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RELEVANT Recommends: ‘Crying in H Mart’ by Michelle Zauner and More Spring Reads

RELEVANT Recommends: ‘Crying in H Mart’ by Michelle Zauner and More Spring Reads

Michelle Zauner is already a known quantity on the indie music scene. As Japanese Breakfast, she’s enjoyed a quick, buzzy rise for her approachable shoegaze pop. But she’s also prepared to carve out a new space as a compelling, thoughtful writer with her new memoir Crying in H Mart, a chronicle of grief over the passing of Zauner’s mother.

Zauner turned to cooking as a way to process the loss of her mom, trying to replicate the Korean dishes she grew up with. The settings here eschew the sort of tour bus diaries that her many fans might expect for settings that are a little more familiar, if bleak: hospital rooms, grocery stores and family tables. Zauner’s prose is candid, unadorned and intimate, using the sensual to convey the unconveyable weight of death. It’s not a breezy read, but for anyone who’s lost someone, it will be familiar.

Here are a few other books worth picking up this spring.

Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It: Douglas S. Bursch

A pastor and radio show hosts reflects on our current era of posting, and how Christians can chart a new course for unity. Pre-order it here.

Permission to Be Black: My Journey with Jay-Z and Jesus by A. D. “Lumkile” Thomason

A powerful, deeply personal exploration of how one Black man dealt with the trauma of American Whiteness, and found Christ-centered transformation through Jesus. Check it out here.

Conspicuous in His Absence: Studies in the Song of Songs and Esther by Chloe T. Sun

Fuller Theological Seminary professor Chloe T. Sun tackles the two books of the Old Testament that don’t reference God by name at all: Esther and Song of Songs. She finds surprising and compelling connections between the two, exploring how God shows up in unlikely places, whether or not His name is invoked. Order it here.

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