Nine days into 2016 and I've received some galleys, seen many lists, and began to take notes for books that I really hope to get to during the upcoming year (while also trying to catch up on the books from similar lists in 2013, 2014, and 2015 that I've still not read)!
January
Rachel Cantor Good on Paper (Melville House) Novel
Garth Greenwell What Belongs to You (Sarabande) Novel
Amber Sparks The Unfinished World (Liveright) Short Story Collection
February
Amy Gustine You Should Pity Us Instead (Sarabande) Short Story Collection
Brian Evenson A Collapse of Horses (Coffee House) Short Story Collection
Allison Joseph Mercurial (Mayapple Press) Poetry Collection
March
Desiree Cooper Know the Mother (Wayne State University) Short Story Collection
Brian Oliu I/O: A Memoir (CCM) Non-Fiction
Chris Bacheldor The Throwback Special (Norton) Novel
Danielle Dutton Margaret the First (Catapult) Novel
C. Dale Young The Halo (Four Way Books) Poetry Collection
April
Stephen Dixon Letter to Kevin (Fantagraphics) Novel
Francine J. Harris Play Dead Poetry Collection
Jamaal May The Big Book of Exit Strategies (Alice James) Poetry Collection
May
Lydia Millet Sweet Lamb of Heaven (Norton) Novel
Pamela Erens Eleven Hours (Tin House) Novel
Stephen Graham Jones Mongrels (William Morrow) Novel
Jensen Beach Swallowed by the Cold (Graywolf) Short Story Collection
July
Donald Ray Pollock The Heavenly Table (Doubleday) Novel
August
Rosa Likson Compartment No. 9 (Graywolf) Novel (in translation)
September
Matt Bell A Tree or a Person or a Wall (Soho) Short Story Collection
Anne Raeff The Jungle Around Us (Georgia Press) Short Story Collection
Colson Whitehead The Underground Railroad (Doubleday) Novel
October
Anne Valente Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down (Harper) Novel
Now, I'm positive I've missed MANY titles--I don't see Two Dollar Radio, or Unbridled, or Dorothy, or Hobart, or Tyrant, or Engine Books, or The Cupboard, or many other publishers that I love. I also don't see names like Percival Everett (who generally publishes something every year) or the new novels by Richard Russo or Don Delillo on here either though I'm sure I'll want to read them. And there will be dozens of books that I'll stumble onto in stores, or on Facebook or via David Abrahms or other reviewer/readers that I trust. And this says nothing of the Dzanc Books list that I know is forthcoming and is amazing. It should be a great year ahead for reading.
One thing I've learned the last decade or so as a reader--make sure to have at least two things to read at all times when leaving the house and it's not a horrible idea to have something that you have been holding off starting sitting in the back seat of your car to boot.
The vast majority of the time I'm out and about, I don't care at all if I get to where I'm headed and there's a big line--that's reading time. Go out for a walk--reading time (be careful though). Even the dreaded traffic jam--while I'm usually a little more upset as I'll most likely be late to where I'm going, it's still reading time.
However, make SURE you have at least two things to read. A couple of books, a book and your eReader, at least a couple of new choices on the eReader, a journal or two. ONE TIME is all it took--maybe 7 or 8 years ago I only took one book with me to the bank. It 
was a Friday after work and there were probably 60 people in line ahead of me. I finished what I had been toting around with a good 20 people still ahead of me. I'm all for re-reading great stuff, but rarely do I start up the second I finish. Since then, at least two things with me every time I go out.
Today I was toting around a couple of story collections I probably should have been toting around at least a few years ago: May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks (Curbside Splendor) and Other Heartbreaks by Patricia Henley (Engine Books)--two great writers representing two fantastic publishers.
I'm working on a larger What I'm Looking Forward To post, but Graywolf Press just posted this cover up on Pinterest and I couldn't resist posting it immediately!
This has nothing to do with National Short Story Month but it's a book I've been looking forward to for over seven years--back when it was probably still a germ in the David Abrams's mind. Here's a link to an EWN post from August 2005 in which David allowed me to post an excerpt from his journal when he was serving over in Iraq. These journal postings David was writing led to him finding an agent, and turning his words and ideas into what I'm sure is a great novel, Fobbit (yes, a slight tweak from the Fobber in the journals).
The cover has been finalized and the book comes from Grove in September!
Tyrant Books is now taking pre-orders for their second full-sized novel, 
Michael Kimball's Us.
I greatly enjoyed Michael's most recent novel, Dear Everybody, as well as the MLP chapbook that one could say belongs alongside it on your bookshelf (and both do absolutely belong on your bookshelf).
When discussing Michael's story from Unsaid IV with editor, David McLendon, I observed that the word that popped into my head when reading that piece was sensuality. I think Kimball captures something about men and women and love that sneaks past other writers. To read the description of this novel from the Tyrant site:
A husband wakes up to find that his wife has had a seizure during the night. The husband calls an ambulance and his wife is rushed to a hospital where she lies in a coma. By day, the husband sits beside his wife and tries to think of ways to wake her up. At night, the husband sleeps in the chair next to his wife’s bedside dreaming that she will wake up. He wants to be able to take her back home. Years later, the story of this long and loving marriage is retold by their grandson. He wants to understand his grandmother’s life and death, what it meant to his grandfather, and what it means to him. He wants to understand – in his own words – “how love can accumulate between two people.”
has me thinking I'll enjoy this one just as much if not more.
The wonderful Luca DiPierro has created a book trailer for Us based on a single sentence.
Us from Michael Kimball on Vimeo.
