In search of something good to read? USA TODAY’s Barbara VanDenburgh scopes out the shelves for this week’s hottest new book releases. All books are on sale July 27.
Amanda Kloots reveals the hardest part of writing new book about late husband Nick Cordero
UP NEXT
1. “The Great Peace,” by Mena Suvari (Hachette, nonfiction)
What it’s about: The actress, best known for her career-making role in “American Beauty,” pens a harrowing coming-of-age memoir, detailing how as a young star in Hollywood she lost herself in drugs, sex and abusive relationships, sharing life lessons she learned along the way.
Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.
The buzz: Library Journal calls it “An honest and unadorned Hollywood confessional that casts a light on the darkness behind the scenes.”
2. “Fierce Little Thing,” Miranda Beverly-Whittemore (Flatiron, fiction)
What it’s about: Five friends, now grown, receive letters and return to the lakeside commune where they met as kids to confront their blackmailer, who threatens to reveal the terrible thing they did as teenagers.
The buzz: “A compelling study of power, sociopathy, and the possibilities of survival,” says a starred review from Kirkus Reviews.
More: Nature lovers, need something to read at the beach? Look no further than this list
3. “The Women’s March: A Novel of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession,” by Jennifer Chiaverini (William Morrow, fiction)
What it’s about: This historical novel dramatizes a crucial but little-remembered 1913 suffragist march in Washington, D.C., through three women who risked their lives for the right to vote.
The buzz: Kirkus Reviews calls it “informative and insightful.”
4. “Island of Thieves,” Glen Erik Hamilton (William Morrow, fiction)
What it’s about: Expert thief Van Shaw is hired by an eccentric business magnate to protect his art collection from other thieves, but when he stumbles across a murder on his new boss’s island estate, he becomes the prime suspect.
The buzz: “Hamilton’s fast-paced plot never loses its way despite numerous jaw-dropping twists,” says a starred review from Publishers Weekly.
5. “New Teeth,” by Simon Rich (Little, Brown and Company, fiction)
What it’s about: From the humorist comes a funny and personal collection of 11 stories about raising babies, growing older and what it means to make a family.
The buzz: “A fertile mind provides many smiles in this entertaining collection – and more than a few out-loud laughs,” says a starred review from Kirkus Reviews.
What qualifies as a “summer book”? Sizzling romances? Bubbly rom-coms? Thrilling page-turners?
We think it’s any good book released when the weather is warm and the drinks are cold.
If you’re looking for more titles to add to your to-read pile, here are the 20 books we can’t wait to read this summer (on the beach or otherwise), starting with “Filthy Animals,” by Brandon Taylor (out now). The Booker Prize finalist and author of “Real Life” returns with a collection of linked stories set among complex young creatives in the Midwest and observing their fraught relationships.
“Dear Miss Metropolitan,” by Carolyn Ferrell (July 6): A longtime newspaper woman, advice columnist Miss Metropolitan, is shocked when it is discovered that a neighbor had kidnapped teen girls and held them for years in his dilapidated house in Queens. How could she have missed this story?
“Build Your House Around My Body,” by Violet Kupersmith (July 6): In a debut novel drawing on a haunted Vietnam’s history and folklore, two linked young Vietnamese women go missing decades apart: One the teenage daughter of a wealthy family in the ’80s while fleeing her angry father, the other an unhappy Vietnamese-American woman in the 2010s who disappears without a trace.
“Falling,” by T. J. Newman (July 6): A pilot’s family is taken hostage and he’s given an impossible choice: Crash the plane and kill the 143 other passengers on board or his family dies. The kicker? The first-time author is a former flight attendant who landed a 7-figure book deal.
“Wayward,” by Dana Spiotta (July 6): Caption OverrideSamantha Raymond’s life begins to come apart in middle age after the 2016 election when she flees her suburban life to buy a decrepit house in a hardscrabble Syracuse neighborhood.
“Appleseed,” by Matt Bell (July 13): This ambitious speculative epic and striking take on climate change follows three separate narratives in three different times: 18th-century Ohio; the near climate-ravaged future; and a thousand years from now, in a North America covered by a sheet of ice with one lonely inhabitant seeking out the last of civilization.
“The Final Girl Support Group,” by Grady Hendrix (July 13): The horror master behind “The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires” puts his unique spin on slasher movie tropes, imagining a group of real-life final girls who survived their attackers meeting in a therapeutic support group to process their traumas.
“Stolen,” by Elizabeth Gilpin (July 20): In this gripping memoir, Gilpin recounts how at 15 she was sent to a “therapeutic” boarding school for troubled teens, where she and others like her were brutally abused. “This unflinching account is impossible to put down,” says a starred review from Publishers Weekly.
“She Who Became the Sun,” by Shelley Parker-Chan (July 20): A queer, fantastical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. A sister claims her dead brother’s identity and his birthright, leading the battle to overthrow Mongol rule of China.
“The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois,” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (July 27): This ambitious debut novel by a National Book Award-nominated poet chronicles the journey of an American family from the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our present day, and one Black woman’s coming-to-terms with her legacy.
“The Great Peace,” by Mena Suvari (July 27): The actress, best known for her career-making role in “American Beauty,” pens a harrowing coming-of-age memoir, detailing how as a young star in Hollywood she lost herself in drugs, sex and abusive relationships, sharing life lessons she learned along the way.
“Her Heart for a Compass,” by Sarah Ferguson (Aug. 3): That’s right, the Duchess of York has written a novel. This costume drama tells the story of an outspoken young noblewoman’s coming-of-age in repressive Victorian England as she flees an arranged marriage.
“Billy Summers,” by Stephen King (Aug. 3): The horror master pens a hard-boiled noir about a complex killer for hire. He’s the best in the business, and he wants out – but his final job complicates everything.
“This Will All Be Over Soon,” by Cecily Strong (Aug. 10): The “Saturday Night Live” star pens a powerful memoir about losing her cousin to brain cancer in early 2020, and learning to grieve him amid all the loss and heartache of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Velvet Was the Night,” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Aug. 17): From the author of “Mexican Gothic” comes a noir-flavored mystery about a secretary in 1970s Mexico City intrigued by the suspicious disappearance of her beautiful neighbor and sets out in search of the missing woman.
“The Reckoning: Our Nation’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal,” by Mary L. Trump (Aug. 17): The niece of former President Trump and bestselling author of “Too Much and Never Enough” writes that America is suffering from PTSD, and that national healing must start with a reckoning.
“Seeing Ghosts,” by Kat Chow (Aug. 24): The author explores grief and its fallout after her mother’s unexpected death from cancer, in a Chinese American family story that spans three generations. “The result is a moving depiction of grief at its most mundane and spectacular,” says Publishers Weekly.
“On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint,” by Maggie Nelson (Sept. 7): Drawing on a vast range of pop culture and critical theory, the celebrated cultural critic explores the ways we think, experience and discuss the concept of freedom.
“Beautiful World, Where Are You,” by Sally Rooney (Sept. 7): From the bestselling author of “Normal People” and “Conversations With Friends” comes a new coming-of-age story about four young adults – novelist Alice, her romantic interest Felix, her best friend Eileen and her friend Simon – and the life that’s catching up with them.
“Harlem Shuffle,” by Colson Whitehead (Sept. 14): The two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Underground Railroad” and “The Nickel Boys” returns with an entertaining heist novel and family saga set in 1960s Harlem.
20/20 SLIDES
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 5 books not to miss: Mena Suvari memoir ‘The Great Peace,’ gripping novel ‘Fierce Little Thing’
