If you’re trying to glimpse into the pulse of literature today, add these books to the list. An immigrant father and son try to find their place after 9/11. As a consequence of climate change and other crises, a girl finds an unlikely community on her way toward a new life. Four sisters must balance two cultures in a new place they’re trying to call home. Ultimately, these modern classics will tug at your heart strings and show us what it means to be human.
This is a story of an immigrant father, son, and the country they call home in the aftermaths of 9/11. In the aftermaths of this catastrophe, people are living in debt and under the gods of finance rule. Immigrants live in fear. The nation’s unhealed wounds wreak havoc around the world. Blending fact and fiction, this deeply personal work explores identity and belonging.
Born from the god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, Circe is not as powerful or as alluring as her parents. She turns to the world of mortals to find companionship and discovers her power, a witchcraft that’s able to transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Zeus banishes her to a deserted island where she hones her craft and crosses paths with the most famous figures in all mythology. Alone, she unknowingly draws the wrath of both and gods and finds herself pitted against one of the most terrifying of the Olympians. She is forced to choose whether she belongs with the gods or mortals and summon all her strength to protect what she loves most.
Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community that’s shelter from the surrounding anarchy. It’s the early 2020s and California is full of dangers as a consequence of the global climate change and economic crises. Lauren suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others’ emotions. As she fights for survival, the journey leads to something much more—the birth of a new faith and hope.
Jacob Jankowski recounts his time as a young man at Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. In a world filled with freaks and clowns, narrow irrational rules, and pain, Jacob was in salvation and a living hell. He had no direction until landing on this locomotive. Marlena was at the circus because she fell in love with the wrong man. Rosie, the elephant, was the great hope of the show but didn’t have an act because she couldn’t even follow instructions. The bonds of this unlikely trio become their only hope for survival.
After the discovery of their father’s role in an attempt to overthrow the brutal dictator Rafael Trujillo, the Garcias must flee their home in the Dominican Republic. They arrive in New York in 1960. While their parents try to hold on to traditions, the sisters—Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia—try to find new lives. Caught between two cultures, this is a tale about being at home, and not, in America.
Your boyfriend of the past nine years is engaged to someone else. His wedding invitation arrives and you can’t quite give a straight answer. So, you skip town by accepting a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world. Arthur Less almost falls in love in Paris, almost dies in Berlin, and encounters the last person he wants to see on a deserted island in the Arabian Sea. Despite all these mishaps and misunderstandings, this is still a love story.
After his mother is killed in an accident, Theo, thirteen years old, is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Tormented by a longing for his mother and bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, he clings onto a small, mysteriously captivating painting that draws him into the art community. As he grows up, he draws closer and closer to the center of the dark corners of the art underworld.
Celestial and Roy are newlyweds that embody the American Dream and the New South. Roy is a young executive, and Celestial is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. Their way to a perfect life takes a turn when Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial was unaware of. During Roy’s sentence, Celestial finds comfort in Andre, her childhood friend and the best man at their wedding. After five years, Roy’s conviction is overturned and returns to resume their life together. Will they be able to reckon with the past to move forward?
Teenager Sunja falls in love with a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea in the early 1900s. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she’s pregnant and that her lover is married, she refuses to be bought. Instead, she marries a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. This decision propels a dramatic saga that will echo down four generations as they fight to control their destiny.
Everyone has a different relationship with Bernadette Fox. To her husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner. To the other private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace. To her fifteen-year-old daughter Bee, she’s her best friend and mom. Suddenly, Bernadette vanishes. Now, Bee must look through emails and secret correspondences to learn who her mother truly is.
Emily Hoang is a writer and editor, who is obsessed with haunted houses, ghosts, and dreams. More info can be found on her website.
