Every season when I begin this roundup column of new books I’m looking forward to, I find a way to say this is the perfect weather for reading—well, books are best when it’s cold out in the winter, or maybe a little cold in the fall, or maybe when it’s lightening up, in the spring. But I do think—and maybe I’ll change my tune in August, when it’s time to prepare the fall list—that summer is superior, and lazy weekends on porches or parks when the sun doesn’t set until after 8 are the best to pick up a new read. We have 32 here to choose from—from activist memoirs to fiction about Gertrude Stein to anti-government narratives. Let us know which you decide to pick up!
The Problem Drinker, Kyle Kouri (June 2)
Profiting off misery and seeing the silver lining in rejection, Kyle Kouri’s nonfiction essay collection The Problem Drinker is a wise and earnest book about seeing the best in your own failures.
The Dog’s Gaze: A Visual History, Thomas W. Laqueur (June 2)
From the Paleolithic era to today, artists have turned their eyes toward dogs as hunting partners, unforgettable friends, and emotional companions. Thomas W. Laqueur’s wonderfully illustrated and well-researched chronicle tracks the image of man’s best friend.
My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein: A Fiction, Deborah Levy (June 2)
One of the sharpest and most enigmatic writers of fiction, Deborah Levy follows August Blue up with an autofictional story about a narrator trying to write an essay about Stein, only to wonder what she loses by putting someone else on the page.
Lovers XXX, Allie Rowbottom (June 2)
The author of Aesthetica returns with a foray into 1982 Los Angeles; Lovers XXX is a story of two women trying to navigate the porn world and get out alive—and still friends.
When the Revolution Comes: A Fight for the Future of the Working Class, Chris Smalls (June 2)
The Amazon employee-turned-political-activist’s first memoir is an electrifying story of how one of the least visible—and most important—people in global commerce turned the pandemic into an opportunity for change.
Rabbit, Fox, Tar, P.C. Verrone (June 2)
A strange and surreal debut novel where a young Black woman’s arrival—and romance—in a small town threatens its stability, centering local politics and outsider crises.
Nymph, Sofia Montrone (June 9)
Billed as Call Me By Your Name by way of Elena Ferrante, Nymph is a coming-of-age love story where a young woman named Leo is shaped by trauma among the verdant hills of Italy, then returns to pick up the pieces.
The One and the Ninety-Nine: Forging Identity in the Age of Social Contagion, Luke Burgis (June 16)
The Cluny Institute director’s newest book focuses on self-fulfillment and blazing your own path as a person during an era wherein we take a lot of clues (myself included!) from others.
Voyagers, Meg Charlton (June 16)
For fans of Pluribus’s cosmic horror, Voyagers starts with a signal coming from somewhere deep in space, grounding planes, halting international voyages and bringing together two people who might know the answer of where it came from.
Learning, Courtney Bush (June 23)
From the recently launched Joyland Editions, the debut novella from poet and filmmaker Courtney Bush follows a woman, also named Courtney, whose job, a progressive daycare, gives her mind ample time to wander, from exes to family to the recent death of a hometown friend.
Close Relationships with Strangers, Krista Diamond (June 23)
A hardscrabble paparazzo, Ben, gets a whiff of his big break—the A-list actor Jack Whitlock is embroiled in a sex scandal and promptly flees town. But reminiscing on his past—following a pop star that had led to death threats—may shake his faith in his career.
Agnes Lives!, Hallie Elizabeth Newton (June 23)
Agnes Lives! is a distractingly titled novel that takes place during one day where Agnes, emerging from a SoulCycle class in 2014 New York, yearns for someone to kill her. Will it be a magazine editor, an older politician, her harsh writer boyfriend?
Bone Horn, Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain (June 30)
A queer mystery wherein a fresh-faced private detective sets out to find the horn that Picasso alleged Alice B. Toklas—partner of Gertrude Stein—has. Bone Horn is a fun and ridiculous takedown of “self-important scholarship.”
The Moon Papers, Emmalea Russo (June 30)
The poet and author of Vivienne returns with The Moon Papers, wherein a controversial art collective lays out a grand plan—a second moon, set to launch from the Mojave Desert at the end of summer. The only problem is that no one knows how it’ll work, and the people in charge are woefully unprepared.
A Real Animal, Emeline Atwood (July 7)
An often stunning, decades-long sprawl of a novel that centers Lucy, a college student who wakes up one day after a convincing dream in which she’s a leopard and continues acting as such. Tormented and enthralled with the natural world, A Real Animal depicts violence and trauma in a refreshing, often surprising way—a captivating, remarkable debut.
You Won’t Get Free of It: Stories of Mothers and Daughters, Rachel Aviv (July 7)
Rachel Aviv is one of my favorite nonfiction writers, and her work for The New Yorker and her previous book is journalism at its finest—getting a good story and knowing how to tell it well. An astute, capable narrator, she turns her psychological focus to mothers and daughters in this new essay collection.
False Prophet, Afsheen Farhadi (July 7)
A moderately successful actor digs into his mother’s Guyanese upbringing, where she may have been in contact with the cult leader Jim Jones, and forces him to write a memoir based on the experience. But what happens when he finds out it’s only a half-truth?
Country People, Daniel Mason (July 7)
The Pulitzer Prize finalist for North Woods returns with Country People, a year-in-the-life look at a couple who decamps up north and gets involved with a cast of characters and stories.
The Great Wherever, Shannon Sanders (July 7)
After a breakup, a gig worker in Washington, DC learns she owns a parcel of land in Tennessee that her great-grandfather owned—a Black landowner who had to fight hard for his stake of the land, and the country.
The Simp: A Novel Without a Hero, Roshan Sethi (July 7)
Television writer Roshan Sethi’s debut novel, The Simp, follows a failing actor who gets scooped by a prestigious Hollywood family as their assistant—a role that gives him more than enough future material.
Astronaut!, Oana Aristide (July 14)
In 1989 Romania, two unlikely citizens perform small acts of defiance against the Ceaușescu dictatorship—a young girl who gets folded into her older neighbor’s secret plot, and an old detective scribbling secrets away in a notebook.
Famous Men, Julie Buntin (July 14)
The author of Marlena returns with Famous Men, an adventurous story where a young woman discovers the writing of an older, prestigious writer and thinks she might have unlocked the clues of her past—but has no idea what this web of self-discovery will cost her.
I Want You to Be Happy, Jem Calder (July 14)
Jem Calder continues his streak of disaffected Brits attempting to cobble together relationships with Chuck and Joey, a much older copywriter and barista who meet at a bar. Both writers try to keep things normal and chill, but their anxieties get the best of them; another mesmerizing and realistic read from Calder.
Ada, Mark Haber (July 14)
Mark Haber’s new historical novella sees the French tyrant Gerard Desacroux IV, desperate and uncompromising of his yearning for Ada, who was a brief fling a couple years ago. But to return to him, there are a couple assassination attempts and a country in turmoil she has to get past.
Yellow Pine, Claire Vaye Watkins (July 21)
The queen of the American southwest returns with Yellow Pine, where a single parent resists the recent exploitation and commercialization of her beloved desert to forge a new way of living and enveloping oneself in the earth.
Few and Far Between, Jan Carson (July 28)
Jan Carson returns with a historical revision narrative where a 7th county for Northern Ireland is created by draining its largest lake. Decades later, a pair of siblings hope to keep this sacred land for themselves, and away from the government’s hands.
Burnside, Devyn Defoe (Aug 4)
A searing satire on American violence and womanhood, Burnside comes out of the gate swinging as it depicts a surreal and dangerous Californian summer. Two women follow a homeless man as he starts to be blamed for the rabid fires surrounding the town. It’s pretty miraculous.
Awake Awake, Fiona Mozley (Aug 4)
The author of Hot Stew returns with Awake Awake, where a struggling writer in her 30s moves back to her childhood town only to start receiving memories she’s pretty sure aren’t hers, but feel real nonetheless.
I Have This Thing for Flowers: Essays on the Roots of Relationships, Alysia Sawchyn (Aug 4)
From the former editor-in-chief of The Rumpus, Alysia Sawchyn, comes an essay collection stemming from her partner calling off their wedding six months before the date. Marrying her friend Sarah mainly for health insurance, she discovers that the strange solution had resulted in something worthwhile.
Kitten, Stacey Yu (Aug 4)
A young woman falls into fascination with her boyfriend’s childhood cat, an animal who sees past her flaws and offers unconditional love—but when does her devotion become too much?
Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art, Daisy Dixon (Aug 11)
In an era of “problematic fiction,” depictions of any toxicity or moral gray areas are met with scorn, or even worse, bannings. What happens when we refuse to make art that gets totally nasty? Daisy Dixon investigates the story of dangerous art in this important and meticulous book.
Daytona Teddy Riggs, Drew Buxton (Aug 25)
Drew Buxton’s debut novel of masculinity and power centers Daytona Teddy Riggs, a failed high school football star trying to make his return with the Gulf’s Strongest Man powerlifting competition. But his training is derailed after meeting a local bodybuilder, Tammy, and intrusive thoughts lead to violent actions.
