Baldwin’s queer loves! K-Pop! Sapphic thrills! 20 noteworthy books out in paperback this July.

July, incredibly, is already here, a midpoint month in a madcap year unlike any other, and it takes little Holmesian ratiocination to deduce that you, Dear Reader, could almost certainly use a bit of a break, a chance to curl up on a sunny day with a book in your hands. If so, you’re in luck. Below, you’ll find twenty wide-ranging tomes to consider, each out this July in a fresh new paperback edition, from daring debut novels to provocative memoirs and bold biographies.

You’ll find Nicholas Boggs’ powerful exploration of the men who shaped James Baldwin’s sense of life and love; powerful queer fiction from Benedict Nguyen, Tess Sharpe, and Eloghosa Osunde; Giaae Kwon’s roving love letter to and critique of the complexities of K-Pop and the culture that created it; a wild kitchen memoir by the memorably named Slutty Cheff; excursions into exile and identity in shifting political landscapes; and much, much more. I hope you’ll choose one, or many!, of these to accompany you as you take that much-needed sit-down under the summer sun.

We’ll make it through this year if it kills us, to paraphrase a Mountain Goats song, and it’s always easier, isn’t it, with books by our side. Be safe, and enjoy these paperbacks!

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Stephanie Wambugu, Lonely Crowds

(Little Brown)

“[An] uncommonly elegant debut novel….Wambugu’s prose has a propulsive, almost hypnotic drive, and she knows how to keep it moving, getting through about as much time in one book as [Elena] Ferrante does in three…a thrilling and capacious novel about intimacy and art-making in which the narrator proves to be more compelling than her muse.”

, The Cut

Jemimah Wei, The Original Daughter

(Doubleday)

“Jemimah Wei’s debut The Original Daughter goes for all the big stuff: ambition, time, family, forgiveness, constructing the self. Thrilling, to find a new author with an appetite for the whole spectrum of living, and the skill to get it down true. A contract of sisterhood is signed, then life, then ambition, then disappointment and heartbreak and and and. Wei’s prose is delicious, propulsively hurdling us through the lives of Gen and Arin, who will live in my marrow forever. The Original Daughter is so much the real deal.”

, Kaveh Akbar

Charlotte Runcie, Bring the House Down

(Vintage)

“Bring the House Down is an agile, addictive story exploring art, ethics, the role of the critic, vindication of female rage, and the public appetite for blood. Runcie is sharply attuned to the vast uncomfortable grey areas of gender and power relations, navigating them with wry, revelatory observations that are devastatingly acute. Atmospheric, propulsive, electric.”

, Heidi Sopinka

Nicholas Boggs, Baldwin: A Love Story

(Picador)

“Nicholas Boggs’ monumental biography considers James Baldwin through the prism of love, placing four beloved men at the center of his writing, his activism, his political consciousness, his philosophy, and his life. We have been presented with many partial Baldwins over the years, but here is the whole lovable man: the radical and the celebrity, the civil rights hero and the downtown playwright, the cosmopolitan jet-setter and the son of East Harlem. Compulsively interesting and beautifully written, there is something to treasure on every page. I absolutely loved it.”

, Zadie Smith

Giaae Kwon, I’ll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan

(Holt)

“I’ll Love You Forever transcends the fandom of any genre, delivering a deeply personal journey that reverberates far beyond its origins in K-pop music. Kwon moves fluidly from intimate memories of being a Korean American in Los Angeles to keen social critique, touching on body-shaming, mental health, the weight of Korea’s history, and the nuances of diaspora. Reading it, I felt as if I’d been given a fresh lens to understand not only a vibrant culture of music but also the resilience of those who live within and beyond its boundaries. This is a work that captures and edifies, moves the heart, and expands what it means to be a K-Pop fan.”

, Esmé Weijun Wang

Slutty Cheff, Tart: Misadventures of an Anonymous Chef

(Scribner)

“Tart is Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential meets Lena Dunham’s Girls, steaming with sweaty double shifts (in the kitchen and bedroom), devouring the city of London with a belly-deep sense of hunger. To be inhaled in one sitting.”

, Vogue

Francesca Serritella, Full Bloom

(Ballantine Books)

“Francesca Serritella is a literary wonder. Atmospheric and lush, Full Bloom is the story of Iris, so overwhelmed by life that only a miracle could set her free. With one spritz of an elixir, Iris is able to explore her potent past and visit the magical possibilities of her future. Serritella’s elegant prose includes a top note of originality, a middle note of pure heart, and a base note of self-discovery. A sensory feast for readers everywhere.”

, Adriana Trigiani

Benedict Nguyen, Hot Girls with Balls

(Catapult)

“A mixed-media satire told with style and verve….The narrative will inevitably draw comparisons to Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, but with volleyballs instead of tennis rackets, a much heavier dose of internet culture, and two Asian American trans women as its leading characters….Benedict Nguyễn’s sharp, funny-yet-serious debut explores the constant pressure to present identity ‘correctly,’ especially when that identity is under equally constant threat.”

, Elle

Hannah Pittard, If You Love It, Let It Kill You

(Holt)

“Hannah Pittard’s If You Love It, Let It Kill You is a masterclass in autofiction: incisive, hilarious, heartbreaking, and mercilessly candid. This novel, its narrator makes clear, is ‘neither a comedy nor a tragedy but something much worse: real life.’ If You Love It, Let It Kill You is Pittard’s most impressive and innovative book yet.”

, Maggie Smith

Aymann Ismail, Becoming Baba: Fatherhood, Faith, and Finding Meaning in America: A Memoir

(Vintage)

“An absolute pleasure to read. What does it mean to be a Muslim man in America today? In the face of rising Islamophobia and an era of increased isolation among men, how does one find and build lasting community and genuine connection? In Becoming Baba, Ismail thoughtfully interrogates his relationship with masculinity, faith, and culture, taking us on a journey as friend, son, husband, and father with both compassion and vulnerability.”

, Prachi Gupta

Aatish Taseer, A Return to Self: Excursions in Exile

(Catapult)

“At once restless and meditative, A Return to Self is a writer’s journey into the liminal spaces, of memory, nationality, culture, and sexuality, that we inhabit. From a collection of moving and erudite travel pieces, Aatish Taseer brilliantly creates a portrait of the outsider, whose search for belonging defines the age in which we live.”

, Tash Aw

Henri Wiencek, Stan and Gus: Art, Ardor, and the Friendship That Built the Gilded Age

(Picador)

“Wiencek dexterously chronicles the fruitful thirty-year friendship of architect Stanford White and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who designed grand buildings and public art and ignored sexual taboos, leading to lurid tragedy….[Wiencek] effectively contextualizes their work and depicts Saint-Gaudens in particularly memorable detail….A brisk, absorbing portrait of troubled artistic allies whose work embodied an era.”

, Kirkus Reviews

Eloghosa Osunde, Necessary Fiction

(Riverhead)

“Necessary Fiction‘s Nigerians are inseparable from Nigeria itself: brazen, willful, sexy, dynamic, explosive. They love hard, fight fierce, and love fiercer. And yet they are forced to the margins of their own society, having to navigate love and happiness under a blanket of fear, danger, and uncertainty. This is where the title becomes gospel, for they need those stories in order to live. When life has risk at every turn, family is chosen, and love is on the edge of the knife, fiction indeed becomes necessary.”

, Marlon James

Tess Sharpe, No Body No Crime

(Picador)

“Dynamic plot twists, shrewd pacing, and well-placed timeline jumps provide sturdy narrative scaffolding, but it’s Sharpe’s depiction of Chloe and Mel’s complicated relationship…that makes the novel shine. Readers who love rooting for antiheroes, or are hungry for queer stories that don’t put queerness at the very center, will adore this.”

, Publishers Weekly

Hattie Williams, Bitter Sweet

(Ballantine Books)

“The power dynamic between artist and consumer of art blurs in this unsettling account of a young publicist who meets her idol, a much older author. The lines of consent, control, and even reality shift. Like our main character we know this can’t end well, but we also can’t pull away from the impending implosion. This is beautifully crafted, with aftershocks of conscience that will leave you processing for hours with others who’ve read it.”

, Jodi Picoult

Calvin Duncan, Sophie Cull, The Jailhouse Lawyer

(Penguin)

“A superbly written, compelling memoir chronicling Calvin Duncan’s remarkable life, an innocent man incarcerated at the infamous Angola State Prison who became a self-taught, brilliant jailhouse lawyer. Although the word ‘hero’ is greatly overused in today’s society, in my mind, Calvin Duncan is a hero in the truest sense of that word. I urge all who are in need of inspiration to please read this riveting account of an indomitable spirit in the face of ongoing stiff resistance.”

, Jim McCloskey

Iain MacGregor, The Hiroshima Men: The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb, and the Fateful Decision to Use It

(Scribner)

“The atomic bombing that obliterated Hiroshima has not lacked for attention from historians and other writers. But Iain MacGregor’s gripping book vastly expands the cast of characters: politicians and scientists in Japan and the United States; military men on both sides, from generals to pilots and air crews; victims on the ground both dead and alive; writers and journalists covering the story, all portrayed vividly as the story dramatically unfolds.”

, William Taubman

Alison Espach, The Wedding People

(Holt)

“The Wedding People is so much more than a funny story (though it is very funny). Espach has penned a keenly observed novel about depression, love, the ways women make themselves small, and how one woman got over it. Fully realized and completely memorable.”

, Booklist

Aisha Muharrar, Loved One

(Penguin Books)

“Debut novelist Aisha Muharrar was involved in three television comedies, Hacks, Parks and Recreation, and The Good Place…the opening scene of Loved One could be a set piece for any of these shows, as we jump inside the head of our narrator, thirty-year-old Julia, who is delivering the eulogy at a friend’s funeral, a popular indie musician at the time of his death.”

, Associated Press

Stacey Abrams, Coded Justice

(Vintage)

“Black Mirror, but for political thrillers….Stacey Abrams is the queen of writing a strong female lead who is equal parts intelligent and relatable. Readers will admire and adore Avery in equal measure….A fascinating exploration of the ethical questions surrounding AI.”

, Ana Huang