May books

Many exciting new books in May! I’m liking the book club picks this month too, so I’m definitely going to try and read those. Kevin Kwan is an auto-buy for me so I’ll be getting that one for sure, and I think I want some nice beach reads for the summer, some romance and light stuff for the sunny warm days.

May book club picks:

Read with Jenna: Real Americans by Rachel Khong

From the award-winning author of Goodbye, Vitamin: How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family, and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?

Reese Witherspoon: How to end a love story by Yulin Kuang

Two writers with a complicated history end up working on the same TV show… Can they write themselves a new ending? A sexy and emotional enemies-to-lovers romance guaranteed to pull on your heartstrings and give you a book hangover from brilliant new voice Yulin Kuang

GMA: The ministry of time by Kaliane Bradley

A time travel romance, a speculative spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingeniously constructed exploration of the nature of truth and power and the potential for love to change it Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.

Belletrist: Weird black girls by Elwin Cotman – stories

In each of the seven stories in this collection, characters pursue their obsessions on paths to glory and destruction while around them their worlds twist and warp, oscillating between reality and impossibility. On display throughout is Cotman’s ability to reveal truths about the human experience—about friendship, love, betrayal, bitterness—through whimsy, horror, and fantasy. Elegiac in tone, imaginative and humorous in their execution, the character-driven stories in Weird Black Girls challenge, incite, and entertain.

Oprah’s book club: Long Island by Colm TóiBín

Oprah joined the party this month with a sequel to the story of Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work, twenty years later.

It’s a risky move, picking a sequal to a 20 year old book, I’m torn between skipping this one or going all in and reading the first book and then this one.

Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony’s parents, a huge extended family that lives and works, eats and plays together. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis, now in her forties with two teenage children, has no one to rely on in this still-new country. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades.

New releases May 2024:

The last murder at the end of the world by Sturart Turton

From the bestselling author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water comes an inventive, high-concept murder mystery: an ingenious puzzle, an extraordinary backdrop, and an audacious solution.

Solve the murder to save what’s left of the world.

The age of magical overthinking by Amanda Montell

From the bestselling author of Cultish and host of the podcast Sounds Like a Cult, a delicious blend of cultural criticism and personal narrative that explores our cognitive biases and the power, disadvantages, and highlights of magical thinking.

Oye by Melissa Mogollon

A coming-of-age comedy. A telenovela-worthy drama. A moving family saga. All in a phone call you won’t want to hang up on. The book is structured as a series of one-sided phone calls from a sarcastic narratorer, Luciana to her older sister, Mari.

Lies and weddings by Kevin Kwan

From the iconic internationally bestselling author of the Crazy Rich Asians A forbidden affair erupts volcanically amid a decadent tropical wedding in this outrageous comedy of manners.

In a globetrotting tale that takes us from the black sand beaches of Hawaii to the skies of Marrakech, from the glitzy bachelor pads Los Angeles to the inner sanctums of England’s oldest family estates, nobody does rich decadence like Kevin Kwan!

This summer will be different by Carley Fortune

This summer they’ll keep their promise. This summer they won’t give into temptation. This summer will be different.

Lucy is the tourist vacationing at a beach house on Prince Edward Island. Felix is the local who shows her a very good time. The only problem: Lucy doesn’t know he’s her best friend’s younger brother. Lucy and Felix’s chemistry is unreal, but the list of reasons why they need to stay away from each other is long, and they vow to never repeat that electric night again.

All fours by Miranda July

The New York Times–bestselling author of The First Bad Man returns with an irreverently sexy, tender, hilarious, and surprising novel about a woman upending her life

A semifamous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to New York. Twenty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.

The paradise problem by Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

The return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state—but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers.

I’ve read an ARC of this book back in february – if you’re interested in my review, you can find that HERE or on Goodreads.

The Guncle abroad by Steven Rowley

From the nationally bestselling author of The Guncle comes the much-anticipated sequel, in which Patrick O’Hara is called back to his guncle duties…at a big, family wedding in Lake Como, Italy.

If you read and loved the guncle – maybe you want to spend some more time with him? If you still haven’t met him (like me) maybe you’re ready to finally get introduced?

Camino Ghosts by John Grisham

Bookstore owner Bruce Cable is reunited once again with Mercer Mann for another thrilling mystery packed with sun, sand, and mayhem. Filled with unpredictable twists, the return to Camino Island is guaranteed to be this summer’s perfect escape.

This is the third Camino Island novel, if you’re following that series.

Diversity reading prompt May: Short stories