If you’ve been following the news, July has been quite a month. A lot has happened, some of it sudden and startling, and the idea of focusing, instead, on what I’d like to read next feels pretty good. With that in mind, I’d like to recommend some new books out today for your consideration. There are still some things that may startle, but—I hope—in a good way.
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For one, you’ll find a collaboration few saw coming: a novel by none other than the team of Keanu Reeves and China Miéville, which adapts the story of Reeves’ BRZRKR comics. It’s one of those collaborations that also, strangely, makes sense when you think about it. You’ll also find highly anticipated and innovative new fiction by established authors, including Sarah Manguso, Simon Rich, and Michael J. Seidlinger, as well as powerful debuts from writers like C. Michelle Lindley and Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, the latter of whose cover graces this post’s image.
And, in nonfiction, you’ll find a conversation between Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad about Cuba; a new exploration of the life of Mary McLeod Bethune by Noliwe Rooks and edited Henry Louis Gates; a history of the influential early feminist group, the Bluestockings; a poignant study of how QAnon has ripped apart families; and more.
There’s a lot to take in, some fun, some frightening, all worth checking out. May your to-be-read lists grow tall!
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C. Michelle Lindley, The Nude
(Atria Books)
“As stunning, complex, and carefully crafted as the sculpture our art historian protagonist hopes to acquire, I was astounded and utterly enchanted by Lindley’s portrayal of a woman’s internal journey from object to subject….The lush, lyrical writing of The Nude depicts the gray areas of cultural appropriation, ethics, and sexuality so seamlessly, I had to remind myself to breathe while reading.”
–Ling Ling Huang
Sarah Manguso, Liars
(Hogarth Press)
“A triumph and a revelation….Despite its title, this might be the most honest marriage novel I have ever read. Sarah Manguso’s writing is furious, elegant, bitter, tender, frightening, and deeply funny. I loved this book.”
–Claire Dederer
Keanu Reeves, China Miéville, The Book of Elsewhere
(Del Rey)
“A philosophical, violent thriller about an immortal soldier pondering the nature of his existence, The Book of Elsewhere has an elegance that might surprise you for a pulp thriller….[Miéville’s] presence as Reeves’ narrative collaborator…immediately makes it more interesting, even for those who aren’t already fans of the [BRZRKR] comic.”
–Polygon
Shalom Auslander, Feh
(Riverhead)
“Novelist Auslander (Mother for Dinner) delivers a poignant…study of the religious guilt he incurred while growing up in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Rockland County, N.Y. Titled after the Yiddish word for disgust, the book hinges on Auslander’s attempts to shake the conviction, drilled into him from childhood, that human beings are ‘totally, irredeemably feh’….The result is an often-brutal, sometimes-rewarding journey out of the darkness.”
–Publishers Weekly
Noliwe Rooks, Henry Louis Gates (editor), A Passionate Mind in Relentless Pursuit: The Vision of Mary McLeod Bethune
(Penguin Press)
“In the skillful hands of Noliwe Rooks, this remarkable life story of a crucial figure in American history becomes something more: a mesmerizing personal meditation on racial justice, political power, and the yearning for a home.”
–Paul Tough
Noam Chomsky, Vijay Prashad, On Cuba: Reflections on 70 Years of Revolution and Struggle
(New Press)
“A book-length essay on the history of Cuba-U.S. relations. On a visit to Havana, Prashad received a book from famed Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez to deliver to Prashad’s friend and fellow scholar Chomsky. The gift sparked a conversation between Prashad and Chomsky, co-authors of The Withdrawal, which they transcribed and edited to create this book….A strong, left-leaning history of the U.S. government’s long-standing vendetta against Cuba.”
–Kirkus Reviews
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Catalina
(One World)
“The Undocumented Americans author Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s first novel follows the titular character, a charming and cunning undocumented Ivy League student, as she prepares for post-grad life….With Catalina, Villavicencio draws from her own experience as an undocumented person and Harvard grad to give voice to a fierce, but vulnerable character.”
–Time
Juliet Grames, The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia
(Knopf)
“Grames shines in this intriguing story of buried secrets in an isolated Southern Italian village….She excels at rendering the experiences of living as a stranger in a close-knit community…and she manages to keep the reader guessing as to the truth about who was murdered and why. This is a superior literary mystery.”
–Publishers Weekly
Simon Rich, Glory Days: Stories
(Little Brown)
“The travails of an aging Super Mario, the media battle between David and Goliath, and the workplace woes of the foul-mouthed Tooth Fairy are among humorist Rich’s latest concoctions….His follow-up to New Teeth is clever fun.”
–Kirkus Reviews
Susannah Gibson, The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women’s Movement
(Norton)
“Brilliant, earnest, quietly unconventional, the Bluestockings are the unsung pioneers of early British feminism. Their networks empowered women while their salons, stressing conversation and civility, opposed the misogynous, boozy male culture of the eighteenth century. Blending story, history, and delicious anecdote, Susannah Gibson’s book opens a sparkling window onto this extraordinary society of engaged, energetic, and very witty women.”
–Janet Todd
Jesselyn Cook, The Quiet Damage: Qanon and the Destruction of the American Family
(Crown Publishing Group)
“Captivating from the very first page, The Quiet Damage floored me. With empathetic storytelling and an exquisite eye for detail, Jesselyn Cook ushers readers into the darkest corners of the internet to document how disinformation is dismantling family bonds and disintegrating the social fabric. Gracefully written and thoroughly researched, this book is essential for this era.”
–Toluse Olorunnipa
Ricky Ian Gordon, Seeing Through: A Chronicle of Sex, Drugs, and Opera
(FSG)
“The immensely talented Ricky Ian Gordon has written a memoir that is at times hilarious, harrowing and most importantly insightful into the mind and process of a serious composer of classical and contemporary musical theater.”
–James Lapine
M. T. Anderson, Nicked
(Pantheon)
“A miracle worker, M. T. Anderson has exhumed the bones of holy legend and startled them to life. Nicked is a far-fetched caper based on the actual heist of the corpse of Saint Nicholas. At once blessedly comic and acerbic, Anderson’s confession of devotion to the unresolvable mysteries of faith and love had me laughing out loud and tearing up—nearly simultaneously.”
–Gregory Maguire
Kang Hwagil, Another Person (trans. Clare Richards)
(Pushkin Press)
“Dark Academia the way I like it…smart and full of suspense.”
–Hanna Bervoets
Claire Pollard, The Modern Fairies
(Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster)
“An unconventional work of historical fiction to say the least, this tale of the voluble, voracious royal court of Louis XIV of France makes for an often sidesplitting, and always bawdy, read.”
–The Millions
Mikita Brottman, Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida
(Atria / One Signal)
“This story has it all—adultery, obsession, murder, revenge, betrayal—but Brottman doesn’t settle for the superficial. Rather than a whodunit, Guilty Creatures is a compelling psychological double portrait of what happens when two people are forever bound by a life-altering secret.”
–Becky Cooper
James Tejani, A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles and America
(Norton)
“Weaving the many threads of Indigenous, environmental, maritime, political, and economic history, James Tejani shows how a local story became one of national and global proportions. With shifting perspectives and deep dives, Tejani excavates the unlikely nineteenth-century rise of the Port of Los Angeles as a crucial, though relatively unknown, chapter in America’s ascent to world power. Well researched and finely crafted.”
–Steven Hahn
Paul Cooper, Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline
(Hanover Square Press)
“A broad study of civilizations in which ‘the social fabric disintegrated, cities were left empty and buildings fell into disuse and disrepair’….based on his successful podcast of the same name….Cooper offers few surprises in his treatments of ancient Sumeria, Assyria, Han China, and Rome, but even history buffs will glean plenty of interesting historical information as he moves forward through the Khmer, Maya, and Vijayanagara India.”
–Kirkus Reviews
Michael J. Seidlinger, The Body Harvest
(Clash Books)
“Michael J. Seidlinger is a twisted wizard of transgressive craft, and The Body Harvest is his phlegmcore Fight Club. A tale of viral codependency that starts off like Terrence Malick’s Badlands with a biohazard spin before taking a Cronenbergian turn down David Lynch Lane. This book will leave you bedridden and babbling for your next Seidlinger fix.”
–Brian McAuley
