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  3. 20 Books to Read This Summer

20 Books to Read This Summer

By Isabella Biedenharn,  Tina Jordan and Nivea Serrao May 26, 2017 at 10:00 AM 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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Summer's Must-Read Books

summer-books
Credit: Grove Atlantic; Knopf Doubleday; HarperCollins; Little, Brown Company; Liveright Publishing

There's something for everyone this season: a gripping true-crime mystery, juicy family dramas, a New York City cop novel, even a swashbuckling 18th-century adventure.

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See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt

See What I Have Done(8/1/17)by Sarah Schmidt
Credit: Grove Atlantic

Living in Australia, Sarah Schmidt had never heard of Lizzie Borden until a pamphlet about the ax murderer literally dropped onto her feet at a used-book store. She wasn't interested, but Lizzie was interested in her: "That night, I had a dream Lizzie was sitting [on] my bed, poking me in the legs. She said, 'I have something to tell you about my father. He has a lot to answer for.'" The resulting novel is compelling, scary—and gruesomely visceral. "I want people to feel uncomfortable," Schmidt says. "Murder is an uncomfortable subject." (Aug. 1; order it here)

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The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (6/06/2017)by Arundhati Roy
Credit: Knopf Doubleday

Twenty years after the publication of The God of Small Things, Roy finally returns with another novel, the gorgeously wrought tale of two women living on the fringes of New Delhi: Anjum, who was born with both male and female genitalia, and Tilottama. (June 6; order it here)

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New People by Danzy Senna

New People (8/01/2017)by Danzy Senna
Credit: Penguin

Maria and Khalil, both mixed-race, are engaged and participating in a documentary about golden-skinned "new people" like them. But as Maria works on her dissertation, she becomes infatuated with a stranger. You'll gulp Senna's novel in a single sitting—but then mull it over for days. (Aug. 1; order it here)

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Boundless by Jillian Tamaki

Boundless (5/30/2017)by Jillian Tamaki
Credit: Drawn and Quarterly

Cartoonist Tamaki (This One Summer) dazzles with her impressive range in this collection, marrying each short story to a different artistic style. Whether she's writing and drawing about the pitfalls of technology or ruminating on nostalgia, her work is lush, vibrant, and packed with emotion. (June 1; order it here)

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The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz

The Silent Corner (6/20/2017)by Dean Koontz
Credit: Random House

With The Silent Corner, Koontz launches a new series starring widow Jane Hawk, who embarks on an investigation into a phenomenon of happy, successful people spontaneously committing suicide (like her late husband). But Jane's questioning makes her the target of a powerful group. (June 20; order it here)

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You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (6/13/2017)by Sherman Alexie
Credit: Little, Brown Company

Sherman Alexie has written extensively about his family and life growing up as a reservation Indian. But he could never bring himself to write about his fiery mother, Lillian, until after her death. "I was scared of her!" he says. "The size of her anger, the size of her love, the size of her lies, the size of her magic. All of it." The resulting memoir blends poetry and prose, and varies widely in tone as he explores old memories and new grief: "I tried to make the book feel like I felt—mixed and confused and hilarious and grotesque and meditative and theological." (June 13; order it here)

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Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy

Do Not Become Alarmed (6/06/2017)by Maile Meloy
Credit: Penguin

Every parent's nightmare comes true in Meloy's literary page-turner as two families on a cruise get separated from their children during an offshore excursion in Central America. As panic sets in, the novel alternates between the kids' and adults' perspectives. (June 6; order it here)

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Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology by Ellen Ullman

Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology (8/08/2017)by Ellen Ullman
Credit: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Ullman, a computer programmer since the '70s, expands on the themes she covered in 1997's Close to the Machine with pieces about what it was like on the forefront of the tech revolution, being a woman in a male-dominated industry, and how the tech landscape has (and hasn't) changed. (Aug. 8; order it here)

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The Force by Don Winslow

The Force (6/20/2017)by Don Winslow
Credit: HarperCollins

The author of The Cartel pours years of NYPD research into this thriller about Denny Malone, a detective sergeant who wants desperately to be good—but has a corrupt past of his own. As tensions between police and citizens simmer, Malone's secrets threaten to emerge too. (June 20; order it here)

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Saints and Misfits by S. K. Ali

Saints and Misfits (6/13/2017)by S. K. Ali
Credit: Simon and Schuster

In her powerful debut, Ali introduces readers to Janna Yusuf, a plucky hijab-wearing Muslim-American teen who's grappling with a terrible secret: She's been sexually assaulted by a popular boy who's revered in the Muslim community. (June 13; order it here)

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Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body (6/13/2017)by Roxane Gay
Credit: HarperCollins

People inflicted all kinds of cruelties on cultural critic Gay (Bad Feminist) because she was overweight, so she decided to write a memoir about body image, telling EW last year, "I'm gonna take control of the narrative—and of my body." (June 13; order it here)

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American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse

AmericanFire_978-1-63149-05
Credit: Liveright Publishing

Over a five-month period in rural Accomack County, Va., local officials were stumped by close to a hundred cases of arson. But after the culprits—a couple—were arrested, Washington Post reporter Hesse was only more intrigued: "I was completely enamored," she says. "Were they doing it out of spite? Was it two people in love who had a beef against the town? The driving force was to figure out what had gone wrong." (July 11 )

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Final Girls by Riley Sager

Final Girls (7/11/2017)by Riley Sager
Credit: Penguin

You know the cold dread that washes over you while you're watching a slasher flick? That's how you'll feel reading this blood-spattered mystery about a group of women sharing a terrible bond: Each was the sole survivor of a massacre. (July 11; order it here)

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Careers for Women by Joanna Scott

Careers for Women (July 25, 2017)by Joanna Scott
Credit: Little Brown and Company

In the vein of Mad Men and Hidden Figures, Scott's novel follows women working humdrum clerical jobs during the building of the World Trade Center: Maggie, an Ohio transplant with big dreams; Pauline, a single mother hiding a scandalous past; and their volatile boss, Mrs. J. (July 25; order it here)

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The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O (June 13, 2017)by Neal Stephenson
Credit: HarperCollins

Set in the near future, D.O.D.O. imagines a world in which magic once existed but mysteriously disappeared during the Great Exhibition at London's Crystal Palace in 1851, leading a group to go back in time to try to resurrect it. (June 13; order it here)

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The Destroyers by Christopher Bollen

The Destroyers (6/27/2017)by Christopher Bollen
Credit: HarperCollins

Whiffs of Patricia Highsmith course through this literary thriller about a kid named Ian who's been cut out of his father's will. Looking for a job or at least a place to stay, he shows up at a rich pal's house on the Greek island of Patmos—but first a bomb goes off, and then his friend vanishes. (June 27; order it here)

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The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue (6/27/2017)by Mackenzi Lee
Credit: HarperCollins

This 18th-century European road trip—equal parts rollicking adventure, sweet love story, and tender coming-of-age tale—stars an endearing trio of characters: Monty, a bisexual British lord; his sister Felicity; and his best friend and crush, Percy. (June 27; order it here)

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The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder

The People We Hate at the Wedding (6/06/2017)by Grant Ginder
Credit: Flatiron Books

In Ginder's glitzy beach read, things spiral out of control in the days leading up to a wedding as a charmingly dysfunctional family—brimming with oddball stepsiblings—does everything it can to sabotage the nuptials. (June 6; order it here)

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Our Little Racket by Angelica Baker

Our Little Racket (6/20/2017)by Angelica Baker
Credit: HarperCollins

Greed, financial intrigue, and family drama roil the pages of Baker's debut, which is centered on a Bernie Madoff-like investment banker. When his firm implodes, the women in his life—including his teenage daughter, his wife, and the nanny—narrate the story of his downfall. (June 20; order it here)

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The Misfortune of Marion Palm: A novel by Emily Culliton

The Misfortune of Marion Palm: A novel (8/08/2017)by Emily Culliton
Credit: Knopf Doubleday

Marion Palm is a Brooklyn mom who's been embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the tony private school where she works, splurging on vacations and renovations—not that her dim-bulb husband has noticed. But with the school facing an audit, Marion grabs some hastily bundled cash and strikes out. "I'm a Brooklyn mom myself," says the book's editor, Jennifer Jackson, remembering when she first saw the manuscript. "And reading about this Brooklyn mom who does the unimaginable felt completely subversive, totally thrilling, and wildly fun." (Aug. 8; order it here)

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    1 of 21 Summer's Must-Read Books
    2 of 21 See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt
    3 of 21 The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
    4 of 21 New People by Danzy Senna
    5 of 21 Boundless by Jillian Tamaki
    6 of 21 The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz
    7 of 21 You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie
    8 of 21 Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy
    9 of 21 Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology by Ellen Ullman
    10 of 21 The Force by Don Winslow
    11 of 21 Saints and Misfits by S. K. Ali
    12 of 21 Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
    13 of 21 American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse
    14 of 21 Final Girls by Riley Sager
    15 of 21 Careers for Women by Joanna Scott
    16 of 21 The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland
    17 of 21 The Destroyers by Christopher Bollen
    18 of 21 The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
    19 of 21 The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder
    20 of 21 Our Little Racket by Angelica Baker
    21 of 21 The Misfortune of Marion Palm: A novel by Emily Culliton

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