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2012 New Book Releases

The Hottest New & Upcoming Books

By , About.com Guide

Wondering what new book releases to expect throughout 2012? These are some of the hottest book releases by month with links to more complete calendars for each month. This page will be updated as publishers announce new books for each publishing season.

January - Books for a Variety of Moods

Lunatics by Dave Barry and Alan ZweibelPutnam Adult
Publishing usually is slow at the beginning of the year, but January new releases bring a little something for a variety of tastes -- a literary remake, comic relief from Dave Barry, a sad young adult novel, politics and more.

February - Some Big Debuts

A Good American by Alex GeorgeAmy Einhorn Books/Putnam
Two February debuts -- No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel and A Good American by Alex George -- have received a lot of buzz. There are, of course, also new releases from well known authors for those who don't like to take risks in their reading.

March - Spring Reads

Some Assembly Required by Anne LamottPenguin Group
Those who enjoyed Anne Lamott's 1993 book, Operating Instruction, chronicling her son Sam's first year, will happy to hear that Sam is all grown up with a child of his own now, and Lamott's take on sudden grandmotherhood is hitting shelves in March -- Some Assembly Required. March also brings Lauren Groff's second novel (we loved her first -- The Monsters of Templeton) and some more debuts.

April - Popular Authors Return

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen KingScribner
April brings a novel on grief from Anne Tyler, a book of essays by Jonathan Franzen and some books from always popular authors like Stephen King and Mary Higgins Clark.

May - Literary Heavy Hitters

In One Person by John IrvingSimon & Schuster
Toni Morrison, Richard Ford, John Irving -- don't expect to jump straight to beach reads in May! There are some major authors releasing well written and sometimes controversial titles to keep you satisfied.

June & Beyond

Shadow of Night by Deborah HarknessPenguin
Jodi Picoult is releasing her first children's novel, which she co-wrote with her daughter, in the summer of 2012. Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time will release another novel, The Red House, in the summer. Barbara Kingsolver's next novel, Flight Behavior is expected in the fall. The second book in Deborah Harkness' trilogy will be released in July.

More book news and calendars will be posted here regularly.

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