A mix of sci-fi and literary elements full of satirical, dark, but humor-full writing

Short stories focusing on interstices of class, identity, loneliness, gender, sexuality, and violence within the LGBTQ+ community

Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva, translated by Rahul Bery: For fans of David Cronenberg’s films and lovers of Kafka, this gaucho-punk, sci-fi novel set in 2197 offers an explosive interpretation of an ultra-capitalistic society on the brink of climate collapse.

Are You Happy? by Lori Ostlund: Nine masterful stories that explore class, desire, identity, and the spectrum of violence in America—and in American families—against women and the LGBTQ+ community.

Vivid, funny, confessional storytelling in the unforgettable voice of a young man in recovery

A true crime narrative that avoids voyeurism in favor of empathy

A propulsive, moody, and atmospheric take on the Western

Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler: Like a sober, millennial Jesus’ Son, the poignant confession of a recovering addict adrift in the fragmenting landscape of America’s middle class.

WINNER of the 2025 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel

Longlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

“A wise and piercing book.” —Charlie Lee, The New York Times Book Review

The Rent Collectors by Jesse Katz: A teeth clenching and breathless narrative that explicates the difficult and proud lives of undocumented black market workers who are being extorted by the gangs and fined by the city of LA—in other words, exploited by two sets of rent collectors.

WINNER of the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prize

Finalist for the CALIBA Golden Poppy Book Award in Nonfiction and PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction

“A riveting and masterful urban narrative.” —Lorraine Berry, Los Angeles Times

Dusk by Robbie Arnott: From the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of The Rain Heron, Dusk is a masterful, mythical tale of loss, redemption, and survival.

“Arnott has an astonishing facility with language, and his prose imbues the Tasmanian wilderness with an extraordinary, immanent beauty . . . Starkly beautiful and deeply felt.” —James Bradley, The Guardian

A New Yorker best book of 2025 so far

Contemporary literary works dealing with questions of caretaking, class, race, and gender

Weird girl lit focusing on body horror and the supernatural

A literary sports novel with a mystery and a love story at its center

Solitaria by Eliana Alvez Cruz, translated by Benjamin Brooks: A raw, propulsive novel by an award-winning Afro-Brazillian novelist about a Black mother and daughter who work as live-in maids for a rich family in an unnamed Brazilian city, and the tragedy to which they unwittingly bear witness.

“Cruz expertly crafts a coming-of-age novel that insists on valuing the unseen lives of people who serve others.” —Becky Meloan, The Washington Post

Beyond All Reasonable Doubt, Jesus Is Alive! by Melissa Lozada-Oliva: From the author of Dreaming of You and Candelaria comes an ethereal and revelatory short story collection about faith, delusion, and the demons that can’t get enough of us.

“Melissa Lozada-Oliva is one of the Latina writers to watch. [These stories] are heartbreaking and also funny and a little weird . . . I just adore her.” —Xochitl Gonzalez, The TODAY Show

Underspin by E.Y. Zhao: A bruising coming-of-age novel about the short and tumultuous life of a charismatic and enigmatic table tennis prodigy, as seen through the eyes of those pulled into his orbit.

“E.Y. Zhao’s Underspin is an eruption of a debut. This novel displays a wondrous ability that renders both the central sport and lives that weave around it with meticulous precision and tremendous heart. The beauty of sport, the spirit of desire and the sacrifice required for greatness are all captured here in this stunner.” —Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain-Gang All-Stars

A satirical novel focusing on climate change with a female narrator

A beautifully packaged book with full-color images about deep sea exploration

A biography about an underground hip-hop legend

Happy Bad by Delaney Nolan: A madcap road trip chronicle; a moving display of human connection in the face of violence and climate destruction from a remarkable new voice in fiction.

“Nolan is a skillful satirist, and one whose aim is extensive, wickedly funny and true.” —New Orleans Times-Picayune

The Bathysphere Book by Brad Fox: A wide ranging, philosophical, and sensual account of early deep sea exploration and its afterlives.

“Hypnotic . . . Beautifully written and beautifully made.” —W. M. Akers, The New York Times Book Review

Winner of the 2024 National Book Foundation’s Science + Literature Award

A Washington Post top 10 best book of 2023

A Publishers Weekly best nonfiction book of 2023

The Chronicles of DOOM by S.H. Fernando Jr.: The definitive biography of MF DOOM, charting the reclusive and revered hip-hop artist’s life, career, and eventual immortality.

“Trying to focus on the tale of the eccentric, enigmatic and anonymous rapper-producer Dumile Daniel Thompson—a.k.a. DOOM—must have been akin to pinning down mercury . . . Fernando goes a long way in presenting the man behind the mask (who died in 2020) without revealing all of his spaced-out secrets that made him special.” —A. D. Amorosi, Variety

A Variety, FLOOD, and Clash best music book of 2024

A Mother Jones best book of 2024

A true story about the nature of gig work and the struggle to stay afloat

New ideas about how to reshape society

Books comprising unique research and historical accounts

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu Anyan, translated by Jack Hargreaves: One man’s delightfully honest and humorous account of the dehumanizing nature of our contemporary global work system—and his discovery of the power of sharing a story.

“One of China’s most remarkable new literary talents.” —Edward White, Financial Times

Limitarianism by Ingrid Robeyns: An original and galvanizing indictment of the world’s uber-rich that boldly argues for a cap on wealth from the philosopher who coined the term “limitarianism.”

“Robeyns offers a strong case and a framework for capping individual wealth in this book aimed at putting an end to ‘the unending rat race provoked by status goods.’”—Miguel Salazar, The New York Times Book Review (Paperback Row)

A New Yorker Best Book of 2024

A History Today Book of the Year

Look Out by Edward McPherson: An exploration of long-distance mapping, aerial photography, and top-down and far-ranging perspectives—from pre–Civil War America to our vexed modern times of drone warfare, hyper-surveillance at home and abroad, and quarantine and protest. Blending history, reporting, personal experience, and accounts of activists, programmers, spies, astronauts, artists, inventors, and dreamers.

“A charming, idiosyncratic meditation on the human urge to see further, and more, in this cultural history of the ‘aerial view’ . . . McPherson makes an elliptical and enchanting case for reinserting wherever possible the ground-level, human perspective . . . Redolent with insights into the ethical quandary of history-making, as well as the author’s own sense of awe at the full sweep of the human story, this is a wonder.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review