10 Must-Read Books Out This Week

Venita Blackburn’s new short story collection focuses on mean girls, and how they shape the social worlds around them.

In María Amparo Escandón’s L.A. Weather, three young women find themselves unmoored when their seemingly unshakeable mother announces that she’s leaving their father.

Fates and Furies author Lauren Groff offers her take on historical fiction with Matrix, a clever spin on the story of Marie de France.

U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo walks readers through her disparate sources of inspiration in this new memoir, the author’s first since 2012’s Crazy Brave.

The last time the Dirty Dozen teamed up for a job, things went sideways, fast. Now, they’re back together for another shot at greatness — but with a new enemy looming on the horizon, their best-laid plans may soon unravel.

Louise Nealon’s Snowflake follows a poor young woman as she travels from her family’s rural farm to attend university in Dublin.

Iris is a tightrope-walker with an unfair advantage: She cannot die. But she also can’t remember who she is, so when a mysterious benefactor offers to help her recover her memories, she’ll do whatever he asks — including acting as his champion in a deadly tournament.

Taking its title from the Chinese word for America, Qian Julie Wang’s memoir looks back on the author’s undocumented childhood in New York City.