Spring is in full bloom, and with it comes a new crop of book releases! May will see new releases from many popular authors, some of whom I've mentioned below (those I didn't list include Rick Riordan, Jo Nesbo, Michael Crichton, Nora Roberts, Haruki Murakami and David Sedaris) as well as some exciting debuts! All book descriptions are adapted from Goodreads.
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins: (From the author of "The Girl on the Train.") A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged.
The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman: One mental breakdown and some random suicidal thoughts later, Lilian Girvan is just starting to get the hang of this widow thing. The only problem is she’s becoming overwhelmed with being underwhelmed.
At least her textbook illustrating job has some perks -- like actually being called upon to draw whale genitalia. Oh, and there’s that vegetable-gardening class her boss signed her up for. After recruiting her kids and sister to join her, Lilian shows up at the Los Angeles Botanical Garden feeling out of her element. But what she’ll soon discover -- with the help of a patient instructor and a quirky group of gardeners -- is that into every life a little sun must shine, whether you want it to or not.
The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn: England, 1815: Two travelers arrive in a field, disheveled and weighed down with hidden money. They are not what they seem, but colleagues from a technologically advanced future, posing as a doctor and his spinster sister. While Rachel and Liam aren’t the first team of time travelers, their mission is the most audacious yet: meet, befriend, and steal from Jane Austen.
Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig: After years in foster care, Ginny is in her fourth forever family, finally with parents who will love her.
Everyone tells her that she should feel happy, but she has never stopped crafting her Big Secret Plan of Escape.
Because something happened, a long time ago -- something that only Ginny knows -- and nothing will stop her going back to put it right. A fiercely poignant and inspirational story a lost girl searching for a place to call home. Ginny Moon will change everyone who spends time with her.
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson: What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan: A debut novel about a Palestinian family caught between present and past, between displacement and home.
On the eve of her daughter Alia’s wedding, Salma reads the girl’s future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel, and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is uprooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967. Salt Houses is a remarkable novel that challenges and humanizes an age-old conflict we might think we understand -- one that asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can’t go home again.
The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey: (From the author of "The Girl With All the Gifts.") Once upon a time, in a land blighted by terror, there was a very clever boy.
The people thought the boy could save them, so they opened their gates and sent him out into the world.
To where the monsters lived.
The Best of Adam Sharpe by Graeme Simsion: (From the author of "The Rosie Project.") On the cusp of turning fifty, Adam Sharp likes his life. But he can never quite shake off his nostalgia for what might have been: his blazing affair more than twenty years ago with an intelligent and strong-willed actress named Angelina Brown who taught him for the first time what it means to find -- and then lose -- love. How different might his life have been if he hadn’t let her walk away?
And then, out of nowhere, from the other side of the world, Angelina gets in touch. What does she want? Does Adam dare to live dangerously?
The Leavers by Lisa Ko: One morning, Deming Guo’s mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, goes to her job at the nail salon and never comes home. With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left with no one to care for him. He is eventually adopted by two white college professors who move him from the Bronx to a small town upstate. They rename him Daniel Wilkinson in their efforts to make him over into their version of an “all-American boy.” But far away from all he’s ever known, Daniel struggles to reconcile his new life with his mother’s disappearance and the memories of the family and community he left behind.
Set in New York and China, "The Leavers" is a vivid and moving examination of borders and belonging.
Cutting Back by Leslie Buck: At thirty-five, Leslie Buck made an impulsive decision to put her personal life on hold to pursue her passion. Leaving behind a full life of friends, love, and professional security, she became the first American woman to learn pruning from one of the most storied landscaping companies in Kyoto. "Cutting Back" recounts Buck’s bold journey and the revelations she has along the way.
Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker: A gorgeous, deft literary retelling of Charlotte Bronte's beloved "Jane Eyre" -- through the eyes of the dashing, mysterious Mr. Rochester himself. Faithful in every particular to Bronte's original yet full of unexpected twists and riveting behind-the-scenes drama, this novel will completely, deliciously, and forever change how we read and remember "Jane Eyre."
Becoming Bonnie by Jenni L. Walsh: The untold story of how wholesome Bonnelyn Parker became half of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde duo. Few details are known about Bonnie's life prior to meeting her infamous partner. In "Becoming Bonnie," Jenni L. Walsh shows a young woman promised the American dream and given the Great Depression, and offers a compelling account of why she fell so hard for a convicted felon -- and turned to crime herself.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman: Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.
Eleanor Oliphant is fine. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except sometimes, everything.
No one’s ever told Eleanor life should be better than fine. But with a simple act of kindness she’s about to realize exactly how much better than fine life can be.
Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor: Out for a hike one scorching afternoon in Sycamore, Arizona, a newcomer to town stumbles across what appear to be human remains embedded in the wall of a dry desert ravine. As news of the discovery makes its way around town, Sycamore’s longtime residents fear the bones may belong to Jess Winters, the teenage girl who disappeared suddenly some eighteen years earlier, an unsolved mystery that has soaked into the porous rock of the town and haunted it ever since. In the days it takes the authorities to make an identification, the residents rekindle stories, rumors, and recollections both painful and poignant as they revisit Jess’s troubled history. In resurrecting the past, the people of Sycamore will find clarity, unexpected possibility, and a way forward for their lives.
Tuesday's Promise: One Veteran, One Dog, and Their Bold Quest to Change Lives by Luis Carlos Montalvan: In this spectacular follow-up to "Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him,"
(a book I LOVED!) Luis and Tuesday rescue a forgotten Tuskegee airman, battle obstinate VA bureaucrats and bring solace for troubled war heroes coast-to-coast. All this, while Luis' personal battle intensifies; while Tuesday has helped him make immense mental strides, the chronic pain of his injuries threaten to leave him wheelchair-bound. In a grave decision, Luis opts to amputate his leg, and learn how to live with a prosthetic.
As Luis regains his athleticism, 10-year-old Tuesday enters a new phase in life; due to his growing age he will soon need to retire. Together, these two friends begin the tender process of welcoming a new puppy into their pack.
A Dog's Way Home by W. Bruce Cameron: (From the author of "A Dog's Purpose.") Lucas Ray is shocked when an adorable puppy jumps out of an abandoned building and into his arms. Though the apartment he shares with his mother, a disabled veteran, doesn't allow dogs, Lucas can't resist taking Bella home. After Bella is picked up by Animal Control because pit bulls are banned in Denver, Lucas has no choice but to send her to a foster home until he can figure out what to do. But Bella, distraught at the separation, doesn't plan to wait. With four hundred miles of dangerous Colorado wilderness between her and her person, Bella sets off on a seemingly impossible and completely unforgettable adventure home.
The Book of Summer by Michelle Gable: Physician Bess Codman has returned to her family's Nantucket compound, Cliff House, for the first time in four years. Her great-grandparents built Cliff House almost a century before, but due to erosion, the once-grand home will soon fall into the sea. Though she's purposefully avoided the island, Bess must now pack up the house and deal with her mother, a notorious town rabble-rouser, who refuses to leave. "The Book of Summer" unravels the power and secrets of Cliff House as told through the voices of Ruby Packard, a bright-eyed and idealistic newlywed on the eve of WWII, the home's definitive guestbook, and Bess herself. Bess's grandmother always said it was a house of women, and by the very last day of the very last summer at Cliff House, Bess will understand the truth of her grandmother's words in ways she never contemplated.
How to be Human by Paula Cocozza: On leave from work, unsettled by the proximity of her ex, and struggling with her hostile neighbors, Mary has become increasingly captivated by a magnificent fox who is always in her garden. First she sees him wink at her, then he brings her presents, and finally she invites him into her house. As the boundaries between the domestic and the wild blur, and the neighbors set out to exterminate the fox, it is unclear if Mary will save the fox, or the fox save Mary.
In this masterful debut, Paula Cocozza weaves together a penetrating portrait of marital breakdown, a social novel of wit and nuance, and an obsessive love story that crosses new boundaries.
Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan: A man and a woman revisit memories of their love affair on a utopian Earth while they are trapped in the vast void of space with only ninety minutes of oxygen left.
After the catastrophic destruction of the Middle East and the United States, Europe has become a utopia and, every three years, the European population must rotate into different multicultural communities, living as individuals responsible for their own actions. While living in this paradise, Max meets Carys and immediately feels a spark of attraction. He quickly realizes, however, that Carys is someone he might want to stay with long-term, which is impossible in this new world.
As their relationship plays out, the connections between their time on Earth and their present dilemma in space become clear. When their air ticks dangerously low, one is offered the chance of salvation -- but who will take it?
The Reminders by Val Emmich: Grief-stricken over his partner’s death, Gavin sets fire to every physical reminder in the couple's home. A neighbor captures the ordeal on video, turning this unsung TV actor into a household name. Now, Gavin is fleeing the hysteria of Los Angeles for New Jersey, hoping to find peace with the family of an old friend. Instead, he finds Joan.
Joan, the family's ten-year-old daughter, was born with the rare ability to recall every day of her life in cinematic detail. Joan has never met Gavin until now, but she did know his partner, Sydney, and waiting inside her uncanny mind are half a dozen startlingly vivid memories to prove it.
Gavin strikes a deal with Joan: in return for sharing all her memories of Sydney, Gavin will help Joan win a local songwriting contest she's convinced could make her unforgettable. The unlikely duo sets off on their quest until Joan reveals unexpected details about Sydney's final months, forcing Gavin to question not only the purity of his past with Sydney but the course of his own immediate future.
Most intriguing TBR addition: "The Immortalists" by Chloe Benjamin. (Out next January.) From Goodreads: "If you were told the date of your death, how would it shape your present?
It’s 1969 in New York City’s Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone their date of death. In search of one thing they can know for sure, the Gold siblings -- four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness -- sneak out to hear their fortunes.
Their prophecies inform the next five decades. Golden boy Simon runs away to San Francisco, where he lives a life of decadence and unmitigated sexuality; chameleonic Klara becomes a magician obsessed with blurring fantasy and reality; Daniel, a natural leader, rises in ranks as a prestigious military doctor; and shy, bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immorality."
