What We Are Reading in May

Franny and Sam fell in love swiftly and intensely, as only a first love can do. But when a tragic accident tears them apart, their journey soon blurs the line between reality and dream-like fantasy as they navigate the emotional weight of a future without one another. 

Jennifer Lee captures overwhelming emotions, which is on full display in her debut graphic novel — from the intensity of teen romance to the nuanced exploration of lucid dreaming to cope with grief. Coupled with LeUyen Pham’s expressive brushstrokes and sophisticated colors, the story is a deeply emotional and cathartic reading experience unlike any other.

Living in the privileged community of El Nido is supposed to mean you’ve made it. So when Jin Chang moves there with his family, he hopes it will finally be the end of his bad luck. What his family doesn’t know is that he’s scheming to make it big in real estate. Next door, Blair Belle is skeptical of the new neighbors, especially when she suspects that Jin’s plans might interfere with her own luxury development.

Meanwhile, Jin’s teenage daughter Jane is struggling to navigate El Nido’s cliques. In the wake of a coyote attack, Jane bonds with Tasha Washington — one of the school’s only Black girls — who also feels isolated. Together, they hatch a plot to expose the town’s hypocrisies. As the roaming coyote continues to unleash chaos, the characters become embroiled in a series of scandals that will change El Nido — and their own fates — forever.

At 26, Linli Feng is still trying to escape her mother Fanny’s orbit. But after three years of estrangement, Linli is forced to return home after Fanny faces a medical catastrophe. For decades, Fanny has been addicted to plastic surgery, getting bargain procedures in LA’s bootleg beauty industry. Now Fanny’s disfigured face is infected and collapsing yet again from black-market injectables.

Even as Linli deals with her mishandled family finances and juggles her mother’s medical care, Fanny has another secret. She has won a spot on “America’s Beauty Extreme,” a reality television competition in which botched plastic surgery addicts compete for reconstructive surgery. When Linli attempts to rescue Fanny from the sinister subculture that has ruined her mother’s face, she must also confront the corrosive reality of the American Dream that is at the fraught heart of their relationship.

Rooted in her Hakka heritage, Lydia Pang’s memoir draws inspiration from the Hakka saying “eat bitter” — a philosophy centered on enduring hardship as a path to deeper appreciation and connection — and how the spirit of “eating bitter” has shaped her family’s story, cultural identity, and sense of belonging. 

Through personal narratives and recipes, Pang weaves the tastes and resilience of her heritage into a powerful meditation on how tradition and adversity intertwine to create lasting meaning. For example, she explores how food rituals serve as carriers of memory, connecting the past to present and sustaining heritage through changing times. This isn’t your typical food memoir — it’s a richly told tapestry of family, culture, and tradition, exploring how stories and flavors are passed down through generations. 

As the dutiful second-eldest daughter of a poor family, Haewon’s only hope of a decent life is to marry well. Instead, she works as an illegal book transcriber. It’s dangerous work, but she loves it — especially working with her favorite author, Black Lotus. 

As the only son of a noble, Seojun has a lot expected of him. But Seojun loves to do something even more scandalous — writing, a secret he’s kept from everyone. But filial pressures and the dispiriting actions of the government make Seojun question the purpose of writing. What keeps him going are the encouraging letters he receives from his transcriber, known as Magpie.