Your Most Anticipated Novel of 2010

[Liam]

It seems that dozens of exciting new novels [from well-known authors] have been scheduled to appear in print at some point next year. So: which is that one special book that you are waiting with bated breath for?

For myself, I simply can't wait for the new David Mitchell... (Other exciting releases outlined in red).

Some of the titles due to appear shortly (early 2010?):


The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall
The Stars in the Bright Sky by Alan Warner
Even the Dogs by Jon MacGregor
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman
Naming the Bones by Louise Welsh
Known to Evil by Walter Mosley
Monster 1959 by David Maine
Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon
It Feels So Good When I Stop by Joe Pernice
Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Nemesis by Philip Roth
Wild Child by TC Boyle
Three Days Before the Shooting by Ralph Ellison
Solar by Ian McEwan
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell
Point Omega by Don DeLillo
The Pale King by David Foster Wallace
The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
IQ84 by Haruki Murakami
The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell
This Party's Got to Stop by Rupert Thomson
Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Martel
All That Follows by Jim Crace
The Dead Republic by Roddy Doyle
Little Hands Clapping by Dan Rhodes
Lean On Pete by Willy Vlautin
The Ask by Sam Lipsyte
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Castle J Robert Lennon
Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis
The Canal by Lee Rourke
Canada by Richard Ford
The Leaping by Tom Fletcher
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
King Death by Toby Litt
Light Boxes by Shane Jones
The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Simm by Jonathan Coe
The News Where You Are by Catherine O'Flynn
The Greek Affair by Simon Van Booy
Rupture by Simon Lelic
The Art of Pho by Julian Hanshaw
George Sprott by Seth
Taurus by Joseph Smith (author of The Wolf)
The Widow's Tale by Mick Jackson
The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of his Friend Marilyn Monroe by Andrew O'Hagan
In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut


Borrowed from: 50 Books You'll Want to Read in 2010 (http://bookmunch.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/50-books-youll-want-to-read-in-2010-the-full-list/).

[saliotthomas]

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem

Have it already !

And i don't own a time travel machine.

[Liam]

I think the list was originally compiled by someone who lives in Britain. Some of these books are out already in the US.

[matt.todd]

Parrot and Oliver in America is already out here - flying off the shelves at work.

And when I saw this thread, the first book that sprang to mind was David Mitchell's new one. I'm so excited for it, I may just wet my pants.

[Liam]

Parrot and Oliver in America is already out here - flying off the shelves at work.I guess they do it by nationality, then. Although when A. S. Byatt's Children's Book came out, it was first published in Canada, then Britain, then the US.


...David Mitchell's new one... I'm so excited for it, I may just wet my pants.For both of us.

[DB Cooper]

Boy Roth is really churning them out these days isnt he? The ones Im looking forward to most from that list are David Foster Wallace (I realize it was unfinished so my expectations are tempered, but still, new Wallace), David Mitchell, and Murakami, though I thought the english language release for 1Q84 was 2011. Hope Im wrong!

Edit: Knoph announces 2011 for 1Q84:Conversational Reading: 1Q84: English-language Publication To Start in Sept 2011 (http://www.conversationalreading.com/2009/10/1q84-englishlanguage-publication-to-start-in-sept-2011.html)

[saliotthomas]

Boy Roth is really churning them out these days isnt he?

I heard Anne Rice was ghost writing his books?

If you look forward to those does it mean you read all the ones already published?

I look forward to Jim Grace and hope is in the line of Pesthouse not been dead
And of course the lad ,Roddy Doyle,though i think he lost the spark.

But most is the ones i'm looking forward to, with in the lead Jonathan Coe,closely followed by Yan Martel (pi was fun but his short stories were crap),Bret easton Ellis same 'ol song about fame and drug no thank you.

[Mirabell]

I'm really looking forward to Norfolk's Saturnall's Feast

[cuchulain]

I think the Murakami novels are set for September 2011 in English, unfortunately.

Looks like a lot of good reading on that list otherwise.

Is there a good list for best new (anticipated) translations for 2010?

[adaorardor]

I'm really looking forward to Norfolk's Saturnall's Feast

Any promising non-English-language releases you're anticipating?

[adaorardor]

I think the Murakami novels are set for September 2011 in English, unfortunately.

Looks like a lot of good reading on that list otherwise.

Is there a good list for best new (anticipated) translations for 2010?

Don't know about a list, but Zone by Mathias Enard should come out next yr (trans. by Charlotte Mandell).

[Mirabell]

Any promising non-English-language releases you're anticipating?

Brilliant young Belgian writer Francois Monti will publish his debut novel 2010 or 2011.

[Funhouse]

Parrot and Oliver in America is already out here - flying off the shelves at work.

And when I saw this thread, the first book that sprang to mind was David Mitchell's new one. I'm so excited for it, I may just wet my pants.

Parrot and Olivier is really good. I read an advance copy of it several months ago and wrote a review for a trade publication. I love that cover of it that Liam posted. I assume that's the American edition.

I'm really looking forward to the Mitchell as well. The Ferris and the Lipsyte are others that I'm pretty confident I'll get around to reading.

[miercuri]

Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon
Solar by Ian McEwan
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
IQ84 by Haruki Murakami
Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Martel
The Dead Republic by Roddy Doyle
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Simm by Jonathan Coe

These would be the ones that interest me most from Liam's list. David Mitchell's book is by far the most exciting for me. I would have normally been just as excited about JSF's book if it were a novel, rather than a non fiction on agrotechnology and its evil ways. I'm sure the style is charming but that is not exactly what I would like to read right now. A friend of mine has already read it and is having second thoughts about meat now. I wish JSF would write a book about the evils of smoking.

[miercuri]

You know that Solar by Ian McEwan is going to be a good one. MaEwan never writes a dud.
He's written a few 'average' ones, but he usually does please his readership.

I remembered that there's the 10th (or 11th?) Sookie Stackhouse book coming out in May, the series on which True Blood is based. I am most likely going to read it. :rolleyes:

[Mirabell]

Any promising non-English-language releases you're anticipating?


also, in German, Giorgo Agamben's new book is announced in translation, but I doubt it's forthcoming.

a new Mayr?cker book is announced for early summer.

two books I WILL buy in hardcover:

one is a publishing sensation, the third installment of Max Frisch's diaries, found among his papers. Published as Tagebuch 3.

the other is Christa Wolf's new book, Stadt der Engel oder The Overcoat of Dr. Freud. Hmmmm.

[Eric]

I have to echo Ada or Ardor's question:


Any promising non-English-language releases you're anticipating?

The lists here have been rather overwhelmed by English-language books. World Literature Forum, and all that.

Mirabell writes:


Brilliant young Belgian writer Francois Monti will publish his debut novel 2010 or 2011.

Tell us more. I thought he was a blogueur. But we'll see, next year, or the next. Has he written any stories or poetry?

[nnyhav]

George Szirtes' translation of L?szl? Krasznahorkai's Satantango. was supposed to be '09 ...

[Stiffelio]

What a fantastic list! I have butterflies in my stomach :p. But, frankly, my backlog of still unread wonderful books (many from the very same writers who will publish next year) is so long and the prices of hardcovers so high, that I'll probably wait for the paperback editions. Having said so, however, I'm curious about the books by Lethem, Franzen, McEwan, Mitchell (he seems to be the WLF crowd favorite - BTW he changed the name of the novel; wasn't it supposed to be called Dejima?), DeLillo, Wallace, Amis, Murakami, Martel, Crace, Carey, Doyle, Ellis, Ford. And, no more Philp Roth, please, give us a break......does he want to beat Joyce Carol Oates?

There will be a new Bola?o, but I'm not referring to the one that's listed. This is supposedly a new book altogether, dugged up by his widow and Andrew Wylie. It's called The Third Reich and is due to be published, probably simultaneously in Spanish and English, in 2010.

Vargas Llosa is also due in 2010 with his new novel, based on the life of Roger Casement.

[DB Cooper]

Im sure I will grab Zone by Enard when its released. Im curious to see if the buzz this novel has generated is based on whats on the page, or the unique method with which he chose to format the book. DeLillo honestly does less and less for me the more I read his works. I quite enjoyed White Noise, but found Mao II and the Body Artist to be lacking. Underworld still sits on my shelf unread, and will probably do so for quite some time. News of new Bolano is always welcome. Monsieur Pain will be released here in January, and I will snatch The Third Reich up upon release as well.

[Daniel del Real]

There will be a new Bola?o, but I'm not referring to the one that's listed. This is supposedly a new book altogether, dugged up by his widow and Andrew Wylie. It's called The Third Reich and is due to be published, probably simultaneously in Spanish and English, in 2010.

Vargas Llosa is also due in 2010 with his new novel, based on the life of Roger Casement.

:eek: This is big news getting new things from Bola?o. I had no idea, thanks a lot for the heads up Stiffelio.
Carlos Fuentes new Book Adan en Ed?n came out this november, as well as Jos? Saramago's new book Ca?n. I think they'll be available in English translation in 2010.
Of course I can't wait to get 1Q84 already.Hope it's September 2010 and not 11.

[Stiffelio]

:eek: This is big news getting new things from Bola?o. I had no idea, thanks a lot for the heads up Stiffelio.

I'm surprised such a fervent Bola?o fan like you didn't know about his new upcoming books, Daniel. Maybe you'd enjoy staying tuned by visiting the following site:

Archivo Bola?o (http://garciamadero.blogspot.com/)

[Liam]

Any promising non-English-language releases you're anticipating?
Has anybody ever read or heard of this author:

Yoko Ogawa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Ogawa)

Hotel Iris [her best-known novel] will be translated into English next year.

[Flower]

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
I have noticed his name and seen other people enjoying him. Have you read other books by him and what do you think of him?

[Stiffelio]

You should read The Corrections. It's one of the best novels I've read in the last ten years, one that could unabashedly qualify to the title of "The Great American Novel".

[miercuri]

I second to that entirely. The Corrections is the best contemporary American novel I have come across.

[Daniel del Real]

I'm surprised such a fervent Bola?o fan like you didn't know about his new upcoming books, Daniel. Maybe you'd enjoy staying tuned by visiting the following site:

Archivo Bola?o (http://garciamadero.blogspot.com/)

Shame on me!

Good and bad news regarding Bola?o in the Spanish world. The good news is they re-edited The Skating Ring and it's now fully available. The bad is news is that the book is around $27, so I refuse to pay that much for such a tiny book :mad:. I have a Love-Hate relationship with Anagrama.

[Flower]

You should read The Corrections. It's one of the best novels I've read in the last ten years, one that could unabashedly qualify to the title of "The Great American Novel".


I second to that entirely. The Corrections is the best contemporary American novel I have come across.

I see.....if he is that good, howcome nobody has started a thread about him????

[Mirabell]

I see.....if he is that good, howcome nobody has started a thread about him????


(because he isn't.)

[Daniel del Real]

There will be a new Bola?o, but I'm not referring to the one that's listed. This is supposedly a new book altogether, dugged up by his widow and Andrew Wylie. It's called The Third Reich and is due to be published, probably simultaneously in Spanish and English, in 2010.



Ok, now this is strange to me. Apparently the history of the text is unknown even for this editor Jorge Herralde. There was no trace of its existance in the hard disk of Bola?o's computer when he died. The novel dates from 1996, a year defore the Savage Detectives was published.
Where did this guy Andrew Wylie got the manuscript? My paranoic mind tells me something is wrong here.

[DB Cooper]

The New Yorker released another excerpt from The Pale King by David Foster Wallace:All That : The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2009/12/14/091214fi_fiction_wallace?printable=true)

Although the novel was unfinished from what Ive seen there was plenty of material for the editors to sift through. Although it likely wont be what Wallace himself envisioned for a final product, I really hope Wallace's editors are able to cobble all that material together into a coherent novel worthy of Wallace's other fictions.

[Stiffelio]

I see.....if he is that good, howcome nobody has started a thread about him????

Franzen has written very little, just two books. He's very meticulous and takes almsot 10 years to write a book. The Corrections is really excellent. It won the National Book Award, if that tells you something. Hopefully, there'll be a new novel in 2010. I joined WLF relatively a short while ago and, since I'd read The Corrections about 5 years ago, Franzen has not been on my front screen, so to speak. But he definitely deserves a thread here.

[Stiffelio]

Ok, now this is strange to me. Apparently the history of the text is unknown even for this editor Jorge Herralde. There was no trace of its existance in the hard disk of Bola?o's computer when he died. The novel dates from 1996, a year defore the Savage Detectives was published.
Where did this guy Andrew Wylie got the manuscript? My paranoic mind tells me something is wrong here.


Bola?o also kept hand written notebooks. Apparently his estranged wife found these, plus some other stuff. When Bola?o learnt he was going to die soon he started correcting and publishing like crazy. All he wanted was to leave his children a good royalty-based inheritance. Which he did! But obviously he ran out of time and there was apparently a lot still to dig out from his non PC files. Herralde was not in the know about these manuscripts because Bola?o's wife fired him and Echeverr?a, Bola?o's informal literary executor.

[DB Cooper]

Ive had The Corrections for quite some time but have yet to be motivated to read it. You can find pristine hardcover editions of this book in almost every US used bookshop for a couple dollars. My book buying outstrips my reading by quite a bit, and I only read one book at a time. All the praise here has aroused my interest.

[Mirabell]

Franzen has written very little, just two books.


It's three novels, actually, and in what must be a wish for self-punishment I read them all. Also I read one of his two volumes of non-fiction.

[LizzySiddal]

Simply yearning for Andrea Levy's The Long Song myself.

[Noreen]

Is no one looking forward to reading a novel by a woman in 2010?

[Stewart]

Is no one looking forward to reading a novel by a woman in 2010?
I saw Christa Wolf, Andrea Levy, and Yoko Ogawa mentioned in the thread. They are women.

[lionel]

I saw Christa Wolf, Andrea Levy, and Yoko Ogawa mentioned in the thread. They are women.

Surprise, surprise. Where can this bloke Noreen's head can have been at?

[Noreen]

And there was one on the original list of 50--Louise Welsh. But still, it's curious isn't it, when so many writers of lit fiction are women, that so few are on any of these lists . . .

[Liam]

For myself, I simply can't wait for the new David Mitchell...
I'm afraid I'm going to have to betray our boy-wonder here and downgrade him to a second place.

Other than A. S. Byatt, my favorite contemporary author is Michael Cunningham, who produces a new novel every five or ten years (or so), and I just learned that we can expect his latest, newest, freshest offering (tentatively titled Olympia) later this year. Hooray.

[Chapman]

Noreen,
I will gladly. Please name one. Or two, or three. :)

And now I see I have crossposted with other responses.

So, oops, but nevertheless I will.

[JTolle]

Also I read one of his two volumes of non-fiction.

Honestly as much as I totally loved The Corrections (best novel of the 21st century with 2666 maybe outstripping it on a casual re-read) I have to give you props for getting through his non-fiction. Read most of How To Be Alone and I was practically retching, The Discomfort Zone I only barely touched.

Looking forward to the new Ellison book. Invisible Man is among the unparalleled masterpieces of American fiction and still remains among my favorite books. Also looking forward to the new Franzen and like I couldn't wait to get my hands on more Nabokov (Pre-Ordered Original of Laura and was only slightly disappointed) I'm practically drooling for the new Wallace, (though I'm not pre-ordering anything this time). Guiltily looking forward to Bret Easton Ellis' new book also.



Other than A. S. Byatt

Went to her lecture at Capital University having read only a few pages of my copy of Possession and didn't know what to expect. Well, she is absolutely incredible! SO SMART! Literally transported me to another world while I was listening.

[DB Cooper]

Latest news has David Foster Wallace's final novel, The Pale King, out in April 2011. That plus 1Q84 have '11 shaping up to be an interesting year in publishing already.

[lionel]

Latest news has David Foster Wallace's final novel, The Pale King, out in April 2011. That plus 1Q84 have '11 shaping up to be an interesting year in publishing already.

Then let's just hope, against hope, for a stillborn pregnant fuckin widow.

[saliotthomas]

Anticipation has become reality and i'm reading Chonic city by Jonathan Lethem.
Actualy nearly finished and liking it a lot, but will be at a loss if i have to explain or descibe it.
Foucault pandulum on pot meeting 2001 space odyssey ?!

[Mirabell]

I'm not sure whether we mentioned it, but I'm really looking foward to Ralph Ellision's Three Days Before the Shooting . . .

Hmmmmmmm

[Liam]

The new covers are in:


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zDhEiztfL._SS500_.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EyzQRRLZL._SS500_.jpg

[Liam]

Brilliant young Belgian writer Francois Monti will publish his debut novel 2010 or 2011.
I just listened to your Bookbabble Episode where you have him as guest. Any idea what his forthcoming novel is about? Although given that his favorite writers are Pynchon and Coover, I doubt I'll be rushing to procure a copy.

Still, he's a very eloquent young man, and I wish him the best of luck.

[Mirabell]

He's currently working on translations, so his own fiction has been put on the back burner, I think.

He also took part in our Brian Evenson episode, by the way.

[Liam]

He's currently working on translations, so his own fiction has been put on the back burner, I think.A pity. But as long as one's doing something, I guess it's all good?--

He also took part in our Brian Evenson episode, by the way.OK, I'll be sure to check that one out, next--

Who's Brian Evenson?

[DB Cooper]

The new William Vollmann is due in less than a month. Kissing the Mask: Beauty, Understatement and Femininity in Japanese Noh Theater, with Some Thoughts on Muses (Especially Helga Testorf), Transgender Women, Kabuki Goddesses, Porn Queens, Poets, Hou and the rest of the title is cut off because its, uh, pretty long. Cant wait to get my hands on some new Vollmann.

[SlowRain]

I'm somewhat looking forward to Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carr?. I've only really liked two of his last four novels.