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 — 367,944 ratings
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2

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4.37 avg rating — 616,861 ratings
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3

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4.14 avg rating — 794,162 ratings
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4

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3.69 avg rating — 182,318 ratings
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5

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3.78 avg rating — 547,666 ratings
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6

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3.66 avg rating — 346,596 ratings
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7

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4.08 avg rating — 196,688 ratings
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8

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3.24 avg rating — 46,741 ratings
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9

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4.04 avg rating — 123,232 ratings
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10

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4.17 avg rating — 692,388 ratings
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11

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4.11 avg rating — 153,752 ratings
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12

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4.06 avg rating — 103,956 ratings
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13

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4.01 avg rating — 167,008 ratings
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14

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4.10 avg rating — 81,562 ratings
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15

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4.01 avg rating — 152,667 ratings
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16

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3.59 avg rating — 2,759 ratings
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17

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4.40 avg rating — 41,942 ratings
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18

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4.43 avg rating — 159,156 ratings
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19

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3.70 avg rating — 24,087 ratings
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20

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3.97 avg rating — 877,357 ratings
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21

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4.01 avg rating — 47,356 ratings
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22

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4.31 avg rating — 166,920 ratings
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23

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4.20 avg rating — 284,602 ratings
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24

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4.17 avg rating — 73,852 ratings
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25

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3.80 avg rating — 35,174 ratings
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26

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3.62 avg rating — 18,464 ratings
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27

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3.55 avg rating — 37,685 ratings
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28

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4.23 avg rating — 130,989 ratings
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29

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4.35 avg rating — 290 ratings
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30

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3.66 avg rating — 7,444 ratings
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31

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3.78 avg rating — 544,615 ratings
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32

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4.13 avg rating — 81,522 ratings
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33

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3.79 avg rating — 25,167 ratings
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34

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3.76 avg rating — 42,622 ratings
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35

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3.92 avg rating — 537 ratings
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35

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3.74 avg rating — 54,790 ratings
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37

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3.69 avg rating — 92,512 ratings
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38

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3.81 avg rating — 9,084 ratings
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39

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3.99 avg rating — 2,027,253 ratings
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40

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3.83 avg rating — 19,949 ratings
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41

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4.18 avg rating — 1,227,582 ratings
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42

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3.32 avg rating — 11,002 ratings
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43

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4.25 avg rating — 23,992 ratings
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44

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3.61 avg rating — 12,953 ratings
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45

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3.73 avg rating — 49,132 ratings
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46

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3.81 avg rating — 11,317 ratings
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47

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3.70 avg rating — 9,622 ratings
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48

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4.13 avg rating — 63,508 ratings
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49

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3.81 avg rating — 56,391 ratings
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50

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3.71 avg rating — 38,385 ratings
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51

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3.30 avg rating — 6,028 ratings
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52

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4.40 avg rating — 964 ratings
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53

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3.77 avg rating — 10,160 ratings
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54

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3.72 avg rating — 37,933 ratings
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55

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 25,114 ratings
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56

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3.47 avg rating — 15,223 ratings
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57

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3.66 avg rating — 77,063 ratings
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58

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3.75 avg rating — 3,701 ratings
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59

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3.57 avg rating — 6,354 ratings
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60

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3.26 avg rating — 4,993 ratings
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61

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3.61 avg rating — 47,306 ratings
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62

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3.70 avg rating — 1,839 ratings
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63

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4.41 avg rating — 43,167 ratings
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64

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3.35 avg rating — 4,713 ratings
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65

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3.81 avg rating — 1,116,875 ratings
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66

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2.82 avg rating — 9,434 ratings
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67

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3.43 avg rating — 4,387 ratings
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68

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3.65 avg rating — 2,836 ratings
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69

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3.83 avg rating — 4,130 ratings
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70

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3.78 avg rating — 2,667 ratings
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71

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3.86 avg rating — 2,704 ratings
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72

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3.86 avg rating — 88,361 ratings
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73

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3.42 avg rating — 5,682 ratings
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73

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4.22 avg rating — 337,777 ratings
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75

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3.28 avg rating — 2,910 ratings
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76

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3.75 avg rating — 8,143 ratings
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77

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3.75 avg rating — 6,372 ratings
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78

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3.90 avg rating — 6,293 ratings
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79

by
3.52 avg rating — 104,084 ratings
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80

by
3.65 avg rating — 2,045 ratings
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81

by
3.49 avg rating — 5,145 ratings
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82

by
3.67 avg rating — 22,709 ratings
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83

by
3.98 avg rating — 885 ratings
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84

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3.48 avg rating — 12,841 ratings
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85

by
4.25 avg rating — 55,587 ratings
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86

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3.67 avg rating — 3,449 ratings
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87

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3.27 avg rating — 1,623 ratings
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88

by
3.63 avg rating — 3,966 ratings
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89

by
3.70 avg rating — 17,134 ratings
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90

by
3.36 avg rating — 27,280 ratings
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91

by
4.08 avg rating — 14,240 ratings
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92

by
4.07 avg rating — 21,744 ratings
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93

by
3.61 avg rating — 22,010 ratings
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94

by
3.82 avg rating — 359 ratings
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95

by
3.77 avg rating — 121 ratings
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96

by
3.41 avg rating — 3,830 ratings
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97

by
4.18 avg rating — 211 ratings
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98

by
3.77 avg rating — 1,057 ratings
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99

by
3.42 avg rating — 5,879 ratings
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99

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,240 ratings
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397 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


ART 3600 books
5 friends
Karl 36 books
3 friends
JMWilliams 415 books
92 friends
Peter 246 books
12 friends
Cynthia 2055 books
2247 friends
Dale 1857 books
86 friends
St. Martin's Press 1802 books
3064 friends
George 296 books
157 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-21 of 21 (21 new)

dateDown 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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