Stacey had a smart new take on this idea earlier this week, but since I’d be hard pressed to choose all the books I wish I’d represented (and it’s unseemly to appear greedy) I’m going to stick to script and lay out what I’m looking for in 2016, drawing examples from forthcoming books on my own list.

1. Literary thriller and psychological suspense: I like a sophisticated, labyrinthine plot, the sort where the carefully constructed puzzle stands up to a stiff post mortem. Examples are Beth’s Hahn’s THE SINGING BONE, a story that riffs on folklore and fairy tales to examine the limits of guilt and the fallibility of memory, and Christopher Yates’ dark and twisty tale of university life, BLACK CHALK.

2. Memoir that works on two levels: first, as a focused personal narrative of discovery, transformation or resilience (etc.) and additionally as a story that engages some larger social, cultural or historical theme. Examples are THE WORLD’S EMERGENCY ROOM: The Growing Threat to Doctors, Nurses and Humanitarian Workers by Michael VanRooyen, or INVISIBLE MAN, GOT THE WHOLE WORLD WATCHING: A Young Black Man’s Education by Mychal Denzel Smith.

3. Popular science or history of science, related in lively, lucid and even playful prose. Like Tim Jorgensen’s STRANGE GLOW: The Story of Radiation or Luba Vikhanski’s IMMUNITY: How Elie Metchnikoff Changed the Course of Modern Medicine.

4. Narrative history that reads like fiction, that uses the prism of individual lives to explore the larger historical context—and a particularly shining example is Bill Lascher’s EVE OF A HUNDRED MIDNIGHTS.

5. And of course, I’m always on the lookout for literary fiction that shows me the familiar made fresh, and the world in a new way. Valerie Trueblood’s Criminals: Love Stories is almost impossibly insightful, and the worlds contained in her short stories are as dense and breathtaking as in any Russian novel.

This list is necessarily a brief one, and it does not preclude my interest in other subjects–women’s issues, muckraking journalism, historical mystery and biography–just to name a few favorites.   And I’m always open to something new and unexpected!

I look forward to hearing from you in the coming months.