July 1, 2022, 9:30am
Paperbacks—so lightweight, so convenient, so perfect to accompany you to the beach or wherever you’re off to this summer. Here are a few of those we’ll be toting this month:
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Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch
(Anchor Books, July 5)
“[W]hat makes Nightbitch stand apart from the usual early motherhood stories, teeth and all, is that Yoder doesn’t focus on how hard being a new mom is, nor does she romanticize the experience. Instead, by blending the real and the surreal, Yoder shows a woman following her primal instincts and becoming her own person — or dog, I should say — outside of cultural norms.”
–The Seattle Times
Joy Williams, Harrow
(Vintage, July 5)
“Harrow belongs at the front of the pack of recent climate fiction, even as it refuses the basic premise (human survival is important) and the sentimental rays of hope (another world is possible!) that are the hallmarks of the genre.”
–Bookforum
John Le Carré, Silverview
(Penguin, July 5)
“[A] fitting conclusion to the long career of a writer who redefined an entire genre with the deceptive ease of pure geniusLe Carré’s compassion for his characters shines through, along with the gleam of humour. It’s also deeply thrilling, in the best way.”
–The Irish Times
Matt Bell, Appleseed
(Mariner, July 5)
“Appleseed, a highly welcome addition to the growing canon of first-rate contemporary climate fiction, feels timely, prescient and true.”
–The New York Times Book Review
Joyce Carol Oates, Breathe
(Ecco Press, July 5)
“Breathe is a fever dream of a novel, and it’s as an allegory of grief that it most sparkles … Breathe is also a moving meditation on grief time.”
–The New York Times Book Review
Pajtim Statovci, tr. David Hackston, Bolla
(Vintage, July 5)
“Surprise follows surprise; none feels willed or fanciful but rather received, as if Statovci is no longer the story’s author but its amanuensis.”
–The New York Times Book Review
Mark Billingham, Rabbit Hole
(Atlantic Monthly Press, July 5)
“Rabbit Hole is a bracing lesson in the human price paid for violent crime whose ripples reach out and destroy lives far beyond the immediate victim.”
–Evening Standard
Sunjeev Sahota, China Room
(Penguin, July 12)
“Sahota is an enormously gifted writer … a bold storyteller who seems to have learned as many tricks from TV as from Tolstoy, and has a jeweller’s unillusioned eye for the goods.”
–The New Yorker
Randall Sullivan, Dead Wrong
(Grove Press, July 12)
“You haven’t got the goods on any of these notorious cases until you read this intricate show-biz true crime thriller.”
–Booklist
Katie Kitamura, Intimacies
(Riverhead, July 19)
“One of Kitamura’s gifts…is to inject every scene with a pinprick of dread … A taut, moody novel that moves purposefully between worlds.”
–The New York Times
Daisy Hernández, The Kissing Bug
(Tin House, July 19)
“The Kissing Bug blends the results of Hernández’s research with her family’s history as well as the author’s personal experiences. The beauty of The Kissing Bug is that it’s nonfiction that packs as much heart, tension, lyricism, and horror as some of the best contemporary fiction.”
–The Boston Globe
Eric Dean Wilson, After Cooling
(Simon & Schuster, July 19)
“The author hangs a fascinating, troubling story—several, actually—on the history of Freon … Wilson describes this phenomenon in detail, so that we see how much our obsession with cooling comfort has affected our home and office live.”
–The New York Journal of Books
Hermione Hoby, Virtue
(Riverhead, July 19)
“With a touch as light as a single match, Hoby scorches the earth beneath hollow social activism and performative outrage among young, coastal liberals.”
–The New York Times Book ReviewAndrea Bartz, We Were Never Here
Michael Pollan, This Is Your Mind on Plants
(Penguin, July 19)
“This Is Your Mind On Plants has much to offer its readers, whether they are curious about the plant-based adventures of others or the science of substances at work in their own minds. With historical depth, political punch, and narrative exuberance, Pollan’s book sounds a call to reimagine society’s relationship with psychoactive plants.”
–The Boston Globe
Diane Johnson, Lorna Mott Comes Home
(Vintage, July 19)
“…thoroughly charming … A delightful comedy of manners involving the entire extended family ensues, spiced up by an unlikely pregnancy.”
–The Wall Street Journal
Mena Suvari, The Great Peace
(Hachette, July 26)
“In her powerful debut memoir, the actor demonstrates both candor and storytelling skill. Suvari is stunningly straightforward about how she survived—and even flourished—despite years of sexual and emotional abuse.”
–Kirkus
Mira Sethi, Are You Enjoying?
(Vintage, July 26)
“In Sethi’s striking debut collection, strong women face myriad challenges … Sethi’s writing brings a fresh view to Pakistani life.”
–Publishers Weekly
James Ellroy, Widespread Panic
(Vintage, July 26)
“Anyone who’s read Ellroy before—or heard him talk—knows his penchant for the underbelly of 1950s Hollywood can make his work … not safe for work. But the stunning explosion of language he plasters on the page here is definitely worth the ride.”
–NPR