The time has come to sit on decks and sunburn; to sweat and cool off. Summer is always my favorite season to read, and whether you like to do it by a pool, beach, or with a window open, OurCulture always has recommendations for your next bookstore or library visit.
Songs of No Provenance, Lydi Conklin (June 3)
Lydi Conklin’s follow-up to Rainbow Rainbow tracks the saga of Joan Vole, a cult-acclaimed folk singer who goes into hiding after a particularly memorable concert. But at a remote writing retreat in Virginia, she finds out she can’t run from things forever.
The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex, Melissa Febos (June 3)
The memoirist returns detailing her spell of celibacy in which she reinvigorates her mind, body, relationships, and intellect.
Great Black Hope, Rob Franklin (June 3)
Rob Franklin’s debut novel about Black affluence centers Smith, a wealthy college grad who’s arrested for cocaine possession after a trip to the Hamptons. Franklin ambitiously tackles race, class, addiction, and what to do when all of them collide.
Foreclosure Gothic, Harris Lahti (June 10)
The debut novel from FENCE fiction editor delights in the sublime, creepy, and haunting. The Greener family uproots from lives as actors in Hollywood to renovate foreclosed homes in New York’s Hudson Valley, but realizes something’s off with the area as an enormous garbageman moves next door, the vegetables in their garden grow to surreal sizes, and their toddler has an unearthly connection to the land.
Waiting for Britney Spears: A True Story, Allegedly, Jeff Weiss (June 10)
The music journalist and editor-in-chief of POW magazine’s first book details the early-aughts rise and fall of superstar Britney Spears and Jeff Weiss, a young Los Angeles reporter who tracks the young starlet’s every move in hopes of making it as a “serious writer.”
How to Dodge a Cannonball, Dennard Dayle (June 17)
Dennard Dayle’s debut novel is an American Civil War satire where a white teenager joins an all-Black regiment of soldiers to escape his abusive mother. But as he fights in the war, making new friends, and suppressing Native Americans, he begins to see American patriotism for what it really stands for.
The Story of ABBA: Melancholy Undercover, Jan Gradvall (June 17)
Swedish journalist Jan Gradvall uncovers the ABBA legacy from some oddball anecdotes and personal interviews from each of the band members themselves.
UnWorld, Jayson Greene (June 17)
In the dystopian debut novel from a former editor at Pitchfork, four lives — some human, some artificial intelligence — collide as they try to determine whether a death was an accident or suicide, questioning themselves, consciousness, grief, and humanity.
The Möbius Book, Catherine Lacey (June 17)
Catherine Lacey’s half-novel and half-memoir stems from a breakup in late 2021, where she cataloged wreckage of her life. Through writing characters real and imagined, Lacey crafts another project difficult to classify and impossible to imitate.
Work Nights, Erica Peplin (June 17)
Billed as Sally Rooney meets The Devil Wears Prada, Erica Peplin’s debut novel Work Nights sees administrative worker Jane Grabowski between two office crushes that pose to disrupt her careful work-life balance.
Television for Women, Danit Brown (June 24)
At eight months pregnant, Estie is just now realizing that the cementing of her life isn’t as friendly to her as she’d like it to be — and when her child is born, the apathy continues. For fans of Louisa Hall and Olga Ravn, Danit Brown’s debut is a dark and funny look at postpartum depression.
Fresh, Green Life, Sebastian Castillo (June 24)
Set over the course of one night, a teacher named Sebastian Castillo who has spent the last year in silence and solitude stemming from an amphetamine accident receives an invitation from his former professor to join his New Year’s Eve party to reconnect with his former classmates. But after he makes the journey, he realized the invite wasn’t all that it cracked up to be.
Cataclysm Moves Me I Regret to Say, Stephanie Yue Duhem (June 24)
In Stephanie Yue Duhem’s debut collection of poetry, she “sways between talky confessionalism and formal elegance,” detailing cataclysms of daily life.
Come Knocking, Mike Bockoven (July 1)
From the cult author of the horrific FantasticLand, Come Knocking is about the one-time run of a play with the same name that left dozens killed and hundreds injured. Through interviews with cast members and production assistants, investigative reporter Adam Jakes is tasked with putting an explanation to the infamous night.
Hot Girls with Balls, Benedict Nguyễn (July 1)
In this steamy and funny debut satire, two star Asian American trans volleyball players ignite on-court rivalries and off-court romances as they (controversially) ball towards the men’s indoor championship.
Culpability, Bruce Holsinger (July 8)
Taking artificial intelligence to its extreme, each member of the Cassidy-Shaws are implicated when their teenage son hit and kills an elderly couple while driving their car. Culpability examines morality and guilt a world newly shaped tech moguls and the ethical consequences of AI.
Sunburn, Chloe Michelle Howarth (July 8)
Already published in Britain to acclaim, Chloe Michelle Howarth’s debut is a coming-of-age novel spent over one sweltering Irish summer where Lucy is caught between her infatuation for her school friend Savannah and her conservative town that might forbid their love.
Nice Girls Don’t Win: How I Burned It All Down to Claim My Power, Parvati Shallow (July 8)
In her first book, Survivor superstar and reality television legend Parvati Shallow details how winning the $1 million prize wasn’t enough to heal past traumas and hurt from earlier in her life. Following her plunge into the public eye, her brother’s death, and a painful divorce, she learned to turn her most difficult moments into areas of power and healing.
House of Beth, Kerry Cullen (July 15)
For fans of Nightbitch and Bunny, House of Beth follows Cassie, who is launched from a breakup and a shocking exit from her New York City job, wandering her secluded home in New Jersey. But she learns that the simple life isn’t easy either as the specter of her friend’s late wife shows up and her harm OCD threatens to take over her life.
Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language, Adam Aleksic (July 15)
From the Harvard linguistic influencer better known as @etymologynerd, Adam Aleksic investigates the ways in which our language has morphed and eroded due to TikTok, the algorithm, and how it plans to shape the modern world.
Absence, Issa Quincy (July 15)
The poignant and globetrotting debut novel from Issa Quincy starts with a poem the unnamed narrator’s mother reads to him. As it reappears with a new orator each time, we learn their journeys through Cyprus, Thailand, Tunisia, and Britain; a haunting portrait of nostalgia.
Blowfish, Kyung-ran Jo (July 15)
For fans of Sheila Heti and Han Kang, the South Korean writer’s new novel follows a female sculptor and a male architect whose lives have been riddled with death prepare their own suicides via lethal ingestion of blowfish. As their paths cross, they have the option to forestall their (and each other’s) fate, but might instead turn their bodies into art.
Pan, Michael Clune (July 22)
Michael Clune’s debut novel after his memoirs White Out and Gamelife is a coming-of-age story where Nicholas, a Catholic student, comes to believe the spirit of the god Pan has entered his body after researching the origins of his panic attacks. Pan is hypnotic, eerie, and surprisingly affecting.
Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar, Katie Yee (July 22)
When a woman finds out her husband is having an affair with a woman named Maggie, her anxiety launches into chest pains that are actually a tumor, which she names Maggie. As their relationship progresses, she learns how to live with both Maggies, writing instruction manuals for her body and learning Chinese folklore passed down by her mother.
The Dance and the Fire, Daniel Saldaña París (July 29)
The essayist and novelist Daniel Saldaña París returns with a trio of friends reuniting in Mexico City amidst wildfires, their erotic past, and the risk of artistic fulfillment, all to choreograph a dance that consumes the city in hysteria.
Lonely Crowds, Stephanie Wambugu (July 29)
The story of two childhood friends orbiting around each other, sharing their wins and losses, culminates in one fateful confrontation in this novel from Joyland editor Stephanie Wambugu. While Maria dives headfirst into an artist’s lifestyle in New York City, Ruth stumbles around it and instead focuses on a quieter life with marriage and work.
Dusk, Robbie Arnott (August 5)
From the Australian novelist Robbie Arnott, Dusk follows a puma of the same name killing shepherds in the highlands. This delights the twins Iris and Floyd, who, with no other career prospects or friends, decide to join in on the hunt.
Solitaria, Eliana Alvez Cruz (August 5)
The most recent novel from award-winning Black Brazilian novelist Eliana Alvez Cruz follows Mabel and Eunice, a mother and daughter who work as live-in maids in one of the wealthiest apartments in an unnamed city. Concise and affecting, Solitaria is ready to make waves in the United States after its Brazilian publication.
Open Wide, Jessica Gross (August 5)
Jessica Gross’ follow-up to 2020’s brilliant Hysteria is about Olive and Theo — a perfect match in their depravity. He’s a surgeon devoted to the body and she’s a radio podcaster with intense dreams of getting close to Theo, namely by splitting him open and relishing the comfort of his insides. One night, as she attempts this maneuver, she finds out it’s not as difficult as it seems. Open Wide is as sexy as it is disturbing.
Extinction Capital of the World, Mariah Rigg (August 5)
From debut author Mariah Rigg comes a collection of short stories interrogating the commodification and fetishization of Hawai’i in the American mythos, both a love letter to the islands and a warning for future consequences like colonization or climate catastrophe.
Seduction Theory, Emily Adrian (August 12)
From the author of two young adult novels and a memoir, Seduction Theory is a blend of Conversations with Friends and Vladimir is a triangular campus love story about art, writing, and the truth.
Dogs, C. Mallon (August 12)
Propulsive and devastating, the debut novel from Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate C. Mallon follows a single night in the lives of five high school wrestlers in the horror and quiet of their small town.
Amputation, Bruce Wagner (August 12)
The first novel to prod the horrifying wildfires that rocked the Los Angeles area earlier this year, Amputation is a frenzied, slim novel filled with a pro-Palestinian heiress and her Zionist father, a disgraced television writer and failed film producer, and, of course, a Timothée Chalamet stunt double.
What Hunger, Catherine Dang (August 19)
Set during summer before high school, Ronny Nguyen’s parents explore their vietnamese identity only through the world of food — where meat is the most luxurious possession. After tragedy strikes, she finds herself drawn and hungry, marked with an insatiable desire.
Sweetener, Marissa Higgins (August 19)
From the fearless and memorable author of last year’s A Good Happy Girl, Marissa Higgins returns with Sweetener, where two recently separated wives, both named Rebecca, end up dating the same woman, whose pregnancy may or may not be faked to appease her new suitors.
The Once and Future Me, Melissa Pace (August 19)
A blank slate of a woman wakes up in 1954 on her route to a psychiatric hospital where doctors tell her that she’s being treated for schizophrenic delusions, which she resists until terrifying visions invade her mind that suggest humanity is doomed. Stay there and risk harm to the world, or escape and risk harm to herself…
Ruth, Kate Riley (August 19)
Ruth is raised in an insular, small town community of Christian communism, whose members share everything and reject the notion of privacy and televisions. As she grows up, she realizes the community might be a facade, and that there’s more to life than wearing the same thing everyday.
Resting Bitch Face, Taylor Byas (August 26)
Author Spotlight alum Dr. Taylor Byas returns with her fourth poetry collection, Resting Bitch Face, which interrogates how the history of the artist and the muse position Black female subjectivity.
Hothouse Bloom, Austyn Wohlers (August 26)
For fans of Clarice Lispector or Rachel Cusk, a young woman named Anna abandons her painting career in order to take over her late grandfather’s apple orchard, but realizes the only way out is to turn a profit at the upcoming harvest.
