20 new books for your midsummer reading.
Need a book to take to the park? You’re in luck… It’s New Books Tuesday!
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Jonathan Lee, The Great Mistake
(Knopf)
“[A] seriously entertaining fictional recreation of the life and violent death of a forgotten giant in the history of New York City, Andrew Haswell Green.”
–The Times
Yan Lianke, tr. Carlos Rojas, Hard Like Water
(Grove)
“Yan’s signature biting wit creates another indelible work of bittersweet humor and sociopolitical insight.”
–Booklist
Anna Seghers, The Dead Girls’ Class Trip
(NYRB)
“Seghers’s masterly title story, written near the end of the war, casts an idyllic school outing in a dark pall, anticipating the fates of the innocent children. The result is classic European storytelling at its most potent.”
–Publishers Weekly
James Ellroy, Widespread Panic
(Knopf)
“Purgatory is rarely this much fun.”
–Financial Times
Val McDermid, Resistance
(Atlantic Monthly)
“Scottish crime writer McDermid takes a stab at bio-noir in this spare but riveting graphic novel tracking a pandemic.”
–Publishers Weekly
Alex Michaelides, The Maidens
(Celadon)
“Mariana’s therapy experience introduces a fresh forensic-psychology perspective to ever-popular themes of Greek tragedy and insular academia.”
–Booklist
Laura Raicovich, Culture Strike
(Verso)
“Culture Strike is a must-read account of how museums have positioned themselves as progressive while working hard to maintain the status quo.”
–Aruna D’souza
Andrew Baker, To Poison a Nation
(New Press)
“An eye-opening excavation of a little-known American tragedy.”
–Publishers Weekly
Krys Malcolm Belc, The Natural Mother of a Child
(Counterpoint)
“This is a beautiful memoir of parenthood and selfhood that promises to expand the canon of literary writing on caregiving and identity.”
–The Millions
Genesis P-Orridge, Nonbinary
(Abrams Press)
“An entertaining and thoughtful book about a remarkable life that consistently embraced transformation.”
–Kirkus
L. Jon Wertheim, Glory Days
(Houghton Mifflin)
“Sports Illustrated executive editor Wertheim (Blood in the Cage) offers an occasionally entertaining history of developments in sports and culture during the summer of 1984.”
–Publishers Weekly
George Packer, Last Best Hope
(FSG)
“A thought-provoking study in civics, history, and the decline and fall of self-government.”
–Kirkus
Brandon P. Fleming, Miseducated
(Hachette)
“An inspiring page-turner for all readers, especially those seeking to overcome significant obstacles to find success.”
–Kirkus
John Tresch, The Reason for the Darkness of the Night
(FSG)
“While Tresch addresses the common impression of Poe as a “morbid dreamer” and a penniless writer, he takes things further by offering a nimble account of the emerging science of Poe’s day. Fans of Poe’s work—and science enthusiasts—will appreciate Tresch’s fresh angle.”
–Publishers Weekly
Kai Bird, The Outlier
(Crown)
“The best study to date of the Carter era and a substantial contribution to the history of the 1970s.”
–Kirkus
Ruth Scurr, Napoleon
(Liveright)
“Even readers well-versed in Napoleon’s rise and fall will learn something new from this gracefully written and imaginatively conceived portrait.”
–Publishers Weekly
Donal Ryan, Strange Flowers
(Penguin)
“Fans of Sebastian Barry and Anne Enright will love this delicate and lush portrait.”
–Publishers Weekly
Claire Boyles, Site Fidelity
(W. W. Norton)
“Deliberate and compelling.”
–Kirkus
Chris Offutt, The Killing Hills
(Grove)
“Rural crime fiction that kicks like a mule.”
–Kirkus
Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights
(Random House)
“Behind-the-scenes tales of the impetus behind the story, songs, choreography, casting, costumes, and sets are instructive and entrancing, but what is most compelling is testimony about how this musical about a community ended up forging new communities and awakening a new appreciation for home in cast and audiences alike.”
–Booklist
