What does your July reading look like? If you’re in need of recommendations, we have a couple to share with you, encompassing writers from all over the world and books in a wide variety of styles and genres. Whether you’re looking for deconstructions of certain worldviews or fascinating trips into history, we have you covered; here are 10 books that might pique your interest this month.
Xu Xi, Horizon
(July 1, Gaudy Boy)
Spanning more than half a century, the stories in Xu Xi’s collection cover a wide swath of lives in Hong Kong then and now. Thus far, the book has earned praise for its scope and tone: in a review for Necessary Fiction, Mia Carroll called this book “a cohesive collection that challenges the common reduction of Hong Kong to a political hotbed.”
Drew Nellins Smith, Wince
(July 4, Itna Press)
Guns “turned out to be a much deeper and more complex subject than I’d ever realized,” Drew Nellins Smith recently told Sam Axelrod in an interview that ran here earlier this week. In this character study of a middle-aged man with a penchant for guns and fraught interpersonal relationships, Smith rarely goes where the reader might expect.
Fatimah Asghar, Daughter of the Mountains
(July 7, One World)
Subtitled “poems of heartbreak & homecoming,” this collection explores big questions surrounding memories and landscapes. In a review at the Chicago Review of Books, Ronnie K. Stephens observed that this collection “demonstrates [Asghar’s] keen awareness of global politics, a unique perspective on living in diaspora, and the full breadth of a love that both saves and destroys”
Julie Buntin, Famous Men
(July 14, Random House)
We’ll have more to say about Julie Buntin’s eagerly-awaited second novel in this space next week. Famous Men follows a young woman’s search for an older writer who may or may not be her father, and the changes in her world that that search leads to.
Claire Hopple, Change the Subject
(July 14, Rejection Letters)
You may well have read some of Clair Hopple’s work right here at Vol.1 Brooklyn. Needless to say, we’re fond of her writing and we’re eager to sit down with this new book, which follows its protagonist as she immerses herself in an industry known as “proxying.” What could go wrong with a highly-touted new form of technologically-advanced socializing? What indeed…
Scott McClanahan, Fights!
(July 14, Rose Books)
Do you enjoy your fiction rooted in memoir yet also impeccably stylish, with moments of both brutal candor and unexpected humor? It’s possible you’re already an admirer of Scott McClanahan’s work, then; if not, Fights! is an excellent way to get acquainted with his work.
Keith Ridgway, Dooneen
(July 21, New Directions)
We’re big fans of Keith Ridgway’s work here, and we’re especially thrilled to see that his new book finds him working in a more surreal vein than some of his previous work. If you’re fond of unlikely methods of travel from city to city and quests for distant loves…well, you’ve come to the right place.
Colson Whitehead, Cool Machine
(July 21, Doubleday)
If you haven’t already done so, we highly recommend reading Julian Lucas’s New Yorker profile of Colson Whitehead. In it, Whitehead discusses some of the real-life history that inspired his trilogy of crime novels set in Harlem, a project that reaches its conclusion in this new book.
Lizzie Buehler, The Obsessed
(July 28, G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
You may well known Lizzie Buehler’s name from her work as a translator; turns out she’s also an acclaimed novelist in her own right. Her new book follows a group of interconnected characters linked by their fascinating with an influential writer, and the emotional and logistical complexities than ensue.
Katarzyna Boni (translated by Mark Ordon), Auroville: A City of Dreams
(July 28, Opem Letter)
Histories of utopian communities often make for fascinating reading, and this book is no exception. Katarzyna Boni’s Auroville follows the author as she visits a utopian city founded in the late 1960s in India, chronicling both the community’s history and its enduring appeal for some.
Note: all cover art and release dates are subject to change.