Books Briefing: July books

June 30, 2020

Hi readers,

Here’s your weekly catch-up on everything you need to know going on in the book world.

The news:

July is coming, which means you’ll need new books. Here are 16 to watch for, including a brilliant novel that makes Shakespeare its protagonist, an exposé about President Trump by his niece, short story collections and more.
Jim Carrey and the writer Dana Vachon talk about their new novel, “Memoirs and Misinformation,” which uses details from Carrey’s life to tell a fictional story of apocalypse and rebirth. “It’s the end of the world,” Carrey says, “and we have the perfect book for it.”
Lacy Crawford has had 30 years to grapple with the sexual assault she suffered when she was 15 at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire. Her memoir, “Notes on a Silencing,” focuses on what followed. As she put it in an interview: “I’m done with shame.”
Books are a great pastime during quarantine. But publishing? Not so much. The industry, still a very social business, is learning to adapt to a new normal.
Demand for books on race and racism, and social-media campaigns encouraging people to shop at black-owned bookstores, has resulted in some outlets overwhelmed with orders. A handful of sought-after titles have long wait times, and while most customers are understanding, bookstore owners say, some are complaining, demanding refunds or canceling orders. As one store wrote to its customers: “We are running as fast as we can.”
Books out today: “Sex and Vanity,” by Kevin Kwan; “Blue Ticket,” by Sophie Mackintosh; “Friends and Strangers,” by J. Courtney Sullivan; “Nine Shiny Objects,” by Brian Castleberry.

The critics:

Dwight Garner writes about Stefano Massini’s “The Lehman Trilogy,” an epic novel in verse about the rise and fall of Lehman Brothers.
Two reviews from Parul Sehgal: She calls Diane Johnson’s “The True History of the First Mrs. Meredith” a “seething, stylish reclamation” of Mary Ellen Peacock Meredith. And two new translations of “The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas,” by Machado de Assis, offer a new opportunity to “enshrine the singular talent and mischief” of the Brazilian writer.
And Kevin Kwan’s new novel, “Sex and Vanity,” updates E.M. Forster’s “A Room With a View,” but with characters that are “micron-deep, Instagram-obsessed and unable to make conversation,” our reviewer Janet Maslin says.

That’s all for now. Please stay in touch and let me know what you think — whether it’s about this newsletter, our reviews, our podcast, our literary calendar, our Instagram or what you’re reading. We on the Books desk read all of it, and I’ll make every effort to write back. You can reach me at books@nytimes.com.

All my best,

Joumana Khatib

Books at The New York Times

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