6. My Struggle, Book III - Karl Ove Knausgaard
Karl Ove Knausgaard is a household name in Norway due to the controversy and ultimate success of his autobiographical volumes entitles My Struggle - Min Kamp, in Norwegian, which you will realize is the same title as a fairly infamous German book by Adolf Hitler. Totaling six volumes and over 3,500 pages, Knausgaard's books aren't exactly beach reads. While he's no Marcel Proust, the Norwegian certainly has displayed quite a talent for an extended narrative. The controversy came from the obvious - the title of the book - but also from Knausgaard's unflinching penchant for exposing the private lives of his friends and family. Knausgaard's own uncle has been highly critical of the project, and even the author himself admitted that it sometimes feels a Faustian bargain that he is a part of - he has achieved enormous success, but really only through the sacrifice of his relationships. The Norwegian books finished publication in 2011, but the English-language translations are still being written. Book III will come out in May, which gives you three months to get the first two under your belt.
5. Can't And Won't - Lydia Davis
Champion of the short story Lydia Davis brings us another collection of deeply-felt yarns with Can't and Won't, due out in early April. Her fifth collection promises to retain all the charm and style of her other books - a style that has proved hard to pin down, given the notably vast differences between some of her stories. Can't and Won't likewise features some stories that are only a single line in length, some that are formatted as letters to the editor. "A Small Story About a Small Box of Chocolates" is just that - a narrative of receiving a box of thirty-two chocolates and fathoming the infinite ways in which they could be consumed. Stories are drawn out of dreams, out of correspondence from famous literary figures - Davis seems to be able to draw a story out of almost anything, and it's that kind of tenacity and originality that keeps her collections fresh.