Most years I’ve combined this topic with a rundown of my DNFs for the year; this time I can’t be bothered to list them. There have maybe not been as many as usual; generally, I’ve given a sentence or two about each DNF in a Love Your Library post. In any case, I hereby give you blanket permission to drop that book you’ve been struggling with. I absolve you of all potential guilt. It makes no difference if it has been nominated for or won a major prize, or if everyone else seems to love it. If for any reason a book isn’t connecting with you, move onto something else; you can always come back to try it another time, or not. Life is short.
So, on to those Most Anticipated books! In January, I picked the 12 new releases I was most looking forward to reading in 2024. Here’s how I fared with them – links are to my reviews:
Read and enjoyed: 5 (2 will appear on my Best-of list!)
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley- Fi: A Memoir of My Son by Alexandra Fuller
- Rapture’s Road by Seán Hewitt
- Wellness by Nathan Hill
- Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
Read and found somewhat disappointing (i.e., 3 stars or below): 5
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar- Cairn by Kathleen Jamie
- Exhibit by R.O. Kwon
- The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez
- The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
DNF: 1
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
Haven’t managed to get hold of, but have basically decided against anyway: 1
Memory Piece by Lisa Ko – The reviews from Susan and Laura made me realize I probably won’t love this as much as I want to. (Plus the average rating on Goodreads is disconcertingly low.)
I’ve really come to wonder if designating a book as “Most Anticipated” is a kiss of death. Are my hopes so high that only the rare book can live up to them?!
Nonetheless, I can’t resist compiling this list each year. In the first week of January, I’ll be previewing my 25 Most Anticipated titles for the first half of 2025.
Do you choose Most Anticipated books each year? (Or do you prefer to be surprised?) And if so, do they generally meet your expectations?
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
I couldn’t wait to get my hands on The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke. I normally love everything she writes but this was so disappointing!
However Haruki Murakami’s latest, The City and its Uncertain Walls was also high on my hit list and was wonderful. Can’t beat a trip to the surreal world his books take you to.
For 2025 it’s got to be the latest Robert Macfarlane, the best ‘nature and landscape’ writer out there right now by a long way.
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You never know whether a book will live up to your expectations, even when it’s by a trusted author! I gave up on that Murakami.
I will definitely borrow the Macfarlane from the library.
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I should do something similar to this! Just looked back on my 2024 list – 34 books on the list – abandoned one, liked four, LOVED another four (two will appear on my best of 2024 list) and own another four, yet to be read. There are others on my list that I still intend to read but will likely pick them up at the library this year (one of which is Kiley Reid’s Come and Get It).
Of those on your list, I intend to read the Fuller and the Nunez, and I’m just finishing the Akbar now (I think I have enjoyed it more than you did).
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The Reid was good fun. I would definitely recommend the Fuller to you because of the grief theme, though this one will perhaps be more difficult for you because it’s the loss of a young adult son.
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I tend not to know what’s coming out in the next year ahead, so I don’t compile a list of anticipated books. Although The Millions should be publishing their list of books coming out in the first half of 2025 soon, so that will give me an idea. I tend to only know what’s coming out in the next month or two because of library ordering. I look forward to seeing what’s on your 2025 list.
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The Millions is a good source! Kirkus published a Most Anticipated list for spring 2025 recently. I’ll take a look at that soon. My blogger friend Paul has a long list of forthcoming UK nonfiction, too. The library gives you a bit of a sneak preview. We have a good number of 2025 releases on order already. I’m getting my hold requests in…
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It took me a long time to learn to give up books I wasn’t enjoying but once learnt, it’s so liberating. I’m sorry you weren’t so keen on the Nunez as you’d hoped. It ended up on my books of the year list but my expectations weren’t hugely high.
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She’s one of my favourite authors and I still have a lot of her backlist to explore. I think it was that I’d read a lot of Covid chronicles and I was a little burnt out on them.
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I always enjoy this type post. I need to get busy on my own year-end posts.
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I’ve got a few more coming up to highlight my favorite reads of 2024. It’s a nice way to look back on the year before looking ahead to 2025.
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Oh, dear. Most anticipated is the kiss of death? I guess I should be happy I don’t pay attention to what’s coming out.
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‘Ignorance is bliss’ may well be true sometimes! But perhaps you feel the same way about the reading for your various prize challenges — they don’t always live up to the accolade?
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That’s very true, but some of them are really good.
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Ugh, I am not connecting with The Empusium right now, but it feels like a betrayal! You’re right of course, I can come back to it. For 2025 I’m anticipating the new Han Kang and Sayaka Murata, but I had bad luck with works in translation this year, so maybe I should just temper my expectations. I’m going to check out some of these reviews. Interested in Martyr! as I’m seeing it everywhere.
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That Tokarczuk sounds super-random! It is always a shame when you don’t connect with the latest from a favourite author.
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I’m still going to do some anticipated reads as well, but I agree with you that they tend to be disappointing! I’m sorry that Enlightenment was a DNF for you as well. Memory Piece had some good bits, but yes, overall very disappointing compared to The Leavers – interesting about the GR rating. I had more mixed feelings about The Ministry of Time than you did (it was also a 2024 anticipated release for me) but I’m going to re-read it this year for the Social History journal book club, so we’ll see if I change my mind! I did love the romance with Gore!
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The Ministry of Time is probably one of the few books I had the most fun with this year.
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I loved Come & Get It! I was concerned I might not (a lot of ho-hum responses) because I really loved her debut, but I thought it was fabulous. She’s so good, IMO, at allowing life to be messy, but somehow offering just enough of a sense of satisfaction to hint at a resolution without actually making it into a satin-ribbon-tired-into-a-bow situation. She makes it look easy, but I don’t think it is. One that I read and hugely anticipated but ultimately didn’t love was Babel by R.F. Kuang. (In the end, I wished I’d DNFed, but of course I couldn’t know that at the time.) I still like the cover art though!
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Yeah, I’m looking forward to the next by Reid. Her debut was a surprise hit with me. I think she’s a great choice for Sittenfeld fans as well.
The Kuang definitely didn’t live up to the hype, but I enjoyed it well enough in the end. C is still working his way through it, slowly.
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I was very excited by the Reid then was very underwhelmed, but then I loved Memory Piece! Of the things I have in view for 2025 I’m most looking forward to the new Anne Tyler, but she has disappointed me before …
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I forgot that you also read Memory Piece!
I’m encouraged that the Tyler is nice and short; there should be no bloating.
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[…] I said the other week, I sometimes wonder if designating a book as “Most Anticipated” is a curse – if the chosen […]
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