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  3. 20 new books to read in July

20 new books to read in July

By David Canfield and Seija Rankin July 02, 2018 at 07:46 PM EDT
Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.
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July's 20 must-reads

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Credit: Tim Duggan Books; Doubleday; Little, Brown and Company; Penguin; Simon & Schuster

Need some new reads to throw into your beach tote? There are plenty of hot new books hitting the shelves this month: Here are the 20 you need to know about.

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Can You Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young

Can You Tolerate This?ESSAYSBy ASHLEIGH YOUNGCR: Penguin
Credit: Penguin

This debut essay collection is arriving stateside with a heap of acclaim and some major awards already behind it. Kiwi-born Young first meditates on her own experiences, particularly relating to aging and community, before expanding to bring alive an eclectic range of historical figures. (June 3)

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How to Be Famous by Caitlin Moran

famous_courtesy Harper Collins
Credit: HarperCollins

Moran's semiautobiographical tale of a young writer finding her way in the mid-'90s London rock scene pops and fizzes with the energy of those Cool Britannia times — but her smart, nervy take on female selfhood and sexuality feels bracingly of now. (July 3)

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All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth

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Credit: William Morrow

Think Donna Tartt’s The Secret History meets Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep meets Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. A new student at a prestigious East Coast school deals with the fallout from dalliances with a secret society and the long-ago disappearance of her mother. (July 10)

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Clock Dance by Anne Tyler

Clock DanceA NOVELBy ANNE TYLERCR: Alfred A. Knopf
Credit: Alfred A. Knopf

Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Tyler (Breathing Lessons) is still at it, this time with another thoughtful page-turner. She offers a breezy but sweeping story of one woman’s entire life, as she overcomes setbacks and searches for fulfillment. (July 10)

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From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein

Corner-of-Oval-cover_courtesy penguin
Credit: Penguin

We’re over a year out from President Obama's history-making term and the memoirs are still rolling in. In a refreshing twist, From the Corner of the Oval swaps the policy debates for good-old-fashioned workplace drama, following the author (who served as a stenographer) as she navigates a wholly new kind of office politics. (July 10)

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Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer

Hope-Never-Dies
Credit: Penguin

Barack Obama and Joe Biden as action heroes? Believe it. The former POTUS and his veep have been carefully transformed in Hope Never Dies, which brings one of the internet’s many bromantic memes to the page. The pair re-teams to unravel a mystery that leads them to the sinister core of the opioid epidemic. (July 10)

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My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

My Year of Rest and RelaxationNovel by Ottessa Moshfegh CR: Penguin
Credit: Penguin

Moshfegh, the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Eileen, is back with one of the summer's most anticipated literary efforts. My Year is cunning and wry, strange and precise, with a whopper of a final act. (July 10)

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The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams

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Credit: William Morrow

The award-winning author of historical fiction returns with her latest sweeping story, this one moving between the '50s and the '60s as it paints a portrait of the inhabitants living on an island off the New England coast. (July 10)

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A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen

A Terrible Country: A NovelNovel by Keith GessenCR: Penguin
Credit: Penguin

Gessen's second novel is set in 2008, and traces one struggling academic's return to his birthplace of Moscow, Russia. Political relevance aside, A Terrible Country positions complacency against resistance, and questions what "home" really means. (July 10)

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What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan

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Credit: Little, Brown and Company

This hyped debut, a luminous family saga centered on a wealthy Chinese-American clan, has already been long-listed for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. (July 10)

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The Widower's Notebook by Jonathan Santlofer

The Widower’s NotebookA MEMOIRBy JONATHAN SANTLOFERCR: Alfred A. Knopf
Credit: Alfred A. Knopf

In this sensitive memoir, a man wades through grief by remembering his marriage in intimate, devastating detail after his wife dies suddenly. (July 10)

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Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

Baby Teeth: A Novel by Zoje Stage CR: St. Martin's Press
Credit: St. Martin's Press

Stage's debut has a little We Need to Talk About Kevin here, a little The Omen there. Suzette’s seven-year-old daughter won’t speak to her, and soon begins behaving in indescribably cruel — evil, even — ways. What’s behind this? You might want to cover your eyes when you find out. (July 17)

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The Death of Truth by Michiko Kakutani

The-Death-of-Truth
Credit: Tim Duggan Books

The former New York Times chief book critic offers a searing indictment of our current cultural climate, honing in particularly on "falsehood in the age of Trump" and proving the political power of strong criticism. (July 17)

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Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott

images (3)
Credit: Little, Brown and Company

No one teases out the nuances of female relationships, desires, and secrets like Abbott (You Will Know Me). In her new novel, she delves into those themes in the world of science, when two former friends find themselves competing, as adults, for the same job. (July 17)

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How to Love a Jamaican by Alexia Arthurs

How to Love a JamaicanSTORIESBy ALEXIA ARTHURSCR: Ballantine Books
Credit: Ballantine Books

Arthurs' collection of short stories tackles the immigrant experience, exploring it through the prism of family. One particular story that's sure to attract buzz: "Shirley From a Small Place," in which a world-famous pop star — based on Rihanna — retreats to her mother's new house in her birthplace of Jamaica. (July 24)

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I Can't Date Jesus by Michael Arceneaux

i-cant-date-jesus-9781501178856_hr
Credit: Simon & Schuster

Arceneaux has built up a robust following with his wry commentary on everything from race to sexuality to popular culture. His first book expands on what readers have come to love, while also offering a glimpse of his own life story: his development as a proud gay black man, his coming-out story, how artists like Lil' Kim and Janet Jackson helped him shape his identity. (July 24)

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The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken

The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken CR: HarperCollins
Credit: HarperCollins

Here's the long-awaited new entrant in Bracken's Darkest Minds saga. And for the unfamiliar: Now's the perfect time to catch up on Bracken's best-selling dystopian sci-fi series, as the blockbuster film adaptation arrives Aug. 3. (July 31)

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Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

Fruit of the Drunken TreeA NOVELBy INGRID ROJAS CONTRERASCR: Doubleday
Credit: Doubleday

This poetic, harrowing first novel from Contreras centers on the friendship between a young girl and a maid in Bogotá, Colombia, whose families face uncertain futures at the height Pablo Escobar's violent reign. (July 31)

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The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon

incendiaries_courtesy penguin
Credit: Penguin

Kwon's original idea for The Incendiaries was based on her teenage years in California, when she was a devout Christian and then experienced what she describes as a "cataclysmic" loss of faith. Couple those emotions with a deep-seated interest in cults, homegrown terrorists, and North Korean labor camps (where she has distant family roots), and the book was born. The story follows Will and Phoebe, a couple at an exclusive East Coast college, as they simultaneously fall in love and become entangled in an extremist group hell-bent on violently disrupting abortion clinics. (July 31)

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Immigrant, Montana by Amitava Kumar

Immigrant, MontanaA NOVELBy AMITAVA KUMARCR: Knopf Doubleday
Credit: Knopf Doubleday

The Lunch With a Bigot author's thought-provoking new novel offers a fragmented, up-close take on the experience of a new immigrant to America. Kailash, a young man newly arrived from India, navigates an unfamiliar social landscape (New York University) in the effort of fitting in. (July 31)

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    Everything in This Slideshow

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    1 of 21 July's 20 must-reads
    2 of 21 Can You Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young
    3 of 21 How to Be Famous by Caitlin Moran
    4 of 21 All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth
    5 of 21 Clock Dance by Anne Tyler
    6 of 21 From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein
    7 of 21 Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer
    8 of 21 My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
    9 of 21 The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams
    10 of 21 A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen
    11 of 21 What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan
    12 of 21 The Widower's Notebook by Jonathan Santlofer
    13 of 21 Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
    14 of 21 The Death of Truth by Michiko Kakutani
    15 of 21 Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott
    16 of 21 How to Love a Jamaican by Alexia Arthurs
    17 of 21 I Can't Date Jesus by Michael Arceneaux
    18 of 21 The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken
    19 of 21 Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
    20 of 21 The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon
    21 of 21 Immigrant, Montana by Amitava Kumar

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