Spring 2025 Reading Group Indie Next List
Dazzling Debuts
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“A deftly plotted, original murder mystery with a shocking premise: the murderer committed the crime while sleepwalking and never woke up to face her crimes. Anna O will keep you guessing with unexpected twists that you will never see coming.”
— Maxwell Gregory, Madison Street Books, Chicago, IL
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“An enthralling labyrinth with a wry voice, Flux brings to life a spectrum of qualities usually denied in Asian American masculinity. For readers who despair about techno-orientalism, Flux moves the sexless Asian male caricature into the spotlight as a fully realized human being.”
— Jihye Shin, The Nonbinarian Bookstore, Brooklyn, NY
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“Headshot is a stunning Cubist novel, weaving in and out of the minds of eight young women in a boxing tournament in Reno. In prose as taut as muscles, we are shown the fighters’ pasts, presents, and futures via commentary on social expectations, childhood, and how to hit the person in front of you.”
— Doron Klemer, Octavia Books, New Orleans, LA
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“Think Sliding Doors meets Groundhog Day, by way of Blake Crouch. A woman discovers she can have an endless supply of new husbands — every time she sends one up to the attic a new one comes down. An incisive reflection on the multiple selves we can be (or pretend to be) on social media.”
— Bridget Piekarz, The Book Cellar (IL), Chicago, IL
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“I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both feels like the ribbons of a mixtape unraveling in the knot of your stomach. This is a harrowing story of music, mental illness, growing up and apart, and finding yourself in the unique position of truly loving someone to death.”
— Kenzie Hampton, The Bookshop (TN), Nashville, TN
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“A riveting and bittersweet feast that you’ll chew on for days. Hazell masterfully captures hunger in all its forms, lifting the veil on the illusions we feed on in an exacting world. It’s hard not to root for Piglet, even harder not to relish in the chaos.”
— Lauren Abesames, Wind City Books, Casper, WY
Family & Coming of Age
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“Anita and Raquel are everyday Latinas whose passionate and ‘loud’ presences are weaponized as ‘other’. In this novel, you see both sides of this coin as well as the constant battle between art and artist. Should art be the only thing remembered when an artist is gone?”
— Vina Castillo, Kew & Willow Books, Kew Gardens, NY
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“Catalina is the perfect sardonic intellectual punk narrator for this story about coming of age undocumented in the US. Think The Idiot meets Catcher in the Rye and they both get drunk with Villavicencio’s first book.”
— Maxim Iosef Tamarov, Papercuts Bookshop, Boston, MA
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“Unsettlingly weird and obsessively hot, A Good Happy Girl will become a staple in the Lesbian Canon! A woman matches with a married lesbian couple and forms an obsessive relationship with the pair. This book is deliciously disturbing!”
— Haley Calvin, The Novel Neighbor, Webster Groves, MO
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“Fairytales, folklore, and Kipling characters add enchantment to this story about a family separated by Georgia’s post-Soviet civil war. Full of humor and heart, Vardiashvili’s story compelled me to look up maps, photos, and timelines of his original home.”
— Margo Grimm Eule, East City Bookshop, Washington, DC
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“A moving story of the toll that exile extracts. Khaled is exiled from his native Libya after participating in a protest against the Qaddafi regime. As he builds a life in London, he can’t help but hold himself apart from the people that he loves — to protect them from real danger, and to protect himself from any more loss.”
— Victoria Ford, Comma, a Bookshop, Minneapolis, MN
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“I wish I could start this book again for the first time. A dream, a river that takes and gives, and putting everything on the line for that dream. I’d read this book just because of the river, but the people, family, town and the beauty alongside life’s difficult choices — that is what made me love this book.”
— Amy Jiron, HearthFire Books, Evergreen, CO
Historical Fiction
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“Elizabeth Gonzalez James pulls from her family history to tell us a story of inherited trauma and how the past impacts the present. The dual-timelines really drive this idea home. By the end of the book, I was rooting for El Tragabalas and was in tears as the story wound down.”
— Crispin Jeffrey-Franco, Stacks Book Club, Oro Valley, AZ
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“Italy, 1944, WWII raging. Massimo, all of 14, is taken under Pietro’s wing after the kid was beaten and left for dead. Masterful, with wonderful characterizations, powerful wartime claustrophobia, and surprising role twists. Utterly satisfying.”
— Tee Minot, Christopher's Books, San Francisco, CA
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“Cecily is orphaned at four and sold to a traveling circus at seven. We follow her as she survives in 1930s middle America, and then 80 years later as her family uncovers long-held secrets. The novel explores traditional themes of love and loss with the unique twist of modern DNA tracing.”
— Megan Strang, Sidetrack Bookshop, Royal Oak, MI
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“The new state of West Virginia is still slowly recovering from the Civil War in 1874 when ConaLee and her mother are taken by a Confederate veteran con man to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. Phillips focuses on the history of the asylum and includes real photographs and documents from the time period.”
— Valerie Koehler, Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, TX
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“The Storm We Made is an excellent read on the fallout of war — the people and parts of ourselves that are lost irrevocably at the hands of imperialist machines. Of course, woven in are also a number of tender, beautiful moments of love.”
— Noah Grey Rosenzweig, Loyalty Bookstores, Washington, DC
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“The perfect follow up to There There. Orange seamlessly weaves through multiple generations and leaves you in that complicated space of wanting so much more but also satisfied with the time we’re allowed with each character.”
— Nadine Teisberg, Birchbark Books & Native Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Nonfiction & Memoir
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“It’s interesting that the subtitle of this book describes it as an ‘irreverent’ history of travel — this is some of the most moving travel writing I’ve read in recent years. It’s funny, witty, sometimes scathing, but it’s also deeply sincere, personal, and imbued with a love of the world and the people who inhabit it.”
— Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, NC
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“A stunning, clear-eyed examination of the absurdity of death and the swath of emotions with which it leaves the living — particularly death by suicide, and the ramifications someone’s death can have on an entire industry. Compelling and utterly readable.”
— Jessilynn Norcross, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, MI
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“In this memoir, the author blows the doors and windows open with a completely honest account of her struggles and triumphs, and the bittersweet experience of family. The beauty of her language and her laser-sharp observations spoke wisdom I needed to hear.”
— Jolayne Harrington, The Book Bungalow, St. George, UT
By Hanif Abdurraqib
Random House Trade Paperbacks
“On one hand, this is a book about basketball, and about feelings. On another hand, this is a book about loving a place that is unconsidered, or when it is considered, is feared. On the last of these too-many hands, this is a deeply personal collection of prose and poetry about the cradle of Ohio, the ways that basketball shaped so many of the state’s children, and the twin pillars of grief and rhapsody holding up those who love where they are from.”
— Danielle King, Left Bank Books, St. Louis, MO
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“I loved this book of adventure on the high seas, shipwrecks, castaways, and salvation. As he always does, Grann tells a thrilling tale that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. I went in not knowing anything of the true history, but I left with a deep appreciation for what the sailors on the Wager went through.”
— Robert Connolly, Jabberwocky Bookshop & Cafe, Newburyport, MA
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“My father was in the Air Force for twenty one years. My mother said that when you marry a military man this is what you sign up for: the long nights, never being there, missing birthdays, Christmas, life. I am so grafteful for those who fight for our safety everyday. But if it wasn’t for the wives who stay back and hold everything together, none of that would matter. This is Gorrindo’s book and her story. Her voice is an impactful one.”
— Amy Thue, Whimsy on Main, Milbank, SD
Small Bites
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“These essays were really well written and I enjoyed the arc of the book. Mester is astute and funny in a way I found relatable and inviting, never off-putting. I recommend it to those who enjoyed Priestdaddy. There is something more than essays on excess here.”
— Charlie Jones, A Room Of One's Own Bookstore, Madison, WI
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“Cacophony of Bone is not a book easily described, as it truly encapsulates the feelings and happenings of a well-rounded and contemplative existence. Gardening, literature, and the instinctual yearning of motherhood are just a few of the focal themes of this year-long diary, all the while relating to the everyday natural world and mysticism of Irish life and belief.”
— Andrew King, Ridgecrest Books, Shoreline, WA
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“I generally have difficulty reading short stories, but that was not the case with this book. While obviously interconnected, each individual story managed to pack a punch in a way that left my jaw dropped. Her affective tone throughout the collection coursed through me like a chill breeze, matching the often harrowing encounters these women endured.”
— Sophia Abuabara, Seminary Co-Op Bookstores, Chicago, IL
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“Towles’ stories effortlessly draw in the reader — not to the pasts of others, but to our shared humanity. Towles’ respect for people is once again palpable in this short story collection. For fans and for new readers, this collection is not to be missed.”
— Katy Holmes, Innisfree Bookshop, Meredith, NH
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“This was a great quick read. The author did an excellent job of making a concise book that was also fun and engaging.”
— Kat Stecker, HUDUBAM Booktraders, Clarksville, TN
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“LaPointe returns with a new memoir that is honest, at times disturbing, but always interesting. She wants us to know what it is like to be a queer Indigenous woman in America today, and to understand what has made her who she is. Join me in celebrating these essays for the insight and truthful beauty they contain.”
— Linda Bond, Auntie's Bookstore, Spokane, WA
More Indie Next Lists
- April 2025 Indie Next List
- March 2025 Indie Next List
- March/April 2025 Kids Indie Next List
- February 2025 Indie Next List
- January 2025 Indie Next List
- Winter 2025 Reading Group Indie Next List
- January/February 2025 Kids Indie Next List
- December 2024 Indie Next List
- November 2024 Indie Next List
- November/December 2024 Kids Indie Next List