🔮 We know which new book you should read next

Plus: middle grade books the whole family will love

We know which new book you should read this month — just answer these eight questions. More for your TBR list 20 Graphic Novels And Nonfiction That YA Readers Will Love 25 Magnificent Middle Grade Books To Share With The Whole Family Longer reads Motherhood, Mourning, And Natto: A Short Story From "Sansei And Sensibility" The Future Of True Crime Will Have To Be Different Fun & Quizzes 18 Shakespearean Insults That Are Too Good To Let Die 22 Disturbingly Twisted Moments From Books That Made Us Never Want To Read Again For your reading list Credit: FSG / Rosson Crow Life Events by Karolina Waclawiak It might seem like this isn't the year for reading a book that'll make you cry so hard that you cease to have any moisture left in your body, but I'm here to tell you that's the exact kind of book you need to read. I read Karolina Waclawiak's Life Events in January, my hand clutched around my throat the entire time, barely able to take a breath. In Life Events, 30-something year old Evelyn is on the brink of a divorce, and worried about the deaths of everyone she loves. To stave off this anxiety, she joins a collective of "exit guides," helping terminally ill people leave on their own terms. Waclawiak — who is an editor at BuzzFeed News and my boss, but she definitely, absolutely is not making me write this — also wrote this striking essay about her own mother's illness and, eventually, her death.  I know, I know. It sounds heavy. And it is, but reading Life Events feels like pressing a comforting weight on your own heart. I won't lie to you: It's dark as shit. But it's still funny and soothing, contemplative and intense. I rarely know what it means when people say a book is "moving," but for one of the first times in my life, I think I get it. Life Events is a subtle book — miss a line and you miss a feeling — but it still feels so propulsive and powerful, a kind of pleasurable tension.  We're all grieving a little bit right now, no matter what we're enduring. Since the beginning of the pandemic stay-in-shelter orders, I've returned to Life Events over and over to understand my own grief. It's a struggle to look at death and despair in the eye, but that's exactly what this book does, and somehow, in a way that doesn't inspire fear but rather, rebirth. There's no better time than now to experience a little exquisite agony. Get your copy. —Scaachi Koul Read Receipts:  Texting with our favorite writers 📲 This week, we're chatting with Elisabeth Thomas about Catherine House — her debut novel (and last month's BuzzFeed Book Club pick) — which follows Ines as she becomes enthralled with a prestigious boarding school that's hiding sinister secrets around a mysterious element called plasm. *MINOR SPOILERS BELOW* This month, the BuzzFeed Book Club is reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Sign up to read along. More From BuzzFeed Why Does "Indian Matchmaking" Make My Culture Seem So Burdensome? We Can Guess Your Generation Based On Whether You Find These '00s Fashion Trends "Cringe" Or "Cool" Can You Name The 15 Most Used Spells In The "Harry Potter" Books? 27 Of The Most Painfully Awkward Conversations In All Of Human History     Do you know someone who would love the Books newsletter? Tell them to sign up here!   Got any feedback for us about the newsletter? Respond to this email; we'd love to hear what you want more (or less) of!  BuzzFeed, Inc. 111 E. 18th St. New York, NY 10003 We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, BuzzFeed may collect a small share of sales from the links in this email. View our privacy notice and cookie policy Unsubscribe