Every month I like to highlight new releases I am excited for. And every month I change it up it seems. Years ago when I started this feature, I wrote about popular books coming out. Then is was debuts and less known authors to request at the library and support. Then some of my non-blogger readers asked for more genres. It’s difficult trying to please everyone so the past few months I’ve really focused on what I’ll be putting on my TBR list; books that I will request from the library. So the lists have gotten shorter, and I’m good with that. There are so many places out there to find a comprehensive and thorough list of new releases and I will add those links to the end. But for me, this month, here’s what I’m hoping to read:

Grief is the Thing With Feathers – Max Porter (June 7/ 128 p./ Graywolf Press)

This little book is staring at me from my shelves. From some of the staccato reviews I’m seeing: “THIS. BOOK.”  and “I. HAVE. NO. WORDS.”, I’m anxious to read it. Based in London, two young brothers are mourning the death of their mother when Crow visits them to help heal their wounds. “In this extraordinary debut – part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay on grief, Max Porter’s compassion and bravura style combine to dazzling effect. Full of unexpected humour and profound emotional truth, Grief is the Thing with Feathers marks the arrival of a thrilling new talent.”

Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi (June 7/ 320p. /Knopf)

Picking this up at BEA was not planned but so happy I did. The reviews coming in (I’m avoiding any spoilers) are making me itch to read this right now. It’s a tale about two half-sisters born in 18th century Ghana but don’t know one another and their lives follow very different paths. “Stretching from the wars of Ghana to slavery and the Civil War in America, from the coal mines in the American South to the Great Migration to twentieth-century Harlem, Yaa Gyasi’s novel moves through histories and geographies.”

The Girls – Emma Cline (June 14/ 368p. /Random House)

Yes, this one is getting some buzz and from what I’ve heard, I’m sure it’s warranted. During that tumultuous time in the 60s, when girls were trying to find their identity, main character Evie Boyd gets drawn into a cult with a charismatic leader. Some are comparing this to the Manson story but it’s a debut fiction novel that “is gorgeously written and spellbinding, with razor-sharp precision and startling psychological insight. The Girls is a brilliant work of fiction—and an indelible portrait of girls, and of the women they become.”

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body – Roxane Gay (June 14/ 320 p./ Random House)

One I’m most excited for this month is Roxane Gay’s latest book of essays. She doesn’t edit her feelings and her brutal honesty is eye-opening as well as heartfelt. There aren’t many writers who can do that so well. It’s “a searingly honest memoir of food, weight, self-image, and learning how to feed your hunger while taking care of yourself.”

So Much For That Winter – Dorthe Nors trans. by Misha Hoekstra (June 21/ 160p./Graywolf Press)

Always trying to find short stories to add to my reading material and here are two novellas that “explore how we shape and understand experience, and the disconnection and dislocation that define our twenty-first-century lives, with Nors’s unique wit and humor.”

This is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live – Melody Warnick (June 21/ 320 p./ Viking)

I’m trying to read a little bit more nonfiction than I already do and haven’t always loved where I live (Illinois). I have severe wanderlust and I know the grass isn’t always greener. Warnick travels across America to find out what makes people love where they live. “What she learns is good news for anyone who’s ever felt stuck in a not-perfect place: You don’t have to be in your dream city to have a great life. You just have to love the place you’re in to be healthier, happier, more socially connected, and more resilient.“

Looking for more? Here are a few other places: Publishers Weekly, Fiction DB,  Book Reporter.

What new books are on your reading list this month?

Where do you go to find up and coming books?