Books
Here we are again, at the start of another new year. The best books of 2018 are still worth reading, but there is even more bookish fun to come in the 12 months ahead. We’re very excited about the nonfiction books coming out in 2019, and by the time you’re done with this list, you hopefully will be, too.
With the new year starting, it’s a great time to get a jump on any reading goals you may have set for yourself. (And if you haven’t set any yet, what are you waiting for?) As they say, begin as you mean to go on. Books aren’t going to read themselves, so get going. You’ll thank yourself later.
January’s upcoming books are definitely worth reading. Whether you’re the type to be excited about works about history, the world today, people’s lives, or all of the aforementioned, there are solid options due out. The month’s new releases include a memoir from Sen. Kamala Harris, comedic essays, and the story of a real-life spy, among many others. Variety is the spice of life, and there’s plenty of it.
Read on for 10 nonfiction books, all coming out in January, that you should consider adding to your TBR.
‘The Truths We Hold’ by Kamala Harris (Jan. 8; Penguin Press)
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has written her first memoir, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey. In these divided times, she tells her story about life as a daughter of immigrants who has risen to great political heights.
‘Beyond These Walls’ by Tony Platt (Jan. 8; St. Martin’s Press)
Criminal justice reform remains an important issue. In the new book, Beyond These Walls: Rethinking Crime and Punishment in the United States, Tony Platt looks at the problems of America’s criminal justice system from its beginnings to the present, and points to possible solutions.
‘Trailblazer’ by Dorothy Butler Gilliam (Jan. 8; Center Street)
Dorothy Butler Gilliam writes about her 50-year reporting career in Trailblazer: A Pioneering Journalist’s Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America. She shares the struggles and triumphs of being a woman of color in the media at a time when opportunities were extremely limited. Additionally, Gillam delves into the media’s interesting role in the fight for equal rights.
‘Thick’ by Tressie McMillan Cottom (Jan. 8; New Press)
Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom is a collection about race, politics, beauty, and more through essays on everything from former President Barack Obama to pumpkin spice lattes.
‘How to Date Men When You Hate Men’ by Blythe Roberson (Jan. 8; Flatiron Books)
Comedian Blythe Roberson looks at modern dating in How to Date Men When You Hate Men. Before anyone gets up in arms about the title, this isn’t an anti-men manifesto — just a super relatable account about texting, hooking up, and finding the person for you.
‘Inheritance’ by Dani Shapiro (Jan. 15; Knopf Publishing Group)
Dani Shapiro opens up about her own family’s secrets in Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love. Her memoir shares how a DNA test shattered what she knew about her family and how she coped with the discovery that her dad was not her biological father.
‘Code Name: Lise’ by Larry Loftis (Jan. 15; Gallery Books)
Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII’s Most Highly Decorated Spy centers on Odette Sansom, a real-life British spy who was captured and tortured by the Germans. She lived quite the life, and this book is quite the journey.
‘Maid’ by Stephanie Land (Jan. 22; Hachette Books)
Stephanie Land’s memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, recounts the years she spent working as a domestic servant to support herself and her daughter. She reveals what it was like to be “a nameless ghost” and examines poverty, class, and inequality.
‘The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee’ by David Treuer (Jan. 22; Riverhead Books)
David Treuer offers an examination of Native American history in The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Indian America from 1890 to the Present. His book follows Dee Brown’s 1970 work Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and explores more recent Native history. He uses his background as an anthropologist as well as his own experience growing up Obijwe on a reservation in Minnesota.
‘All the Lives We Ever Lived’ by Katharine Smyth (Jan. 29; Crown Publishing Group)
All the Lives We Ever Lived: Seeking Solace in Virginia Woolf by Katharine Smyth celebrates great literature while revisiting personal pain and growth. In her memoir, Smyth writes about her love for Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and how the novel helped her cope with the loss of her father. If you, like Smyth, are a Woolf fan, this one is definitely for you.
