8. Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine
by Diane Williams

Perfect for flash fiction fans, Finex5 is almost guaranteed to be your new favorite. Not only does it have a gorgeous cover (if you’re into that sort of thing, which you totally should be) and hail from McSweeney’s, but the collection promises to be as unsettling as it is funny and concise in its revelations.

 

7. Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir
by Tom Hart

Guaranteed to pull at your heartstrings and leave you not quite the same person before you were before reading, the graphic novel takes you through cartoonist Tom Hart’s journey through grief and therapy over the untimely loss of his young daughter. The memoir is a loving tribute, tender in its treatment of loss, hopelessness and finding the strength to go on.

 

6. True Letters from a Fictional Life
by Kenneth Logan

With life seeming to exist more and more online, any person can relate to the disconnect between their true self and their social media persona. In the same way, True Letters from a Fictional Life tells the story of a boy who’s trying desperately hard to fit in a society that expects him to be a certain way. With an entire future laid out in front of you, being true to yourself becomes the biggest struggle—especially if you want to break out of your life more than you do out of the closet. A cathartic read for anyone that feels stuck in their own fictional life.

 

5. What is Yours is Not Yours
by Helen Oyeyemi

Oyeyemi launches her first collection of short stories, a change of pace from the novels she’s well known for. Prepare to get lost in worlds that exist only between realities, where labyrinths coexist with libraries, and keys are perhaps the most valuable thing you can own.

 

4. The Violet Hour: Great Writers at the End
by Katie Roiphe

If you’re feeling up to the task of facing down your mortality and how it waxes and wanes poetic, The Violet Hour is a must-read. It collects seemingly disparate writings from some of the world’s most beloved writers (Susan Sontag, John Updike, Maurice Sendak) and how they faced down the inevitable.

 

3. Symptoms of Being Human
by Jeff Garvin

If you’re going to read anything about gender issues and identity, let Symptoms of Being Human serve as your guide into the world of gender fluidity. This book will leave you wondering about the protagonist’s gender, and then wondering why it even matters. The novel tackles issues like bullying and gender association with sense, thoughtfulness and bravery, shedding light on the conflict between who you are, how the world sees you, and what to do when faced with decisions that will change your life and the world everyone else lives in.

 

2. Saga
by Brian K. Vaughan, ill. Fiona Staples

First published in 2012, Saga can be described as the love child of Tolkien and Shakespeare. The beautifully illustrated comic takes on heavy themes like culture, war, love and family and spins it into an intergalactic tale that will have you hooked on the first issue. Readers can look forward to the release of Volume Six as a trade paperback in June 2016—leaving you a couple more months to catch up.

 

1. The Year of the Runaways
by Sunjeev Sahota

With so much bad news on media these days, it’s difficult to want to pick up anything political, but definitely need to read this book. Graceful in addressing concerns about immigration, xenophobia and the holes of a flawed system, this novel is a gem that will pull you through the cracks with a not-so-gentle tug at your heart and nary an apology.

 

What other books are on your reading list this summer? Help a fellow homebody out and share your picks in the comments below!