A new novel from Hanya Yanagihara, an Elephant 6 oral history, and more books to read in January

(January 11, Doubleday) From the author of A Little Life comes another hefty years-spanning novel of high drama. To Paradise begins in an alternative New York in 1893, where, as with the rest of the United States, people are allowed to love whoever they please. Then it’s 1993 and the AIDS epidemic is ravaging Manhattan. Finally, in 2093, plagues and totalitarian rule have fallen upon the country. Yanagihara’s A Little Life was a runaway bestseller that also drew criticism for its melodramatic depiction of the lives of gay men, and it should be interesting, to say the least, to see how she treats the material here.