Best New Books of November 2020
21 Best New Books of November 2020, Including Barack Obama's Latest Memoir
As POPSUGAR editors, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. If you buy a product we have recommended, we may receive affiliate commission, which in turn supports our work.
The year is winding down, but the must read books just keep coming. This November brings the publication of former president Barack Obama's highly anticipated new memoir, a collection of thought-provoking poems by Margaret Atwood, and the latest novel from Gossip Girl scribe Cecily von Ziegesar. Add in a handful of stunning debuts, a pair of engrossing true crime stories, and a moving tale of sisters travelling through Tuscany, and it becomes clear that we're all going to need to invest in a second TBR shelf before December. Read on to discover the 23 books that you need to read this November (and don't forget to check out the best new reads that October had to offer, too).
1 Spellbreaker by Charlie N. Holmberg
If you find yourself craving a magical world every bit as rich and whimsical as the one found in the Harry Potter books, then prepare to fall in love with Charlie N. Holmberg's dazzling Spellbreaker. When she's just a child, Elsie Camden learns that the world has two kinds of wizards: those who are born with magic (like her) and those who pay for it. As an adult, Elsie is the Robin Hood of the magical community, fighting against the elite even though she doesn't have a licence to practice her spells. However, when she stumbles upon a dangerous mystery involving the murder of wizards she may have to team up with a man who seems to stand for everything she's fighting against.
Out Nov. 1
2 Collected Stories by Shirley Hazzard
Collected Stories by Shirley Hazzard gathers 28 of the acclaimed author's short stories together for the first time. This expansive collection combines her previous two volumes of short stories, Cliffs of Fall and People in Glass Houses, alongside two previously unpublished stories and other uncollected works in one tome that's perfect for new and seasoned fans of Hazzard alike.
Out Nov. 3
3 The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein
Elizabeth Wein's The Enigma Game is another engrossing World War II set novel from the author who gave us Code Name Verity. In 1940, 15-year-old Louisa Adair is searching for a way to contribute to the war effort when she takes on the job of caring for an elderly German woman in Windyedge, Scotland. At first, Louisa feels as if she should be doing something more worthy, but she soon finds herself embroiled in a code-cracking mission of epic proportions.
Out Nov. 3
4 The Preserve by Ariel S. Winter
Full of smart commentary about the current state of America, Ariel S. Winter's The Preserve is set in a not too distant future when a plague led to a robot uprising. With robots now the ruling class, they set up preserves where humans can live without interference. But when a murder occurs on one of the preserves, Chief of Police Jesse Laughton will have to unravel a conspiracy if he wants to keep the robot government from shutting down the preserve experiment for good.
Out Nov. 3
5 White Ivy by Susie Yang
Susie Yang's White Ivy is a coming of age tale that's packed with dark twists you won't see coming. As a child, Ivy Lin's grandmother taught her how to take the things she wanted. Now an adult, Ivy has her heart set on reconnecting with her high school crush, but a secret from her past threatens to crumble her carefully constructed façade of perfection.
Out Nov. 3
6 The Butcher's Blessing by Ruth Gilligan
Steeped in the rich history of Ireland, The Butcher's Blessing by Ruth Gilligan is a gothic thriller about the cost of keeping traditions alive. Úna's father is one of the Butchers, a group of men of who travel around Ireland's farmlands slaughtering cattle in accordance with the ancient ways. However, not everyone supports the Butchers and their archaic methods, and when a photographer captures a violent scene, the group and Úna's life will be forever changed.
Out Nov. 10
7 Cobble Hill by Cecily von Ziegesar
Gossip Girl author Cecily von Ziegesar returns to New York in her new novel Cobble Hill, but this time the focus isn't on fashionable teens. Instead, the author turns her attention to four families living in a wealthy neighbourhood where secrets are as plentiful as the one-upmanship among neighbours.
Out Nov. 10
8 Dearly by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood is a master storyteller who is known for novels and short stories, but she's a poet as well. In Dearly, Atwood uses poetry to delve into life's most complex issues covering everything from the nature of love to the heartbreak of loss — and she somehow still makes time for an ode to zombies.
Out Nov. 10
9 The Factory Witches of Lowell by C.S. Malerich
C.S. Malerich's wholly unique novel The Factory Witches mixes witchcraft with the quest for fair wages as a group of female mill workers go on strike in Lowell, Massachusetts. This isn't the first strike that Judith Whittier has taken part in, so when she suspects the other women might waiver, she enlists the help of her friend and potential first love Hannah to use a little magic to keep them on the picket line.
Out Nov. 10
10 Here the Whole Time by Vitor Martins
Prepare to fall in love with Vitor Martins's Here the Whole Time. The charming YA romance follows Felipe, a plus size teen who struggles with body image issues, as he tentatively opens up his heart to Caio, the neighbour he's had a crush on for years — and the person who will be spending 15 days in his family's apartment while Caio's parents are on holiday.
Out Nov. 10
11 Little Threats by Emily Schultz
Emily Schultz serves up a taut thriller in Little Threats. After spending 15 years in prison for allegedly murdering her best friend, Kennedy returns home to a media circus and inescapable doubt about what really happened in the woods the night she supposedly killed her friend. With new details about the case emerging, Kennedy is beginning to question everything — including her family and their motives.
Out Nov. 10
12 We Keep the Dead Close by Becky Cooper
In We Keep the Dead Close, author Becky Cooper presents the meticulously researched true story of 23-year-old Harvard student Jane Britton, who was found bludgeoned to death in her apartment in 1969. The circumstances around Britton's death have been plagued with misinformation fuelled by misogyny and a desire to protect the elite institution for years, but thanks to Cooper, Britton's story is finally being told.
Out Nov. 10
13 What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer
Even if poetry isn't your preferred genre, What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer will win you over. Baer uses poetry to examine what it means to be a woman in today's society, from the transformative experience of becoming a mother to the power of surrounding yourself with female friends, her poems are powerful meditations on womanhood that you'll want to share with all of the women in your life.
Out Nov. 10
14 Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas
Claire Douglas is a true must-read thriller author, and her latest, Do Not Disturb, is yet another reminder of just how good she is at putting the reader on the edge of their seat and keeping them there until the final page. Kirsty Woodhouse moves her family to Wales in hopes of escaping the trauma they experienced in London, but when her troublemaking cousin walks back into her life after 17 years, Kristy realises Wales isn't the safe haven she hoped it would be.
Out Nov. 17
15 I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend co-creator Rachel Bloom's first collection of essays, I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are, is both hilarious and endlessly relatable. Whether she's writing about her lifelong desire to be "normal" or revealing her Disney obsession, reading Bloom's essays is like chatting with your wittiest friend.
Out Nov. 17
16 The Killer's Shadow by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker
John Douglas and Mark Olshaker, the authors of Mindhunter, return with a chilling true crime story that feels all too relevant in today's climate, despite the fact that it covers a case from the 1970s. The Killer's Shadow chronicles Douglas' hunt for the white supremacist serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin, and his eventual confrontation with the man once he was behind bars. Along the way, Douglas recalls how Franklin's case became make or break for the FBI's then new behavioural science unit.
Out Nov. 17
17 No One Asked For This by Cazzie David
The sharp, anxiety-fuelled essays in Cazzie David's No One Asked For This are exactly what the world needs after a year like 2020. David tackles social anxiety, shame spirals, and existential dread with the kind of gallows humour that will surely make her famous dad, Larry David, proud.
Out Nov. 17
18 A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Former President Barack Obama's highly-anticipated memoir A Promised Land will take readers inside his storied political career from his earliest forays into politics to his first term in the White House. In his own words, Obama is giving readers a front row seat to history as he opens up about what it was like to hold the most powerful office in the land.
Out Nov. 17
19 The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman
There's magic within the pages of Lori Nelson Spielman's charming The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany. Thanks to a curse, for over 200 years no second-born sister in the Fontana family has found love. But that all changes when cousins Emilia and Lucy get a call from their 80-year-old Aunt Poppy, who vows to break the curse if they'll accompany her on a once in a lifetime trip to Italy.
Out Nov. 17
20 These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
Stylish and engrossing, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong transports readers to 1920s era Shanghai for a supernatural-tinged retelling of Romeo and Juliet. Former flapper Juliette Cai returns home to assume her role as the rightful leader of the Scarlet Gang only to find herself on a bloody collision course with the leader of rival gang the White Flowers, Roma Montagov, her first love.
Out Nov. 17
21 The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar
Zeyn Joukhadar's The Thirty Names of Night is a stunning work of magical realism that follows three generations of a Syrian American family. At the centre of the story is Nadir, a transgender man struggling to paint as his mother's ghost haunts him. However, when he discovers a journal that seems to include parts of his family history that he's never heard before, Nadir's world opens up in new and unexpected ways.
Out Nov. 24
