he Millions has come out with their annual Most Anticipated Books Preview just in time for today’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the Broke and Bookish: Top 10 Books I’m Excited to Read in 2012. For the most part, I’ve stuck to the books on the Millions’ list but there are a couple of ones I know about on my own. If I’m being totally honest, I found this year’s selection a little lackluster and I feel far less excited about these books than I did about last year’s, but still, here are ten upcoming books I’m interested in taking a stab at.
1. The Last Nude by Ellis Avery
One of my favorite artists is Tamara de Lempicka so I was actually struck first by the cover of this one> It wasn’t until I read the synopsis that I realized, it’s a fictionalized account of her and Rafaela Fano (subject of “The Dream,” “La Belle Rafaela,” etc)
2. The Guardians: An Elegy by Sarah Manguso
3. Arcadia by Lauren Groff
I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about this novel… I still haven’t read her other work, but I’ll probably give this a try anyway.
4. The Red House by Mark Haddon
5. Broken Harbor by Tana French
I still haven’t gotten around to reading Faithful Place, but I will, and when I do, this one’s next!
6. Office Girl by Joe Meno
This totally sounds like the type of novel I would like. Last year that didn’t work out so well for me, so we’ll see how it goes this year.
7. Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures by Emma Straub
I said I thought Emma Straub was a strong enough writer that I’d give her novel a chance even though I wasn’t head over heels in love with her short story collection, so I’ll be doing just that.
8. How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
Been anticipating this one since it came out in the UK last year. I’m not entirely sure I’m going to agree with everything she has to say (I recall disagreeing with some of her remarks already), but I have to read it myself before I judge.
9. Girl Land by Caitlin Flanagan
First learned about this book from Hachette’s Winter catalog that I got from BEA. Seems like a must for the feminist in me!
10. The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn
As stated previously, I really want to limit the number of books I purchase this year, so perhaps it’s a good thing that there’s nothing on here that screams OMG GOTTA HAVE IT NOW! though what I’ve listed is at least mildly interesting to me. Will this be the year I finally get through a significant portion of my own books? STAY TUNED.
I’m really excited about Emma Straub’s novel (mostly because I really did like her story collection). I have Arcadia on my list as well.
I just received Arcadia in the mail and I cannot wait to read it! I don’t know if it’s the advanced reader’s design format or if this is how the book will be when it’s ultimately released, but the front is the back. It’s pretty neat, I hope it’s as good as The Monsters of Templeton!