Our Culture’s Most Anticipated Books of Winter 2025

It’s fitting that the first snow of the new year fell as I was editing this list; if anything, it made me want to pause work and take a quick reading break. The new year is a perfect time to start on your Goodreads reading goal, and with our 28 books coming out this winter spanning genres, continents, and ages, you’re sure to take away a few recommendations to request at the library.

Horse Girl Fever, Kevin Maloney (January 7)

Kevin Maloney’s demented and funny debut collection of stories chronicles the down-and-out of society, lifting them up from the mundane, including strip club bouncers, inadequate drug handlers, and emasculated husbands.

Playworld, Adam Ross (January 7)

A historical epic about a child actor brought up in a past Manhattan, Adam Ross’ Playworld is more than meets the description. Not wanting to bother his dysfunctional family, Griffin Hurt confides in a woman 22 years his senior, who crosses boundaries and falls in love with the teen.

Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything, Colette Shade (January 7)

For fans of Jia Tolentino and Chuck Klosterman, Colette Shade’s entertaining essay collection unpacks the enduring Y2K aesthetic and era, touching on everything from Smash Mouth, Total Request Live, AOL, and the rise of the internet.

Hello Stranger: Musings on Modern Intimacies, Manuel Betancourt (January 14)

From the author of The Male Gazed, Manuel Betancourt’s new essay collection examines the power of a ‘Hello’ and all that can come from it — whether it be in a bar or a bathhouse — reflecting on past relationships and art with a cheeky wit.

Good Girl, Aria Aber (January 14)

A debut novel set against a turbulent Germany, the daughter of two Afghan refugees makes her way amongst Berlin’s club scene before meeting an American writer who opens her eyes, just as political turmoil starts to unfold. 

Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, Liz Pelly (January 14)

Liz Pelly’s journalism is essential for understanding the world around us, dominated by invisible algorithms and curation. For her first book, Mood Machine, she digs deep into streaming giant Spotify, helmed by industry insiders, former employees, and musicians, to see how the platform has revolutionized music, for better and for worse.

Something Rotten, Andrew Lipstein (January 21)

In Andrew Lipstein’s third (and possibly best) novel, Reuben, Cecilie, and their toddler travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, for the summer, where they’re immediately entwined in a web of lies, deception, trying to re-integrate themselves within a friend group. It’s a wickedly funny examination of masculinity, truth, politics, and how far we’ll go when we think we’re doing the right thing. 

An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence, Zeinab Badawi (January 25)

“Everyone is originally from Africa, and this book is therefore for everyone,” begins Zeinab Badawi’s insightful and meticulous history of the continent, written to provide an honest account, “told by Africans themselves.” Starting at human evolution and ending in present-day, it’s a geographic and historical tour de force.

American Thighs, Elizabeth Ellen (January 28)

Editor of online literary website Hobart Pulp, Elizabeth Ellen’s American Thighs tracks the life of Tatum Grant, a young Hollywood starlet whose career (and childhood) is disrupted by a relationship with a much older actor. Returning to her hometown in her 30s, she attempts to give herself an authentic shot at adolescence, enrolling in school, dating a football player, and finally fitting in with the popular girls. 

Black in Blues: How A Color Tells the Story of My People, Imani Perry (January 28)

From a prolific journalist whose past books have touched on Harriet Tubman, the American South, and letters to her children, Imani Perry’s Black in Blues traces the intertwined history of Blackness and the color blue. An unlikely pairing that contains West African indigo cloths traded for human lives in the 16th century and a Louis Armstrong lyric, it’s a deeply original and thoughtful project.

Blob: A Love Story, Maggie Su (January 28)

A bizarre and hilarious story about submitting to your own desires, Vi Liu drunkenly takes home a blob she found behind a bar, shaping it to be the perfect boyfriend after realizing its sentience. 

Soft Core, Brittany Newell (February 4)

A strip dancer who goes by the name Baby Blue suddenly loses her ketamine-dealing ex-boyfriend Dino enters a madcap journey to find him, racing through BDSM dungeons, dive bars, and hallucinogenic people she meets. 

Dengue Boy, Michel Nieva (February 4)

With ties to Cronenberg and Kafka, Michel Nieva’s bizarre and surreal English-language debut Dengue Boy takes a big swing at the future — climate change has destroyed Latin America, Antarctica is gone, and time travelers publish popular games like the post-colonial Indians vs. Christians. Dengue Child, a mosquito-human hybrid, grows up changing their gender and exploring the hyper-capitalistic, ravaged world around them.

The Knowing, Madeleine Ryan (February 4)

A sensational day-in-the-life of a woman named Camille who loses her phone on Valentine’s Day, Madeleine Ryan’s The Knowing is a hallucinatory look at “the mess that comes before salvation.”

Brother Brontë, Fernando A. Flores (February 11)

In Fernando A. Flores’ new dystopian fantasy, the imperialist mayor of Three Rivers, Texas, has outlawed reading and forced new mothers back into a dangerous workforce. One of the last literate residents devours the writing of a mysterious and reclusive author named Jazzmin Monelle Rivas, whose last book — Brother Brontë — might have the answers for the tyrannical world around them. 

Theory & Practice, Michelle de Kretser (February 18)

Beginning in the 1980s, a Sri Lankan-born, Australia-raised woman dissects her relationship with a male feminist, whose girlfriend, Kit, is the subject of much of the narrator’s ire. But is the girlfriend at fault, is Kit, or is the narrator, with her rigid beliefs of what a relationship should be? In the adventurous spirit of Virginia Woolf, Theory & Practice asks what happens when “our desires run contrary to our beliefs.”

The Talent, Daniel D’Addario (February 25)

Excitingly billed as a mash-up of Hollywood Wives and A Visit From the Goon Squad, Variety correspondent Daniel D’Addario’s debut novel The Talent pits five actresses against each other on the eve before Hollywood’s biggest awards night, revealing sinister truths about the entertainment world’s love and distrust of the elusive diva. 

True Failure, Alex Higley (February 25)

Instead of rebounding after being fired, or even telling his wife, Ben works on landing a spot on Big Shot, where he’ll try to secure financing for a big entrepreneurial idea. But unbeknownst to him, his wife isn’t paying as close of attention to his kids as he thought, and even Big Shot’s producer might be taking some time off, leaving the plan in suspended limbo as he scrambles for a lifeline.

The Psychoanalysis of Dr. Seele, Leslie Stein (February 25)

Dr. Enoch Seele is an arrogant and wealthy heart transplant of the New York elite, but a surprise confrontation with a criminal results in a terrifying dream. Things have to change, and so he embarks on the journey of psychoanalysis, where he discovers that money and power might not be the end point of life.

I Leave It Up to You, Jinwoo Chong (March 4)

In Jinwoo Chong’s follow-up to Flux, I Leave It Up to You, a man awakens from a two-year coma and desperately tries to keep reality together. He travels back to a Korean American suburb of New Jersey, where he returns quietly to working at their sushi restaurant, but soon realizes pretending isn’t everything.

See Friendship, Jeremy Gordon (March 4)

The Atlantic senior editor Jeremy Gordon’s debut, See Friendship, sees a young culture writer laid off in the wake of a declining media industry. Scrambling for a solution, he decides his own story is worth a podcast, after discovering the dramatic truth about his high school friend’s sudden death.

Two Truths and a Lie, Cory O’Brien (March 4)

The cyberpunk debut novel from an internet humorist, Two Truths and a Lie is a dystopian satire on AI, knowledge, and a militarized police force. An aging retired drone operator is suddenly at the center of a manhunt whose primary suspect is his old boyfriend, where he can’t be sure to trust what anyone’s telling him, least of all his own memory. 

Luminous, Silvia Park (March 11)

In an imagined Korea of the future, where North and South are unified, robots have been properly used in society as servants, friends, and partners, though still sub-human. Three estranged siblings across Korea reconnect in order to solve a murder mystery and find their missing brother, who might just be glitched out in a trash heap somewhere.

Stag Dance: A Novel & Stories, Torrey Peters (March 11)

Torrey Peters returns with Stag Dance, a novel and three novellas about desire and gender; a lumberjack attends a lodge where, for entertainment, the men dress and dance as women; a sci-fi dystopia forces everyone to choose their own gender. If it’s anything like Detransition, Baby!, her excellent debut from 2021, it’s sure to be endlessly interesting, radical, and fun. 

Songs in the Key of MP3: The New Icons of the Internet Age, Liam Inscoe-Jones (March 13)

Fellow Line of Best Fit writer Liam Inscoe-Jones traces another section of musical history, this time starting from the annals of YouTube underground and experimental artists that ended up defining culture years later. Featuring essays on Blood Orange, FKA twigs, SOPHIE, Earl Sweatshirt, and more, Inscoe-Jones traces the rapidly evolving sonic landscape with humor and intelligence.

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One, Kristen Arnett (March 18)

From the celebrated author of With Teeth and Mostly Dead Things, Kristen Arnett’s new novel sees a professional clown’s life get disrupted by Margot the Magnificent, a successful older lesbian magician, who promises to help her artistry. But in their experimental new act, Cherry the clown is unsure how much she’s willing to risk for Margot.

Hot Air, Marcy Dermansky (March 18)

A ridiculous and funny comedy of errors, Marcy Dermansky’s Hot Air has Joanie, a woman who hasn’t been on a date in seven years, convincing herself that the mediocre Johnny is a suitable partner. But when her old summer camp crush — now a billionaire — crashes into Johnny’s pool, this new option — or even his wife, or his assistant — seems a lot more intriguing.

Rooms for Vanishing, Stuart Nadler (March 18)

In Stuart Nadler’s prismatic and thought-provoking Rooms for Vanishing, the war disrupted the Altermans, a Jewish family living in Vienna, who now each think they’re the sole survivor of their family. Each is haunted by the ghosts of relatives past and in their separate cities — Prague, Montreal, London — attempt to reconstruct the past.