The Harder They Come by T.C. Boyle

    New York Times–best-selling author T.C. Boyle explores the volatile relationships between an aging veteran, his unstable son, and the son's much older lover in The Harder They Come. Opening in modern-day Northern California, The Harder They Come follows Adam, the son, as he becomes increasingly mentally unstable, and moves as quickly as the spring breeze.

    Publication date: March 31, 2015

    13. A Reunion of Ghosts by Judith Claire Mitchell

    Judith Claire Mitchell's A Reunion of Ghosts tells the story of three middle-aged sisters and the collaborative memoir that will double as their joint suicide note. Dark but comedic, A Reunion of Ghosts is the portrait of four generations of a complicated family and the tragedies that seem to pass on from generation to generation. The wit of the three sisters alone will inspire you as much as the warming weather outside.

    Publication date: March 24, 2015

    14. Surrounded by Friends by Matthew Rohrer

    Surrounded by Friends is Matthew Rohrer's seventh poetry collection, a rumination on friendship, whether that friendship is with the living, the dead, or the inanimate. Written partly in the vein of Hafiz and of haiku poets like Kobayashi Issa and Basho, Surrounded by Friends brims with beautifully brief lines and images that stick in the mind even after spring is over.

    Publication date: April 7, 2015

    15. The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits

    In The Folded Clock, Heidi Julavits chronicles her life as a fortysomething woman in diary form, a confessional meditation on time, identity, aging, marriage, and family. Humorous and playful, yet laced with insight, The Folded Clock is like a breath of fresh spring air.

    Publication date: April 7, 2015

    16. Alone and Not Alone by Ron Padgett

    Pulitzer Prize finalist Ron Padgett's Alone and Not Alone is one of the most anticipated poetry collections this season. The collection follows his Collected Poems from 2013, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the William Carlos Williams Prize.

    Publication date: May 12, 2015