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New Releases and More for May 2, 2023

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This week, Liberty and Danika discuss Chain-Gang All-Stars, Imogen, Obviously, The Salt Grows Heavy, and more.

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BookRiot.com co-founder Jeff O’Neal explores the wide bookish world. Interviews, lists, rankings, retrospectives, recommendations, and much more, featuring people who know and love books. Subscribe to First Edition on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your podcatcher of choice.

Books Discussed On the Show:

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst

Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa

Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley

You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg

Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Gone to the Wolves by John Wray

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl by Brianna R. Shrum and Sara Waxelbaum

Paperback Releases:

Life Ceremony: Stories by Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori (translator)

Trust by Hernan Diaz

The Other Mother by Rachel M. Harper

After the Lights Go Out by John Vercher

We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart

Hide by Kiersten White

A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey

The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian

We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story by Simu Liu

Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays by Minnie Driver

Out of the Corner: A Memoir by Jennifer Grey

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

What We’re Reading:

The First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom by Mac Barnett,  Shawn Harris 

Bean the Stretchy Dragon: A Sally & Bean Adventure by Ari Stocrate

Swim Home to the Vanished by Brendan Shay Basham

More Books Out This Week:

La Tercera by Gina Apostol

No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister 

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati 

Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille T. Dungy

Only Only Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly

Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes

The Daydreams by Laura Hankin

The Night Flowers by Sara Herchenroether

Ellie Engle Saves Herself by Leah Johnson

Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything by Michio Kaku

The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane

Paper Names by Susie Luo

Lucky Girl by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu

The Rope Artist by Fuminori Nakamura, Sam Bett (translator)

Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Riku Onda, Philip Gabriel (translator)

A History of Burning by Janika Oza

Lost Places: and Other Stories by Sarah Pinsker

We Are Too Many: A Memoir [Kind of] by Hannah Pittard

Shy by Max Porter 

Young Queer America: Real Stories and Faces of LGBTQ+ Youth by Maxwell Poth

The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure by Rick Riordan, Mark Oshiro

Lion’s Legacy by L. C. Rosen

Sugar, Spice, and Can’t Play Nice by Annika Sharma

Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral by Ben Smith

Dear Chrysanthemums: A Novel in Stories by Fiona Sze-Lorrain

We Don’t Swim Here by Vincent Tirado

Lying in the Deep by Diana Urban

The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters

The Humble Lover by Edmund White