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Books about music, the arts and artists (fiction and nonfiction)

Music and the Arts

Recommended books found: 100

The Original

A Novel

by Nell Stevens

Hardcover: Jul 2025 | Paperback: Jun 2026

Critics' Consensus:

In a grand English country house in 1899, an aspiring art forger must unravel whether the man claiming to be her long-lost cousin is an impostor.

Song of the Six Realms

by Judy I. Lin

Hardcover: Apr 2024 | Paperback: Jun 2026

Critics' Consensus:

Judy I. Lin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Magic Steeped in Poison, weaves a dreamy gothic romance worthy of the heavens in Song of the Six Realms.

Audition

A Novel

by Katie Kitamura

Hardcover: Apr 2025 | Paperback: Apr 2026

Critics' Consensus:

One woman, the performance of a lifetime. Or two. An exhilarating, destabilizing Möbius strip of a novel that asks whether we ever really know the people we love.

City of Night Birds

A Novel

by Juhea Kim

Hardcover: Nov 2024 | Paperback: Mar 2026

Critics' Consensus:

A once-famous ballerina faces a final choice—to return to the world of Russian dance that nearly broke her, or to walk away forever—in this incandescent novel of redemption and love.

I Am Agatha

A Novel

by Nancy Foley

Hardcover: Mar 2026

Critics' Consensus:

For readers of Elizabeth Strout and Sigrid Nunez, a darkly funny and moving debut novel about the unforgettable Agatha, whose devotion to a widow with dementia (and an inconvenient attachment to her daughter's grave) sparks a radical reckoning with ...

Almost Life

A Novel

by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Hardcover: Mar 2026

Critics' Consensus:

Two young women meet in Paris one sultry summer in a decades-spanning tour de force about the enduring power of young love and the poignant heartbreak of missed chances—perfect for fans of One Day and Normal People.

Partially Devoured

How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World

by Daniel Kraus

Hardcover: Mar 2026

Critics' Consensus:

The New York Times bestselling author of Whalefall and Angel Down dives into a horror movie classic to examine his favorite film's importance to our history, culture, and psychology--a perfect blend of research and memoir for fans of the movie, the ...

Saoirse

A Novel

by Charleen Hurtubise

Hardcover: Feb 2026

Critics' Consensus:

For readers of Colm Tóibín and Claire Keegan, Saoirse is a powerful novel set between the United States and Ireland about a woman who runs from her traumatic past and the secrets she carries to survive.

The Future Saints

A Novel

by Ashley Winstead

Hardcover: Jan 2026

Critics' Consensus:

Perfect for fans of Daisy Jones and the Six and In Five Years—a beautiful, powerful, and transportive new novel about a music executive desperately trying to bring a rock band back from the brink, from bestselling author Ashley Winstead.

Good Girl

A Novel

by Aria Aber

Hardcover: Jan 2025 | Paperback: Jan 2026

Critics' Consensus:

An electric debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of nightclubs, bad romance, and self-discovery—a portrait of the artist as a young woman set in a Berlin that can't escape its history.

A girl can get in ...

A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls

Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, and the Fight to Modernize Literature

by Adam Morgan

Hardcover: Dec 2025

Critics' Consensus:

The definitive biography of overlooked queer icon Margaret C. Anderson, whose fight to publish James Joyce's Ulysses led to her arrest and trial for obscenity. Perfect for fans of The Editor and The Book-Makers.

Minor Black Figures

A Novel

by Brandon Taylor

Hardcover: Oct 2025 | Paperback: Oct 2026

Critics' Consensus:

From the Booker Prize finalist and bestselling author: a perceptive novel about a gay Black painter navigating the worlds of art, desire, and creativity.

The reviewer of each book decides which categories it belongs in - but we're only human, mistakes happen. If you see a book that you think is in the wrong place, tell us!

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