July 11, 2023, 7:58am
It’s another Tuesday in a sweltering July, and for those of us trying to beat the heat—especially the chthonic, oven-like warmth of New York’s subway tunnels—finding somewhere cool can feel almost transcendentally delightful. What makes a cool place even lovelier? A new book, of course, and today, there are many exciting new options to choose from.
Below, you’ll find a wide range of new books to consider, whether you’re searching for provocative fiction and nonfiction; a version of Pride and Prejudice set in an NYC Chinatown; journalistic correspondences; an account of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s byzantine Hollywood romance; urgent accounts of the effects of climate change on the world; or exciting new translated fiction. I hope you’ll find something to read below as you (hopefully) beat the summer heat.
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Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Promise
(Random House)
“This is a magical, magnificent novel that amounts to a secret history of an America we think we know but never really knew, where girls reckon with the beauty and terror of girlhood, mortal Black bodies reckon with immortal Black souls, while America reckons with the terror of its beastly, bloody self. The result bowls us over with shock and grief, but eventually fills our hearts with awe and wonder.”
–Marlon James
Tessa Hadley, After the Funeral and Other Stories
(Knopf)
“Hadley proves herself a magician of short fiction with this wonderful collection featuring characters whose epiphanies shift their conception of their lives… Readers will marvel over these twisty and masterly tales.”
–Publishers Weekly
C. K. Chau, Good Fortune
(Harpervia)
“Chau’s witty and entertaining debut puts a contemporary spin on Pride and Prejudice in New York City’s Chinatown… With sharp dialogue, a vibrant backdrop, smart explorations of gentrification and family duty, and, above all, an endearing central romance, this should win Chau many fans.”
–Publishers Weekly
John McPhee, Tabula Rasa: Volume 1
(FSG)
“McPhee stresses that Tabula Rasa, which gathers the 92-year-old New Yorker writer’s reflections on projects he once contemplated but never wrote, is not an autobiography. It was, however, done according to Twain’s instructions for ‘how someone ought to do an autobiography—in a totally random miscellaneous way’… Legions of McPhee fans will need a moment to pick themselves up off the floor… So, ‘totally random’ can’t be right. Can it? Yes, it can.”
–Publishers Weekly
William J. Mann, Bogie & Bacall: The Surprising True Story of Hollywood’s Greatest Love Affair
(Harper)
“Engrossing… Scrupulously attending to the distinct personalities, cultural conditions, and media environment that joined forces to create ‘arguably Hollywood’s greatest love story,’ Mann delivers a spirited narrative that’s hard to put down… Film buffs will eat this up.”
–Publishers Weekly
Vanessa Riley, Queen of Exiles
(William Morrow)
“A sweeping look at the political, social, and romantic intrigue surrounding Haiti’s first and only queen. Riley’s depiction is richly imagined and wholly original.”
–Fiona Davis
Jeff Goodell, The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet
(Little Brown)
“As the planet warms, all our assumptions are going to be upended. Jeff Goodell asks us to imagine the impact on our minds and bodies, our communities and economies. The Heat Will Kill You First is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future.”
–Elizabeth Kolbert
Erika Kobayashi, Sunrise Radiant: Stories (trans. Brian Bergstrom)
(Astra House)
“Kobayashi’s uncanny stories probe for the contacts between our most intimate lived experience and the awesome yet subtle cosmic forces that permeate it, from atomic radiation to the ruthless arrow of time. Bergstrom’s rich, graceful translation offers us the chance to peer over Kobayashi’s shoulder as she works these experiments, holding our breath for the next fraught and wonderful discovery.”
–Theodore McCombs
Lindsay Lynch, Do Tell
(Doubleday)
“There is little more alluring than the promise of secrets, and Do Tell is full of them—glamorous, tawdry, and human. Lindsay Lynch has created a rich portrait of the lives of early Hollywood’s beautiful puppets and those holding their strings.”
–Emma Straub
Anupam B. Jena & Christopher Worsham, Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces that Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health
(Doubleday)
“Ingenious… [Full of] intriguing and surprising facts and trends… A well-documented, unnerving, fascinating study for anyone adrift in the American health care system.”
–Kirkus Reviews
Djuna, Counterweight (trans. Anton Hur)
(Pantheon Books)
“Read[s] like classic dystopian fiction… The first novel to be translated to English from South Korean author Djuna (whose identity remains a mystery), this quick-moving puzzle of an SF story is intriguing and fascinating as it imagines a future where humanity is intertwined with AI.”
–Library Journal
Shastri Akella, The Sea Elephants
(Flatiron Books)
“Akella’s powerful debut novel crackles with a magical force. This redemptive tale tracks Shagun Mathur through seaside villages, boarding schools, traveling drama troops, and prison-like re-education centers, as if Dickens had trained his eye on 1990s India and chosen a young, guilt-ridden, love-seeking gay young man as his protagonist. Both harrowing and heartwarming.”
–Sabina Murray
Nishanth Injam, The Best Possible Experience: Stories
(Pantheon Books)
“The Best Possible Experience is a full-hearted, brilliant debut full of necessary beauty. Injam writes of longing, of love, of home and of the Indian diaspora, and as one reads the stories, they find that together they create an epic mosaic of life.”
–Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Jane Ferguson, No Ordinary Assignment: A Memoir
(Mariner Books)
“With vivid details and pointed reflection, her memoir draws readers into the world of war that exists beyond the “bang bang” of most news coverage… Ferguson clearly demonstrates the devastating, oft-overlooked impact of war on civilians from every side… A captivating, honest, and powerful attempt to do justice to the hardest stories to tell.”
–Kirkus Reviews
Molly Dektar, The Absolutes
(Mariner)
“The Absolutes is a mesmerizing, deeply felt portrait of one woman testing the moral limits of intimacy and obsession. In continually stunning prose, Dektar brings to life a thrilling exploration of love and sexual desire.”
–Lynn Steger Strong
Sarah Rose Etter, Ripe
(Scribner)
“Ripe is exactly the kind of book I want to read: astoundingly bold, terrifically haunting, and deeply human. Etter refuses to pull any punches here, asking us to look directly at the nightmares we sometimes agree to live with in exchange for comfort and security. Reading this book felt like pressing repeatedly on a bruise; the most pleasurable kind of pain. Ripe is a dazzlingly gorgeous novel and Sarah Rose Etter is truly one hell of a writer.”
–Kristen Arnett
Laura Trethewey, The Deepest Map: The High-Stakes Race to Chart the World’s Oceans
(Harper Wave)
“An engrossing look at deep-sea exploration. Essential reading for environmentalists, armchair adventure divers, and those who care about the world’s oceans.”
–Kirkus Reviews
Richard D. Kahlenberg, Excluded: How Snob Zoning, Nimbyism, and Class Bias Build the Walls We Don’t Want to See
(PublicAffairs)
“Provocative study of how institutional measures reinforce inequality of opportunity in housing and other aspects of daily life… A thoughtful, worthy argument for fair-housing reforms that are truly fair.”
–Kirkus Reviews
Andrew Ridker, Hope
(Viking)
“Ridker’s slashing satire of upper-middle-class life (after The Altruists) turns on the foibles of a seemingly charmed Jewish family in Brookline, Mass… Painfully funny… This rivals Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman is in Trouble in its pitch-perfect portrayal of Jewish American life.”
–Publishers Weekly
Hannah Michell, Excavations
(One World)
“Hannah Michell’s Excavations is an enthralling page-turner. In Sae’s search for the truth about her missing husband, she uncovers secrets intimate and sweeping, tracing the student protest movement and exposing corruption among the elite in South Korea. A gripping debut.”
–Vanessa Hua
David Lipsky, The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial
(Norton)
“Humor accompanies horrific truths in this vital look at the rise of climate change denial. With dry wit and novelistic flair, National Magazine Award winner Lipsky chronicles how harnessing electricity changed the world… [R]evelatory… sobering and incisive. Buoyed by thorough historical research, this is a first-rate entry.”
–Publishers Weekly
Yan Ge, Elsewhere: Stories
(Scribner)
“Yan Ge explores human connections and disruptions in this ethereal collection… Here and elsewhere, Yan combines dry and subtle humor with her evocative lyrical style. These stories brim with intelligence.”
–Publishers Weekly
Daniel Hornsby, Sucker
(Anchor Books)
“Tantalizing… A gonzo, slow-burning speculative thriller… [A] sharp-fanged Silicon Valley satire.”
–Publishers Weekly
Lorissa Rinehart, First to the Front: The Untold Story of Dickey Chapelle, Trailblazing Female War Correspondent
(St. Martin’s Press)
“Unforgettable… A valuable, long-overdue tribute to an American woman whose work and commitment to human rights is more relevant than ever.”
–Bookpage
Ruth Madievsky, All-Night Pharmacy
(Catapult)
“Madievsky’s debut has everything I want from a novel: a toxic sister relationship, countless nights at a trashy LA nightclub called Salvation, and a dreamy sapphic romance… This novel is hypnotic; I inhaled it.”
–Nylon
Dwyer Murphy, The Stolen Coast
(Viking)
“This atmospheric heist thriller from CrimeReads editor Murphy proves that genre readers really can have it all: terrific characterization, an intricate plot, and stylish writing to boot… Murphy’s spare, polished prose carries a touch of Elmore Leonard and a whisper of Ernest Hemingway, but in balancing those influences he locates a style all his own. Strong characters, sharp wit, breathless action, and real emotional depth make this exceptional neo-noir sing.”
–Publishers Weekly
Giorgio Parisi, In a Flight of Starlings: The Wonder of Complex Systems
(Penguin Press)
“Giorgio Parisi is renowned for his scientific creativity, originality, and power. In this exhilarating little book, he shows his human side, too. By its end, readers will feel they’ve made a charming, witty new friend.”
–Frank Wilczek