Every month there are new titles purchased for the Too Good to Miss collections at our libraries. If you're not familiar with TGTM (as we call it here in library-world), it's a special collection of popular books that are truly too good to miss. Some are new and popular titles, others are older titles that might not have had as much media attention as a bestseller or celebrity book club selection but are still great reads that deserve another look. New books are added to the collection monthly, and are available at all Madison Public Library locations on a walk-in, first-come-first-served basis.
For this month of May we have seven new titles that were added:**
Erasure by Percival Everett - This is the novel that was adapted to become the Academy Award winning (Best Writing-Adapted) film, American Fiction.
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez - For the last few years, every woman who dated Justin immediately found her romantic soul mate after breaking up with him. When Emma sees a social media post about Justin, she immediately slides into his DMs since she has the same problem. Everyone Emma has dated and then broken up with goes on to find true love.She's hoping that their bad-luck-superpowers will cancel each other out. You'll have to read to see if she's right.
How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America: Essays by Kiese Laymon - Laymon is the author of the 2018 memoir, Heavy. This is a collection of his essays, touching on subjects ranging from family, race, violence, and celebrity to music, writing, and coming of age in Mississippi.
Biting the Hand: Growing Up Asian in Black and White America by Julia Lee - The Korean concept of han captures a condition of sorrow and rage that echoes through generations, the legacy of a long history of invasion and war. Lee, the daughter of Korean immigrants to California, grapples with this inheritance as a member of the so-called model minority in this clear-sighted memoir humming with justified anger.
Parenting at the Intersections: Raising Neurodivergent Children of Color by Jaya Ramesh and Priya Saaral - Both authors are neurodivergent professionals in the Seattle area who are also parents to neurodiverse children.
And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode Somtochukwu - This debut novel follows the lives of two young gay men in contemporary Nigeria. The young men, one who is out and an activist and the other who is closeted, both face life in a society that seeks not just to deny, but to punish, their existence.
Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Taussig,Rebekah - This is the UW's 2024 Go Big Read title and is an invaluable, eye-opening look at disability from a firsthand perspective.
If you're ever just looking for something "good" to read, I highly recommend browsing the TGTM books at your Madison Library. There's a little something for everyone in this collection and it's my go-to when I'm not sure what I'm in the mood for.
**Linked titles are to the regular copies, which may have hold lists. The TGTM browse collection books are separate from those.