Top Ten Reads for May
O the month of May, the merry month of May, what books have you to see in the summer? Well, there's a glorious biography of one of literature's most enigmatic personalities, an exciting translated debut. A social history of the phenomenon surrounding Princess Diana, an immersive Sci-Fi/Fantasy from a Korean master, and more much more. Find your must-read(s) for the month with our Top Ten Reads for May.
Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
01/05/2025
An exquisite, enthralling ode to rivers from the bestselling author of Underland and The Old Ways. Macfarlane travels to three rivers on three continents, seeking answers to the non-rhetorical titular query. What transpires—through devastatingly beautiful, poetic prose and deep philosophical interrogation—is nothing less than a literary case for conservation and a clarion call for the rights of nature.
Hark: How Women Listen by Alice Vincent
Hark: How Women Listen by Alice Vincent
01/05/2025
From the author of the wonderful Why Women Grow, a fascinating, profound meditation on sound and the art of listening from a female perspective. Touching on new motherhood and women's roles in society, Hark is a raw, personal and unflinching, yet hopeful and ultimately uplifting book that serves to cement Alice Vincent's reputation as an unmissable writer.
EVENT: How Women Listen: Alice Vincent in Conversation with Amy Key
Dianaworld: An Obsession by Edward White
Dianaworld: An Obsession by Edward White
08/05/2025
Less a biography, more an all-encompassing look at the world that revolved around Diana, Dianaworld is a long overdue book. Eschewing the tendency of most writing on Diana, and indeed the Royal family as a whole, to tend toward the extreme, White takes on the story as a study of popular culture, Britishness, culture, the press and progress.
Red Sword by Bora Chung (author), Anton Hur (translator)
Red Sword by Bora Chung (author), Anton Hur (translator)
13/05/2025
From Bora Chung and Anton Hur, the author/translator duo that brought us the magnificent, International Booker Prize Shortlisted Cursed Bunny and Your Utopia, an immersive, dizzying science fiction/fantasy. Chung draws on the real history of Korean soldiers who fought and died in a war against Russia on behalf of the Qing Dynasty in the 15th century in an epic feat of world building and imagination.
Pathemata: Or, The Story of My Mouth by Maggie Nelson
Pathemata: Or, The Story of My Mouth by Maggie Nelson
15/05/2025
Taking its title from Anne Carson's Eros the Bittersweet, Pathemata explores loss, loneliness and pain while also being a book that beams with light and hope. Described as a 'pain diary', Nelson uses her own chronic condition to meditate on love, resilience and the limits of language.
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
15/05/2025
A tender and poetic novel of unlikely friendship from the author of Foyles 2019 Fiction Book of the Year On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. A profound exploration of human resilience, chosen family, and the unyielding desire for connection amidst chaos—The Emperor of Gladness is a literary must-read for 2025.
EVENT: The Emperor of Gladness Release Party
Spent by Alison Bechdel
Spent by Alison Bechdel
22/05/2025
A gloriously wry and whip smart graphic novel from the creator of Fun Home and Dykes to Watch Out For. Bechdel explores the modern world—from pandemic to politics, gender to climate crisis, the American nightmare to goats—in a meta-memoir-satire that is a whole load of serious-fun, and features favourite characters from DTWOF and a fictionalised Bechdel themselves.
That's All I Know by Elisa Levi (author), Christina MacSweeney (translator)
That's All I Know by Elisa Levi (author), Christina MacSweeney (translator)
22/05/2025
After losing his dog in a forest a man sits on a bench next to Little Lea, who tells him the story of her life; her friends, the village she grew up in and her attempts to escape. Told in vivid, dynamic prose, That's All I Know is a dazzling debut about love, life, sex and unrealised dreams; Often funny, often tragic, constantly utterly berserk. Elisa Levi is truly an author to watch.
Ripeness by Sarah Moss
Ripeness by Sarah Moss
22/05/2025
One of our most prolific, endlessly intriguing contemporary authors, a new book from Sarah Moss is always an event. In Ripeness, we follow Edith, first as a 70 year old in rural Ireland, then as a 17 year old, coming-of-age in 1960s Italy, on a life-changing journey. A delightful novel of ageing, how the past is always with us, diasporas and refugees, family and friendship and the joys of a bookish life.
Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife by Francesca Wade
Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife by Francesca Wade
22/05/2025
New from the author of the brilliant, bestselling Square Haunting—a fascinating and revealing biography of one of 20th century literature's most enigmatic, important, but contested figures. Wade masterfully unravels the mythology of Stein in order to get to the heart of her personality and artistic output.
