May Monthly Essentials
Welcome to May-cember, as it is “lovingly” known to many of us now. When did May become the newest time that was overpacked, overscheduled, and leading all of us to be generally over it? I’m not sure, but it’s a busy time leading up to another busy time (summer reading!). It’s also a month full of great books, so your patrons will have plenty to read and listen to as they jet from activity to activity!
The publishing schedule is also packed, so get ready for lots of new books that your patrons are going to love!
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Featured title:
The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu
Buy The Subtle Art of Folding Space ebook here
Buy The Subtle Art of Folding Space audiobook here
From the publisher:
Ellie’s universe—and this one—is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it’s supposed to.
Daniel, Ellie’s cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks—one that keeps Ellie’s comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It’s not a good day.
If she can confront her mother’s legacy and overcome her family’s generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister…but digging into her family’s past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself.
Top Books of May
Featured title:
Platform Decay by Martha Wells
Buy Platform Decay audiobook here
From the publisher:
Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment of Martha Wells’ bestselling and award-winning Murderbot Diaries series.
Having someone else support your bad decision feels kind of good.
After volunteering to run a rescue mission, Murderbot realizes that it will have to spend significant time with a bunch of humans it doesn’t know.
Including human children. Ugh.
This may well call for… eye contact!
Mental Health Awareness Month
Featured title:
The ADHD Field Guide for Adults by Cate Osborn & Erik Gude
Buy The ADHD Field Guide for Adults ebook here
Buy The ADHD Field Guide for Adults audiobook here
From the publisher:
WELCOME TO THE CLUB—ADHD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in adults, yet “there are no US guidelines for diagnosing and treating patients beyond childhood” (The New York Times). With roughly eight million adults living with ADHD and more people seeking and receiving diagnoses each year, there’s a huge gap between lived experiences and straightforward information.
Enter Cate Osborn and Erik Gude, ADHD advocates, educators, and hosts of the wildly popular podcast Catie and Eric’s Infinite Quest: An ADHD Adventure. They have witnessed this info gap firsthand in their own lives and in the flood of questions they regularly field from their millions of social media followers. Irreverent, indispensable, candid, and reassuring, Cate and Erik don’t paper over the realities of neurodivergence. They give it to you straight.
Featuring the most up-to-date foundational information, The ADHD Field Guide for Adults also explores issues that are rarely discussed, such as navigating sex and intimacy, and the healthcare system. Ingeniously structured and designed to be accessible for neurodivergent readers, The ADHD Field Guide for Adults features a wealth of knowledge and hard-won wisdom on:
- Identifying comorbidities (e.g. autism; anxiety; depression; dyslexia; and others)
- Coping with stress, boredom, and other experiences
- Asking for help
- Creating organizational systems that work for you and how to triage if you diverge from them
- Improving time management
- Recognizing the effects of hormones on ADHD
- Learning to listen to your body when interoception makes it tricky
- Approaching sex and sensory issues, desire and intimacy
- Noticing Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria and other cognitive distortions in relationships
- And much more…
From taking responsibility to testing and evaluations, to tips for productivity and organization, to thoughtful discussions on diagnosis and identity, The ADHD Field Guide for Adults is the perfect book not only for adults who have ADHD, but for anyone who wants to understand them.
Halfway to Halloween
Featured title:
Femme Feral by Sam Beckbessinger
Buy Femme Feral audiobook here
From the publisher:
Hyper-competent Ellie thinks she’s going through perimenopause, but discovers she’s actually turning into a werewolf in this feminist, dark-comedy debut
The head of a company she started from the ground-up, the worried mother of a troublingly secretive daughter, and the wife of an easy-going man who always has her picking up the slack—Ellie is already juggling too much. So, it’s an inconvenient time to find herself beset by strange physical changes: hair sprouting in new places, running hot, trouble sleeping, losing time, finding bloodstains in all her clothing. And underneath it all, a boiling rage that threatens to disrupt the life she’s worked so hard to build.
Her doctor diagnoses perimenopause. But it’s another twenty-eight-day cycle that’s taking hold, one that involves fur, teeth, and a not-insignificant amount of howling at the moon—and that gifts Ellie incredible strength and speed. Her new power’s thrilling, as is releasing the anger she’s suppressed for years—especially as it turns out that there are some problems that can be solved with violence: The terrible new hire who is sabotaging her careful plans. The creep who’s stalking her daughter. Only, the beast within isn’t easy to control, and its bloody trail is getting harder to hide. With an obsessive hunter on her trail and a growing fear of what she’s becoming, Ellie must find a way to yoke her fury before she tears through the people she loves.
A deeply gratifying, highly addictive and provocative read, Femme Feral is an exhilarating expression of feminine rage, with a warning: If you swallow your anger, it’s sure to come back with a bite.
May Blockbusters
Featured title:
The Midnight Train by Matt Haig
Buy The Midnight Train ebook here
Buy The Midnight Train audiobook here
From the publisher:
When your life flashes before your eyes, where would you stop?
No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there.
The chance to re-live the moments that meant most.
To see what kind of person you really were.
For Wilbur his best days were with Maggie, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice.
Before he gave it all away.
He wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything . . .
A magical, time-travelling love story, from the world of The Midnight Library.
Top Fantasy of May
Featured title:
The Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker
Buy The Ballad of Falling Dragons ebook here
Buy The Ballad of Falling Dragons audiobook here
From the publisher:
The Ballad of Falling Dragons is the much-anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling phenomenon When the Moon Hatched, featuring an immersive, vibrant world with mysterious creatures, a unique magic system, and a love that blazes through the ages.
“Moonbeam. A moonfall is coming.”
Raeve’s thirst for vengeance continues to burn, as does her love for Kaan Vaegor—a staunch beacon from a past she’s yet to face. With Rekk’s blood still fresh on her hands, she learns the world will face its most devastating moonfall yet, forcing her to pick a path:
Chase death.
Or life.
Desperate to save his kingdom from ruin, Kaan’s crown has never felt so heavy. His many larks to scattered friends and family remain unanswered, and time is running out.
As allies merge and enemies surge with bloodlusting agendas of their own, secrets brew hot enough to burn, but none so mighty as the truth nesting within the icy depths of Raeve’s long forgotten past.
Something … Other.
Something with the knowledge to change it all.
Top Kids and Teens of May
Featured title:
Babysitter’s Little Sister Graphic Novels: Karen’s Surprise by Shauna J. Grant, based on the novel by Ann M. Martin
Buy Karen’s Suprise ebook here
From the publisher:
Another graphic novel in this fun series spin-off of The Baby-sitters Club, adapted and illustrated by bestselling author and Mimi series creator Shauna J. Grant!
Karen and her classmates are putting on a play about a grand Thanksgiving feast. She wants the starring role, of course, but she is given the worst part of all — the Thanksgiving turkey! All she gets to do is walk across the stage in a big brown costume and say one or two lines.
Will everyone laugh at Karen the Turkey? Not when they see her big surprise!
Mother’s Day Reads
Featured title:
Just a Busy Season: Essays on Motherhood and Unexpected Comedy by Taylor Wolfe
Buy Just a Busy Season ebook here
Buy Just a Busy Season audiobook here
From the publisher:
Comedian and author of Birdie & Harlow @thedailytay shares an honest and hilarious essay collection on parenting young children, navigating social anxiety, and being a millennial woman.
“It’s just a busy season,” we say to ourselves after a chaotic morning (that we’ve had every day for the past three years). It turns out that season is actually just life, and here Taylor Wolfe explores the funny and dark side of all a busy life can entail. We’ve all found ourselves at a highway rest stop allowing our child to pee directly into our hands because she’s scared of the toilet, right? Right? In her trademark voice—hilarious, poignant, and real—she dishes about everything from motherhood to the roots of anxiety (childhood and tornados, obviously), to the highs and lows of getting through whatever season we find ourselves in.
Just a Busy Season dispenses a necessary dose of hope and relatability as Taylor candidly reflects on how we cope, or don’t, with the stress and unrealistic expectations of being a mom, daughter, woman, and person in the world without losing ourselves—or our sense of humor.
More Recommended Lists You Don’t Want to Miss:
If you ever need help shopping, you can always email your Digital Content Librarian! Find your DCL in the SUPPORT tab of Marketplace.
Happy spring reading to all of you!