It is May! Proud of us for making it this far into the year. It’s wrap up time. I’ve got a quick episode round up. The books I’m most hyped for in May. And then of course, my April reads ranked (for paid subs) from least to most favorite in mini-podcast form.
I should remind you, now is your last chance to donate to the Stack the Shelves event I’m hosting for families impacted by the fires in LA earlier this year. It is a book drive with music, food, author signings, kids crafts and so much more. We want to give those who lost their homes and books a day to celebrate the LA literary community and the fighting effort to build back. If you’re able, please donate money (all tax deductible) to ensure this day is success and a joyful day for these families. No donation is too small.
The Stacks April Recap
April is National Poetry Month and the incredibly smart and lovely Tiana Clark brought so much poetic goodness to us including a rich discussion of her book Scorched Earth.
I am never going to understand how the universe conspired to let me talk to Geri Hallowell-Horner aka Ginger Spice. But it did, thanks to her middle grade novel Rosie Frost: Ice on Fire and I will never be okay again.
Debut author
came on the show to discuss her book I’ll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan and the world of K-Pop fandom.The “working homeless” is a rising group of people in US, they are people who have full time jobs but are still unable to secure housing. We talk about this trend with Brian Goldstone, the author There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America.
To wrap up poetry month, Tiana Clark came back to discuss a poetry great, Lucille Clifton. We unpack her collection Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 and discuss what makes Clifton one of the best to ever do it.
May Books On Deck
May kicks off busy (and buzzy) book season and I had to cull the shit out of my list for you all today. I got it down to 12 books.1 There are some debuts here, some serious veterans, and a few books that have piqued my curiosities mostly off vibes. The books are listed here in publishing order, and anything I’ve already read (or started) appears in bold.
Four Mothers: An Intimate Journey Through the First Year of Parenthood in Four Countries by Abigail Leonard (May 6)
This book follows the first year of motherhood for four moms from four different countries. I love these kinds of books and I have high hopes for this one.Speaking in Tongues by J. M. Coetzee & Mariana Dimópulos (May 6)
A conversation between Nobel laureate Coetzee and translator Dimópulos as they explore linguistic issues that plague writers and translators today.This Is Your Mother by Erika J. Simpson (May 6)
and explores a mother daughter relationship, so I am eager to check it out.
This year I have been pretty out on memoir, but this one came recommended fromThis Thing of Ours by Frederick Joseph (May 6)
A really sweet YA novel about a Black basketball star at a predominantly white prep school who is sidelined by injury and must figure out who he is and who he wants to be without the sport. This one I’ve read and it is really quite good.Capitalism and Its Critics: A History: From the Industrial Revolution to AI by John Cassidy (May 13)
A history of capitalism as told through the eyes of its fiercest critics. It is giving dense but also must read energy. Buddy read anybody?Love in Exile by Shon Faye (May 13)
A memoir-manifesto in essay questions the myths around love and success and explores the relationship between those ideas and loneliness.A Sharp Endless Need by Marissa Crane (May 13)
This is being pitched as a queer Love and Basketball. Say less.So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color by Caro de Robertis (May 13)
I love oral history in general, but the thought of hundreds of interviews being pieced together to document the experiences of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, and two-spirit people of color feels urgent and exciting as hell.Spent: A Comic Novel by Alison Bechdel (May 20)
Yes, Alison Bechdel has a new book. You get my drift.Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li (May 20)
The only way to share what this book is about is to let Yiyun Li tell you herself, “There is no good way to state these facts, which must be acknowledged. My husband and I had two children and lost them both: Vincent in 2017, at sixteen, James in 2024, at nineteen. Both chose suicide, and both died not far from home.”Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story by Rich Cohen (May 20)
You know I love a little true crime, and this one sounds extra compelling. It is about a suburban mother of five who dropped her kids off at school and disappeared (her body has never been found), and this happened as she was going through a nasty divorce. There’s more2 but save it for when you read it.The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s by Paul Elie (May 27)
A work of nonfiction that explores religion, politics, and pop culture colliding in the 1980’s. Think Beloved plus the AIDS epidemic plus Pope John Paul II. It sounds ambitious and good as hell. That is if Paul Elie can pull it off. I don’t know his work, but I am hopeful. This is one of my most anticipated of the year.
Your turn, what books coming out this month are you excited about?
I started April off pretty damn strong reading wise, but with Stack the Shelves (have you donated yet, there is still time) and the LA Times Festival of Books, I just fell apart at the end there. I ended the month with nine books read. If I’m being honest, 2025 has been a very challenging year for me, and that is reflected in my reading life. I am sure I am not alone. Staying the course, reading when and what I can, and giving you permission to do the same.3 Go forth, check out my monthly reads ranked.
