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Summer Sizzlers: 10 Great Books to Read in July
Grab a cold drink and sit back with the latest offerings from Colson Whitehead, Liz Nugent and Richard Russo / BY Nathalie Atkinson / June 27th, 2023
From page-turning thrillers, historical figures and eccentric aristocrats to charming romance and retro crime, you’ll want to bury your nose in more than one of our July fiction picks
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1The Librarianist In his gripping and melancholy (and often funny) new novel, the Portland-based Canadian author who won the Governor General Literary Award for Fiction with The Sisters Brothers, traces retired librarian Bob’s chance encounter with a confused elderly woman. Human connection opens up for the solitary man when he begins volunteering at her senior centre, triggering reveries about key episodes in his life in this big-hearted, emotionally wrought novel. (July 4)
In his gripping and melancholy (and often funny) new novel, the Portland-based Canadian author who won the Governor General Literary Award for Fiction with The Sisters Brothers, traces retired librarian Bob’s chance encounter with a confused elderly woman. Human connection opens up for the solitary man when he begins volunteering at her senior centre, triggering reveries about key episodes in his life in this big-hearted, emotionally wrought novel. (July 4)
2The VeganThis novel follows what happens when Herschel, the well-intentioned manager of an AI-powered hedge fund, who in a thoughtless moment at a dinner party sets tragedy into motion. As Herschel looks for connection (most pointedly, in the animal world) and grapples with what it means to be ethical, just as the Brooklyn author did in his debut Last Resort, Lipstein deftly mines the realities of late-capitalism, mixing the philosophical and hysterical. (July 11)
This novel follows what happens when Herschel, the well-intentioned manager of an AI-powered hedge fund, who in a thoughtless moment at a dinner party sets tragedy into motion. As Herschel looks for connection (most pointedly, in the animal world) and grapples with what it means to be ethical, just as the Brooklyn author did in his debut Last Resort, Lipstein deftly mines the realities of late-capitalism, mixing the philosophical and hysterical. (July 11)
3Nothing Special People have been fascinated with Andy Warhol’s Factory since its inception 60 years ago. The mythologizing continues in the Irish writer’s debut novel, set around the studio workplace and following Mae, the lonely teenage dropout who was one of Warhol’s typists. The story has a middle-aged Mae looking back on her 1966 coming-of-age, transcribing the artist’s rambling experimental 1968 text: A Novel amid the celebrity-studded parties. (July 11)
People have been fascinated with Andy Warhol’s Factory since its inception 60 years ago. The mythologizing continues in the Irish writer’s debut novel, set around the studio workplace and following Mae, the lonely teenage dropout who was one of Warhol’s typists. The story has a middle-aged Mae looking back on her 1966 coming-of-age, transcribing the artist’s rambling experimental 1968 text: A Novel amid the celebrity-studded parties. (July 11)
4Alchemy of a Blackbird For her latest historical novel, the Ohio-based former lawyer takes inspiration from the true story of painters Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, who fled Nazi-occupied Paris for the French Riviera before settling in Mexico. Both women were devotees of tarot (which figures prominently in the story) and through their creative friendship, overcame the jealousies of the Surrealism artistic landscape to find independence and success within it. (July 11)
For her latest historical novel, the Ohio-based former lawyer takes inspiration from the true story of painters Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, who fled Nazi-occupied Paris for the French Riviera before settling in Mexico. Both women were devotees of tarot (which figures prominently in the story) and through their creative friendship, overcame the jealousies of the Surrealism artistic landscape to find independence and success within it. (July 11)
5High TimeThe 2020 comedy of manners House of Trelawney by the British heiress — a member of the banking dynasty — concerns a dilapidated Cornwall castle inhabited by a dysfunctional clan of cash-strapped aristocrats (unhinged, even by eccentric standards) experiencing upper-crust schadenfreude during the 2008 financial crisis. What could be better? This sequel serves up the same smart Brideshead Revisited-meets-Fawlty Towers satire about how staggering wealth (old or new) can warp character. (July 11)
The 2020 comedy of manners House of Trelawney by the British heiress — a member of the banking dynasty — concerns a dilapidated Cornwall castle inhabited by a dysfunctional clan of cash-strapped aristocrats (unhinged, even by eccentric standards) experiencing upper-crust schadenfreude during the 2008 financial crisis. What could be better? This sequel serves up the same smart Brideshead Revisited-meets-Fawlty Towers satire about how staggering wealth (old or new) can warp character. (July 11)
6Strange Sally Diamond Sally and her kindly, pragmatic father have kept quietly to themselves since her mother’s death. But after he also passes away, she ventures more into village life and learns some disturbing truths about her childhood. I read an advance copy over Easter long weekend and I can attest to its unputdownable nature (it’s easily one of my favourite books of the year) yet I don’t know quite how to classify it. Domestic thriller? Psychological character study? It’s got the requisite paciness of both, but where so often now I find these genre exercises can feel churned out and glibly trading on dark and difficult material, Nugent treads delicately to probe the enormous emotional trauma at the heart of the story. I felt a lot of joy as matter-of-fact eccentric Sally moves from her solitary existence to a cherished member of the community. (July 18)
Sally and her kindly, pragmatic father have kept quietly to themselves since her mother’s death. But after he also passes away, she ventures more into village life and learns some disturbing truths about her childhood. I read an advance copy over Easter long weekend and I can attest to its unputdownable nature (it’s easily one of my favourite books of the year) yet I don’t know quite how to classify it. Domestic thriller? Psychological character study? It’s got the requisite paciness of both, but where so often now I find these genre exercises can feel churned out and glibly trading on dark and difficult material, Nugent treads delicately to probe the enormous emotional trauma at the heart of the story. I felt a lot of joy as matter-of-fact eccentric Sally moves from her solitary existence to a cherished member of the community. (July 18)
7Crook ManifestoThis sequel to 2021’s Harlem Shuffle continues his Harlem crime saga, a planned trilogy about furniture store owner and (occasional petty) crook Ray Carney. Set in seedy 1970s New York, among its many capers is a fried chicken heist. Whitehead, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, nails darkly funny literary pulp crime about sin and the city — again. (July 18)
This sequel to 2021’s Harlem Shuffle continues his Harlem crime saga, a planned trilogy about furniture store owner and (occasional petty) crook Ray Carney. Set in seedy 1970s New York, among its many capers is a fried chicken heist. Whitehead, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, nails darkly funny literary pulp crime about sin and the city — again. (July 18)
8Small Worlds In his affecting follow-up to Open Water (his acclaimed 2021 debut) the British Ghanaian writer and photographer explores race, inheritance and the migrant experience in a love story that spans continents and summers. It not only explores the relationship between Del and Stephen, two British Ghanaian musicians growing up in southeast London, but also the many sides of Stephen’s loving family and community. (July 18)
In his affecting follow-up to Open Water (his acclaimed 2021 debut) the British Ghanaian writer and photographer explores race, inheritance and the migrant experience in a love story that spans continents and summers. It not only explores the relationship between Del and Stephen, two British Ghanaian musicians growing up in southeast London, but also the many sides of Stephen’s loving family and community. (July 18)
9Silver Nitrate This inventive noir — written by the award-winning Mexican Canadian novelist of Mexican Gothic and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau — is on my most-anticipated list! Set in the moviemaking world of ’90s Mexico City, an audio engineer and her childhood best friend (now a soap opera star) attempt to complete an unfinished movie in the hopes it will bring them luck. Nazi occultism and Mexican horror movies may seem an unlikely combination but in her dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film, the author explores anti-Semitism and misogyny, while deftly combining real and invented filmographies of the 1950s golden age. (July 18)
This inventive noir — written by the award-winning Mexican Canadian novelist of Mexican Gothic and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau — is on my most-anticipated list! Set in the moviemaking world of ’90s Mexico City, an audio engineer and her childhood best friend (now a soap opera star) attempt to complete an unfinished movie in the hopes it will bring them luck. Nazi occultism and Mexican horror movies may seem an unlikely combination but in her dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film, the author explores anti-Semitism and misogyny, while deftly combining real and invented filmographies of the 1950s golden age. (July 18)
10Somebody’s Fool The Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of Empire Falls’s North Bath trilogy is a comic meditation on small town life and its misadventures. The final instalment wraps it up a decade after the death of hero Donald ‘Sully’ Sullivan, and picks up with his son Peter renovating his late father’s Victorian house while figuring out where he fits into his father’s legacy while parenting his own son. (July 25)
The Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of Empire Falls’s North Bath trilogy is a comic meditation on small town life and its misadventures. The final instalment wraps it up a decade after the death of hero Donald ‘Sully’ Sullivan, and picks up with his son Peter renovating his late father’s Victorian house while figuring out where he fits into his father’s legacy while parenting his own son. (July 25)