Here is my list of books published in July, available in August. Lots of fiction, not as much nonfiction. If you are someone who loves crime books or thrillers and these kinds of books top your summer reading list then you are all set. There is also quite a bit of interesting science fiction and fantasy for you if that is your taste. And there are several good biographies and memoirs that were published recently. The ones that struck me when I read the summaries are starred. If you Google a book you will get a very short summary of what it’s about. Go to Amazon or your library for a longer description if you’re not sure what to pick. Don’t worry, you can’t keep up. Just dive in and carve out a little niche for yourself. Happy reading.
Amazon
Best Books of August
Literature and Fiction
Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
American Saint by Sean Gandert *
Chances Are…by Richard Russo *
Tidelands by Philippa Gregory *
Inland by Téa Obreht *
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christi Lefteri *
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokaczuk, Antonia Lloyd-Jones *
Summerlings by Lisa Howorth *
Gods with a little g by Tupelo Hassman
Mysteries and Thrillers
The Escape Room by Megan Goldin *
The Bitterroots by CJ Box
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
The Whisper Man by Alex North
The Last Widow (Will Trent) by Karin Slaughter
The Whisperer (13) (Inspector Sejer Mysteries) by Karin Fossum, Kari Dickson
True Believer (2) (Terminal List) by Jack Carr
The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney
A Keeper by Graham Norton
Don’t Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokaczuk, Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Biographies and Memoirs
Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma
Idiot Wind: A Memoir by Peter Kaldheim
Alexander the Great: His Life and His Mysterious Death by Anthony Everitt
Barnum: An American Life by Robert Wilson
Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of America’s Public Lands by JohnClayton
Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan by Alan Paul, Andy Aledort
Nights in White Castle: A Memoir by Steve Rushin
The Sober Diaries: How One Woman Stopped Drinking and Started Living by Clare Pooley
Nobody’s Victim: Fighting Psychos, Stalkers Pervs and Trolls by Carrie Goldberg
Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver by Jill Heinerth
Nonfiction
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill, Dan Piepenbring
Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors by Edward Niedermeyer
Strange Harvests: The Hidden Histories of Seven Natural Objects by Edward Posnett
The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains by Joseph Le Doux *
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi
The Mosquito: A Human History of our Deadliest Predator by Timothy Wineqard
The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes by David Robson *
The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Woman Who Pursued Him, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz-Age America by Karen Abbott
The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier by Ian Urbina
Science Fiction and Fantasy
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Z. Hossain
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? By Temi Oh
Blood of an Exile (Dragon of Terra by Brian Haslund)
Shrouded Loyalties by Reese Hogan
The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War) by R F Kuang
Cry Pilot by Joel Dane
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buston
Turning Darkness into Light by Marie Brennan
The Gossamer Mage by Julie E Gernada
The New York Times Book Review
Crime
Conviction by Denise Mina *
More News Tomorrow by Susan Richards Shreve *
The Island by Ragnar Jonasson
Finding Mrs. Ford by Deborah Goodrich Royce
Fiction
Last Day by Domenica Ruta *
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson *
The Body in Question by Jill Ciment *
Nonfiction
The Guarded Gate by Daniel Okrent *
The Way We Eat by Bee Wilson *
Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero by Tyler Cowen
A Thousand Small Sanities by Adam Gopnik (defense of liberalism) *
The Buried by Peter Hessler
The Shortlist (books on mental illness)
The Edge of Every Day: Sketches of Schizophrenia by Marin Sardy
Mind Fixers: Psychiatry’s Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness by Anne Harrington
Tyrannical Minds: Psychological Profiling, Narcissism, and Dictatorship by Dean Haycock *
Podcast 50 Best Memoirs – https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/05/books/review/50-best-memoirs-past-50-years
July 12
Great Summer Reads
Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
Summer of ’69 by Elin Hilderbrand
The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
The Lager Queen of Minnesota by Pamela Dorman
The Islanders by Meg Mitchell Moore
The Last Book Party by Karen Dukess
The Travelers by Regina Porter
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kivok
Fiction
Clyde Fans: A Picture Book by Seth *
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
Nonfiction
A Good American Family by David Maraniss
Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century by Alexandra Popoff
Running to the Edge by Matthew Futterman
The Making of a Justice by Justice John Paul Stevens
The Land of Flickering Lights by Michael Bennet
The Thirty-Year Genocide by Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi
July 19
Fiction
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead *
Crime
Knife by Jo Nesbo
The Shameless by Ace Atkins
The Body in the Wake (Faith Fairchild) by Katherine Hall Page
The Hard Stuff by David Gordon
Fiction
Mostly Dead Things by Kristin Arnett
A Philosophy of Ruin by Nicholas Mancussi
Lanny by Max Porter
The Shortlist (Story Collections)
Rain by Mia Couto
The Sun on My Head by Giovani Martins
Arid Dreams by Duanwad Pimwana
Nonfiction
My Parents/This Does Not Belong to You by Aleksandar Hemon (Memoir)
Appeasement by Tim Bouverie (Neville Chamberlain)
The Crowded Hour by Clay Risen
July 26th
Recursion by Blake Crouch (alternate reality thriller)
Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman
The Need by Helen Phillips
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
Whisper Network by Chandler Baker
Empty Hearts by Juli Zeh
The Escape Room by Megan Goldin *
Publishers Weekly
July 5
The Substitution Order by Martin Clark (legal thriller)
Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem by Daniel R Day (memoir)
Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch – F
Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking it all with the Greatest Chef in the World by Jeff Gordinier – NF
Ash Kickers (Smoke Eaters #2) by Sean Grigsby (Science Fiction/Fantasy)
The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez (F) (Rom-Com+)
The Chain by Adrian McKinty (F) (thriller) *
The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America by Margaret O’Mara (NF)
The Need by Helen Phillips (F) (crossover, thriller, sci-fi, literary)
The Toll by Cherie Priest (F) (‘Gothic tale’)
Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renki (NF)
George Marshall: Defender of the Republic by David L Roll (NF)
Say Say Say by Lila Savage (F) *
Supper Club by Lara Williams (F) *
July 12
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone *
Native Tongue by Suzetter Haden Elgin *
Red Metal by Mark Greany and H Ripley Rawlings IV (F)
Greasy Bend by Kris Lackey (F) (2 investigations that connect)
Stubborn Archivist by Yara Rodrigues Fowler (F)
Four Men Shaking: Searching for Sanity with Samuel Beckett, Norman Mailer, and My Perfect Zen Teacher by Lawrence Shainberg (Memoir)
They Call Us Enemy by George Takei, et al
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (F) *
The Rage of Dragons (The Burning #1) (Fantasy)
July 19
Rocket to the Morgue by Anthony Boucher (F)
Desdemona and the Deep by CSE Cooney (F) (Fantasy/Sci Fi)
The Gomorrah Gambit by Tom Chatfield (F) (high tech thriller)
Jade War by Fonda Lee (F) (Fantasy)
Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman (F) (Crime novel)
Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCullock (NF)
Gravity is the Thing by Jaclyn Moriarty (F)
Crisis in the Red Zone: The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History and of the Outbreaks to Come by Richard Preston (NF)
Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham (F) (Crime) (forensic psychologist)
Glory and It Litany of Horrors by Fernanda Torres (F)
The Last Astronaut by David Wellington (F) (Space thriller)
July 26
Can Two Women Ever Be – Too Close by Natalie Daniels (F)
A Capitol Death by Lindsey Davis (F) (a Flavia Alba novel)
Smokescreen by Iris Johansen (F) (thriller)
God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss and Renewal in Middle America by Lyz Lenz (NF)
The Hound of Justice (The Janet Watson Chronicles) (F)
The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen (F) (Fantasy)
So Many Books, Choose Wisely 