Spring (reading)  is here! While the rest of the world is “tiding up,” we Bookmans folk compile our spring reading piles. And yes, I might have a few fall reads I still need to tackle. (Hello Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver, I still see you there). You know what, though, I’m an avid reader and I’m just out here trying to live my truth. That means my TBR pile will always be growing. Always. Working at Bookmans doesn’t exactly keep me from buying books either, you know?

Anywho, let’s talk spring book releases. Picking just three that I am going to read is really hard. Especially since I still have winter books I need to get to. The Greatest Love Story Ever Told by Megan Mullaly and Nick Offerman, I see you too. But I did manage to narrow it down to just five that I KNOW I will be reading ASAP. Yes, I know the goal was three, but you know what? It could easily have been ten. You’re welcome. Here is just a small sampling of my literary plans while birds are chirping outside my window.

Shout By Laurie Halse Anderson – Out Now!

The author of Speak and countless others YA titles is back. This all-around bada** advocate for survivors of sexual assault provides the free verse memoir we all need.

Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless. In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she’s never written about before. Searing and soul-searching, this important memoir is a denouncement of our society’s failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #MeToo and #TimesUp, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts. Shout speaks truth to power in a loud, clear voice– and once you hear it, it is impossible to ignore.

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – Out now!

If you’re like me and was OBSESSED with the late ’60s and ’70s growing up- Seriously my kid bedroom was covered in flower power, beads, lava lamps, the works- you will love Daisy Jones & The Six.

Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

Internment by Samira Ahmed – March 19th

You know what’s so great about YA? The subjects these books tackle are often ones that scare adults out of creating them in a digestible way. Internment by Samira Ahmed does just that.

Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.
With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp’s Director and his guards.
Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today.
What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About edited by Michelle Filgate – April 30th
15 writers provide insight into their own relationships with their mothers. From estranged to besties, there is a lot of power in mother-daughter relationships. There can also be secrecy. This book explores a lot of that.

As an undergraduate, Michele Filgate started writing an essay about being abused by her stepfather. It took her more than a decade to realize what she was actually trying to write: how this affected her relationship with her mother. When it was finally published, the essay went viral, shared on social media… The outpouring of responses gave Filgate an idea, and the resulting anthology offers a candid look at our relationships with our mothers.

While some of the writers in this book are estranged from their mothers, others are extremely close. Leslie Jamison writes about trying to discover who her seemingly perfect mother was before ever becoming a mom. In Cathi Hanauer’s hilarious piece, she finally gets a chance to have a conversation with her mother that isn’t interrupted by her domineering (but lovable) father. André Aciman writes about what it was like to have a deaf mother. Melissa Febos uses mythology as a lens to look at her close-knit relationship with her psychotherapist mother. And Julianna Baggott talks about having a mom who tells her everything.

Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark – May 28th

Are you a fan of My Favorite Murder podcast?You probably can’t wait for what will surely be a hilarious and heartwarming guide to MFM. This book is getting a lot of buzz and this Murderino is stoked to dive in.

Sharing never-before-heard stories ranging from their struggles with depression, eating disorders, and addiction, Karen and Georgia irreverently recount their biggest mistakes and deepest fears, reflecting on the formative life events that shaped them into two of the most followed voices in the nation.

In Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered, Karen and Georgia focus on the importance of self-advocating and valuing personal safety over being ‘nice’ or ‘helpful.’ They delve into their own pasts, true crime stories, and beyond to discuss meaningful cultural and societal issues with fierce empathy and unapologetic frankness.

Don’t forget, Bookmans book clubs are always reading hot titles like these. I can’t wait to read these four books in the upcoming months. But what are you excited to read? What do you think should be on this list that I skipped? Tell us in the comments – I literally can’t get enough books! Be sure to look for these titles at your local Bookmans too.