Mateo Askaripour's first novel,
Black Buck, takes on racism in corporate America with humor and wit. It was an instant
New York Times bestseller and a “Read with Jenna”
Today show
book club pick. Askaripour was chosen as one of
Entertainment Weekly’s “10 rising stars to make waves” and was named as a recipient of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” prize. His second novel,
This Great Hemisphere, will be published in July. He lives in Brooklyn.
Here we asked Askaripour to dig through our Goodreads data from the past few years to highlight books he thinks are ready for a rediscovery…
The
New York Times bestseller list. Hallowed front tables of “New” and “Favorite” books at your local bookstore. “X Most Anticipated Books of [insert season]” articles.
The Today show.
Good Morning America.
Reese’s Book Club.
Oprah’s Book Club. All of the well-known holy hives that begin and amplify the buzzzzzzzz of books.
But what about those books that so many of us can’t imagine living without but never receive the amount of love we think they deserve? The books that, despite an author or publisher’s best efforts, don’t take off in a blaze of glory as everyone on the ground shields their eyes from the majestic, soul-stirring light.
What happens to those books?
It’s clear that publishing is a machine geared toward the bottom line. Yes, original stories are still championed; yes, prose that grabs you by your collar and never lets you go is still revered; and yes, we are still blessed, year after year, with books that inspire wonder and an appreciation for life itself. But all books aren’t published equally, and the majority of them exist on a plane where in order to survive, they rely on being passed from one person to another, giddily, yet still very seriously, whispering, “Trust me. You have to read this.”
We know these books, we love these books with unparalleled ferocity, and, in a way, we hold them even closer to our chests because they feel like a secret. I felt this way about
Percival Everett’s work, in general, but also, more specifically, his novel
Erasure, which in 2023 was adapted into the Oscar-winning film
American Fiction. Now, with his latest novel,
James, it has lived on the
New York Times bestseller list for weeks, and I couldn’t be more happy for Mr. Everett and his inimitable oeuvre, but I also experienced a strange sense of loss, because now he wasn’t only for a few, but everyone.
Still, this piece is dedicated to bringing more shine to those lesser-known novels and collections whose titles are tattooed on our hearts. The more people who read them, no matter how overprotective we may feel, the better it is, not only for the authors, but also for the literary industry. Through our patronage and support, the books that we champion, like cuttings from a plant, will yield more works that are similar, yet unique in their own ways, transforming the terrain as we know it.
Below are dozens of books that have flown under the radar but deserve all the buzz. Each one was published in the past few years, and also has 1,000 to 5,000 Goodreads ratings, indicating that people are reading them, but they need more of a spotlight.
Which have you read? Which have you told everyone about? And what’re some of your own favorite hidden gems?
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What kind of books are these? If they are pieces of literary fiction, they might be disappointing. Where to start, though?
I love the idea of featuring picks from authors and others in the publishing industry. I’ve saved some of these books for later read. Please do this more!
I'm looking forward to reading a number of these books. Thank you for sharing this list!
