10 books to read in June
Reading is a versatile summer activity: A book can educate you, entertain you and occasionally even do both of those things. Our selections this month include literary fiction about a parent's blurry past, Manhattan diaries from the Reagan era and a politically relevant road-trip novel. All of those and more promise to float your boat — or should we say your beach tote? Happy reading!
Atmosphere: A Love Story By Taylor Jenkins ReidBallantine: 352 pages, $30(June 3)
It's the 1980s and astrophysicist Joan Goodwin is part of a coed NASA group training as astronauts — a process defined by fierce competition and persistent sexism. The narrative moves between Joan's ascent through the ranks, including a love story as explosive as a rocket launch, and a mid-decade disaster reminiscent of the Challenger tragedy. Space nerds and romance fans alike will love it.
Flashlight: A Novel By Susan ChoiFarrar, Straus & Giroux: 464 pages, $30(June 3)
Choi's new book began as a 2020 New Yorker story. Louisa's father Serk is Korean, while mother Anne hails from Ohio. Louisa was just 10 when, in the book's harrowing first chapter, Serk disappears. Unable to connect with Anne, even years later when the latter has developed multiple sclerosis, Louisa is challenging and compelling, much like this thoughtful book about families.
The Slip: A Novel By Lucas SchaeferSimon & Schuster: 496 pages, $30(June 3)
Terry Tucker's Boxing Gym in Austin, Texas, emerges as a vibrant crossroads where people of every age, race and gender meet. When Massachusetts teenager Nathan Rothstein, spending the summer with relatives, disappears, the diverse voices of his fellow gym members — immigrants, an unhoused man, a Playboy bunny-turned-beautician — add depth and intrigue, building toward a wildly original and unexpected conclusion.
So Far Gone: A Novel By Jess WalterHarper: 272 pages, $30(June 10)
Walter ('Beautiful Ruins') matches cadence to drama, channeling the unhinged narration of Rhys Kinnick, an environmental journalist whose anger over the planet's decline sparks a family rift and his retreat to a remote cabin. One morning, Rhys finds his grandchildren left on his doorstep. From there, the plot hurtles forward: kidnappings, frantic road trips, a festival rave and high-stakes showdowns. Wild as things get, humor and heart remain.
Ecstasy: A Novel By Ivy PochodaPutnam: 224 pages, $28(June 17)
Pochoda offers a twisty, modern take on Euripides, set at a luxurious 21st-century Greek resort. King Pentheus becomes Stavros, a wealthy, controlling figure married for decades to Hedy, Lena's best friend. When Hedy invites Lena to the resort's opening, the pair discover an all-female group of bacchanalians dancing and drumming on the beach. They join in, losing touch with their unresolved, everyday problems — and that's how tragedy unfolds.
The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex By Melissa FebosKnopf: 288 pages, $29(June 3)
Febos responds to the question 'What do women want?' with conviction: Women, like everyone else, want pleasure. When she turned 35 and ended a relationship, Febos eschewed her familiar, fall-back comforts of sexual intimacy and instead embraced solitude and celibacy. She discovered that other forms of pleasure — intellectual, sensual and spiritual — were just as meaningful to her as romantic or sexual experiences.
How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir By Molly Jong-FastViking: 256 pages, $28(June 3)
In 2023, Erica Jong's 'Fear of Flying' turned 50. The same year, Jong was diagnosed with dementia, and her daughter turned into her caregiver. Jong-Fast, an acclaimed journalist, was also faced with her husband's cancer diagnosis and her stepfather's worsening Parkinson's disease. In the tradition of the finest memoir writing, the author spares no one, herself least of all, as she untangles the bad from the good while still allowing for some tricky knots.
I'll Tell You When I'm Home: A Memoir By Hala AlyanAvid Reader Press: 272 pages, $29(June 3)
An award-winning Palestinian American writer tackles subjects including home, displacement and gestation in this lyrical memoir that explores the trauma of fractured identity. When Alyan ('Salt Houses') finally becomes pregnant via surrogate, after experiencing five miscarriages, she tries to forge a sense of motherhood as her husband leaves to 'clear his head.' The memoir's shifting timeline mirrors the author's own sense of destabilization.
The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler's All-Female Concentration Camp By Lynne OlsonRandom House: 384 pages, $35(June 3)
Olson's latest centers on four members of the French Resistance — Germaine Tillion, Anise Girard, Geneviève de Gaulle (niece of Charles de Gaulle) and Jacqueline d'Alincourt — all imprisoned in Germany during World War II. Their deep friendship, a source of emotional sustenance, helped them defy the enemy and document atrocities. All survived, forging a sisterhood that endured and resulted in lifelong activism.
The Very Heart of It: New York Diaries, 1983-1994 By Thomas MallonKnopf: 592 pages, $40(June 3)
Mallon, a distinguished man of letters, moved to Manhattan at 32, holding a PhD from Harvard and a dissertation that became his acclaimed 1984 book, 'A Book of One's Own.' Mallon was openly gay and his diaries capture the atmosphere of a city and community reeling from the AIDS crisis amid the material optimism of Reagan-era America. His writing stands out for its honesty and authenticity, offering a vivid, personal chronicle of a transformative era.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Buzz Feed
11 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
21 KPop Demon Hunters Behind The Scenes Facts
Do you love all things TV and movies? Subscribe to the Screen Time newsletter to get your weekly dose of what to watch next and what everyone is flailing over from someone who watches everything! First, director and writer Maggie Kang thought of the idea for KPop Demon Hunters because she wanted to create a movie that "was set in Korean culture" and acts as a "love letter to K-pop and [her] Korean roots." So, she researched mythology and demonology in Korean culture and thought that a story about it could make an animated movie "visually unique from what we've seen in mainstream media." She told Animation Magazine, "I've also always wanted to do a group of amazing kick-ass women. [Production designer] Helen Chen draws these amazing, beautiful female superheroes who are not overly sexualized but still very strong and feminine. I thought about a daily job that they could do, and Kpop just came to mind and became the pitching point of the movie." Maggie Kang's other main objective was to portray women in ways that she's "always wanted to see women portrayed, especially in a superhero movie." So, she wanted them to be "funny and silly and goofy and messy, as well as cool and aspirational and sexy." What made the characters of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey fun to create was that their on-stage and off-stage personas were able to be so different. While they are a polished and united group on stage, they are able to be flawed behind the scenes. It took roughly nine years to get KPop Demon Hunters made, with Maggie Kang revealing that Rumi was actually originally created for another project by her partner Radford Sechrist, who is a story artist and animator, who is best known for creating Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. In a Reddit AMA, Kang said, "The character of Rumi was created 9yrs ago, for another project- specifically my partner Rad Sechrist's Plastic Walrus. KPop was born in June or July of 2018. When we created this KPop IP I loved the design of Rumi so I plucked her out and made her the MC of KPop." The film also drew inspiration from Bong Joon Ho films, with Maggie Kang telling Animation Magazine, "Another thing I wanted to pull off is similar to how Bong Joon Ho juggles so many different tones in his films to where they feel very animated. They're very comical but they're very dark, and so we try to do that in our film." Music videos, Korean photography, concert lighting, anime, and K-dramas were also inspirations for KPop Demon Hunters. For HUNTR/X, early inspiration for their character designs and music came from 2NE1, BLACKPINK, ITZY, TWICE, and more. The film worked with THEBLACKLABEL, a South Korean record label founded by Teddy Park and Kush on the music, so naturally their recording artists, like BLACKPINK, were big influences for HUNTR/X's look and sound. Maggie Kang told Mashable, "Teddy and the team really wanted to create something new, with its own sound and identity. I knew I wanted the girls to be tough. They're not just idols, they're warriors. That alone gives them a different energy." As for the Saja Boys, the team drew inspiration from Tomorrow X Together, BTS, Stray Kids, ATEEZ, BIGBANG, Monsta X, and more for both the look and sound of the band, but also the fans who become infatuated with the group. Speaking to Forbes, Maggie Kang said, "There are many more that served as inspiration – both in and out of K-pop, but they all follow the same archetype. There's always a muscular one who shows off their abs, one who was the romantic type, and the baby of the group." For the Saja Boys, while they all have their own distinct styles, they actually "all share the same CG body, except for Abby Saja, because he's a little bit bigger," according to Maggie Kang. She added, "We bulked him up like 20%." Jinu does have his own distinct look from the rest of the Saja Boys, and it was inspired by K-drama actors Cha Eun-woo and Nam Joo-hyuk. The goal was to have Jinu have a very classic Korean look, which was why they gave him dark hair. Jinu was voiced by Ahn Hyo-seop, who is also a popular actor and singer. Meanwhile, Korean model Ahn So Yeon was the inspiration for Mira, who is the more fashion-forward character of the trio. Unlike with the Saja Boys, where they all look relatively the same, Maggie Kang's objective for HUNTR/X was that they all have very different looks from each other. Kang told Forbes, "Even with the way we animated them [they are distinct]. With their smile, you'll notice Zoey has more of a heart-shaped mouth when she expresses herself. We wanted Mira to be long and lean because I love that look on a woman. I think that's so beautiful. With Rumi, we leaned into a very classic, beautiful Korean look." Early inspiration for how the demon hunters used music throughout generations came from Maggie Kang and co-director and co-writer Chris Appelhans being inspired by traditional Korean mudang dancers, who were women who performed protective rituals. Appelhans recalled thinking, "Isn't that kind of like the first concert?" He added, "That idea clicked: music as a way to connect people and push away darkness." "From there, everything opened up. It gave us a foundation for the girls' identities, their costumes, the mythology, even the stage visuals. And with the Saja Boys, we had fun playing with the idea of a dark, seductive boy band, literally demons in disguise," Appelhans explained to Mashable. The design for Jinu's tiger, who has affectionately been named "derpy tiger," was based on minhwa, according to Maggie Kang. Minhwa is a traditional Korean folk art, which was big during the 17th to 19th centuries, during the Joseon era. The paintings were a symbol of "hope, prosperity, and well-being," which often used bright colors. The Hojak-do genre notably specialized in images of tigers and more. "It's very goofy, and that is the reason why we call him Derpy Tiger. Those drawings are very derpy. He's always wally-eyed and weird-looking," Kang told husband, Radford Sechrist, was the lead animator for Jinu's tiger. He also told Salon, "I would say 90% based on the minhwa artwork, which was incredible to reference and 10% is our cat" There are a few TWICE Easter eggs hidden throughout the film. First, you can spot TWICE listed on the charts when Bobby pulls out his phone. You can also see TWICE (and Meovv) posters in the hallway backstage at the Idol Awards. While writing and creating the songs for the Saja Boys, Chris Appelhans told Mashable they purposefully wrote songs that were "super catchy, but slightly hollow," to emphasize that they are the demons in the story. He added, "There's no real soul underneath." Appelhans also told Mashable, "The idea was that the surface-level part of your heart might be obsessed with the boys, but the deeper part is moved by the girls."Danny Chung, who is part of THEBLACKLABEL and wrote "Soda Pop" voices Baby Saja, too. HUNTR/X's lyrics and songs were written with the intention of having deep meanings behind the words. Chris Appelhans told Mashable, "It's that feeling when an artist shares something raw, like 'drivers license' or Lemonade, and you're stunned they went there, but you feel it so deeply. That's the space we wanted HUNTR/X to live in." Maggie Kang added to Mashable, "The boys' lyrics are all 'give me, give me,' and the girls' final song is about giving themselves to the audience." Arden Cho initially auditioned for the role of Celine, but was then encouraged to read for the role of Rumi. Speaking about booking the role, she told Navar, via AllKPop, "I was overjoyed beyond words. Even after 20 years of acting, I wondered, 'Is it okay for me to want this role so badly?'" She continued, saying, "Director Maggie Kang, I, and all the HUNTR/X members share Korean heritage. K-Pop Demon Hunters is about more than K-pop: it showcases Korean warmth, unity, and how that helps overcome crises. I really wanted to help spread that message of 'us'." EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and REI AMI provide the singing voices for Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, respectively. Meanwhile, Lea Salonga, who is best known for her theater work and for being the singing voice for Mulan and Princess Jasmine, provided the singing voice for Celine. Arden Cho, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, and Yunkin Kim voiced the characters, respectively. Due to the fact that HUNTR/X performs on stage, hunts demons, and we see them in their everyday lives too, the movie actually consists of the most costume looks ever for an animated movie. "When it comes to demon hunting and music making, they all have their own role and it comes together in a magical way," Maggie Kang added during an interview with Netflix. The team took musical inspirations from various artists when it came to writing and producing the songs. For example, "What It Sounds Like" was inspired by Lorde's "Green Light," with Chris Appelhans saying in a Reddit AMA, "Green Light (Lorde), is both vulnerable + anthemic and helped us believe we could achieve both in our finale." He also referenced Imogen Heap for Rumi's part of the song, writing, "The vocoder vocals in Hide and Seek (Imogen Heap) inspired us for Rumi trying to reconcile both parts of herself and find her 'true voice'." Originally, the movie included a final standoff song between Rumi and Celine. However, it was cut because it "didn't fit the arc of the story," according to music supervisor Ian Eisendrath. In a Reddit AMA, Eisendrath described the song as "really cool." Also speaking about writing the songs, he said, "First thing we did was determine when the story/characters need to sing, then hired an amazing group of Kpop hitmakers, and spent years developing these song (often 3-6 songs were written for each slot before we settled)!" Due to how expensive it can be to animate an entire movie, the full choreography for all the performances doesn't actually exist. The only parts that are choreographed are what is shown in the final film. In a Reddit AMA, Maggie Kang explained, "We do not have full choreography! We only have it for the sections that are see on screen. Again, budgetary reasons-- what we don't see, we do not pay for lol." And finally, the soundtrack has led to seven hits on Billboard's Hot 100, with "Golden" reaching a peak of No. 6 on the chart as of July 21. HUNTR/X also hit No. 2 on the US Spotify charts, surpassing BLACKPINK as the highest-charting female K-pop group. And the Saja Boys' "Your Idol" topped the US Spotify charts, surpassing BTS as the highest-charting male K-pop group. Subsequently, "Golden" will reportedly be submitted for Best Orignal Song consideration a the 2026 Oscars. What do you LOVE about KPop Demon Hunters? Share all your thoughts below! Want to find out which KPop Demon Hunters character you're most like? Click here to take the quiz! Do you love all things TV and movies? Subscribe to the Screen Time newsletter to get your weekly dose of what to watch next and what everyone is flailing over from someone who watches everything!
Eater
14 hours ago
- Eater
Minhwa Spirits Feels Like Your Cool Friend's House
Henna Bakshi is the Regional Editor, South at Eater and an award-winning food and wine journalist with a WSET (Wine and Spirits Education Trust) Level 3 degree. She oversees coverage in Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, the Carolinas, and Nashville. Welcome to another installment of Scene Report in Atlanta, a new column in which Eater captures the vibe of a notable Atlanta restaurant at a specific moment in time. The soju distillery in a Doraville strip mall, is an unlikely hot spot, but when you make the OTP drive and enter the doors, you realize you're at your coolest friend's house party. Minhwa Spirits founders Ming Han Chung and James Kim are those friends. After opening Georgia's first soju distillery (soju is a Korean distilled alcohol fermented with rice) last year, they were smart to house more than just the spirit, which was widely unknown in the state. The space is home to Postern Coffee during the day, chef residencies in the kitchen, and a cocktail bar, invitingly introducing diners to soju and makgeolli. The atmosphere: Minhwa has two versions: an evening electric energy and a daytime chill mode. On a recent visit on a Saturday afternoon, the space was flooded with ample natural light from its floor-to-ceiling windows. Young people sat at tables on their laptops, the air smelled of freshly brewed coffee (try the coconut ube latte, $7), and a gentle hum of conversation and laughter came from the bar stools. An outdoor patio has several tables against a stunning mural called 'Morning Calm' by artist Kimchi Juice, depicting a Korean woman wading through mountains and peach trees — a nod to Georgia. On a Saturday evening, there was a line forming out the door. The space was buzzing with people. A table close to me was celebrating a birthday, and another seemed to be on a first date with shy, awkward body language and cocktails in hand. Andrew Bloom's kinetic art on the walls seemed to move in its liquid florals. People were relaxed, the service was attentive and friendly, and no one seemed to keep tabs on the parking meter — parking is free. From bottom to top: Cheesy kimchi fried rice, coconut ube latte, KFC nuggets, gilgeori toast, japchae, and volcano hot dog. Henna Bakshi The food: Minhwa Spirits has welcomed chef Lino Yi (formerly TKO at Southern Feed and Lazy Betty) to the kitchen since Ganji's departure, the excellent pop-up that popularized the purple rice bowl. Yi brings Korean comfort bar food to Minhwa. The cheesy kimchi fried rice ($12) is a treat any time of the day, the japchae ($15) with sweet potato starch noodles and mushrooms is an umami bomb, and the volcano hot dog ($6) is piled high with spicy krab, sriracha, eel sauce, and scallions. The food is delicious barfare, though the menu could use a punch of acid through a bright salad or pickles and kimchi. Pastry chef Molly Follet (Little Bear, Ticonderoga Club) makes the fluffiest butter cheesecake ($10) with a peach ginger jam that pairs perfectly with Postern's cortado using Ethiopian coffee. Insider tip on food: A spam and egg souffle gilgeori toast ($10) with cabbage, carrot, and spicy mayo is the current offering for brunch, and black sesame chicken and waffles with a spicy miso maple caramel will be added soon. Food pop-ups are hosted here often — look for Jay Patel's popular Indian-fusion barbecue tandoori sliders and wings from Dhaba BBQ. Mom's Backyard Garden made with soju, gin, cucumber and lime cordial, and perilla. Henna Bakshi The drinks: As one would hope, this distillery slings great cocktails. Minhwa has taken on one of Atlanta's top award-winning mixologists, James Sung (formerly Umi, Palo Santo), to whip up concoctions using the housemade soju and gin. The housemade Yong soju is earthy and light, and the gin is made in partnership with local tea company, the Chai Box, with Indian chai spices. Beaches Down in Georgia cocktail with hibiscus jelly at Minhwa Spirits. Lauren Lynn Sung infuses Korean ingredients with fat-wash and clarification techniques to create floral, fresh, and velvety-textured drinks. In one cocktail, aptly named Mom's Backyard Garden ($16), Sung uses his mother's perilla from her garden to garnish the drink made with soju, gin, and a cucumber and lime cordial. (Perilla leaves are commonly used in Korean cooking and have an herbaceous and peppery flavor.) It's refreshing, with a milky texture, punctured by bright green perilla — a visual stunner. The Beaches Down in Georgia ($16) is served with a cat face-shaped sour digestif gummy made from an extract from the Japanese raisin tree (hovenia dulcis thunb). It is commonly found in alcohol digesting supplements. I couldn't tell you if it works, but I can surely tell you the cocktail is a sweet and sour beauty with tongue-popping acidity. Most signature cocktail on the menu right now use clarification and fat washing, giving them linearity in a milky texture. They also tend to lean sweet, which is expected in Korean food and drinks. I'll be curious how Sung experiments moving forward, leaning on spice, salt, and umami in other iterations. Insider tip on drinks: Be sure to order the makgeolli service (cloudy Korean rice wine) ($22) served from the traditional gold aluminum kettle in golden cups. Pair it with the KFC chicken nuggets. Buy bottles of soju and gin to take home. Why go here: Minhwa Spirits gets it. The precarious 'it' is the balance between accessibility and finesse, and a downright cool factor. The team here is finding its groove, and it is exciting to witness their experimentation. The distillery is drawing local talent to itself seemingly naturally, making the space a creativity incubator, all while keeping its boozy and cultural spirit alive. This is my kind of house party. Eater Atlanta All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Eater
15 hours ago
- Eater
Group Behind LA Hit Mother Wolf Is Opening an NYC Restaurant
is a born-and-raised New Yorker who is an editor for Eater's Northeast region and Eater New York, was the former Eater Austin editor for 10 years, and often writes about food and pop culture. The Los Angeles hospitality group behind chef Evan Funke's hit Italian spot, Mother Wolf, is going to be opening a new restaurant in New York City. Ten Five signed a 15-year lease on the ground floor of 125 West 57th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues. It's a mixed-use development in the heart of Midtown's so-called Billionaires' Row, where the restaurant will take up 7,045 square feet on the ground floor, as first reported by the New York Post. Ten Five's managing partner, Dan Daley, said via a rep for the building's developers, 'We're excited to bring a new concept to this incredibly dynamic part of the city and to contribute to the continued evolution of this iconic corridor,' he wrote, describing it as 'a considered and ambitious project.' Ten Five's chief marketing officer, Kim Walker, writes to Eater that there are 'no further details to share,' but that the team is 'excited about the new space.' Eater has reached out to Funke to see if he is involved. Ten Five's first Los Angeles restaurants were coastal Mexican restaurant Ka'teen and rooftop bar Desert 5 Spot in 2021, inside the Tommie Hotel. Those were followed by Bar Lis in 2022, and French restaurant Mes Amis followed in 2022, both in the Thomson Hotel. But it wasn't until Ten Five debuted Mother Wolf in 2022, where Funke focuses on Roman-style Italian cuisine and especially his pastas, that they had a spot that received outsized culinary attention and celebrity patronage. At the time, Los Angeles Times critic Bill Addison described the spaghettone alla gricia as a 'pork-besotted masterpiece,' and was taken with 'all'amatriciana's potent mix of tomato and guanciale fused onto curving rigatoni.' Building on Mother Wolf's success, the group expanded with offshoots in Miami and Las Vegas. A rendering of 125 West 57th's entrance. Rendering: Neoscape Not all of their ventures have worked out. The company opened an LA-style British pub, the Chap, but closed it a year later, in 2023, in the middle of the company's lawsuit with then-partnering development company Relevant Group. This new, unnamed NYC restaurant isn't Ten Five's first venture into the five boroughs. Back in 2024, the group expanded Desert 5 Spot, a western-themed bar with bull riding, into Williamsburg. 125 West 57th is going to be a high-priced, fancy 30-story building run by real estate developers Alchemy-ABR Investment Partners and Cain International. The address had been home to the Calvary Baptist Church, dating back to the late 1800s, dubbed a 'skyscraper church.' As part of this new development, the church will reopen, occupying the second through 10th floors. The overall space is scheduled to open after Labor Day in September, per the Post. It's down the street from another big Midtown restaurant in the works. Over at 9 West 57th Street, Billy Durney and the team behind Kent Hospitality Group are working on their spot.
