10 Must-Read Books for Spring 2015
Put these highly anticipated titles on your to-do list!
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Michelle Obama: A Life by Peter Slevin - Click ahead to see the hottest literary releases that deserve a spot on your reading list. By Patrice Peck Who doesn't want to know more about our lovely FLOTUS? From the publisher: “Here is the first comprehensive account of the life and times of Michelle Obama, a woman of achievement and purpose — and the most unlikely first lady in modern American history. With disciplined reporting and a storyteller’s eye for revealing detail, Peter Slevin follows Michelle to the White House from her working-class childhood on Chicago’s largely segregated South Side.” Buy it online or in stores now. (Photo: Knopf Publishing)
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One Night by Eric Jerome Dickey - Best-selling author Eric Jerome Dickey's work is known for its erotic situations, edge-of-your-seat twists, and relatable relationships. Luckily for fans, the writer delivers all that and more in his latest novel. It's likely that after reading this romantic adventure, you'll see the one-night stand in a whole new light.(Photo: Penguin Publishing Group)
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Red Now and Laters by Marcus J. Guillory - Marcus J. Guillory's multidimensional coming-of-age novel follows the life of Ti John, a young boy growing up in Texan Creole culture in the 1980s. He also happens to have a special gift: spiritual healing. (Photo: Atria Books)
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Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now by Ayaan Hirsi Ali - The best-selling author of Infidel and Nomad returns with another controversial title. In Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, Ayaan Hirsi Ali calls for an Islamic reformation to end the horrors of terrorism and sectarian warfare and the repression of minorities and women. (Photo: Harper Collins)
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How to Be Drawn by Terrance Hayes - A follow-up to Terrance Hayes' Lighthead, a 2010 National Book Award winner, How to Be Drawn features a collection of poems that explores ideas of perception through the lens of race, art and current-day attitudes. “Never mistake what it is for what it looks like,” Hayes advises the reader in the opening poem.(Photo: Penguin Books)
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Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth by John Szwed - Learn more about the extraordinary musical talent of Billie Holiday in John Szewd's upcoming biography. Drawing from new material that's come to light in the last decade, Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth spotlights the music legend's performance style and the persona she created and put into print, on record and on stage. (Photo: Viking)
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God Help the Child by Toni Morrison - God Help the Child, Toni Morrison's 11th novel, centers on the repercussions of an allegation made by a student about a teacher. The highly anticipated story reportedly opens as follows: "It's not my fault. So you can't blame me. I didn't do it and have no idea how it happened.” (Photo: Knopf)
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Welcome to My Breakdown by Benilde Little - The memoir of best-selling novelist (Good Hair, The Itch) and former magazine editor Benilde Little chronicles her tumultuous journey through caring for aging parents, raising children, being married and tail-spinning into a dangerous cavern of depression. Be prepared for plenty of intimacy, insight and inspiration in this powerful and ultimately redemptive title. (Photo: Simon & Schuster)
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Balm: A Novel by Dolen Perkins-Valdez - In 2010, Dolen Perkins-Valdez set the literary world ablaze with the release of her enchanting and unforgettable novel Wench. The provocative work raises questions of power and freedom through the story of four Black enslaved women in the years leading up to the Civil War. Now The New York Times best-selling author is back with Balm, a novel of love, loss and hope. Also set in the Civil War era, but amid the end of slavery, Perkins-Valdez's latest title focuses on three people struggling to overcome the pain of the past while defining their own future. Available May 26, 2015.(Photo: Harper Collins)