Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead

by Emily Austin

This book had me at "Gilda, a twenty-something, atheist, animal-loving lesbian, cannot stop ruminating about death." I was fully prepared from that one-sentence summary to love this novel, but I hadn't anticipated how much I would identify with Gilda's character (and her neuroses); reading her story was sort of like looking at the worst-case scenario version of myself on paper, which could have easily been terrible, but instead was strangely cathartic. Through Gilda's stream of consciousness, Austin captures what it is to be anxious and depressed and flailing in a way that is darkly funny and emotionally honest and leads us to some surprising and dubious places. It's like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but with actual young adults instead of teens.

The Copenhagen Trilogy

by Tove Ditlevsen

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory

by Caitlin Doughty

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

by Jenny Odell

The Girl from the Sea

by Molly Knox Ostertag

This gorgeous graphic novel is a cute sapphic interspecies romance that is at turns silly, sweet, and serious. After a near-drowning, Morgan (a human) is saved by Keltie (a selkie). Believing Keltie to be a literal dream girl, Morgan takes the opportunity to make out with her; Keltie, however, is quite real, and she believes what she shared with Morgan was true love's kiss. They enter into a relationship in which Morgan makes classic mistakes that many teenagers make when swept up in a new romance, except her motivation for disappearing on friends and family is less that she's obsessed with this cute girl she gets to kiss (though that's definitely part of it) and more that her sexuality is a secret she'd planned to keep until college. Her relationship with Keltie proves to be a difficult secret to keep, because Keltie isn't exactly subtle or convincingly human or knowledgeable about LGBTQI+ issues. But "Sometimes you have to let your life get messy. That's how you get to the good parts."

Brood

by Jackie Polzin

"Life is the ongoing effort to live. Some people make it look easy. Chickens do not."

As a person who aspires to one day keep my own backyard chickens, I was delighted by this little novel about an unnamed woman who becomes mother to a flock of four hens in rural Minnesota. Polzin's writing is spare but so specific in its attention to detail that I forgot, more than once, I wasn't reading a memoir, or sitting outside, observing the meanderings of actual flesh-and-blood chickens. But Brood is about so much more than the precarious business of raising chickens. It's a meditation on life—expectations, transitions, grief—and reading it felt like a hug after a hard year.

P.S. I am team Gloria.

The Falling in Love Montage

by Ciara Smyth

Goodbye, Again

by Jonny Sun

I am often in the process of reading multiple books at once. The trick to this, I think, is to pick books that are different enough from each other: light vs. heavy, fiction vs. nonfiction, long vs. short. Some books are hearty meals. This book is a satisfying snack, especially if you’re one for emotional comfort eating—er, reading. Sun’s bite-sized, bittersweet essays about productivity, anxiety, plants, and family are an excellent excuse to sit down and slow down, to indulge in the wistful and melancholy for a few minutes a few times a day. I finished Goodbye, Again feeling thoughtful and calm ... and contemplating whether it would be wise to adopt another houseplant.

Grown Ups

by Emma Jane Unsworth

From the outside, 35-year-old Jenny McLaine appears to be a successful adult. She owns her house, has a cool writing job in London, a few good friends, and up until recently she lived with her famous photographer boyfriend. Her inner monologue quickly shatters this illusion of put togetherness, revealing Jenny to be neurotic, self-obsessed, and needy; she can’t put down her phone and cares exceedingly about being “liked” on social media to the detriment of her real world relationships. Grown Ups is a satirical portrait of the elder millennial that is messy, tender, and hilarious. Go ahead: put your phone down, pick it up!

Code Name Verity

by Elizabeth Wein

If not for World War II, and their roles in it, Queenie of Scotland and Maddie of Manchester would likely have never met, which would be a shame, because their fierce love and dynamic talents make them a sensational team. Each is doing her part for the British War Effort: Queenie “Verity” as an interrogator, and Maddie “Kittyhawk” as a pilot. But their mission to Nazi-occupied France goes awry, forcing Maddie to crash land the plane and Queenie to parachute out, only to be arrested by the Gestapo. “Verity” must reveal the details of their assignment or face execution. Code Name Verity is a vivid and brazen story about love and loyalty. It’s deeply researched, profoundly painful, and perfectly exemplifies how a made-up story might reveal a deeper truth. I only wish I’d read it sooner. (Age 14 and up)