What We Are Reading in May

Chef, restaurateur, writer, and connoisseur of Korean fried chicken, Judy Joo has gained widespread acclaim for her vibrant approach to Korean cuisine. Now, she presents her latest collection of fresh, exciting recipes in “K-Quick.” The cookbook focuses on recipes that blend creative flair with accessibility, ensuring every mealtime is a success. Some mouth-watering examples include: Crispiest Korean Fried Chicken Bites, Spicy Gochujang Salmon, Silken Tofu Banchan, Watermelon Rind Pickle, Folded Kimbap, Kimchi-fried Rice, and so much more!

Showcasing a variety of quick-to-prepare dishes alongside a selection of traditional recipes, “K-Quick” offers a solution for the adventurous foodie who’s strapped for time, ensuring that there’s truly a dish for every mood. 

Remi Nomura married Isaiah Won out of duty as fellow representatives of Tranquil Valley on the Witches’ Council. She never expected to love him. (How gauche. They’re co-workers, not lovers.) It’s particularly inconvenient since he’s in love with someone else. But when Remi accidentally falls in love with Isaiah, her feelings disrupt their careful balance. After her secret shatters both relationships, Remi must decide if hiding her heart is worth the cost, while Isaiah reconsiders everything he thought he knew about love.

“Immaculate Conception” is a novel that follows Enka, a young woman at a prestigious art school who falls into an intense, codependent friendship with the mysterious star student Mathilde. In the years that follow, Mathilde’s fame skyrockets thanks to her provocative work, while Enka creates art for a technology company and marries the founder’s billionaire son. The two women reunite after Mathilde suffers a life-changing catastrophe, and Enka sees a new technology from her husband’s company — purported to allow one person to absorb another’s trauma — as the perfect cure for Mathilde’s pain. Soon, the boundaries between the two women begin to blur, igniting a disturbing series of events that changes their lives in unimaginable ways.

Ocean Vuong returns with a bighearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. One summer evening in Connecticut, 19-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to alter Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink.

“The Emperor of Gladness” shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. 

The perfect immigrant daughter, Lia has carved a successful career as a corporate lawyer and is dating a man who is her mother’s ideal son-in-law. But she hides a secret she’s never spoken of — one she fears could have destroyed her family a decade ago. At her family’s summer cottage, Lia stumbles upon memories she thought long forgotten and, at the center of it all, is Wesley Forest — the boy she left behind. When family pressures and heartbreak pulled the two lovers apart, they were forced to follow separate paths.

Now, with Wes back in her life, old wounds and feelings surface. As the two confront the choices and secrets that divided them as teenagers, Lia must decide if she can heal from the past and finally embrace the life and love she’s always craved. Told over the course of five years in the past, and one summer in the present, Lia will discover that sometimes, the only way forward is through the heart’s deepest scars.

This graphic novel tells author Makee’s story of immigrating from China to the United States as a teenager. But as she starts high school, she struggles to fit in: She’s still learning English, and everything she’s known — how to dress, how to act, how much to study for school — aren’t right anymore. On top of that, her family is struggling: her parents’ jobs and their marriage, and her sister with her mental health. 

“The message of my book is to encourage people who struggle with their identity, or who struggle to fit in, to accept themselves. When immigrants come to America, it’s often easier to survive if you abandon your own accent, traditions, and heritage, and even your name. But I want people to know that it’s OK to be just who you are. This is a lesson I feel that I learned the hard way,” says Makee.

Seventeen-year-old Taiwanese American Valerie Danners doesn’t realize it, but she’s in a cult. Her entire life is centered around preparing for marriage, motherhood, and serving God through her conservative Christian homeschooling curriculum. When she picks up a book at the library and ends up identifying with its bisexual protagonist, her world is thrown off its axis. Even worse is the “troubled youth” who joins her Bible class: a beautiful, kindhearted, and impossibly cool girl named Riley who fills Valerie’s stomach with butterflies. As Valerie and Riley fall for each other, Valerie has to make the choice between staying with a family she knows will never accept her queerness or running away with the girl she loves

In “Shadow Wars: The Secret War,” Ryuichi, a young boy with untapped supernatural powers, must navigate a dangerous and ever-shifting world filled with kami, yōkai, and demons. Tasked with protecting the sacred gates that separate the mortal world from the demon realm, Ryuichi faces enemies at every turn, including his own spirit guardian. To survive, Ryuichi must learn to trust others in ways that defy everything he’s been told — even if it means bending the rules. Set against the rich backdrop of Japanese folklore, “The Secret War” combines the action-packed excitement of Percy Jackson, ancient Japanese mythology, and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s trademark epic world-building.  

With an authentic voice and deep knowledge of Japanese culture and mythology, Madaug and Hinako Hishinuma infuse this tale with familial love and heritage, and a fresh take on familiar fantasy tropes, making this series a must-read for parents and children alike.  

After 10 years away as a park ranger in Oregon, Makalani Pahukula has come back to Kaua‘i for her grandmother’s birthday celebration. But she struggles to connect with her people and feels detached from their values, simpler way of life, and slower pace. And she’s worried by the news that her cousins — a failed college football player and a rebellious teenage girl — have gone missing. Makalani hopes they just ran off for fun, but when hunters find a dead body in the Keālia Forest Reserve, she fears something ominous is at play. 

Making use of her ranger tracking and survival skills, she embarks on a search, although facing resistance from the locals and her own family. Makalani discovers that in her pursuit of the truth, the investigation opens her heart, reawakens her love for the land she calls home, and strengthens her bond with her family. Because no matter how long she’s been away, for Makalani, Hawai‘i is in her blood.