The best new books to read in May include historian and best-selling author Ron Chernow’s biography of Mark Twain, United We Dream co-founder Cristina Jiménez’s debut memoir, and poet and novelist Ocean Vuong’s follow-up to his 2019 novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.
There’s something for everyone this month. Young adult author Christina Li makes her adult literary debut with a gothic ghost story for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Nature writer Robert Macfarlane’s latest is a personal and political look at the legal rights of nature. And New York Times critic at large Amanda Hess dissects what it’s like to raise a child in the digital age.
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Below, the 13 books you should read in May.
The Manor of Dreams, Christina Li (May 6)
The Manor of Dreams begins with the death of a fictional starlet named Vivian Yin, who has left her crumbling mansion to an unlikely heir: the daughter of her long-deceased former housekeeper. Vivian’s children now find themselves in a battle over their mother’s broken-down estate against someone they suspect may have had a hand in her demise. In hopes of piecing together Vivian’s final days, the warring families move into the dilapidated home together only to discover that it is being haunted by the ghosts of the late actor’s complicated past.
Buy Now: The Manor of Dreams on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
The Original Daughter, Jemimah Wei (May 6)
Jemimah Wei’s debut, The Original Daughter, tells the story of an unlikely sisterhood. Genevieve Yang’s life is completely upended when, at eight years old, she suddenly gains a de facto younger sister who is actually the daughter of an estranged relative. Set in Singapore at the turn of the millennium, the unexpected siblings quickly bond over the societal pressure to be the perfect daughter only to have a bitter betrayal tear them apart later in life. When Genevieve’s mother gets sick, the two must try and put their differences aside in this decades-spanning saga about ambition, resentment, and forgiveness.
Buy Now: The Original Daughter on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Second Life, Amanda Hess (May 6)
With her debut memoir, journalist Amanda Hess uses her own experience as a first-time mom to look at what it’s like to have and raise a child in the social media age. But Second Life isn’t the new What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Hess isn’t offering parenting tips to tech-savvy caretakers. Instead, she takes readers on an eye-opening adventure down the parenting internet rabbit hole where she explores, among many things, the personification of pregnancy tracking apps, the surreal network of prenatal genetic tests, and the origins of the growing “freebirther” movement.
Buy Now: Second Life on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
What My Father And I Don’t Talk About, Edited by Michele Filgate (May 6)
In this follow-up to writer and editor Michele Filgate’s acclaimed 2019 anthology, What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About, authors, poets, and essayists including Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Susan Muaddi Darraj, and Kelly McMasters unspool their complicated relationships with their dads. Across 16 essays, What My Father and I Don’t Talk About tackles difficult topics such as parental estrangement, toxic masculinity, and emotional availability in hopes of encouraging us to consider how we are shaped by our family.
Buy Now: What My Father And I Don’t Talk About on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong (May 13)
Ocean Vuong’s second novel begins when an elderly Lithuanian woman with early-stage dementia saves Hai, a troubled 19-year-old, from taking his own life. Hai soon reciprocates this act of kindness by becoming her caregiver. The pair, both living on the fringes of society in their Connecticut town, form an unexpected friendship that leads the teen on a journey of self-discovery.
Buy Now: The Emperor of Gladness on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Mark Twain, Ron Chernow (May 13)
After tackling the lives of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Ulysses S. Grant with his previous biographies, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow returns with a definitive portrait of another American icon: Mark Twain. Across a whopping 1,200 pages, Chernow takes a comprehensive look at the life of the author born Samuel Langhorne Clemens. The book delves into Twain’s early years working odd jobs—steamboat pilot, miner, journalist, just to name a few—before the release of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. From there, Chernow traces Twin’s life and career up until his grief-stricken final days marked by undiagnosed madness.
Buy Now: Mark Twain on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Run for the Hills, Kevin Wilson (May 13)
The latest novel from Kevin Wilson, the best-selling author of Nothing to See Here, starts with an unusual family reunion that leads to an even crazier family road trip. Twenty years after her father walks out on her and her mom, organic farmer Madeline “Mad” Hill meets Reuben, a 40-something mystery writer who claims to be her older half-brother. With the help of a private detective, Reuben has tracked down their dad, who, it turns out, has fathered multiple children. Now, Reuben is hitting the road to gather up their siblings and confront their absentee dad, and he wants Mad to come with him. Looking for answers for her dad’s disappearance, she agrees, embarking on an adventure to finally understand where she came from.
Buy Now: Run for the Hills on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
The Book of Records, Madeleine Thien (May 20)
Madeleine Thien’s century-spanning fourth novel, The Book of Records, is set in a mysterious shape-shifting enclave for displaced people where the past, present, and future collide. After fleeing their home in southern China, Lina and her ailing father have taken up residence at “the Sea.” There, they live alongside a diverse group of neighbors including a Jewish scholar from 17th century Amsterdam, a poet of Tang Dynasty China, and a philosopher fleeing Nazi persecution in 1930s Germany. After her dad reveals his role in their family’s tragic past, Lina looks to her time traveling community for advice on how to reckon with her devastation.
Buy Now: The Book of Records on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Is a River Alive? Robert Macfarlane (May 20)
With his twelfth book, best-selling British nature writer Robert Macfarlane argues that rivers are not just flowing bodies of water, but living beings with legal rights. Inspired by the Rights of Nature movement, the global effort to legally protect nature, Macfarlane visits a cloud-forest in northern Ecuador, the wounded creeks, lagoons, and estuaries of southern India, and a wild river in Quebec at risk of being dammed to show how activists, artists, and lawmakers are putting the concept of environmental personhood to the test.
Buy Now: Is a River Alive? on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Shamanism, Manvir Singh (May 20)
Shamanism, anthropologist Manvir Singh’s debut, traces the evolution of the titular spiritual practice. To investigate the origins of the ancient religion, Singh travels to the Mentawai archipelago in Indonesia, a cave in southwest France, and the northwest Amazon. He studies with shamans, healers who are believed to have the power to commune with spirits, in hopes of understanding why their practices have become as popular with Burning Man festival goers as they are with Wall Street traders. Blending memoir, investigative journalism, and anthropological fieldwork, Shamanism is a deep dive into a religious tradition that is as mysterious as it is timeless.
Buy Now: Shamanism on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Things in Nature Merely Grow, Yiyun Li (May 20)
With her second memoir, novelist Yiyun Li examines the unbearable pain of losing both her sons to suicide. Things in Nature Merely Grow paints a loving portrait of each of her teenage children, who died nearly seven years apart, and details her own battles with depression and suicidal ideation. (The latter was the focus of her 2017 debut memoir, Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life.) Throughout, Li does not shy away from the magnitude of these losses. Instead, she writes of radical acceptance, offering a profound look at how a parent continues to live in a world without her children.
Buy Now: Things in Nature Merely Grow on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Dreaming of Home, Cristina Jiménez (May 27)
When activist Cristina Jiménez was 13, she and her family moved from Ecuador to the United States. Her debut memoir, Dreaming of Home, tells the story of what it was like growing up undocumented in Queens, NY, and how her experience inspired her to become a prominent voice in the fight for immigration justice.
Buy Now: Dreaming of Home on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Lush, Rochelle Dowden-Lord (May 27)
In Rochelle Dowden-Lord’s debut, Lush, four wine experts—a wunderkind sommelier, a food writer, a social media influencer, and the owner of a popular, but mediocre wine brand—are invited to a French vineyard for the weekend. While there, they’ll get the chance to taste the rarest wine in the world. But in order to achieve this professional milestone, they’ll have to confront their personal demons in this intoxicating look at the world of wine and those who love it.
Buy Now: Lush on Bookshop | Amazon | Barnes & Noble