MacMillan

Moraga is one of the most powerful voices of Xicana feminism. In this biography of her mother Elvira, she grapples with the struggles and erasure of women (especially of indigenous women) in the Mexican diaspora. Elvira is the strong, difficult backbone in Moraga’s life journey from the mixed-race Los Angeles household of her childhood to the hard-won “queer familia” of her present. A beautiful reclamation of language, memory, and culture. - Clara

I am such a fan of Queer Eye that I jumped on the chance to read France’s biography. It is such a fun book. This was like sitting down with a friend and sharing your life’s highs and lows while getting the best fashion advice. I love how France relates certain articles of clothing to a moment in his life. He made me laugh and contemplate (and consider whether my jewelry collection could use just one more piece). - Karena

Long known as a force to be reckoned with on the soccer field, Abby Wambach expands her play to the rest of the world with Wolfpack, an inspiring rally cry for a new way forward, based on her 2018 commencement speech at Barnard College. Her presence on the page is powerful, joyful, and inclusive; her rules are ones we should all adopt. Abby has found a new pack to lead, and we are so lucky to run with her. - Melinda

Chen Qiufan’s award-winning novel reads like classic science fiction, though first published in China in 2013, with prescient relevance to 2019 America. Combining cyberpunk, biopunk, and mecha, Qiufan’s story (in a thoughtfully done translation by Ken Liu) takes place on the fictional Silicon Isle, where the world’s waste is recycled under hazardous conditions by itinerant workers made second-class by the isle’s native population. Waste Tide takes you along for the ride, throwing in clan warfare, industrial espionage, ancient rituals, an uprising, a love story, and a mystery or three.

Sarah Gailey offers up a refreshing and exciting twist on the Magic School trope. Osthorne Academy is more Sabrina than Hogwarts, and there’s been a deeply disturbing murder on campus. Ivy Gamble isn’t magic, but she’s determined to ignore that fact and get to the bottom of this whodunit (helped with lots of alcohol). Twisty, gritty, and darkly humorous, you won’t want to miss this! 

This is the Murderino manifesto fans of the My Favorite Murder podcast have been waiting for! Part dual memoir, part advice book, SSDGM is a tender guide for all the weirdos, latchkey kids, and hot messes. Karen and Georgia dish hard truths with a heaping side of compassion and a wicked sense of humor. Brimming with hope and filled with deeply personal anecdotes from these two extraordinary women, SSDGM is essential reading for navigating this gnarly world, and it’ll show you how to be kind to yourself while still being a badass. - Kelly

I am so very excited for this heartfelt graphic novel from Kobabe, discussing gender, family, and one person’s struggle to find their identity. E has such a lovely art style and such a personal way of speaking that one can’t help but be swept along. Chances are, you know someone who identifies somewhat differently on the gender spectrum than as either straightforwardly him or her even if you don’t realize it, and I look forward to Kobabe’s work adding to the stories that normalize these experiences. - Jax

In this warm, witty novel, two people reconnect 20-plus years after their disastrous, short-lived marriage and rediscover the friendship and parts of themselves they left in their ex-life. I smiled throughout McCauley’s delightfully delivered and always smart story about grabbing onto love with all you’ve got in whatever unlikely, unconventional place you find it. My Ex-Life is the antidote to whatever dreariness ails you.                                                                                  —Clara

In the nine expansive, searching stories of A Lucky Man—a finalist for the National Book Award—fathers and sons attempt to salvage relationships with friends and family members and confront mistakes made in the past. “With equal parts precision and poetry, these nine audacious stories step into the minefields awaiting boys of color as they approach manhood in Brooklyn and the Bronx—testing the limits of relationships, social norms, and their own definitions of masculinity.”

Severance captures the unease of building a life while environmental disaster, inequality, and subsuming consumerism linger on the periphery. When an epidemic fever turns people into zombie automatons, Candace Chen—an office worker at a publishing production firm—must band together with other fever survivors to live in a post-Google, post-human apocalypse. Ma’s layered writing is as insightful and darkly funny as it is eerie.