The long, lazy, hazy days of summer are upon us. For book lovers, those longer days and vacation time mean more hours to revisit beloved authors and get to know new ones as you lounge by the pool or the lake, in your backyard, or maybe in an overseas hotel room. Below are our picks of some of the best books out this season.
1. Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday, July 18)
Harlem, USA 1970s. Pulitzer Prize-winner Colson Whitehead’s latest novel is a darkly funny tale of a city under siege, but also a sneakily searching portrait of the meaning of family. Like his most recent novel, “Harlem Shuffle,” the kaleidoscopic portrait of Harlem that is painted is sure to capture an uncanny evocation of a place and time.
2. bell hooks: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations, intro by Mikki Kendall (Melville House, July 18)
Part of a 42-book series called “The Last Interview,” this collection of seven interviews stretches from early in bell hooks’ career—she passed away in 2021—until her last interview. The collection features the trailblazing author, feminist, social activist, cultural critic, and professor discussing feminism, the complexity of rap music and masculinity, her relationship to Buddhism, the “politic of domination,” sexuality, and the importance of communication across cultural borders.
3. Don’t Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Her Own Words by Viola Ford Fletcher and Ike Howard (Mocha Media, Aug 15)
Although her lawsuit against the state and city of Tulsa was recently dismissed, Viola Ford Fletcher’s memoir vividly recalls the lasting impact of the Tulsa Massacre on her life and takes readers on a journey through a lifetime of pain and perseverance.
4. The Fraud by Zadie Smith (Penguin, Sept 5)
Set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, this novel, based on real historical events, is about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity, and the mystery of “other people.”
5. The Thing About Home by Rhonda McKnight (HarperCollins)
When her picture-perfect vow renewal ceremony ends in her being left at the altar, the former model-turned-social-media-influencer Casey Black has new fame—the kind she never wanted. Casey runs from New York City to South Carolina’s Lowcountry where she discovers her roots run deeper than the Lowcountry soil. She learns she has a legacy to uphold and a great new love story—if only she is brave enough to leave her old life behind.
6. Even If the Sky Is Falling, edited by Taj McCoy (Canary Street Press)
Filled with humor, heat, and hope, this riveting collection of interwoven multicultural stories by acclaimed authors Lane Clarke, Farah Heron, Taj McCoy, Charish Reid, Sarah Smith, and Denise Williams explores the secrets we carry with us—and the joy we discover when we let go and reach for the stars.
7. Summer on Sag Harbor by Sunny Hostin (HarperCollins)
The second novel in a two-part series from “The View” co-host, the story revolves around Olivia Jones, who once she becomes untethered from her life in New York City, moves to a summer home in Sag Harbor and begins forging a new community. Friendships blossom with Kara, an ambitious art curator; and Whitney, the wife of an ex-basketball player and current president of the Sag Harbor Homeowners Association; and a sexy new neighbor and single father, Garrett, who makes her reconsider her engagement to Anderson. She also takes to a kindly, older gentleman named Mr. Whittingham, but soon discovers he too is not without his own troubles.
8. Rogue Justice: A Thriller by Stacey Abrams (Doubleday)
Georgia politician and former romance writer, Abrams writes a thriller about Supreme Court clerk Avery Keene, who is approached at a legal conference by Preston Davies, an unassuming young man and fellow law clerk to a federal judge in Idaho. Davies believes his boss, Judge Francesca Whitner, was being blackmailed in the days before she died. Desperate to understand what happened, he gives Avery a file, a burner phone, and a fearful warning that there are highly dangerous people involved.
9. An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera (Canary Street Press)
Artist Manuela del Carmen Caceres Galvan trades her beloved land for a summer with the ruthless Duchess of Sindridge in Paris, a taste of the wild, carefree world that will soon be out of her reach. What follows thrills and terrifies the duchess, igniting desires she long thought dead.
10. Nigeria Jones by Ibi Zoboi (HarperCollins)
Her dad raised her as part of the Movement, a Black separatist group based in Philadelphia. But when her mother—the perfect matriarch of their Movement—disappears, Nigeria’s world is upended. She finds herself taking care of her baby brother and stepping into a role she doesn’t want.
11. The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson (Simon and Schuster)
Fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college. But will a taboo love affair pull her back into poverty and desperation like generations before her?
12. The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley (Soft Skull Press)
In the wake of her parents’ death, Aretha, a habitually single Black lawyer, has had only one obsession in life—success—until she falls for Aaron, a Brooklyn-based coffee entrepreneur.
13. What Never Happened: A Thriller by Rachel Howzell Hall (August 1, Thomas & Mercer)
As Coco ventures back home to Catalina Island after surviving a tragedy there 20 years ago, she begins to draw connections between a serial killer’s crimes and her own family tragedy.
14. Promise by Rachel Eliza Griffiths (July 11, Random House)
Two sisters growing up in small-town New England fight to protect their home, their bodies, and their dreams as the Civil Rights Movement sweeps the nation in this “magical, magnificent novel that amounts to a secret history of an America we think we know but never really knew.”
15. Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson (July 18, Grove Press)
Set over the course of three summers, “Small Worlds” follows Stephen, a first-generation Londoner born to Ghanaian immigrant parents. Stephen feels pressured to follow a certain path, but when he decides instead to follow his heart, his world fractures in ways he didn’t foresee.
16. Take A Hike by Mimi Grace (Kindle)
Silas once had big dreams, but life got in the way. Now he’s making the most of his situation. That is until the bubbly Raven thwarts his plan to buy Mountaintop Adventures. The two butt heads, but attraction and rapport ensue. Can Silas and Raven keep professional lines and their opposing goals intact?
17. Homebodies by Tembe Denton Hurst (HarperCollins)
Journalist Mickey Heyward’s perfect New York City life is shattered when she loses her high-profile job. Forced to reckon with just how fragile her life is, she flees to the last place she ever dreamed she would run to—her hometown.
18. Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby (Vintage)
The comedian, essayist, and TV writer’s newest collection of essays covers everything from being thrown out of restaurants to manic poets, to QVC, to her obsession with “Sex and The City.”
19. Dances by Nicole Cuffy (One World)
At 22 years old, Cece Cordell has reached the pinnacle of her career as a ballet dancer when she was promoted to principal at the New York City Ballet. Soon after her promotion, Cece is faced with a choice that has the potential to derail her career and shatter the life she’s cultivated for herself.
20. The Art of Ruth E. Carter: Costuming Black History and the Afrofuture, from Do the Right Thing to Black Panther by Ruth E. Carter (Chronicle Books)
Ruth E. Carter is a living legend of costume design. For three decades, she has shaped the story of the Black experience on screen—from the ’80s streetwear of “Do the Right Thing” to the royal regalia of “Coming 2 America.”
Her work on Marvel’s “Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” not only brought Afrofuturism to the mainstream but also made her the first Black Oscar winner in costume design and the first Black woman to win two Academy Awards in any category. In this definitive book, Carter shares her origins and recounts anecdotes from dressing the greats.
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