Quiz

BuzzFeed Staff

Books

Because, unfortunately, it's (almost) impossible to read them all.

Answer 9 Questions And We'll Tell You 9 New Books To Read

Answer 9 Questions And We&#x27;ll Tell You 9 New Books To Read

Both _Belly Up_ and _The Good Place_ exist in worlds just past reality, familiar until, suddenly, they aren't. The stories in _Belly Up_ are the best kind of weird, exploring love, identity, and the magnificence of being alive.  
Get it from [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2xNOSAz) or [Barnes & Noble](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/belly-up-rita-bullwinkel/1127915827?ean=9780998518435) for $14.20, or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780998518435).

_[Belly Up](https://amzn.to/2xNOSAz)_ by Rita Bullwinkel

In _Tell the Machine Goodnight_, the Apricity machine is something out of an episode of _Black Mirror_ — with just a swab of DNA, it can tell a person exactly what they need to do to be happier. But how does a corporation define happiness — and is optimal happiness always what we want?  
Get it from Amazon for [$22.42](https://amzn.to/2LtC1Wf) or Barnes & Noble for [$23.77](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tell-the-machine-goodnight-katie-williams/1127329902?ean=9780525533122), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780525533122).

_[Tell the Machine Goodnight](https://amzn.to/2LtC1Wf)_ by Katie Williams

_The Incendiaries_ circles three characters — lapsed evangelical Will; the highly suggestible former piano prodigy Phoebe, whom Will loves; and John, the gulag prison escapee and cult leader who has successfully wooed Phoebe. Kwon draws the trio closer and closer to a dark climax hinted at from the beginning. It's a novel about faith — in a higher power, in systems, in people — and what happens when faith turns into blind obsession.  
Get it from Amazon for [$20.80](https://amzn.to/2kTEFJy) or Barnes & Noble for [$22.05](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-incendiaries-r-o-kwon/1127456919?ean=9780735213890), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780735213890).

_[The Incendiaries](https://amzn.to/2kTEFJy)_ by R. O. Kwon

Dana Schwartz's latest is a hilarious, frank, and quirky (think: half memoir, half Choose Your Own Adventure quiz) look at making it through life, love, and work as a 20-something woman in New York and beyond. And since Dana is a working writer, it's also an insider's look at the publishing industry — _Younger_ fans will eat it up.  
Get it from Amazon for [$12.79](https://amzn.to/2JioGDD) or Barnes & Noble for [$13.56](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/choose-your-own-disaster-dana-schwartz/1127061654?ean=9781478970392), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781478970392).

_[Choose Your Own Disaster](https://amzn.to/2JioGDD)_ by Dana Schwartz

_Hey Ladies!_ follows eight friends preparing for one wedding over the course of a year, and it is painfully funny. It's an update on the epistolary novel — the plot unravels through overly enthusiastic, often passive-aggressive group emails, with behind-the-scenes info scattered throughout in texts. It's cringe-y and familiar and endearing — like most super-close relationships.  
Read an excerpt [here](https://www.buzzfeed.com/michellemarkowitz/youll-cringe-at-this-email-chain-if-youve-ever-been-a?utm_term=.ga13E3WWr#.ecWo2oAAl), and get it from [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2xOhSrJ) or [Barnes & Noble](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hey-ladies-michelle-markowitz/1127049429?ean=9781419729133) for $13.21, or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781419729133).

_[Hey Ladies!](https://amzn.to/2xOhSrJ)_ by Michelle Markowitz and Caroline Moss

_The Seas_ takes place in a small, rundown seaside town, where a young woman is still coming to terms with the mysterious disappearance of her father. The 19-year-old finds herself enthralled by those things (and people) which remind her of her father: the sea, which she believes birthed her father and took him away; and a 33-year-old war veteran. Hunt blends myth and reality — if her father is from the sea, our narrator wonders, then isn't such magic in her blood as well? — and ends up with something truly stunning.  
Get it from [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2sANVql) or [Barnes & Noble](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seas-samantha-hunt/1006544149?ean=9781941040959) for $19.95, or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781941040959).

_[The Seas](https://amzn.to/2sANVql)_ by Samantha Hunt

Poet Ashleigh Young's debut essay collection is brilliant and observant woman's exploration of the world around her, and her discovery of the ways she fits within it. It's about growth and ambition, anxiety and creativity, risk and resilience.  
Get it from [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2M5ZZrI) or [Barnes & Noble](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/can-you-tolerate-this-ashleigh-young/1125286193?ean=9780525534037) for $26, or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780525534037).

_[Can You Tolerate This?](https://amzn.to/2M5ZZrI)_ by Ashleigh Young

In _If You See Me, Don't Say Hi_ — at turns heartbreaking and uplifting — Neel Patel upends stereotypes, especially Indian-American masculinity. He's at his most remarkable when illuminating the experience of queer men making sense of their sexuality, and allowing themselves to hope for a happy ending with the men they love.  
Get it from [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2sySCRw) or [Barnes & Noble](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/if-you-see-me-dont-say-hi-neel-patel/1126641962?ean=9781250183194) for $24.99, or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250183194).

_[If You See Me, Don't Say Hi](https://amzn.to/2sySCRw)_ by Neel Patel

Anyone who's experienced the transcendent joy of seeing Haim live knows it's more than a musical performance — it's a paean to female strength and independence, a celebration of sisterhood. It's also a spiritual soundtrack to Glynnis MacNicol's memoir, which follows her 40th year, as she enters into a life largely without a blueprint. How does the single, child-free middle-aged woman live when she's not relegated to the role of the cautionary tale, the punchline spinster, the cultural cliche of the wacky aunt whose family suffers her visits out of equal parts love and pity? MacNicol forges her own storyline, and it starts with a year of dating unabashedly, traveling freely, surviving grief, and redefining family.  
Get it from [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2xMRMWe) or [Barnes & Noble](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/no-one-tells-you-this-glynnis-macnicol/1127208749?ean=9781501163135) for $23.37, or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781501163135).

_[No One Tells You This](https://amzn.to/2xMRMWe)_ by Glynnis MacNicol

You can tell Michael Arceneaux's memoir, as joyful as it is shrewd, is going to come with a healthy dose of Beyoncé; her name is right there in the subtitle. _I Can't Date Jesus_ is about the evolution of Arceneaux's faith as a gay black man who grew up in a violently anti-gay environment, who slowly came out despite his fear and years of trying to push his identity away, and who ultimately came to terms with the fact that the church he grew up in hadn't made room for him. But faith is elastic, and so many manifestations of salvation exist — music especially.  
Get it from Amazon for [$13.98](https://amzn.to/2JxyFEg) or Barnes & Noble for [$14.82](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-cant-date-jesus-michael-arceneaux/1127682960?ean=9781501178856), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781508267720).

_[I Can't Date Jesus](https://amzn.to/2JxyFEg)_ by Michael Arceneaux

Tommy Pico's latest verse book is a thoroughly examined survey of junk: junk as miscellany, junk as food, junk as body parts, junk as baggage of the emotional and physical varieties, junk as all that scattered rubble that keeps us weighted in the past. But Pico is most impressive, his writing most immediately felt, when he weaves pop culture and slang throughout his deep-rooted criticisms of US history and culture — including, yes, Janet Jackson. The lyrics, like all of his pop culture references, are meaningful on their own — it's clear Pico has an emotional tie to the pop star's music — but they also woo readers into a comfortable, if brief, moment of familiarity so that the swift pivot to violence and heartache hits like a gut punch.  
Get it from Amazon for [$12.76](https://amzn.to/2xOkxSf) or Barnes & Noble for [$13.53](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/junk-tommy-pico/1127202160?ean=9781941040973), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781941040973).

_[Junk](https://amzn.to/2xOkxSf)_ by Tommy Pico

Who doesn't love a smart, feel-good rom com? Hannah Orenstein's _Playing With Matches_ is just that: Sasha Goldberg takes a job as an upscale matchmaker, despite a complete lack of experience. But when she finds herself developing feelings for a man she'd originally planned as a match for a client, things get complicated — in the best, most exciting way. Reading _Playing With Matches_ will give you butterflies of your own, just like listening along to Carly Rae Jepson's flirty bops.  
Get it from Amazon for [$12.80](https://amzn.to/2JjqvMo) or Barnes & Noble for [$13.57](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/playing-with-matches-hannah-orenstein/1127208665?ean=9781501178481), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781501178481).

_[Playing With Matches](https://amzn.to/2JjqvMo)_ by Hannah Orenstein

_Still Lives_ is moody and restless, propelled by a gradually intensifying sense of unease. Hummel envelops the reader in the LA art scene, all whispered rumors, false smiles, and glam parties — a world which is rattled when one of its buzziest painters, Kim Lord, goes missing on the opening night of her latest, shocking installation. It's a gruesome exhibit — famous photos of murdered women recreated with paint and giant canvasses — and the city can't help but wonder if Lord has suffered the same grisly fate as her subjects. Maggie, a former journalist turned gallery copywriter who has a dark past of her own, decides to take the investigation into her own hands; the journey is thrilling, but also critical of the fact that a culture which turns murdered women into objects for consumption — just like the smart, morbid _My Favorite Murder_.  
Get it from Amazon for [$19.80](https://amzn.to/2LpX0Jm) or Barnes & Noble for [$20.99](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/still-lives-maria-hummel/1127084893?ean=9781619021112), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781619021112).

_[Still Lives](https://amzn.to/2LpX0Jm)_ by Maria Hummel

Reading Michelle Tea and listening to _Call Your Girlfriend_ have similar effects: both can make you feel like you're chatting with your smartest friend, and it's one of those hangouts you never want to end. In _Against Memoir_, Tea has gathered essays, speeches, and new texts into a collection weaving personal history with deeply considered, researched, and, I'd wager, necessary ideas on queerness, gender, humanity, and belief.   
Get it from Amazon for [$15.46](https://amzn.to/2sKUiqi) or Barnes & Noble for [$18.55](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/against-memoir-michelle-tea/1128275893?ean=9781936932184), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781936932184).

_[Against Memoir](https://amzn.to/2sKUiqi)_ by Michelle Tea

_Homeplace_ is a timely and quintessential American story, following journalist John Lingan as he journeys through Winchester, Virginia, the honky tonk-loving town which launched Patsy Cline's career. Lingan tells Winchester's story through its residents, who've watched their hometown try — and, for a wide swathe of locals, fail — to boost its dying economy by luring tourists with some good, old-fashioned country music. It's a story of transition and loss, of the pain of feeling left behind and the resilience of hope despite it all.  
Get it from [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2HpRl3B) or [Barnes & Noble](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/homeplace-john-lingan/1126911720?ean=9780544932531) for $27, or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780544932531).

_[Homeplace](https://amzn.to/2HpRl3B)_ by John Lingan

In _Severance_, Ling Ma creates an alternate recent past, in which most of humankind has been wiped out by Shen Fever. But Shen Fever doesn't just kill — it renders those infected useless, slowly rotting away while trapped in an infinite, mindless loop of their most mundane activities. When Candace Chen finds herself among a small group of survivors, she comes to terms with the fact that her identity is tied up with her productivity and her conception of freedom tied to financial success in a system which has now collapsed. But what is most remarkable is the gentleness with which Ma describes those working within the capital-S System. What does it mean if a person finds true comfort working as a "cog" in a system they disagree with? Is that comfort any less real?  
Get it from Amazon for [$23.40](https://amzn.to/2xLuAra) or Barnes & Noble for [$24.80](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/severance-ling-ma/1127149555?ean=9780374261597), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780374261597).

_[Severance](https://amzn.to/2xLuAra)_ by Ling Ma

Beatriz Williams' _The Summer Wives_ is full of history and intrigue, spanning the 1930s through 1960s on the tiny, elite (fictional) Winthrop Island — not set in Massachusetts, but definitely working that Martha's Vineyard vibe. The story is centered on Miranda Schuyler, who arrives on the island — exquisitely depicted by Williams — after the loss of her father. She gets a quick education in the island politics, i.e., the clash between the working locals and the summering rich. When her new stepfather, one of the rich, is killed, her world is torn asunder — and when she returns, 20 years later, as a famous actor trying to get over a recent scandal, she finds there's much in her past that needs to be settled.  
Get it from Amazon for [$21.59](https://amzn.to/2JAeZQ3) or Barnes & Noble for [$22.89](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-summer-wives-beatriz-williams/1127171421?ean=9780062660343), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062660343).

_[The Summer Wives](https://amzn.to/2JAeZQ3)_ by Beatriz Williams

Sayaka Murata's _Convenience Store Woman_ is a spare, quietly brilliant novel about an offbeat woman whose life revolves around the Japanese convenience store where she's worked for exactly half her life. As a lifelong outsider who has difficulty understanding human interactions, Keiko eats, conserves with, and observes the people around her at the shop so she can best mimic and exist among them. And though she feels like the odd one out, it's her frank appraisal of the systems of the world that reveals the absurdity of everyone else. Why has society at large agreed to live by these arbitrary rules? And why does everyone else treat Keiko's rejection of these rules like a threat?  
Get it from Amazon for [$18.00](https://amzn.to/2JgidZJ) or Barnes & Noble for [$19.06](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/convenience-store-woman-sayaka-murata/1127137304?ean=9780802128256), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780802128256).

_[Convenience Store Woman](https://amzn.to/2JgidZJ)_ by Sayaka Murata

The stories in Alexia Arthurs’ _How to Love a Jamaican_ are about home, identity, how we define family, and what we owe them. At the core is Jamaica, where each of Arthurs’ characters are from — whether they live there or not — and the island is written with evident care. But these relationships between person and homeland are complicated by gender, sexuality, and wealth. In “Bad Behavior,” a mother sends her 14-year-old daughter to live with her grandmother in Jamaica because she’s scared of her burgeoning sexuality; in “Light-Skinned Girls and Kelly Rowland,” an NYU freshman grapples with the fact that a fellow Jamaican student lives that same identity in a very different way; and in “Mermaid River,” a teenager finally joins his mother in Brooklyn after being raised by his grandmother in Jamaica, and is saddened to find a stranger. In vibrant, evocative prose, Arthurs brings these characters, and their varied experiences of a shared home, to life.  
Get it from Amazon for [$21.60](https://amzn.to/2JAjmdO) or Barnes & Noble for [$22.90](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-love-a-jamaican-alexia-arthurs/1127329853?ean=9781524799205), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524799205).

_[How to Love a Jamaican](https://amzn.to/2JAjmdO)_ by Alexia Arthurs

Rebecca Makkai's _The Great Believers_ looks at the AIDS epidemic as experienced in one group of friends, connecting characters across two timelines —1985 in Chicago, where the tight-knit artists and creatives try to make sense of the disease and its devastation; and 2015 in Paris, where Fiona, whose brother died in the 1980s, comes to understand the longstanding consequences of her loss. The entire story is transportive, but Fiona's journey through Paris trying to find her estranged daughter will make you feel like you're right there next to her.  
Get it from Amazon for [$21.60](https://amzn.to/2xOsFCu) or Barnes & Noble for [$25.27](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-great-believers-rebecca-makkai/1127236681?ean=9780735223523), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780735223523).

_[The Great Believers](https://amzn.to/2xOsFCu)_ by Rebecca Makkai

In her illuminating and "death-defying" memoir, Tessa Fontaine describes her impulsive decision to join a traveling side show after watching her mother survive a series of nearly incapacitating strokes. Tessa embeds herself in the circus life, and she spends nearly half a year dabbling in fire eating, snake charming, and crowd wrangling. Her adventure is an affirmation of life, a way of coming to terms with her mother's (and her own) mortality, and the energy of Fontaine's writing is contagious.  
Get it from Amazon for [$15.91](https://amzn.to/2JkXorT) or Barnes & Noble for [$18.90](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-electric-woman-tessa-fontaine/1127149586?ean=9780374158378), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780374158378).

_[The Electric Woman](https://amzn.to/2JkXorT)_ by Tessa Fontaine

Lillian Li's _Number One Chinese Restaurant_ centers on Duck House, a family-run Chinese restaurant in DC, and the ways in which this restaurant affects the lives of the owner, his family, and his staff. When Jimmy Han, the son turned owner, decides he'd like to build something of his own, he makes the mistake of leaning on a local thug to pull some strings, and throws himself, and those in his employ, into chaos. Li's impressive debut is a lot of things: a thoughtful critique of gentrification from the perspective of the business owners being pushed out, a multigenerational immigration story, an insider look at the often grueling life of the career server or line cook, a romance, a coming-of-age (at any age).  
Read an excerpt [here](https://www.buzzfeed.com/lillianli/this-is-what-its-like-when-you-grow-up-in-the-restaurant?utm_term=.hlYBOBbbQ#.njYqzqRRY), and get it from Amazon for [$21.60](https://amzn.to/2Jx7gCl) or Barnes & Noble for [$22.90](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/number-one-chinese-restaurant-lillian-li/1126792633?ean=9781250141293), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250141293).

_[Number One Chinese Restaurant](https://amzn.to/2Jx7gCl)_ by Lillian Li

It is impossible to read Nell Painter's generous and whole-souled memoir without feeling enlivened by motivation. In describing her stepping away from an acclaimed academic career to matriculate as an art student at (gasp!) 64 years old, Painter gives a fervent defense of reviving old passions, of welcoming a more elastic identity, of challenging what it means to be an "artist" — and encourages her readers to do the same. _Old in Art School_ is a celebration of courage, curiosity, and the audacity to live by one's own rules.  
Get it from [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2Jlelm4) or [Barnes & Noble](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/old-in-art-school-nell-painter/1127374523?ean=9781640090613) for $23.37, or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781640090613).

_[Old in Art School](https://amzn.to/2Jlelm4)_ by Nell Painter

Patricia Hampl's _The Art of the Wasted Day_ is exactly what its title promises: an ode to idleness. Hampl is a lifelong daydreamer, and her memoir is written so lushly that it often lulls you into your own dreamy reflection. But Hampl doesn't merely celebrate quiet thoughtfulness; she defends it, pointing to its intellectual, emotional, and philosophical value with the help of daydreamers of note like Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickson, and Walt Whitman.  
Get it from Amazon for [$17.33](https://amzn.to/2Hoo2hG) or Barnes & Noble for [$18.20](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-art-of-the-wasted-day-patricia-hampl/1126840208?ean=9780525429647), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780525429647).

_[The Art of the Wasted Day](https://amzn.to/2Hoo2hG)_ by Patricia Hampl

Fatima Farheen Mirza's _A Place for Us_ is the best of family sagas. It traverses time and place, explores the conflicts between a parent's expectation and a child's desires, and, most importantly, introduces us to fully imagined, flawed characters whose relationships are deep, entangled, and rich in love. The story — which centers on an American Muslim family navigating the tension between tradition and autonomy — is told in fragments, jumping from one character to another, slowly adding layers to scenes by revisiting interactions from multiple perspectives. And Mirza renders this family with a gentle hand, lovingly, so that each character will make their way into your heart.  
Check out an excerpt [here](https://www.buzzfeed.com/fatimafarheenmirza/anyone-who-lived-through-a-middle-school-crush-will-relate?utm_term=.ktr1N1ZZe#.boJRoRNNk), and get it from Amazon for [$16.20](https://amzn.to/2JhtyIU) or Barnes & Noble for [$17.33](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-place-for-us-fatima-farheen-mirza/1127396496?ean=9781524763558), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524763558).

_[A Place For Us](https://amzn.to/2JhtyIU)_ by Fatima Farheen Mirza

Bethany C. Morrow's truly inventive _Mem_ takes place in 1925, in a Montreal of a different universe. Here, scientists have figured out how to extract memories from people who'd like to forget them, and these memories manifest as physical clones — human-appearing entities whose entire brief existence is a continual loop of the extracted memory, relived in the underground vault where they are kept and observed. But then there's Dolores Extract No. 1 — or, as she's named herself, Elsie — who is something of a miracle, "born" conscious of her identity as a Mem and able to feel emotion. In her investigation of memory and other Mems, and in pushing the limits of her autonomy outside of the vault, Elsie confronts those big questions which underlie our existence: Who are we without our memories? And what defines our consciousness? Read an excerpt [here](https://www.buzzfeed.com/bethanycmorrow/would-you-remove-your-bad-memories-bethany-morrow-mem?utm_term=.lc68Q866z#.sqzx0xVVy), and get it from Amazon for [$18.47](https://amzn.to/2Jvw8dL) or Barnes & Noble for [$19.99](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mem-bethany-c-morrow/1127084253?ean=9781944700553), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781944700553).

_[Mem](https://amzn.to/2Jvw8dL)_ by Bethany C. Morrow

Mila Flores has never fit into the bougie Fairmount Academy — she's one of very few non-white students, and a practicing witch. When her only friend is found dead of apparent suicide, Mila knows something dark is afoot, and she's determined to get to the bottom of it — with the help of a spell book which just happens to appear at her front door. It's a gripping, spooky story, and tons of fun. Get it from Amazon for [$14.39](https://amzn.to/2sKnDkx) or Barnes & Noble for [$15.11](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/undead-girl-gang-lily-anderson/1127273366?ean=9780451478238), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780451478238).

_[Undead Girl Gang](https://amzn.to/2sKnDkx)_ by Lily Anderson

Lucas Mann writes _Captive Audience_ — a sharp and poignant exploration of reality TV — as a shrewd super fan. Mann understands his fascination with reality stars (especially NeNe Leakes from The Real Housewives of Atlanta or Rob Kardashian) is complicated, and looks inward to get at the core of it. What makes his book stand out among the crowded space of reality TV criticism is its format: Mann couches his analysis in the context of his marriage; the chapters are written as letters to his wife, who shares his fascination. So much of our obsession with reality TV has to do with the drama, and there is no drama without interpersonal relationships. And while it's tempting to look at these people and distance ourselves from them, it's disingenuous to dismiss them as "characters" — to ignore the fact that we might be fascinated by them because they reflect something of ourselves, of our relationships, of the inevitable performance of reality.  
Get it from Amazon for [$13.71](https://amzn.to/2JtRIiG) or Barnes & Noble for [$14.67](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/captive-audience-lucas-mann/1126724032?ean=9780525435549), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780525435549).

_[Captive Audience](https://amzn.to/2JtRIiG)_ by Lucas Mann

_The Ensemble_ is an inside look at four young friends who make up a string quartet as they try to make it in the cutthroat world of classical music, honing not only their musical skills but also their abilities to navigate the politics and elitism that come with it. It's an exploration of drive, passion, and relationships, and it's almost impossible to put down. 
Read an excerpt [here](https://www.buzzfeed.com/ajagabel/the-ensemble-aja-gabel-summer-fiction?utm_term=.he26b6KKx#.sljADA007), and get it from Amazon for [$19.35](https://amzn.to/2JnfI3N) or Barnes & Noble for [$20.80](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-ensemble-aja-gabel/1126998309?ean=9780735214767), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780735214767).

_[The Ensemble](https://amzn.to/2JnfI3N)_ by Aja Gabel

In _Light of the Stars_, astrophysicist Adam Frank walks us through his team's research on the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations, digging into the historical breakthroughs which led to the birth of the field of astrobiology, and explaining in layman's terms how understanding our place in the universe wouldn't just be fascinating — it could be a game-changer as we figure out how to survive as a species.  
Get it from Amazon for [$21.56](https://amzn.to/2xMZfol) or Barnes & Noble for [$22.85](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/light-of-the-stars-adam-frank/1127196060?ean=9780393609011), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780393609011).

_[Light of the Stars](https://amzn.to/2xMZfol)_ by Adam Frank

Graywolf's new poetry anthology _New Poets of Native Nations_ is a testament to the multiplicity of experiences that exist within an identity which the US so often insists on constraining and flattening. Edited by acclaimed poet Heid E. Erdrich, and including work by Native writers whose first books were published post-2000, this collection is a breathtaking, wide-ranging work of art, comprising everything from electrifying political dissent to narratives in verse to abstract formats. It is a modern classic.  
Get it from [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2LqM1iN) or [Barnes & Noble](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/new-poets-of-native-nations-heid-e-erdrich/1127032884?ean=9781555978099) for $16.81, or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781555978099).

_[New Poets of Native Nations](https://amzn.to/2LqM1iN)_, edited by Heid E. Erdrich

It's 1966 in Buenos Aires and CIA operative Vera Kelly is camped out in a dingy apartment, listening in on a congressman's phone calls and working her way into a group of leftist students at the local university. As Rosalie Knecht leads us through Vera's suspenseful mission, she gives us snapshots into her past — how she fled her hometown to the NYC gay scene after being shunned, and how her struggle to make it on her own gave her the courage to go from night shifts at a local radio station to a high-pressure and risky life.  
Get it from [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2JniYw3) or [Barnes & Noble](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/who-is-vera-kelly-rosalie-knecht/1127202162?ean=9781947793019) for $14.34, or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781947793019).

_[Who Is Vera Kelly?](https://amzn.to/2JniYw3)_ by Rosalie Knecht

Which of these quotes really \*speaks\* to you?

You chose a sentence from Andrew Martin's _Early Work_, a wry and pitch-perfect novel about late-twentysomething writers and lazy, progressive creatives in varying stages of existential crises. The book follows Pete, an obviously smart if insufferable man who calls himself a writer despite not actually writing anything, and it reveals with damning irony that one who romanticizes the agonized and drug-addled artist — prioritizing the lifestyle over any actual output — does so at his peril. Because, eventually, the people around him will have created some early work of their own, if only for the opportunity to move beyond it.  
Get it from [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2xKzgxO) or [Barnes & Noble](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/early-work-andrew-martin/1127149553?ean=9780374146122) for $26.00, or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780374146122).

_[Early Work](https://amzn.to/2xKzgxO)_ by Andrew Martin

You chose a sentence from _There There_ — an intricate study of Native American life in Oakland, California. Tommy Orange pushes the boundaries of fiction to write this story as he wants to tell it. The result is a series of vignettes, moments in the lives of characters — each expertly rendered in voices completely distinct from each other — who are linked in ways that become clearer as the narrative progresses. And from the beginning you know the narrative is progressing toward something terrible, as we move closer to the Big Oakland Powwow where the characters will collide. A current of violence runs through these stories — even as these characters go about their daily lives, even as Orange successfully refutes the idea of a monolithic Native American identity — and it has to do with the violence done to them: historically, physically, systemically. Read an essay by Tommy Orange [here](https://www.buzzfeed.com/tommyorange/tommy-orange-there-there-native-americans-indians?utm_term=.oyLz4zrrl#.xcNPrPggJ), and get it from Amazon for [$17.67](https://amzn.to/2JimJqo) or Barnes & Noble for [$22.01](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/there-there-tommy-orange/1127085371?ean=9780525520375), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780525520375).

_[There There](https://amzn.to/2JimJqo)_ by Tommy Orange

You chose a quote from Patrick DeWitt's _French Exit_, a sharp, affecting, and darkly funny romp about a codependent mother and son trying to survive. When the very wealthy and eccentric widow Frances realizes she's gone broke, she and her roommate/best friend/son Malcolm high-tail it to Paris to avoid scandal — with their cat (who also might be housing the ghost of Frances's late husband?) in tow. Misadventure ensues. Get it from Amazon for [$23.39](https://amzn.to/2JoJF3v) or Barnes & Noble for [$25.99](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/french-exit-patrick-dewitt/1127143063?ean=9780062846921), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062846921).

_[French Exit](https://amzn.to/2Lo6q8j)_ by Patrick DeWitt

You chose a sentence from _Mirror, Shoulder, Signal_, about a woman whose journey in learning how to drive (the title comes from her instructor's directions) manages to illuminate the angst of her very existence. Sonja is middle-aged and successful as a translator of gruesome Swedish thrillers, and yet she finds herself perpetually at a distance from everyone around her; her life, ironically, is a series of failed attempts at communication. And yet, Sonja's little victories feel monumental, in the way your own little victory might. It's because Dorthe Nors has created a woman merely doing what we all are — trying to figure out how to live.  
Get it from Amazon for [$12.62](https://amzn.to/2sAVihg) or Barnes & Noble for [$13.38](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mirror-shoulder-signal-dorthe-nors/1127026462?ean=9781555978082), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781555978082).

_[Mirror, Shoulder, Signal](https://amzn.to/2sAVihg)_ by Dorthe Nors

You chose a sentence from Patrick Chamoiseau's _Slave Old Man_, a thrilling novel which follows the titular "slave old man" as he flees the Caribbean plantation on which he's spent his long life. As the unnamed protagonist makes his way through the surrounding forest (which, so richly described, leaves the reader spellbound) he is pursued not only by the plantation owner's monstrous mastiff, but also his own memories — the dark history of the slave trade, experienced in all his senses, as if anew. The novel was first published in France in 1997, and now is carefully translated to honor the oral tradition of blending French and Creole, with a glossary in the back to add contextualized definitions. It is a difficult — but also haunting, beautiful, and necessary — read.  
Get it from Amazon [$15.75](https://amzn.to/2JzqUNS) for or Barnes & Noble for [$16.70](http://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/8209452/type/dlg/sid/ReboliniBookQuiz6-6/fragment/%2F/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/slave-old-man-patrick-chamoiseau/1127102082?ean=9781620972953), or from a local bookseller via IndieBound [here](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781620972953).

_[Slave Old Man](https://amzn.to/2JzqUNS)_ by Patrick Chamoiseau

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