The 19 Best New Books to Read in May

Rachel Kushner's The Mars Room is an absolutely jaw-dropping novel of epic proportions. Alternating between an ethereal portrayal of contemporary Californian life and an achingly real exploration of the state's correctional facilities, reading the book truly feels like an out-of-body experience — one you're not likely to forget any time soon.

Out May 1.

The 13 stories in Helen DeWitt's Some Trick are some of the most radical, off-the-wall, completely astonishing pages you'll read in your lifetime. Suffice it to say, you'll probably want to start back at the beginning once you've finished this small-but-mighty tome.

Out May 29.

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made For Whiteness is Austin Channing Brown's stunning debut in print and takes readers on a journey through the racial divide in a way we've truly never seen before. Powerful, haunting, and absolutely impossible to put down, her account of what it's like to grow up black, middle-class, and female in modern America is not to be missed.

Out May 15.

Not That Bad: Dispatches From Rape Culture is a collection of personal essays and experiences that truly embody the world that we live in in this post-#MeToo era. Edited by Roxane Gay and featuring some of the most important voices of a generation, it's bound to be a book that will be forefront in the feminist canon.

Out May 1.

Best known for her legendary role as Donna on Parks and Recreation, Retta was already one of our favorite people in Hollywood — yet the hilarious, inspirational essays of So Close to Being the Sh*t, Y'all Don't Even Know made us love her even more.

Out May 29.

What Should Be Wild is the story of one young woman's quest to find her father in a magical, mystical world in which generations of family haunt her and nobody is safe from her touch. Julia Fine's elegant prose and quick-paced storytelling cause the pages to fly by, and you'll still be reliving each moment to trace what was real for quite some time to come.

Out May 8.

Welcome to Lagos is a deftly painted, intricate portrait of a city that isn't often explored in literature, and Chibundu Onuzo takes readers on a journey to the heart of it, filling each character-driven page with some of the most fascinating scenes we've read in a long, long time.

Out May 1.

Lucas Mann's Captive Audience: On Love and Reality TV isn't just a look at the most popular form of television of our times — it's also a portrait of contemporary marriage and just what entertainment means to us in 2018.

Out May 1.

Do This For Me is Eliza Kennedy's delightfully salty tale of what happens when you have it all and then burn it all down — and what it truly means to find your inner self at the end of the day.

Out May 15.

Michael Ondaatje is one of the most celebrated writers of our time thanks to The English Patient — but his latest novel, Warlight, may be destined to overtake that legacy some day. Centered on two young people who are left to care for a strange individual called The Moth during World War II, the plot traces how that experience colors the world around them — and the profound impact it has on who they ultimately grow up to be.

Out May 8.

Motherhood centers on one impossibly complex question: does one choose to be a mother, or does one choose to opt out? Sheila Heti tackles the issue in such a nuanced, thoughtful way on such a profoundly personal level that it will leave even the most steadfast in their beliefs questioning what they know and believe.

Out May 1.

Lost Empress is unlike any book you have ever read before. It's got an insanely complex universe of characters that exist in a world that is uniquely defined by Sergio De La Pava's devilishly smart prose, yet it's about the criminal justice system in New York City and the Dallas Cowboys and the existence of the things that make us most human in life.

Out May 8.

The Pisces is Melissa Broder's first novel, and the prolific poet's dark and sexy tale of a modern, dissatisfied young woman who falls in love with a merman is one of those books that will leave you breathless until the very last page.

Out May 1.

The first collection of essays from beloved author Richard Russo, The Destiny Thief, is a heartfelt exploration of his life as a writer, his understanding of the world around him, and the questions we all should be asking of the world around us on an everyday basis.

Out May 8.

The stories in Rita Bullwinkel's Belly Up are built around uniquely charming characters who explore the world around them, a world which ranges from supernatural to ultrarealistic to everything in between.

Out May 8.

Franchesca Ramsey has made a name for herself through giving the world the "real talk" that we all so desperately need at the exact right time. In Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memories and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist, she explores how she got to be where she is and the things she learned along the way — and, thankfully, Ramsey also provides some advice for how to live your best life in 2018, when every day something else really seems to get in the way.

Out May 22.

The handbook to the millennial resistance has finally arrived: How I Resist: Activism and Hope For a New Generation is a book that every single young person in America should have on their bookshelf, and every single essay should be devoured and discussed for the profoundly important text that it is.

Out May 15.

Half love story and half identity quest, Sarah Winman's Tin Man is 100 percent beautiful. It's the perfect book to completely drag you out of your own personal reality and into someone else's for a little while, and you'll find yourself reading it again and again.

Out May 15.

Michael Kupperman's graphic memoir All the Answers is the story of a truly American history, told by a person who lived through it all — in other words, this pop culture history won't just teach you something; it'll make you feel all the feels, too.

Out May 15.