20 new books to read in July

While The Royal We perfected the dishy, royalty inspired novel, The Heir Affair doubles down on the royal intrigue and romance. Following the implosion of their fairy-tale wedding at the end of the previous novel, American Bex and Prince of Wales Nick have no choice but to isolate themselves as a last-ditch attempt to protect their fragile romance. With an unintentional knack for paralleling the lives of the real British royal family, Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan deliver up their highly anticipated sequel with all the pomp, circumstance (and gossip!) of a royal wedding. God save the queen? More like God save these books. (July 7)

Rest assured, the debut novel from the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind Being John Malkovich and Anomalisa sounds right in his wheelhouse. It centers on a failed film critic named B. Rosenberg who stumbles upon what may be the greatest artistic achievement in human history: a 3-month-long film, complete with scheduled sleeping, eating, and bathroom breaks, that took its reclusive auteur 90 years to complete.(July 7)

A modern (and very New Yorkian) twist on the Upstairs, Downstairs narrative device, Conell's novel contrasts the denizens of a Manhattan building's penthouse apartment with the live-in super and his family. The daughters of the two parties were childhood best friends whose socioeconomic rifts threaten their longstanding friendship over the course of a single day in the life of the building. (July 7)

Carrey teams up with writer Vachon for a "novel" that reads a heck of a lot like an autobiography as only Jim Carrey could write one. Meaning: Get ready to laugh, learn, scratch your head, and gather some serious Hollywood intrigue along the way. (July 7)

Your typical tale of a highly educated Brooklyn creative this is not — Want's protagonist is estranged from her wealthy parents, drowning in debt leftover from an Ivy League PhD and a staggering C-Section bill, and having a crisis of conscience about her work at a New York City school. It's a devouring read, but also a really strong case for democratic socialism. (July 7)

As the Saturday Night Live head writer, Weekend Update host, and betrothed to one Scarlett Johansson, Colin Jost has a lot to say. The comedian uses essays to tackle the aforementioned, as well as to look back on his childhood and early days on the standup circuit. And yes, all with that very punchable face. (July 14)

The hosts of the Call Your Girlfriend podcast wrote a book about the importance of female friendships and how they navigate life changes from afar — and it couldn't be more apt in the time of COVID-19. Read it with your friends across the country. (July 14)

Unfolding the same way an album would, Mitchell's latest follows an up-and-coming British rock band during the late '60s — and it pulls out old Easter eggs from his prolific written past in the process. (July 14)

The phenomenon of Bird Box really only became a thing after Josh Malerman's novel was adapted into a starry Netflix film, but now all eyes are squarely on the author for his anticipated sequel, which takes the name of Sandra Bullock's iconically blindfolded hero. Try not to shield your eyes. (July 21)

The longtime Jeopardy host, who is currently battling a stage four pancreatic cancer diagnosis, offers what he's calling reflections on his life in this highly-guarded memoir. (July 21) 

Emma Donoghue, of 2010's Room, writes a novel that follows a maternity nurse in an overburdened Dublin hospital in the midst of the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak. Echoes of our current catastrophe abound — social distancing and confusing messaging among them — but the heroine copes with so many turn-of-the-century medical horrors that you'll hardly remember you're reading a pandemic novel in the first place. (July 21)

Shakespeare's output during the Plague became a topic of belabored discussion as the COVID-19 pandemic intensified (Aspiring writers: Where's your masterpiece?), but in this bracing work of historical fiction, acclaimed author O'Farrell (I Am, I Am, I Am) offers the kind of corrective that only literature can provide, meditating on the meaning of making art in a time of crisis and grief, centered on the Bard of Avon himself. (July 21)

One of the most decorated poets alive, Trethewey revisits the brutal murder of her mother in a memoir that sidesteps salacious plotting for an agonizingly reflective account of loss, memory, and the shadow of our country's racist past and present. (July 28)

The new teen rom-com from Solomon, pitting two overachieving rivals against one another, takes place over 24 swoony, steamy hours. (July 28)

This dystopian novel has been described as Children of Men meets The Handmaid's Tale. After a global pandemic (yep) knocks out most of the world's male population, a mother tries to protect her young son (one of the last remaining men) from a government that would prefer to see him become solely a reproductive resource — or worse. (July 28)

The master behind the PEN Award-winning Where Reasons End returns with a richly expansive novel about a sharp-tongued, elderly California native who recalls her life through the diaries of an old, estranged flame. (July 28)

He's established himself as a master of horror with his past few books, including the best-selling The Cabin at the End of the World. Now Tremblay returns with about the most terrifying thing one could imagine right now: a deadly virus spreading... very swiftly. 

Downing's thrillers are proving an awful good time. Following up her deliciously deadly tale of marital tension, My Lovely Wife, comes another page-turner involving murder, secrets, and family dysfunction. The cover kinda says it all, right?

Timely for any moment in American life, but perhaps especially apt to speak to this one, Johnson's bold YA debut takes on racism in the criminal justice system, through the perspective of a teenager vying to get her (innocent) father off death row. (July 28)

For all those who have felt confused, sad, or simply need inspiration during these quarantined times, a new essay collection from the, ahem, inimitable Zadie Smith arrives. It's paper-thin, but mighty timely — she wrote it in late spring and her publisher is rushing it to the masses. (July 28)