20 Best Books To Read in May

by Karen E. Bender

Highly original stories that speak to the challenges of being human in the 21st century. Full review >

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by Florence Knapp

This noteworthy debut explores a sobering topic with creativity, cleverness, and care. Full review >

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by Aaron John Curtis

An affecting tale of loss and healing that thrives through its seriocomic style. Full review >

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by Domenica Ruta

A perfectly charming and complex ode to mothers and found families. Full review >

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by Graham Swift

A brilliant, illuminating collection of short fiction, perhaps the author's best. Full review >

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by Susanna Kwan

What it means to see things through at the end of everything. Full review >

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by Brendan Slocumb

A virtuosic thriller. Full review >

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by Ocean Vuong

A sui generis take on the surprising and cruel ways violence is passed on across generations. Full review >

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by Alison Bechdel

Bechdel is incisive, tender, and funny—often at the same time. Full review >

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by Etgar Keret ; translated by Jessica Cohen & Sondra Silverston

Wry, affectionate, tart storytelling with Keret’s trademark comic kick. Full review >

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edited by Michele Filgate

With tenderness and aplomb in equal measure, these essays plumb the depths of paternal relations. Full review >

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by Keith McNally

Rueful, self-aware, chatty, entertaining, dazzling, and harrowing: a book that contains multitudes. Full review >

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by Craig Mod

Elegant and inspired: just the thing to read along with Basho and other pilgrims into Japan’s back country. Full review >

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by Amanda Hess

A captivating, charged, and crucially provocative consideration of motherhood in modern America. Full review >

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by Ron Chernow

Essential reading for any Twain buff and student of American literature. Full review >

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