Yahoo News PEOPLE’s Best Books to Read in May 2024: Brittney Griner’s Moving Memoir and New Fiction from Claire Messud
See our picks for the best books of the month
A cross-continental family saga, a tale of displacement and a pandemic love story — plus Brittney Griner's emotional new memoir. Here are PEOPLE's picks for the best books of May 2024.
'Coming Home' by Brittney Griner
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'Coming Home' by Brittney GrinerThe world was watching when WNBA star Brittney Griner was taken into Russian custody on drug-related charges in 2022. In her highly-anticipated memoir, the athlete is speaking out about her wrongful detainment in a Russian penal colony — and her journey back home. A moving story of resilience.
'Shanghailanders' by Juli Min
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'Shanghailanders' by Juli MinThis expansive novel follows the Yang family from 2040 back to 2014 and across three continents. We come to know wealthy Shanghai real estate investor Leo Yang, his posh Japanese-French wife, Eko, and their children Yumi, Yoko and Kiko as they deal with a climate disaster, quibbles that come to feel monumental and much more. This gorgeous, resonant novel feels like a peek into the future—and also very much about the present moment.
'This Strange Eventful History' by Claire Messud
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'This Strange Eventful History' by Claire MessudBased on Messud’s own family’s journey, this sprawling saga reaches from 1940s French Algeria to modern-day Connecticut, illuminating the toll of war, displacement and one shocking secret on successive generations of a clan buffeted by history. Evocative and eye-opening. — Kim Hubbard
'Blue Ruin' by Hari Kunzru
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'Blue Ruin' by Hari KunzruOnce a rising art star in his native England, Jay lives on the margins in America, barely scraping by. He’s delivering groceries to a mysterious compound when he encounters his lost love Alice. Drama simmers in this COVID-era story about romantic betrayals, class and the power of art. — Mary Pols
'The Red Grove' by Tess Fontaine
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'The Red Grove' by Tessa FontaineThe Red Grove is an insular community where women can’t be harmed. But when one vanishes, it calls into question that very premise in this devastating literary thriller.
'Very Bad Company' by Emma Rosenblum
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'Very Bad Company' by Emma RosenblumWhen an employee goes AWOL from a start-up’s ritzy Miami retreat, it could ruin everything. But money talks, even if people don’t, in this fun page-turning corporate suspense.
'The Return of Ellie Black' by Emiko Jean
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'The Return of Ellie Black' by Emiko JeanWhen a girl who’s been missing for two years turns up, a local detective is determined to find whodunit. Worth reading for the jaw-dropping twist alone.
'Bits and Pieces' by Whoopi Goldberg
The View cohost is opening up about the influence of her late mother and brother, Emma and Clyde. From witnessing her mother's mental breakdown when she was a child, to growing up in the New York City projects, Goldberg looks back on the experiences that impacted her in this moving tribute to family.
'My Mama, Cass' by Owen Elliot-Kugell
Owen Elliot-Kugell was only seven years old when her mother, Mamas & the Papas singer Cass Elliot, tragically died at age 32 in 1972. In a touching new memoir, the author is reflecting on her mother's life and legacy as only her child could.
“She’s been gone 50 years but I feel closer to her than ever," Elliot-Kugell tells PEOPLE.
Related: Here's How the Mamas & the Papas Got Their Unique Name and Cass Elliot Got Her Moniker (Exclusive)
'How to Read a Book' by Monica Wood
There isn’t a false note in this subtly brilliant novel about forgiveness. Drunk-driving at 19, Violet Powell killed a woman. She leaves prison at 22, nearly paralyzed by guilt but determined to start fresh in Portland, Maine. There she reconnects with Harriet Larson, the retired English teacher who runs the prison’s book club, and forms an unlikely friendship with the widower of her victim, who harbors his own guilt. An utter gem; funny, sweet and moving. — Mary Pols
'The Ministry of Time' by Kaliane Bradley
This spy thriller-meets-romance sees a civil servant assigned to help a time traveler from 1847 adjust to the modern world. But as they grow closer, he gets suspicious about the program that brought them together. A page-turning revelation.
'The Lady Waiting' by Magdalena Zyzak
When a Polish transplant finds a disheveled woman in a ball gown wandering down the L.A. freeway, it sets off a breakneck romp of a novel with a stolen Vermeer, a tangled love triangle, a half-baked heist and enough depraved opulence to make Gatsby gasp.
'Walk With Me: Hamptons' by Susan Kaufman
If you can’t summer on Long Island, this lovely book lets you live vicariously among its cozy cottages, lush gardens, roadside farm stands and beautiful beaches.
'Chop Fry Watch Learn' by Michelle T. King
Exploring the author’s love of Chinese cuisine and the story of Fu Pei-mei, China’s answer to Julia Child, this delicious book is a must-read for cooks and food lovers.
'Long Island' by Colm Tóibín
Almost two decades after his seminal Brooklyn, Tóibín revisits Eilis Lacey, a complicated Irish wife and mother with a hard choice to make. A stunning novel about love, loneliness and loss.
'I Curse You with Joy' by Tiffany Haddish
Diversion Books
'I Curse You with Joy' by Tiffany HaddishIn the follow-up to her 2017 bestseller The Last Black Unicorn, Haddish returns with a new collection of insightful, reflective essays, writing on topics like the lasting effect of childhood trauma and comedy mentorship from Bob Saget.
“I’ve learned to take tomatoes being thrown at me and turn them into tomato sauce,” the actress tells PEOPLE. “And I’m going to make some spaghetti.”
Related: Tiffany Haddish Defends Her X-Rated Comedy in New Memoir: ‘I’m Not Clair Huxtable’ (Exclusive)
''You Never Know' by Tom Selleck
Dey Street Books
'You Never Know' by Tom SelleckThe Emmy Award-winning actor is looking back on his "lucky life" and career, from his days on Magnum, P.I. to his role as a family man.
“I don’t have the hooks that a lot of people do,” Selleck tells PEOPLE. “I didn’t rehabilitate myself or have this tragic life. I had my own share of certainly ups and downs, but I’ve been very fortunate.”
Related: Tom Selleck Recalls ‘Complicated’ Dilemma That Led to Passing on Indiana Jones Role (Exclusive)
'By the Time You Read This: The Space between Cheslie's Smile and Mental Illness' by April Simpkins and Cheslie Kryst
Forefront Books
'By the Time You Read This: The Space between Cheslie's Smile and Mental Illness' by April Simpkins and Cheslie KrystWhen Extra correspondent and 2019 Miss USA Cheslie Kryst died by suicide in 2022, her mother, April Simpkins, thought that "my body is just going to shut down." Now, Simpkins has fulfilled her daughter's wish of finishing and publishing her memoir.
"I know there were people who were shocked and did not understand," Simpkins tells PEOPLE. "But when I got to a point that I could process the things that she was saying, I understood the place where she was."
'Daughters of Shandong' by Eve J. Chung
Berkley
'Daughters of Shandong' by Eve J. ChungThrow open the doors of your heart for the lionhearted girls of Chung’s gripping debut, based on her own family’s history. Along with their mother, Hai, Di and baby Lan are left behind when their wealthy family flees the Communists: As females, they are that worthless. Finding no landowner at home, the cadres drag Hai to a denunciation rally she barely survives. But these women just keep overcoming the odds—they are heroines for the ages. — Marion Winik
'Reunion' by Elise Juska
Harper
'Reunion' by Elise JuskaA quaint Maine college lures three friends out of pandemic sequestration for their 25th reunion, spurring an intense reevaluation of their lives. A pitch-perfect depiction of New England campus culture, COVID-era child-rearing and how the complexities of adulthood accumulate. — Claire Martin
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