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Lena Dunham, author of Famesick: A Memoir

For the last decade, being the owner and operator of Lena Dunham’s body has felt “like towing a wrecked car across town at midnight.” It’s not easy dragging a wrecked car anywhere, much less to the set of the hit show that you --- as a 25-year-old --- are writing, directing, producing and starring in. But Dunham does it --- even if it means interminable hospital stays, vomiting in the bathroom when she’s meant to be meeting Oprah, or terrifying those closest to her --- because she can no longer tell the difference between fighting to do what she loves and being a servant to her own ambition. All the while, she is holding out for a love that can withstand her personal and public challenges and, more than anything, yearning to feel like herself again --- if only she could remember who that self was.

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Anthony Horowitz, author of A Deadly Episode

Ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne is dead. Or, rather, the actor playing him in the film adaptation of The Word is Murder is. Rising star David Caine has been stabbed, and it seems that everyone on the set had a motive. Caine had just fired his PA. He had fallen out with his director, slept with the screenwriter, humiliated his co-star, and dropped his agent days before he was about to sign a multi-million-dollar deal to appear in the next Spider-Man movie. But what if Caine’s murderer had made a mistake? What if it was the real Hawthorne who was the intended victim? For it turns out that the brilliant detective may have gotten it wrong 10 years earlier. An innocent man has died in jail. And perhaps someone has decided that Hawthorne must pay the price.

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Tom Perrotta, author of Ghost Town

Jimmy Perrini lives in 1970s suburban New Jersey, a few miles from Manhattan, but a world apart. At the end of eighth grade, after tragedy strikes, Jimmy finds himself lost in a fog of grief that alienates him from friends and family, drifting instead into troubling friendships with two older teenagers. One is a notorious local burnout with a fast car, an endless supply of weed, and a shaky grasp of reality. The other is a smart, eccentric girl, to whom Jimmy finds himself drawn as they become entranced by her Ouija board, which just may offer the only salve to their grief. As a fateful public drama unfolds, Jimmy is torn between the occult beyond and the cold realities of the place he has called home. 

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Laura Dave Book Group Event

Links to https://tbrnetwork.com/podcasts/bookreporter-talks-to/bookaccino-live-book-group-with-laura-dave/.

Laura Dave Book Group Event

Links to https://tbrnetwork.com/podcasts/bookreporter-talks-to/bookaccino-live-book-group-with-laura-dave/.

Which of the following fiction titles releasing in May have you read or do you plan to read? Please check all that apply.

May 1, 2026, 564 voters

May 1, 2026 - May 15, 2026

Here are reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for the contest period of May 1 - May 15.

May 1, 2026

Reading MIDNIGHT, AT THE WAR on Mother’s Day

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By Devi S. Laskar
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We are kicking off this year’s Mother’s Day Author Blog series with Devi S. Laskar. Her third novel, MIDNIGHT, AT THE WAR, is about a reporter chasing the biggest story of her career as she contends with a tense newsroom, a dangerous global conflict, and all the problems she’s running away from at home. The book’s release has been bittersweet for Devi, as she explains in this heartwarming tribute to her family of voracious readers. She is especially eager to hear what her mother thinks of her latest work.

Devi S. Laskar

Devi S. Laskar is a poet, novelist, artist, photographer, songwriter and former newspaper reporter. Her debut poetry collection, SELF-PORTRAITS EX MACHINA, is out now from Finishing Line Press. Laskar is the author of the award-winning novel THE ATLAS OF REDS AND BLUES and, recently, CIRCA, a GOOP Book Club selection. Her third novel is the newly released MIDNIGHT, AT THE WAR, and her first spoken-word album is coming out this spring. In 2022, USA Today named her one of 50 AAPI authors to read. She holds degrees from Columbia University, University of Illinois and UNC-Chapel Hill.

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Editorial Content for Phases: A Memoir

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Phases: A Memoir

Contributors

Barbara Bamberger Scott

Reviewer (text)

Barbara Bamberger Scott

In PHASES, Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, producer and actress Brandy recounts the secrets, sorrows and successes that brought her into the limelight from an early age. Read More

Teaser

From the moment she first sang at church in McComb, Mississippi, Brandy knew her voice was special. At 14, she landed her first record deal. At 15, her album went platinum. At 16, she was starring in the hit sitcom “Moesha” and became the first Black actress to play Cinderella on screen alongside fairy godmother Whitney Houston. Yet, as the accolades piled up, so too did the pressure to maintain a flawless image. To onlookers, she had crafted the blueprint for the teenage “it” girl. But behind closed doors, “The Vocal Bible,” as she was known, was struggling. In PHASES, Brandy shares the humble roots of her decades-spanning career, her early struggles with bullies and insecurities as a high schooler, the inside stories behind her most iconic songs and albums, and so much more.

Promo

From the moment she first sang at church in McComb, Mississippi, Brandy knew her voice was special. At 14, she landed her first record deal. At 15, her album went platinum. At 16, she was starring in the hit sitcom “Moesha” and became the first Black actress to play Cinderella on screen alongside fairy godmother Whitney Houston. Yet, as the accolades piled up, so too did the pressure to maintain a flawless image. To onlookers, she had crafted the blueprint for the teenage “it” girl. But behind closed doors, “The Vocal Bible,” as she was known, was struggling. In PHASES, Brandy shares the humble roots of her decades-spanning career, her early struggles with bullies and insecurities as a high schooler, the inside stories behind her most iconic songs and albums, and so much more.

About the Book

The iconic, multiplatinum, Grammy Award®–winning performer Brandy brings us a raw, intimate portrait of her life, charting her growth to stardom from Mississippi churches to Hollywood spotlights.

From the moment she first sang at church in McComb, Mississippi, Brandy knew her voice was special. At 14, she landed her first record deal. At 15, her album went platinum. At 16, she was starring in the hit sitcom “Moesha” and became the first Black actress to play Cinderella on screen alongside fairy godmother Whitney Houston.

Yet, as the accolades piled up, so too did the pressure to maintain a flawless image. To onlookers, she had crafted the blueprint for the teenage “it” girl. But behind closed doors, “The Vocal Bible,” as she was known, was struggling.

In this piercing, revelatory memoir, Brandy shares:

  • The humble roots of her decades-spanning career
  • Her early struggles with bullies and insecurities as a high schooler
  • the inside stories behind her most iconic songs and albums
  • her star-studded connections with Whitney Houston and Diana Ross
  • the affirmation of friends and family, including her brother Ray J, that helped her through challenging times
  • her inspirational journey to reclaim her sense of self, and her autonomy as a woman in Hollywood and in music
  • and so much more

PHASES is a fearless and remarkable story of hope, resilience and the strength it takes to make peace with the past.

Audiobook available, read by Brandy