something to look forward to

my most anticipated 2025 reads

Hey! You’re here. Thank you.

Eight days into a new year, how are we doing? I love the way it feels to start a new year, and I am, frankly, terrified of what this year could bring. I know I am not alone in this. I also know we have what we have always had. We have books. We have each other. That has to be a place to start.

Speaking of books, can you believe people keep writing them? I’ve said it before, but it really knocks me out. If you ask me, one of the best parts of the new year is daydreaming about all the books you are going to read in the days ahead. Will I read all the books I am dreaming about? Unless I get my hands on some kind of magical device that makes more hours in the day, no, no I will not. But that’s okay! A girl can dream.

Today is all about dreaming. Here are some of the 2025 titles I am dreaming about. I don’t know what this year will bring, but I know I need books more every day.

Once again, I couldn’t contain myself on this one, and it is too long to read the whole thing in your email inbox. Just make sure you click the tiny link at the bottom that says “view entire message” so you don’t miss any of the goodness.

Here are twelve books I am looking forward to this year. And by looking forward to, I mean clinging to like a life raft. Good things are ahead and this is the proof.

We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin // January 28th

Nobody writes about morbidly anxious lesbians like Emily Austin. Austin’s debut, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead is an all-time favorite and I will read every word she writes. This one is about “two sisters finding their way back to each other,” and yes, I am in.

Bibliophobia by Sarah Chihaya // February 4th

It looks to me like this memoir falls into the “memoir plus” category as coined by

Traci Thomas

- it’s about one woman’s relationship to reading throughout her life and especially as she is hospitalized for mental illness. In the memoir, Chihaya explores the books that she calls “life ruiners” such as The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and and I am so, deeply curious about this idea and framework.

Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks // February 4th

I am drawn to grief memoirs and this one by the beloved novelist Geraldine Brooks sounds stunning and important.

Cleavage by Jennifer Finney Boylan // February 4th

Listen, I would read this book based on that title and cover alone. C’mon. But then come to find out it’s an exploration of gender and the self through a personal and political lens by a trans author I have admired for a decade? I simply can’t wait.

Death Takes Me by Cristina Rivera Garza // February 25th

Cristina Rivera Garza’s Pulitzer winning memoir, Liliana’s Invincible Summer, was one of my top ten books of 2024. This follow up is a crime novel about gendered violence and it sounds fascinating and gripping. From the publisher’s description: Originally written in Spanish, where the word "victim" is always feminine, Death Takes Me is a thrilling masterpiece of literary fiction that flips the traditional crime narrative of gendered violence on its head.

Scorched Earth by Tiana Clark // March 4th

Tiana Clark is one of my favorite poets working today. Her debut collection I Can’t Talk About The Trees Without The Blood was unforgettable, and her sophomore collection covers topics as wide ranging as, “divorce, the first Black Bachelorette, and the art world.” Hell yes.

Stag Dance by Torrey Peters // March 11th

Torrey Peters is an auto-read author for me. If you’ve read Detransition, Baby you know exactly why. This one is a collection of one novel and three novellas, and wherever Peters is going, I am right there with her.

Goddess Complex by Sanjena Sathian // March 11th

I loved Sanjena Sathian’s debut novel, Gold Diggers, and this one, which is being billed as, “a biting examination of millenial adulthood and fraught conversations around fertility and reproduction” sounds right up my alley.

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One by Kristen Arnett // March 18th

I think Kristen Arnett is one of the funniest fiction writers working today, and I am so ready to read her “clown novel.” It promises to be funny, tender, and gay as hell.

Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory // April 8th

Jasmine Guillory is the author who made me a romance reader and now she is releasing her first ever sapphic romance. I feel I have been waiting my whole life for this moment. Thank you, Jasmine!!!

Ordinary Time by Annie B. Jones // April 22nd

I have been following Annie B. Jones for years now, ever since a dear friend of mine told me I that the independent bookstore in her hometown in Georgia has a podcast and I should really give it a listen. That friend now works for The Bookshelf and I am a huge fan from afar of Annie and the whole Bookshelf team. Ordinary Time is Annie’s debut memoir about staying, making a life, and owning a bookstore in a small town.

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong // May 13th

UH OH HERE I GO AGAIN. If you are reading this and thinking, Will Rosamond ever shut up about the new Ocean Vuong novel?? The answer dear reader is no. I am an evangelist for a book that needs no evangelist because she is an instant classic. Everyone will be talking about her, and come May 13th you will see that if anything I undersold it. In all seriousness this book changed my life. It’s why I read fiction. It’s enough to keep me going. I am grateful beyond belief. I even dusted off my goodreads to write a review. This is the one.

Okay that’s all I’ve got for now.

Dunkin says I am at risk of doing too much and I fear he is right.

We have so much to look forward to.

I’m glad you’re here.

Love,

Rosamond