10 best books to read in January: New releases from George Saunders and more

As the new year begins, writers take characters to high altitudes in Tibet and Wyoming, to the great depths of the 19th-century Atlantic, and back in time to early 20th-century Pakistan. Meanwhile, nonfiction writers reflect on a shipwreck in Spain, a racially motivated murder, the origins of great ideas and how laughter can change our lives. Happy reading!

FICTION

Call Me Ishmael: A Novel
Xiaolu Guo
Grove Press: 448 pp., $18.00.
(January 6)

Guo, whose 2017 memoir Nine Continents details her difficult path to personal and creative freedom, shares this experience with Ishmael, a young woman from the coast of England who joins the crew of a whaling ship called the Nimrod. Yes, it's a retelling of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and yes, it's worth your time. By adding new characters while maintaining the original story, the author creates something new, strange and exciting.

The Last from Earth: A Novel
Deepa Anappara
Random House: 252 pp., $29.00.
(January 13)

Set in 1869, when Europeans were banned from Tibet, this slow-paced but intense novel follows the perspectives of Balram, an Indian surveyor, and Catherine, a woman of mixed English and Indian descent, as they both undertake expeditions with different goals. During their travels, both characters meet a man named Chetak, whose eerie folklore tales highlight the power structures that each of them will have to overcome before achieving their goals.

Here Lives the Serpent: Roman
Daniyal Mueenuddin
Knopf: 368 pp., $29.00.
(January 13)

Although much of this stunning book is set in Pakistan, an important section takes two brothers to college at Dartmouth in the United States, a place as far removed in any respect as possible from their Rawalpindi origins. Mueenuddin, whose gift for satire is evident whether he's describing society ladies or gangsters, never loses sight of his subject: how do any of us justify our treatment of the underprivileged?

Essence: Romance
Gabriel Tallent
Riverhead: 416 pp., $30.
(January 20)

“The crux” refers to the hardest point of the climb; it also signifies the decision point, as well as the place where two things intersect. In Tallent's second novel, two mountaineering characters reach an important point in their teenage lives. Daniel and Tamma (he's straight, she's weird) have been close friends for years climbing the peaks of Joshua Tree, but as their home lives and individual paths diverge, their bond falters.

Vigil: A Novel
George Saunders
Random House: 192 pp., $28.00.
(January 27)

It seems unfair that after his impressive “Lincoln in the Bardo”. Saunders returns with not just another ghost novel, but a new novel even more exciting than the last. “Who else could you be if not what you are?” says the newly incarnated Jill “Doll” Blaine, sent to comfort nefarious oil tycoon KJ Boone in his final hours—a statement that in no way detracts from the political relevance of this spare, fine book.

NUNFICTION

Entertain Me: How Laughing More Will Make You More Sociable, More Creative, More Sociable, and Happier
Chris Duffy
Doubleday: 272 pp., $29.00.
(January 6)

We've all heard that laughter is the best medicine; funny things are not just entertainment, they are essential for our health. Author Duffy, host of the TED Talks podcast “How to Be a Better Human,” believes that anyone between the ages of 10 and 103 (he gives examples of each) can make you laugh, help you build community, and even motivate you to make better decisions. One of the last? Learn to laugh at yourself; it may signal “general intelligence and verbal creativity.”

The Legend of Wyatt the Outlaw: From Reconstruction to Black Lives Matter

Sylvester Allen Jr. and Belle Boggs
University of North Carolina Press: 296 pp., $30.00.
(January 27)

The Title Outlaw was the first black constable of Graham, North Carolina. In 1870, he was killed by lynching by members of the local Ku Klux Klan, no doubt in part because of his efforts to build a coalition between different races and social classes. Allen, a Graham native and playwright who wrote a drama based on the Outlaw's legacy, and Boggs, a scholar, connect the terrorism and hatred behind the man's murder to the present day.

How Great Ideas Are Born: Hidden Steps to Breakthrough Success

George Newman
Simon & Schuster: 304 pp., $30.00.
(January 27)

So many cartoons depict great ideas using light bulbs that we have forgotten that many of the greatest ideas come from a lot of thinking and careful sifting. Canadian Professor Newman uses archaeological terms to describe this process: surveying, gridding, excavation and sifting. Who knew that Jordan Peele rewrote “Get Out” 400 times or that Paul Simon wrote his album “Graceland” by analyzing all his previous work?

Neptune's Fortune: A Billion Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish Empire

Julian Sancton
Crown: 384 pp., $33.00.
(January 27)

In 1708, the San Jose, a Spanish treasure galleon, sank off the coast of Colombia. In 2015, a man named Roger Dooley found the wreck of a galleon and brought back artifacts to prove it. Unfortunately, due to his lack of education, lack of integrity and dubious reputation, Dooley received no credit for this discovery. Sancton has tracked down Dooley, now in his 80s and leading a reclusive life, and thus may provide a fascinating conclusion to the story.

Importance: The secret to living a life full of meaning and purpose

Jennifer Breheny Wallace
Portfolio: 288 pp., $30.00.
(January 27)

Loneliness permeates our society, and to heal it, people need to feel like they truly matter to others—something author Wallace saw when she researched and wrote her 2023 best-selling book, Never Enough, about teens and burnout. Now Wallace shares his insights from talking to people of all ages and hearing how things change when connections are made and people are recognized for even the smallest contributions.

Patrick is an independent critic and author of the memoir “Life B.”