The latest in Marlon James’ Dark Star trilogy, Olga Tokarczuk’s magnum opus, and more books to read in February

(trans. by Jennifer Croft; February 1, Riverhead):Olga Tokarczuk is one of our greatest living fiction writers, Jennifer Croft’s translations are always magnificent, and this epic thousand-page novel is said to be their magnum opus. Paginated in reverse as a nod to Hebrew bookbinding, The Books Of Jacob is the story of Jacob Frank—a real-life Jewish mystic who claimed to be a reincarnated messiah in 18th-century Poland and amassed tens of thousands of followers. First published in Poland in 2014, the Nobel Committee specifically cited The Books Of Jacob when they awarded Tokarczuk the 2018 prize in literature. This could well be a decade-defining book akin to Bolaño’s 2666.

by Mónica Ojeda (trans. by Sarah Booker; February 8, Coffee House)Six girls in a private Catholic high school in Ecuador turn to the occult in Mónica Ojeda’s macabre English-language debut novel, Jawbone. The girls’ ringleader, Annelise, entertains her friends with tales of a made-up deity and eggs them on with strange dares. Soon enough, she and her friend Fernanda are falling in love, raising the stakes of Annelise’s fabricated creepypasta. Ojeda has drawn comparisons to Shirley Jackson, H.P. Lovecraft, and Edgar Allen Poe, and Publishers Weekly calls this novel “creepy good fun.”

(February 15, Riverhead):Black Leopard, Red Wolf, the first book in Marlon James’ Dark Star trilogy, was a violent, sprawling, thrilling read. The Man Booker Prize-winning author’s follow-up, Moon Witch, Spider King, promises to deliver more of the same, with a twist. The titular Moon Witch, Sogolan, retells the plot of the first book from her perspective, complicating the already complicated world of the Dark Star trilogy. James has an uncanny ability to use multiple perspectives to deepen and expand his worlds, and that bodes very well for his forthcoming book..

(February 15, Farrar, Straus & Giroux):Sheila Heti is one of the most innovative and interesting writers working today. Her prior two novels, How Should A Person Be? and Motherhood, were ponderous and experimental works of autofiction. Pure Colour has Heti examining many of the same questions about what it means to exist in the world, this time outside the autofictive realm. Heti is a challenging, engaging writer and every new stylistic step is an exciting one.

by Danielle J. Lindemann (February 15, Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Taking a critical eye to pop culture is built into The A.V. Club’s DNA. And when it’s in the service of unpacking our guiltiest of guilty pleasures? Even better. That’s why we’re excited about True Story: What Reality Says About Us from sociologist Danielle J. Lindemann. Lindemann takes readers on a guided tour of reality television, from MTV’s The Real World up through Survivor, the Bachelor/Bachelorette franchises, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and The Real Housewives. She gets in close to dissect reality TV at the micro-level, then zooms out to determine what these shows have to say about race, gender, and sexuality in America.