Believe it or not, you've made it halfway through June. Have you started plowing through your summer TBR pile yet? Grab a beach blanket and head to your favorite outdoor spot — it's definitely time to start working through that stack, especially because I've got 10 more new books you're definitely going to want to add to the pile.
There are novels this week from debut authors — like Katie Williams — and established favorites — like Caroline Kepnes, B.A. Paris, and Camille Perri. But there are also a few phenomenal nonfiction titles, including a memoir of the "disaster" of being a 20-something, a first-hand account of the Flint water crisis written by a doctor and activist from the community, a memoir-meets-guide to fertility in the United States, and a thoughtful examination and criticism of how the 24-hour news cycle has changed the way the media portrays women. Everything on the list this week is sure to get you thinking about happiness, about motherhood, about social justice, or about America in a different way.
So whatever you're in the mood to read this week, there's certainly something on this list you'll enjoy. Here are the 10 new books you need to know this week:
'Tell The Machine Goodnight' By Katie Williams
Pearl's job as a technician for the Apricity Corporation (which invented the happiness machine) is, quite literally, to help people be happy. She's good at her job — which is why it's so unfortunate that her son, Rhett, gets a whole lot of satisfaction out of being unhappy. In a reality where emotion is regulated by technology but still not quantifiable, Pearl and Rhett try to figure out what it means to be happy and how technology figures into it all.
'Choose Your Own Disaster' by Dana Schwartz
If you're in your 20s, you already know: It's really freakin' hard to figure out who you want to be and what you want to do with the rest of your life when you're also trying to figure out how to get some dumb dude to text you back or what to wear to an interview or how to move past the insecurities that have plagued you since forever. In Choose Your Own Disaster, Dana Schwartz dives into the adventures of her own young adulthood and takes you along for the ride.
'The Great Believers' by Rebecca Makkai
This magnificent book beautifully weaves together the stories of two people. First there's Yale, an art director whose career begins to flourish just as the AIDS epidemic hits and kills many of his friends. Thirty years later, there's Fiona, the little sister of one of Yale's gone-too-soon friends, who is desperate to track down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult.
'Providence' by Caroline Kepnes
Jon and Chloe were soulmates — but then Jon was kidnapped. Four years later, Chloe has given up on ever seeing him again. Until he unexpectedly reappears, with no memory of what happened while he was gone and strange powers that could prove dangerous to everyone around him. Meanwhile, in Providence, Rhode Island, healthy college kids are dropping dead with no explanation.
Bring Me Back: A Novel by B.A. Paris
Years ago, Finn's girlfriend, Layla, went missing while the couple was on vacation. Now he's engaged to her sister, Ellen, whom he bonded with after Layla's disappearance. But Finn has always suspected that something is not quite right about Ellen — and now, he has reason to believe that Layla might still be alive after all.
'Conceivability' by Elizabeth Katkin
When Elizabeth Katkin decided, she sure as heck didn't anticipate that it would take nine years and cost her $200,000. In this memoir-meets-guidebook, she details her own fraught process to becoming a mom — and walks you through the high stakes process of getting pregnant.
'What the Eyes Don’t See' by Mona Hanna-Attisha
Written by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician from Flint, Michigan, What The Eyes Don't See is the horrifying story of her quest to obtain proof that the water feeding into homes throughout her town was contaminated with lead.
'When Katie Met Cassidy' by Camille Perri
Katie, freshly arrived in New York City from Kentucky and freshly dumped by her fiancé, doesn't know what to expect when she finds herself thrown into the orbit of Cassidy. Now she must decide who she is... and what she wants out of life.
'Number One Chinese Restaurant' by Lillian Li
The Beijing Duck House is a family-owned, family-run affair that boasts its own particular brand of contained chaos. But when an actual disaster strikes the restaurant, each member of the family is forced to confront the challenges ahead in their own way.
''90s Bitch' by Allison Yarrow
BREAKING: Women are regularly vilified by the media simply for existing! Sadly, this isn't anything new. In '90s Bitch, Allison Yarrow takes you back to the the era of Anita Hill and Monica Lewinsky and Tonya Harding and examines how the media fueled America's sexism.
