{"id":1912671,"date":"2026-05-01T11:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T08:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1912671"},"modified":"2026-05-01T11:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T08:06:00","slug":"9-of-the-best-new-books-to-read-this-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1912671","title":{"rendered":"9 of the best new books to read this spring"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/131-0-1620-1080\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444313.png&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/life-culture\/article\/70177\/1\/9-best-new-books-to-read-spring-2026-lena-dunham-fame-sick-lonely-crowds\" data-article-id=\"70177\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-landscape-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.78\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Harvey Wood\" class=\"img\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1400\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444313.png\" width=\"1920\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">Harvey Wood<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-05-01T11:06:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"01 May 2026\"><span class=\"month\">May<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"1\">1,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - life-culture\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\">Life &amp; Culture<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/the-book-column\">The Book Column<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\">Life &amp; Culture<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/the-book-column\">The Book Column<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>9 of the best new books to read <span class=\"nowrap\">this spring<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>From Lena Dunham\u2019s brutally honest new memoir Famesick, to Stephanie Wambugu\u2019s debut novel about friendship and obsession, these are the hottest new releases to have on <span class=\"nowrap\">your radar<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-05-01T11:06:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"01 May 2026\"><span class=\"month\">May<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"1\">1,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-05-01T11:06:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"01 May 2026\"><span class=\"month\">May<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"1\">1,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/HalimaJibril\"><br \/>\nHalima Jibril<br \/>\n<\/a><span class=\"contributor-separator\">, <\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/EmilyDinsdale\"><br \/>\nEmily Dinsdale<br \/>\n<\/a><span class=\"contributor-separator\">, <\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/SerenaSmith\"><br \/>\nSerena Smith<br \/>\n<\/a><span class=\"contributor-separator\">, <\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/ThomWaite\"><br \/>\nThom Waite<br \/>\n<\/a><span class=\"contributor-separator\">, <\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/Alex\"><br \/>\nAlex Peters<br \/>\n<\/a><span class=\"contributor-separator\">, <\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/DominiqueSisley\"><br \/>\nDominique Sisley<br \/>\n<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>It\u2019s finally that time of year again. Cherry blossoms are in bloom, white men are shirtless, and the sun is out. That could only mean one thing: it\u2019s reading in the park season! The debate over whether reading in the park is actually fun and relaxing, or if it\u2019s uncomfortable and we all pretend it isn\u2019t because we\u2019re desperate for vitamin D, is in full swing once again. Whether you actually enjoy reading outside or are pretending to, there are several new releases from new and established voices to accompany you during your sun worship. Here\u2019s our round-up of the best new books to read this spring.<\/span><\/p>\n<h1><em><span>LONELY CROWDS<\/span><\/em><span>, STEPHANIE WAMBUGU\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"fcd4cd63-1df0-43a9-a0d5-b43c00dd5c81\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444282.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.66\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lonely Crowds\" class=\"img\" height=\"966\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444282.jpg\" width=\"640\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Little, Brown US<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>The other day, while talking to my therapist about my best friends, she described our relationship as \u2018codependent\u2019. I almost wanted to retort that if she wanted to witness a real codependent relationship, she should read <\/span><em><span>Lonely Crowds<\/span><\/em><span> by Stephanie Wambugu. Wambugu makes sharp observations about family, sexuality and love through this tale of two Black best friends, Ruth and Maria, in the NYC art scene in the 90s. I underlined more lines than I\u2019d like to admit while reading this book \u2013 lines like: \u201cI was afraid that relationships could be ruined just by being thought about. But then again, what did it say about the quality of a relationship if it fell apart under the mildest scrutiny?\u201d It is a riveting story in which we follow Ruth in the depths of her obsession with Maria, an obsession that, as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/chireviewofbooks.com\/2025\/07\/30\/lonely-crowds-stephanie-wambugu\/\"><span>Philip Janowski<\/span><\/a><span> writes in his review of the book, \u201cboth gives her life and threatens it\u201d. Like Ruth with Maria, I found myself deeply obsessed and changed by this novel. <em>(HJ)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><em>Read our interview with Stephanie Wambugu <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/70062\/1\/stephanie-wambugu-lonely-crowds-interview-book-literature\">here<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><span><em><em>FAMESICK<\/em>, <\/em>LENA DUNHAM<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"492eb61c-c88d-413c-8c82-b43c00de91c9\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444283.jpeg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.67\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Famesick \" class=\"img\" height=\"1500\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444283.jpeg\" width=\"1000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Random House<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>I inhaled this book. I only finished it yesterday, and I\u2019ve already had more than one animated discussion with friends who are frothing and cascading with opinions. I haven\u2019t fully formed my own sense of the finer points of Dunham\u2019s story yet \u2013 I was so involved in her tale and invested in her perspective that I don\u2019t have much critical distance (but maybe that\u2019s just a mark of truly engrossing storytelling). For me, the most fascinating aspect of the book was her intoxicating broken friendship with <em>Girls<\/em> co-writer and showrunner, Jenni Konner. We\u2019ve all had a complicated female friendship like this that has felt as heady as a romance when it began and as devastating as any heartbreak when it sours. I could\u2019ve read a whole book just about this one aspect of her story. As always, her writing is wincingly courageous, and I never felt like she was obfuscating the truth or not striving, however imperfectly, to be honest. Finishing <em>Famesick<\/em>, I felt like I\u2019d really spent time with Dunham, for better or for worse. I was sad when it ended, and we had to go our separate ways. <em>(ED)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><em><span>THE BEGINNING COMES AFTER THE END<\/span><\/em><span>, REBECCA SOLNIT\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"9b2734a0-0e95-4a91-9308-b43c00e0348b\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1025\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444284.jpeg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"square\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"square\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Beginning Comes After the End \" class=\"img\" height=\"1025\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444284.jpeg\" width=\"1025\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Granta<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>There\u2019s a widely shared David Hockney quote that goes: \u201cDo remember they can\u2019t cancel the spring.\u201d Rebecca Solnit\u2019s book, published in March, takes this a step further. Not only do brighter days come around with reassuring frequency, she suggests, but they do so because of a massive, sustained (and criminally-overlooked) effort, driven by activists and policymakers but also \u2018regular people\u2019 who might not even realise they\u2019re part of a revolutionary shift. In a time of crisis, violence, and polarisation, the book-length essay reminds us of the gains we\u2019ve made in the past \u2013 in terms of racial justice, women\u2019s rights, and environmental protections \u2013 and shows us that progress hasn\u2019t gone away via stories from the Indigenous-led Land Back movement. Yes, it acknowledges that we still live in a far-from-perfect world. But as spring rolls around once again, it offers a much-needed antidote to the ragebait and doomsaying of news headlines and social media posts. More than anything, it invites us to imagine a better future, which (speaking for the UK here) has all but vanished from our public imagination. \u201cYou do not have to picture the destination to reach it or at least draw closer to it,\u201d Solnit writes, \u201cyou just need to choose a direction and keep on walking.\u201d <em>(TW)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><span><em><em>JOHN OF JOHN<\/em>, <\/em>DOUGLAS STUART\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"428b59a5-1b98-4942-bd4a-b43c00fb604a\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/650\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444288.jpeg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.65\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John of John \" class=\"img\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/650\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444288.jpeg\" width=\"650\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Picador<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>John of John follows John-Calum \u2013 better known as Cal \u2013 a 22-year-old who returns to his home on the remote Isle of Harris after a stint at an art school near Edinburgh. He\u2019s come back at the insistence of his strict, Presbyterian father, John, who has told Cal that his maternal grandmother, Ella, is sick (her feet, he explains over the phone, are as purple as \u201ccalf\u2019s liver\u201d). Back on weather-beaten Harris, Cal struggles to reconcile his queer identity with his father\u2019s rigid expectations and the oppressive, small-town environment \u2013 but gradually it becomes clear to Cal that the island community has its own secrets too. John of John grapples with all the usual themes of a Douglas Stuart novel \u2013 intergenerational trauma, substance abuse, religion, masculinity \u2013 but, in contrast to the bleakness of Young Mungo and Shuggie Bain, is shot through with tenderness, hope, and love. <em>(SS)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><em><span>LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO<\/span><\/em><span>, JOHN LANCHESTER\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"2f048f01-962a-4616-9a0e-b43c00fbc3cc\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/416\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444289.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.65\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Look What You Made Me Do\" class=\"img\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/416\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444289.jpg\" width=\"416\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Faber &amp; Faber<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Boomer Kate has spent 30 happy years in a perfect marriage with her husband Jack; millennial Phoebe is a rising screenwriter behind the breakout TV hit <em>Cheating<\/em>. After Jack dies, Kate tunes in to <em>Cheating<\/em> one night and is immediately unsettled. Scenes from the show feel uncannily personal \u2013 as if they\u2019ve literally been lifted from her life. How, Kate wonders, could anyone know such intimate details about her marriage to Jack? Then it dawns on her: did he have an affair? A biting satire about resentment and power, Look What You Made Me Do follows Kate and Phoebe as their lives become uncomfortably intertwined. <em>(SS)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><em><span>I WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY<\/span><\/em><span>, JEM CALDER\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"a82fe2b4-f216-4027-a112-b43c00fc7118\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/634\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444290.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.63\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"I Want You to Be Happy\" class=\"img\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/634\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444290.jpg\" width=\"634\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Faber &amp; Faber<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Chuck, 35, has abandoned his dreams of becoming a novelist and has resigned himself to churning out copy at an ad agency; Joey, 23, lives hand-to-mouth on her meagre barista wages while aspiring to become a poet. After meeting in a bar and hitting it off, the pair head back to Chuck\u2019s lavish flat \u2013 and soon enough, Joey finds herself fantasising about building a future with him. But does Chuck \u2013 still fresh out of a long-term relationship \u2013 feel the same? I Want You to Be Happy is a sharp, shrewd story of two people \u201csearching for meaning and connection in modern times\u201d. <em>(SS)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><em>RASPUTIN: AND THE DOWNFALL OF THE ROMANOVS, <\/em>ANTONY BEEVOR<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"1ad46f15-f5e5-4da2-abd9-b43d00a3a335\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/975\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444314.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.65\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Rasputin: And the Downfall of the Romanovs\" class=\"img\" height=\"1500\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444314.jpg\" width=\"975\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">W&amp;N<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p>I\u2019ve recently been causing controversy around dinner tables and in the office kitchen by sharing my firm belief that I would not have been taken in by Rasputin. The barely literate peasant from Siberia who bewitched Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, with devastating consequences for the Romanov dynasty, seems to have possessed an almost supernatural charisma. His followers were so enamoured with him that they would sew his fingernail clippings into their clothes and wear his discarded, half-eaten food in lockets around their necks.<\/p>\n<p>These are just some of the fun facts you learn about the infamous \u201cmad monk,\u201d who lived a strange life and died an even stranger death, in Antony Beevor\u2019s new biography <em data-start=\"869\" data-end=\"913\">Rasputin: And the Downfall of the Romanovs<\/em>. A great read for anyone who, like me, is fascinated by cult-like figures, aristocratic decadence, corruption, and the spectacular downfalls of the powerful. <em>(AP)<\/em><\/p>\n<h1><span><em>PRAIRIE OYSTER<\/em>, SOPHIE ROBINSON\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"b65fe021-57af-49a6-bdc2-b43d00b00109\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/932\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444316.jpeg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.62\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Prairie Oyster Sophie Robinson\" class=\"img\" height=\"1500\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444316.jpeg\" width=\"932\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Little Brown \/ <span class=\"nowrap\">Sophie Robinson<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p>There has been no shortage of books on the destructive, dizzying nature of unrequited longing. Like, we get it! Some faceless loser does not want you! Get up, girl. But British poet Sophie Robinson somehow makes this trope feel exhilarating in her debut novel <em data-start=\"347\" data-end=\"363\">Prairie Oyster<\/em>. The story follows a brittle thirty-something artist on the brink of a nervous breakdown, who meets one of her creative heroes: a cult lesbian filmmaker called Mitch Meyer. The two begin an obsessive love affair, which quickly descends into a seedy, hellish nightmare. Robinson\u2019s feverish prose makes this mess of lust, substance addiction and creative fixation feel disturbingly real \u2013 you can\u2019t look away, as much as you want to. In the words of Eileen Myles, <em data-start=\"786\" data-end=\"802\">Prairie Oyster<\/em> is so intense, it may even \u201cout-jar <em data-start=\"813\" data-end=\"827\">The Bell Jar<\/em>.\u201d (DS)<\/p>\n<h1><em>DISCIPLINE<\/em>, LARISSA PHAM<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"ec04d5b5-2f28-402b-b3bc-b43d00bb8a1b\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/621\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444350.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.62\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Discipline Larissa Pham\" class=\"img\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/621\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444350.jpg\" width=\"621\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Random House Publishing<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p>Brooklyn writer Larissa Pham is such a sharp, cool writer \u2013 she seems to see through people like an X-ray \u2013 and this book is stuffed with wisdom about the way we relate to and experience each other. <em data-start=\"576\" data-end=\"588\">Discipline<\/em> tells the story of a writer called Christine, who is touring a \u201crevenge\u201d novel based on a relationship she had with her professor a decade earlier. She thinks he\u2019s forgotten her, that her version of the affair has hardened into fact, but then she starts receiving a series of strange emails from him. <em data-start=\"882\" data-end=\"894\">Discipline\u00a0<\/em>is best in its quieter, more reflective moments, when it picks apart how two people can live through the same relationship in completely different ways \u2013 and how unsettling it can be to realise your story is never just yours. <em>(DS)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! 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world.<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid split-list__header\">\n<div class=\"section-header\">\n<div class=\"section-header__link\">\n<h2 class=\"section-header__title\">Trending<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"split-list-scene\" data-split-scene>\n<section class=\"split-list\" id=\"trending\" data-split>\n<div class=\"split-list__layout\" aria-label=\"Trending\">\n<div class=\"split-list__feature\"><a class=\"split-hero\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/beauty\/article\/70087\/1\/naturism-nudism-the-answer-to-our-body-image-crisis-strangers-public\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"split-hero__media\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Naturism nudism naked in public body image self esteem\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/0-844-1760-1173\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/3\/1443364.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"split-hero__panel\">\n<div class=\"split-hero__wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"split-hero__title\">Nude awakening: Meet the young people embracing naturism<\/h3>\n<p class=\"split-hero__summary\">At a time of toxic beauty standards and widespread body image issues, could taking your clothes off around strangers (in a non-sexual way) be the answer?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"split-hero__category\">Beauty<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"split-list__rail\" data-split-rail>\n<div class=\"split-list__railInner\"><a class=\"split-rail-card card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/article\/70175\/1\/met-gala-2026-fashion-is-art-dazed-editors-pick-costume-institute-exhibition\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__img-wrapper card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Met Gala 2026 Editor\u2019s picks\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/31-0-2655-1769\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444277.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__content card-latest__content\"><span class=\"split-rail-card__ribbon card-latest__ribbon\">Fashion<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"split-rail-card__title card-latest__title\">Met Gala 2026: Dazed editors pick who they want to see on the red carpet<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"split-rail-card card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/article\/70153\/1\/going-field-mode-with-roger-scott\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__img-wrapper card-latest__img-wrapper\">\n<p class=\"split-rail-card__campaign optional-paragraph\">Oakley <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"RogerStill3\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/0-605-1080-720\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444064.png\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__content card-latest__content\"><span class=\"split-rail-card__ribbon card-latest__ribbon\">Fashion<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"split-rail-card__title card-latest__title\">Going \u2018field mode\u2019 with Roger Scott<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"split-rail-card card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/article\/70180\/1\/kylie-minogue-jonathan-jw-anderson-aw26-campaign-met-gala-afters\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__img-wrapper card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kylie Minogue for JW Anderson AW26\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/0-195-2400-1600\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444292.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__content card-latest__content\"><span class=\"split-rail-card__ribbon card-latest__ribbon\">Fashion<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"split-rail-card__title card-latest__title\">Kylie Minogue on her pop legacy and partying with Jonathan Anderson<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"split-rail-card card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/70184\/1\/5-best-features-zara-larsson-new-remix-album-midnight-sun-girls-trip\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__img-wrapper card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"PinkPantheress-zara\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/120-68-1338-892\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444315.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__content card-latest__content\"><span class=\"split-rail-card__ribbon card-latest__ribbon\">Music<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"split-rail-card__title card-latest__title\">5 standout moments from Zara Larsson\u2019s new remix album<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"split-rail-card card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/70171\/1\/what-do-sex-workers-think-of-euphoria-onlyfans-strippers-bdsm-kink-work\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__img-wrapper card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"35e54470-3738-11f1-ba17-d34f2bc9d6da\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/0-0-2530-1687\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444230.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__content card-latest__content\"><span class=\"split-rail-card__ribbon card-latest__ribbon\">Film &amp; TV<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"split-rail-card__title card-latest__title\">What do sex workers actually think of Euphoria?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"split-rail-card card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/70162\/1\/my-roommate-read-my-diary-dazed-readers-share-housemate-horror-stories\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__img-wrapper card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Roommates, 2026 (Film Still)\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/64-0-675-450\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444105.jpeg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__content card-latest__content\"><span class=\"split-rail-card__ribbon card-latest__ribbon\">Life &amp; Culture<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"split-rail-card__title card-latest__title\">\u2018She was secretly the landlord\u2019: Readers on their housemate horror stories<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"split-rail-card card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/beauty\/article\/70179\/1\/when-did-food-noise-get-so-loud-tiktok-social-media-mukbangs\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__img-wrapper card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"photo-collage.png-2\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/150-0-1620-1080\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444286.png\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__content card-latest__content\"><span class=\"split-rail-card__ribbon card-latest__ribbon\">Beauty<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"split-rail-card__title card-latest__title\">When did food noise get so loud?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"split-rail-card card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/beauty\/article\/57454\/1\/10-of-the-hottest-instagram-accounts-fusing-art-sex-and-erotica\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__img-wrapper card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"sexiest hottest art erotica Instagram\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/0-98-687-458\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1340\/4\/1344209.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"split-rail-card__content card-latest__content\"><span class=\"split-rail-card__ribbon card-latest__ribbon\">Beauty<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"split-rail-card__title card-latest__title\">10 of the hottest Instagram accounts fusing art, sex and erotica<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline\" data-newsletter hidden>\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>It\u2019s finally that time of year again. Cherry blossoms are in bloom, white men are shirtless, and the sun is out. That could only mean one thing: it\u2019s reading in the park season! The debate over whether reading in the park is actually fun and relaxing, or if it\u2019s uncomfortable and we all pretend it isn\u2019t because we\u2019re desperate for vitamin D, is in full swing once again. Whether you actually enjoy reading outside or are pretending to, there are several new releases from new and established voices to accompany you during your sun worship. Here\u2019s our round-up of the best new books to read this spring.<\/span><\/p>\n<h1><em><span>LONELY CROWDS<\/span><\/em><span>, STEPHANIE WAMBUGU\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"fcd4cd63-1df0-43a9-a0d5-b43c00dd5c81\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444282.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.66\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lonely Crowds\" class=\"img\" height=\"966\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/640\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444282.jpg\" width=\"640\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Little, Brown US<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>The other day, while talking to my therapist about my best friends, she described our relationship as \u2018codependent\u2019. I almost wanted to retort that if she wanted to witness a real codependent relationship, she should read <\/span><em><span>Lonely Crowds<\/span><\/em><span> by Stephanie Wambugu. Wambugu makes sharp observations about family, sexuality and love through this tale of two Black best friends, Ruth and Maria, in the NYC art scene in the 90s. I underlined more lines than I\u2019d like to admit while reading this book \u2013 lines like: \u201cI was afraid that relationships could be ruined just by being thought about. But then again, what did it say about the quality of a relationship if it fell apart under the mildest scrutiny?\u201d It is a riveting story in which we follow Ruth in the depths of her obsession with Maria, an obsession that, as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/chireviewofbooks.com\/2025\/07\/30\/lonely-crowds-stephanie-wambugu\/\"><span>Philip Janowski<\/span><\/a><span> writes in his review of the book, \u201cboth gives her life and threatens it\u201d. Like Ruth with Maria, I found myself deeply obsessed and changed by this novel. <em>(HJ)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><em>Read our interview with Stephanie Wambugu <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/70062\/1\/stephanie-wambugu-lonely-crowds-interview-book-literature\">here<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><span><em><em>FAMESICK<\/em>, <\/em>LENA DUNHAM<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"492eb61c-c88d-413c-8c82-b43c00de91c9\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444283.jpeg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.67\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Famesick \" class=\"img\" height=\"1500\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444283.jpeg\" width=\"1000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Random House<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>I inhaled this book. I only finished it yesterday, and I\u2019ve already had more than one animated discussion with friends who are frothing and cascading with opinions. I haven\u2019t fully formed my own sense of the finer points of Dunham\u2019s story yet \u2013 I was so involved in her tale and invested in her perspective that I don\u2019t have much critical distance (but maybe that\u2019s just a mark of truly engrossing storytelling). For me, the most fascinating aspect of the book was her intoxicating broken friendship with <em>Girls<\/em> co-writer and showrunner, Jenni Konner. We\u2019ve all had a complicated female friendship like this that has felt as heady as a romance when it began and as devastating as any heartbreak when it sours. I could\u2019ve read a whole book just about this one aspect of her story. As always, her writing is wincingly courageous, and I never felt like she was obfuscating the truth or not striving, however imperfectly, to be honest. Finishing <em>Famesick<\/em>, I felt like I\u2019d really spent time with Dunham, for better or for worse. I was sad when it ended, and we had to go our separate ways. <em>(ED)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><em><span>THE BEGINNING COMES AFTER THE END<\/span><\/em><span>, REBECCA SOLNIT\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"9b2734a0-0e95-4a91-9308-b43c00e0348b\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1025\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444284.jpeg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"square\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"square\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Beginning Comes After the End \" class=\"img\" height=\"1025\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444284.jpeg\" width=\"1025\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Granta<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>There\u2019s a widely shared David Hockney quote that goes: \u201cDo remember they can\u2019t cancel the spring.\u201d Rebecca Solnit\u2019s book, published in March, takes this a step further. Not only do brighter days come around with reassuring frequency, she suggests, but they do so because of a massive, sustained (and criminally-overlooked) effort, driven by activists and policymakers but also \u2018regular people\u2019 who might not even realise they\u2019re part of a revolutionary shift. In a time of crisis, violence, and polarisation, the book-length essay reminds us of the gains we\u2019ve made in the past \u2013 in terms of racial justice, women\u2019s rights, and environmental protections \u2013 and shows us that progress hasn\u2019t gone away via stories from the Indigenous-led Land Back movement. Yes, it acknowledges that we still live in a far-from-perfect world. But as spring rolls around once again, it offers a much-needed antidote to the ragebait and doomsaying of news headlines and social media posts. More than anything, it invites us to imagine a better future, which (speaking for the UK here) has all but vanished from our public imagination. \u201cYou do not have to picture the destination to reach it or at least draw closer to it,\u201d Solnit writes, \u201cyou just need to choose a direction and keep on walking.\u201d <em>(TW)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><span><em><em>JOHN OF JOHN<\/em>, <\/em>DOUGLAS STUART\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"428b59a5-1b98-4942-bd4a-b43c00fb604a\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/650\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444288.jpeg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.65\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John of John \" class=\"img\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/650\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444288.jpeg\" width=\"650\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Picador<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>John of John follows John-Calum \u2013 better known as Cal \u2013 a 22-year-old who returns to his home on the remote Isle of Harris after a stint at an art school near Edinburgh. He\u2019s come back at the insistence of his strict, Presbyterian father, John, who has told Cal that his maternal grandmother, Ella, is sick (her feet, he explains over the phone, are as purple as \u201ccalf\u2019s liver\u201d). Back on weather-beaten Harris, Cal struggles to reconcile his queer identity with his father\u2019s rigid expectations and the oppressive, small-town environment \u2013 but gradually it becomes clear to Cal that the island community has its own secrets too. John of John grapples with all the usual themes of a Douglas Stuart novel \u2013 intergenerational trauma, substance abuse, religion, masculinity \u2013 but, in contrast to the bleakness of Young Mungo and Shuggie Bain, is shot through with tenderness, hope, and love. <em>(SS)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><em><span>LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO<\/span><\/em><span>, JOHN LANCHESTER\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"2f048f01-962a-4616-9a0e-b43c00fbc3cc\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/416\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444289.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.65\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Look What You Made Me Do\" class=\"img\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/416\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444289.jpg\" width=\"416\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Faber &amp; Faber<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Boomer Kate has spent 30 happy years in a perfect marriage with her husband Jack; millennial Phoebe is a rising screenwriter behind the breakout TV hit <em>Cheating<\/em>. After Jack dies, Kate tunes in to <em>Cheating<\/em> one night and is immediately unsettled. Scenes from the show feel uncannily personal \u2013 as if they\u2019ve literally been lifted from her life. How, Kate wonders, could anyone know such intimate details about her marriage to Jack? Then it dawns on her: did he have an affair? A biting satire about resentment and power, Look What You Made Me Do follows Kate and Phoebe as their lives become uncomfortably intertwined. <em>(SS)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><em><span>I WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY<\/span><\/em><span>, JEM CALDER\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"a82fe2b4-f216-4027-a112-b43c00fc7118\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/634\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444290.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.63\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"I Want You to Be Happy\" class=\"img\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/634\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444290.jpg\" width=\"634\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Faber &amp; Faber<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Chuck, 35, has abandoned his dreams of becoming a novelist and has resigned himself to churning out copy at an ad agency; Joey, 23, lives hand-to-mouth on her meagre barista wages while aspiring to become a poet. After meeting in a bar and hitting it off, the pair head back to Chuck\u2019s lavish flat \u2013 and soon enough, Joey finds herself fantasising about building a future with him. But does Chuck \u2013 still fresh out of a long-term relationship \u2013 feel the same? I Want You to Be Happy is a sharp, shrewd story of two people \u201csearching for meaning and connection in modern times\u201d. <em>(SS)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h1><em>RASPUTIN: AND THE DOWNFALL OF THE ROMANOVS, <\/em>ANTONY BEEVOR<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"1ad46f15-f5e5-4da2-abd9-b43d00a3a335\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/975\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444314.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.65\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Rasputin: And the Downfall of the Romanovs\" class=\"img\" height=\"1500\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444314.jpg\" width=\"975\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">W&amp;N<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p>I\u2019ve recently been causing controversy around dinner tables and in the office kitchen by sharing my firm belief that I would not have been taken in by Rasputin. The barely literate peasant from Siberia who bewitched Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, with devastating consequences for the Romanov dynasty, seems to have possessed an almost supernatural charisma. His followers were so enamoured with him that they would sew his fingernail clippings into their clothes and wear his discarded, half-eaten food in lockets around their necks.<\/p>\n<p>These are just some of the fun facts you learn about the infamous \u201cmad monk,\u201d who lived a strange life and died an even stranger death, in Antony Beevor\u2019s new biography <em data-start=\"869\" data-end=\"913\">Rasputin: And the Downfall of the Romanovs<\/em>. A great read for anyone who, like me, is fascinated by cult-like figures, aristocratic decadence, corruption, and the spectacular downfalls of the powerful. <em>(AP)<\/em><\/p>\n<h1><span><em>PRAIRIE OYSTER<\/em>, SOPHIE ROBINSON\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"b65fe021-57af-49a6-bdc2-b43d00b00109\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/932\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444316.jpeg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.62\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Prairie Oyster Sophie Robinson\" class=\"img\" height=\"1500\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444316.jpeg\" width=\"932\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Little Brown \/ <span class=\"nowrap\">Sophie Robinson<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p>There has been no shortage of books on the destructive, dizzying nature of unrequited longing. Like, we get it! Some faceless loser does not want you! Get up, girl. But British poet Sophie Robinson somehow makes this trope feel exhilarating in her debut novel <em data-start=\"347\" data-end=\"363\">Prairie Oyster<\/em>. The story follows a brittle thirty-something artist on the brink of a nervous breakdown, who meets one of her creative heroes: a cult lesbian filmmaker called Mitch Meyer. The two begin an obsessive love affair, which quickly descends into a seedy, hellish nightmare. Robinson\u2019s feverish prose makes this mess of lust, substance addiction and creative fixation feel disturbingly real \u2013 you can\u2019t look away, as much as you want to. In the words of Eileen Myles, <em data-start=\"786\" data-end=\"802\">Prairie Oyster<\/em> is so intense, it may even \u201cout-jar <em data-start=\"813\" data-end=\"827\">The Bell Jar<\/em>.\u201d (DS)<\/p>\n<h1><em>DISCIPLINE<\/em>, LARISSA PHAM<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"ec04d5b5-2f28-402b-b3bc-b43d00bb8a1b\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/621\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444350.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.62\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Discipline Larissa Pham\" class=\"img\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/621\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444350.jpg\" width=\"621\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Random House Publishing<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p>Brooklyn writer Larissa Pham is such a sharp, cool writer \u2013 she seems to see through people like an X-ray \u2013 and this book is stuffed with wisdom about the way we relate to and experience each other. <em data-start=\"576\" data-end=\"588\">Discipline<\/em> tells the story of a writer called Christine, who is touring a \u201crevenge\u201d novel based on a relationship she had with her professor a decade earlier. She thinks he\u2019s forgotten her, that her version of the affair has hardened into fact, but then she starts receiving a series of strange emails from him. <em data-start=\"882\" data-end=\"894\">Discipline\u00a0<\/em>is best in its quieter, more reflective moments, when it picks apart how two people can live through the same relationship in completely different ways \u2013 and how unsettling it can be to realise your story is never just yours. <em>(DS)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/70177\/1\/9-best-new-books-to-read-spring-2026-lena-dunham-fame-sick-lonely-crowds&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/131-0-1620-1080\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/4\/1444313.png&#8221;] Harvey Wood May\u00a0 1,\u00a0 2026 Life &amp; Culture \/ The Book Column Life &amp; Culture \/ The Book Column 9 of the best new books to read this spring From Lena Dunham\u2019s brutally honest new memoir Famesick, to Stephanie Wambugu\u2019s debut novel about friendship and obsession, these are the hottest new releases [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1912671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1912671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1912671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1912671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1912671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}