'Tis the season for spring cleaning and sprucing up your home. But this doesn’t just mean tidying up your closet or decluttering your pantry — you can clean out your bookshelf and explore some new titles, too.
We know it may be overwhelming to pick a good read. That’s why we spoke with two bestselling authors to help you navigate the best reads of the season from fiction to nonfiction books, and even young-adult novels.
Issac Fitzgerald, bestselling author behind “How to Be a Pirate” and his latest “Dirtbag, Massachusetts,” and Qian Julie Wang, author of the Read with Jenna pick “Beautiful Country,” stopped by TODAY to share a few of their page-turning recommendations.
From a book that examines race relations in the South to one that explores contemporary Asian-American identity and even a laugh-out-loud novel about heartbreak, there’s surely something for everyone to enjoy in this list. So keep reading to find out their eight picks.
Isaac's picks
Best fiction: "House of Cotton" by Monica Brashears
Fitzgerald says this “genuinely chilling” read centers around a mixed race teenage girl, Magnolia, who lives in Tennessee. She accepts quite an eerie job offer – being a model at a funeral parlor housed within an old plantation. “Brashears takes Magnolia's story in an array of beautifully poetic and surprisingly artful directions and—by the time it's over—we see that she has something wholly unique to say about race in America,” he says. “Magnolia's distinctive voice will stay with you long after her story on the page is over.” Read an excerpt here.
Best nonfiction: "Life on Delay" by John Hendrickson
In 2019, author John Hendrickson wrote a piece for The Atlantic about President Joe Biden’s stutter, as well as his own. He used that article as a “jumping off point” for this candid memoir, which “interviews people from his own past as he explores the road that led him to a life of written words, storytelling, and public speaking,” Fitzgerald says. The book “is a tremendous, and gorgeously written, memoir that will have you rooting for John — as well as catching glimpses of your own life's journey in his,” he says.
Author's choice: "Really Good, Actually" by Monica Heisey
A former screenwriter for "Schitt’s Creek," Monica Heisey’s debut novel “manages to be laugh-out-loud funny” and “is undoubtedly an instant breakup classic,” Fitzgerald says. The heroine, Maggie, who is “incredibly relatable and totally outlandish,” he says, is newly divorced and determined to embrace this new title.
Best children's book: "A Bed of Stars" by Jessica Love
Jessica Love’s latest picture book is “a perfect bedtime book for the young rambler in your life who is feeling a little overwhelmed,” Fitzgerald says. “A Bed of Stars” is about a child who is having trouble falling asleep and “feeling anxious about how large the universe is and how small they feel in it, so Dad takes the child on a camping trip out in the desert,” he says.
Qian Julie Wang's picks
Best fiction: "Sea Change" by Gina Chung
This debut novel is “moving, textured, and at times laugh-out-loud,” Wang says. “Sea Change”' follows Ro, a woman in her 30s who feels stuck in life. She has one companion, Dolores, a giant Pacific octopus, who also happens to be her last link to her missing father. When Dolores is sold, Ro finds her life crumbling.
Best nonfiction: "Dyscalculia" by Camonghne Felix
Wang says this memoir “opens with a pivotal breakup and examines heartache, trauma, and mental health through the lens of the author's childhood dyscalculia” – that is, a disorder that affects one’s understanding of math. It’s an “unflinching look at pain and loss, but more than that, it is a lyrical and unforgettable memoir about redemption and healing,” she says.
Author's choice: "The Great Reclamation" by Rachel Heng
This historical fiction novel is both a love story and a coming-of-age book, while examining the effects of colonialism, Wang says. “The beauty of this look lies in the details: the growth and shifts in the characters and their relationships; the smells and tastes that transport us back in time and across the world,” she says.
Best YA: "You Are Here: Connecting Flights" by Ellen Oh
An incident at a TSA checkpoint in the airport “leads to a chain of several connected stories in this heartfelt book about Asian American identity, belonging, and courage,” Wang says. Exploring themes of identity and belonging, this book is “powerfully told through the insights of twelve powerhouse authors,” she says.
