Three Books I'm Reading Now, 5/26/25 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now

I'm reading Katherine Center's newest romance, The Love Haters; I'm reading Ocean Vuong's newest novel, The Emperor of Gladness, (although I still haven't emotionally recovered from reading Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous five years ago); and I'm listening to Karen Thompson Walker's speculative mystery around memory and the dimensions of the mind, The Strange Case of Jane O.

What are you reading, bookworms?

---

01 The Love Haters by Katherine Center

Katie Vaughn has been single for a year, since her former fiancé, an up-and-coming musician, hit it big and then very publicly cheated on her with a pop star.

She's a mid-level video producer on the verge of a layoff--unless she accepts a job in which she documents "a day in the life" of Coast Guard rescue swimmer Hutch Hutcheson, who rose to fame when he saved Jennifer Aniston's golden retriever and who now lives in Key West.

Much of the footage will be taken in and around the water. Katie can't swim, but surely there will be precautions taken, life vests forthcoming, and she can probably even film from the deck of the boat...right?

Katherine Center is also the author of The Rom-Commers, Hello Stranger, What You Wish For, Things You Save in a Fire, The Bodyguard, and other books.

---

02 The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong

Nineteen-year-old Hai is standing on the edge of a bridge in East Gladness, Connecticut, feeling that he's out of options and ready to end it all. But Grazina, an elderly widow who lives next to the bridge, calls him down, and the two strike up a friendship.

Grazina is suffering from dementia, and Hai, whose prospects are slim, jumps at the chance to become Grazina's caretaker and have a steady job and Grazina's constant presence.

Issues of memory, chosen family, history, loneliness, and love shape Vuong's novel.

Ocean Vuong is also the author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, Time Is a Mother, and other books.

---

03 The Strange Case of Jane O by Karen Thompson Walker

Jane is a young, single mother and librarian at the New York Public Library. She has a perfect memory, able to recall events, surroundings, and information down to the finest detail. But just after she visits a psychiatrist, Dr. Byrd, Jane goes missing. She is found face down and unconscious in Prospect Park, with no memory of what has occurred.

She experiences other instances of activity without memory, vivid visions of long-dead figures from her life, and agitation around her erratic behavior. Dr. Byrd begins to believe Jane is suffering from dissociative fugue.

Dr. Byrd and Jane form a bond, even as past traumas resurface for both of them and they cope with issues of memory, truth, and unthinkable possibility.

Karen Thompson Walker is also the author of The Age of Miracles. I'm listening to The Strange Case of Jane O. as an audiobook.