TIME

May’s best new books

The books of May run a gamut as long and welcoming as a bookstore aisle, from fitness obsessions to a fictional religious compound, from NASA to middle-school bullying to Native poetry. They ask questions about place, purpose and paths—particularly ones not taken. Celebrated authors like Rachel Cusk and Alison Bechdel make much-anticipated returns, and Stacey Abrams delivers a buzzy legal thriller. Read on.

The Secret to Superhuman Strength

Alison Bechdel

In her graphic memoirs and cartoonist Bechdel crafted wrenching and comic narratives about her relationships with her father and mother. Her latest graphic memoir charts a different relationship: the one she’s had with exercise. The

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