Anticipated 2020 Literary Fiction

Based on listed USA release dates

NOTE: I am including only titles already associated with book covers since it will be no fun to use this list in future years with no pictures, or conversely to have to change votes later to any new editions showing the image.
1

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4.10 avg rating — 404,408 ratings
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2

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4.37 avg rating — 665,337 ratings
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3

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4.13 avg rating — 838,333 ratings
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4

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3.69 avg rating — 192,063 ratings
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5

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3.77 avg rating — 568,900 ratings
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6

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3.67 avg rating — 421,311 ratings
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7

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4.08 avg rating — 210,868 ratings
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8

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4.05 avg rating — 171,322 ratings
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9

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3.23 avg rating — 52,792 ratings
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10

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4.17 avg rating — 767,043 ratings
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11

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4.10 avg rating — 159,596 ratings
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12

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4.06 avg rating — 111,251 ratings
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13

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 182,716 ratings
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14

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4.09 avg rating — 89,947 ratings
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15

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 162,600 ratings
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16

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3.99 avg rating — 1,101,963 ratings
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17

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4.40 avg rating — 45,534 ratings
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18

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4.42 avg rating — 168,979 ratings
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19

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3.69 avg rating — 24,983 ratings
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20

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3.59 avg rating — 2,811 ratings
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21

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4.17 avg rating — 78,757 ratings
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22

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4.01 avg rating — 51,449 ratings
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23

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4.30 avg rating — 184,119 ratings
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24

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4.19 avg rating — 317,366 ratings
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25

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3.78 avg rating — 36,691 ratings
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26

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3.54 avg rating — 38,984 ratings
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27

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4.23 avg rating — 138,953 ratings
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28

by
4.33 avg rating — 304 ratings
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29

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3.62 avg rating — 18,804 ratings
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30

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3.66 avg rating — 7,620 ratings
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31

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3.78 avg rating — 624,774 ratings
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32

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4.12 avg rating — 94,199 ratings
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33

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3.78 avg rating — 26,119 ratings
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34

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3.98 avg rating — 2,327,901 ratings
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35

by
3.89 avg rating — 551 ratings
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35

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3.74 avg rating — 57,435 ratings
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37

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3.68 avg rating — 105,784 ratings
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38

by
3.76 avg rating — 43,678 ratings
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39

by
3.80 avg rating — 9,671 ratings
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40

by
3.83 avg rating — 21,084 ratings
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41

by
4.17 avg rating — 1,421,117 ratings
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42

by
3.32 avg rating — 11,694 ratings
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43

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4.25 avg rating — 26,080 ratings
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44

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3.61 avg rating — 13,807 ratings
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45

by
3.81 avg rating — 11,727 ratings
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46

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3.69 avg rating — 10,128 ratings
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47

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3.73 avg rating — 51,055 ratings
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48

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4.12 avg rating — 66,819 ratings
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49

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3.30 avg rating — 6,295 ratings
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50

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4.41 avg rating — 994 ratings
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51

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3.81 avg rating — 58,010 ratings
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52

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3.70 avg rating — 40,144 ratings
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53

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3.78 avg rating — 10,843 ratings
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53

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3.71 avg rating — 39,992 ratings
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55

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3.47 avg rating — 16,368 ratings
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56

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3.61 avg rating — 50,016 ratings
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57

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 26,484 ratings
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58

by
3.67 avg rating — 83,433 ratings
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59

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3.76 avg rating — 3,936 ratings
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60

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3.56 avg rating — 6,509 ratings
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61

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3.25 avg rating — 5,171 ratings
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62

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3.70 avg rating — 1,839 ratings
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63

by
4.41 avg rating — 54,465 ratings
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64

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3.35 avg rating — 4,983 ratings
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65

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2.81 avg rating — 9,685 ratings
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66

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3.42 avg rating — 4,553 ratings
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67

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3.65 avg rating — 2,931 ratings
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68

by
3.80 avg rating — 1,233,415 ratings
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69

by
3.82 avg rating — 4,380 ratings
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70

by
3.78 avg rating — 2,804 ratings
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71

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3.86 avg rating — 95,942 ratings
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72

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3.42 avg rating — 5,884 ratings
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72

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4.22 avg rating — 423,046 ratings
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74

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3.27 avg rating — 2,988 ratings
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75

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3.79 avg rating — 10,527 ratings
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76

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3.75 avg rating — 6,683 ratings
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77

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3.90 avg rating — 6,692 ratings
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78

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3.85 avg rating — 2,744 ratings
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79

by
4.25 avg rating — 71,101 ratings
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80

by
3.64 avg rating — 2,110 ratings
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81

by
3.49 avg rating — 5,748 ratings
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82

by
3.51 avg rating — 108,951 ratings
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83

by
3.98 avg rating — 930 ratings
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84

by
3.47 avg rating — 13,557 ratings
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85

by
3.68 avg rating — 3,576 ratings
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86

by
3.67 avg rating — 23,949 ratings
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87

by
3.27 avg rating — 1,670 ratings
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88

by
3.63 avg rating — 4,145 ratings
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89

by
3.70 avg rating — 17,909 ratings
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90

by
3.35 avg rating — 31,040 ratings
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91

by
4.08 avg rating — 15,347 ratings
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92

by
3.59 avg rating — 23,743 ratings
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93

by
3.81 avg rating — 372 ratings
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94

by
3.76 avg rating — 135 ratings
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95

by
3.42 avg rating — 3,983 ratings
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96

by
3.76 avg rating — 1,110 ratings
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97

by
3.42 avg rating — 6,108 ratings
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97

by
4.01 avg rating — 1,265 ratings
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99

by
4.07 avg rating — 24,360 ratings
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100

by
3.70 avg rating — 12,703 ratings
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399 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


ART 3942 books
5 friends
Karl 36 books
3 friends
JMWilliams 415 books
92 friends
Peter 246 books
12 friends
Cynthia 2035 books
2244 friends
Dale 1913 books
90 friends
St. Martin's Press 1896 books
3125 friends
George 296 books
160 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-21 of 21 (21 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart I removed Thorn's Redemption and Traceless. These are neither literary fiction nor 2020 releases.


message 2: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart I don't believe Someday in Paris is literary fiction. It appears to be a digital-only romance title. I can't tell whether it's self published, but it has only been added by the same 9 voters.


kittykat AKA Ms. Tortitude Rainbowheart wrote: "I don't believe Someday in Paris is literary fiction. It appears to be a digital-only romance title. I can't tell whether it's self published, but it has only been added by the same 9 voters."

Not that I know what book you are talking about, but neither being digital only or self published excludes it from being literary, although it is certainly unlikely.

However, like most lists here, once other people get a gist of it they ignore the reason/instructions given by the original poster and so, unsurprisingly, there are a number of titles added here that are not lit fic.


message 4: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart It looks like someone else already removed the book in question.

You're right that a lot of people tend to ignore list instructions. I have noticed some YA titles being added as well. The newest Hunger Games and Miss Peregrine titles are certainly not adult literary fiction.


kittykat AKA Ms. Tortitude Rainbowheart wrote: "It looks like someone else already removed the book in question.

You're right that a lot of people tend to ignore list instructions. ..."


It's always incredibly frustrating with these lists and ironic that on a site for readers, some show that they don't actually seem to read very well at all.


message 6: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Conjunction and So All Is Peace, which do not have editions scheduled for release in 2020. Also removed Uncanny Valley, which is a memoir, not fiction.


message 7: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Through Love and Sorrow, not literary fiction, also does not have a 2020 edition. Ditto A Detective Named Abby, self-published short story, and The Life and Times of Fuzzy Wuzzy, looks to be a self-published picture book.


message 8: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Did some cleanup on this list and removed Big Money, Secret Legacy, VanWest the Past, and Not All You Need is Love. Promotional author spam, self-published, not literary fiction. Also deleted Magnetized, which is a non-fiction book.


message 9: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Author spam currently in the 4th spot, The Boy Who Saw Colours. It's self pubbed. Kara, do you want that removed?


message 10: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Author spam has now taken over the top spot. :(


message 11: by Kara (new)

Kara Please remove, and follow all manner of removal policies on this and any other list I've posted. I am afraid I cannot consistently monitor this account. Thanks so much for the work you do, Rainbowheart!


message 12: by Stephanie (new)

Stephanie How do you define literary fiction?


message 13: by Jodi (new)

Jodi After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry was written in 2014, not 2020.


message 14: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart It seems like the first U.S. edition is 2020.


message 16: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart The book you linked is from 2014, Bill.


message 17: by Stephanie (new)

Stephanie Rainbowheart wrote: "It looks like someone else already removed the book in question.

You're right that a lot of people tend to ignore list instructions. I have noticed some YA titles being added as well. The newest H..."


Where are the list instructions?


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Stephanie wrote: "How do you define literary fiction?"

I haven't voted for any because the books I pre-ordered aren't exactly literary fiction 😊


message 19: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed self-published spam titles by Lynessa Layne, which are decidedly not literary fiction.


message 20: by Michele (new)

Michele Merens Hi Rainbow Heart. I am a new author to Goodreads, my novel "Inside Our Days" published in Oct 2020 by Muriel Press, Marian University is in the adult literary fiction genre. Someone did put my book onto Goodreads and rated it a few months ago; tonight, I added my book to this list only because it said anyone could add? When it didn't seem to work without a vote, I put my vote in to do so; then it listed. If I have acted in error or against the posting rules, I wanted to apologize, and I will understand if the title has to be withdrawn or put up by others. But I hope it might stand? Again please forgive if I misread the rules here, I am still a bit confused on the particulars of using this site. Thank you.


message 21: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Hope no one minds, but since it's already January 1 and no 2022 list had appeared, I took the liberty of creating one.

Anticipated 2022 Literary Fiction


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