’Coz what better way to escape the heat than by getting lost in between the pages of a book?
We’re down to the last two weeks of the first quarter of 2025. Yep, it feels like only yesterday when we were ticking off our Christmas shopping list, but here we are, bracing ourselves for the scorching temperatures of the dry season.
With dog days just around the corner, isn’t it nice to be taken somewhere else where the heat isn’t your only preoccupation? And what’s the easiest—even the cheapest—way to travel to another place, real or otherwise, but through books?
The POST rounds up eight of the most highly anticipated book releases to keep you company as the mercury rises, whether as an armchair companion or as a beach read. From a new installment in a wildly popular franchise to the latest from some of today’s most distinct literary voices, we’re sure each one’s worth a spot on your shelf.
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“Dream Count,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (March 4)
The award-winning Nigerian author is back a decade after she released her acclaimed novel Americanah. Dream Count, her highly anticipated new book chronicles the intertwined stories of four African women, each with their own struggles from love and grief to identity and family. Set against the backdrop of the pandemic, it is a reflection on the power of our choices and their consequences.
Ahead of its release, Dream Count has already eased its way into several most anticipated books lists, including those of The Washington Post, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Elle, Oprah Daily, Readers Digest, among others.
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“Sunrise on the Reaping,” Suzanne Collins (March 18)
Fans of the Hunger Games universe must be waiting with bated breath as the fifth novel in the series is set to drop in a few days. Titled Sunrise on the Reaping, Collins whisks us back to Panem 24 years before the events of the first book. A familiar character greets us—Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss Everdeen’s future mentor, who is gearing up to compete in the 50th Hunger Games. When he hears his name called, he knows there’s no turning back. If this got you excited, wait ‘til you hear a movie adaptation is already in the works.
You can pre-order Sunrise on the Reaping on the Fully Booked website.
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“The Love We Found,” Jill Santopolo (March 18)
I’ve never gotten around to reading The Light We Lost (I still hope I’d get to read it one of these days), and Santopolo is on the cusp of the release of her follow-up to the bestselling novel. Set 10 years after Gabe died in the first book, The Love We Found follows his lover, Lucy, who is still reeling from his death, when she finds a tiny piece of paper hidden in between his old photos. It leads her to an address in Rome, where she meets a doctor from New York working for an NGO. Can a new love set her free from her grief? Looks like this one’s going to be a great poolside read.
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“My Documents,” Kevin Nguyen (April 8)
I’m a sucker for immigrant/diasporic stories that’s why this book has been on my radar for quite some time now. Informed by real-life events, from Japanese incarceration to the Vietnam War and modern-day immigrant detention, Nguyen’s latest novel gives us a version of reality that’s not so alien from our own—making it an even more compelling read. With the current socio-political climate in the US, this book’s timeliness can’t be understated as it paints an unflinching portrait of racism and the pursuit of the American dream. While there’s much in the world to be anxious about, the book also sends the message that even in the middle of a maelstrom, we’re never alone.
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“Audition,” Katie Kitamura (April 8)
I’m super excited about this one, with Kitamura’s Intimacies being one of my favorite novels (Barack Obama’s, too!). Audition, her third novel (the other being the equally searing A Separation), follows a middle-aged actress who forms an ambiguous relationship with a younger man. Who is he to her, and who is she to him? Who are they to each other? Described by The Washington Post as “Spare, restrained, taut, disquieting… Expertly drawn-out,” I can’t wait to get my hands on this and experience once more Kitamura’s sharp prose and incisive insights on intimacy, morality, and identity.
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“Vanishing World,” Sayaka Murata, with translation by Ginny Tapley Takamori (April 15)
If you haven’t read a Murata novel yet, I implore you—do yourself a favor, head to your nearest bookstore and buy yourself a copy; Convenience Store Woman is excellent for a first plunge into her one-of-a-kind universe. No one writes the way the 45-year-old Japanese writer does. Wildly imaginative yet whose prose is marked with surgical precision, Murata’s every sentence is to be relished. I’m quite sure her new novel, Vanishing World, will be just as delightful as her previous ones.
The story follows Amane, who was conceived the traditional way but lives at a time where sexless marriages and artificial insemination are the norm. As she struggles with her identity and her place in society, she must choose between being herself or conforming to the’ expectations of others. With Murata’s commanding prose and mastery in conveying the strangeness of the world, her latest work is sure to be another thought-provoking page turner.
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“The Emperor of Gladness,” Ocean Vuong (May 13)
If you’ve been a bookworm for quite some time now and are quite diligent in making progress with your to-read list, then you would know who this author is. Vuong is considered by many as one of the most talented writers of his generation. His poetry collections Night Sky with Exit Wounds and Time Is a Mother, as well as the novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, cemented his position among contemporary literature’s most fascinating voices.
He’s back with his new novel, The Emperor of Gladness, which traces the unexpected friendship between a Vietnamese man and a widow in a fictional town. Described by critics as a “masterwork,” “poetic, and “deeply original,” we can only expect another exquisitely written work from this extraordinarily talented writer.
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“Spent,” Alison Bechdel (May 20)
I still remember expressing my profuse thanks to a former student who recommended Fun Home, Bechdel’s earlier work which was met with near-universal acclaim and spawned a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical. A lifelong lover of novels, I’d never warmed up to graphic novels until I read Fun Home. It blew me away; that’s why I can’t wait to immerse myself again in Bechdel’s world through her latest work.
In the American cartoonist’s new graphic novel, she funnels her existential dread through a character—her fictionalized self, to be exact—named Alison, who oversees a pygmy goat sanctuary. Alison lives in a world pummeled by climate change and a country teetering on the edge of a civil war. Through Alice, Bechdel confronts modern-day issues from capitalism to everyday indignities with her signature self-deprecating, yet oddly delightful, sense of humor. Will I finish this again in one sitting like I did Fun Home? I’m most certain I’ll do.
