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The Goodreads Editors Share Their July Book Picks

Posted by Sharon on July 1, 2024
 
Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we sort through a lot of books each month. Our monthly Readers' Most Anticipated Books feature is exactly that—selections based on the data about the books that Goodreads members are placing on their Want to Read shelves. Essentially, these are the books that your fellow Goodreads regulars are excited about.
 
Of course, the Goodreads editorial staff gets excited about books, too. And we regularly come across specific new releases that we can’t wait to read—or “won’t shut up about,” to borrow a phrase from the colleagues who sit right next to us.
 
As to be expected, there are always way more great books each month than we have time to read, so we're passing our findings along to you, complete with genre tags, our unhinged commentary, and general enthusiasm. Think of this list as our intel on the books you might not be hearing about absolutely everywhere else, from two people who really, really want to help you find a great read.
 
On the docket for July: surreal literary fiction in post-pandemic Florida; female rock bands that moonlight as righteous vigilantes; and 3,000 years of cross-cutting storylines steeped in East Asian mythology. Bonus pick: A Mexican American matriarch gently meddles with family affairs from beyond the grave.
 


Cybil can't wait to read this book because: I loved Mateo Askaripour's debut novel, Black Buck, and I feel like I've been waiting all season long to get my paws on his sophomore novel. Askaripour throws readers for a thrilling sci-fi loop with this tale of an invisible woman who finds out that her presumably posthumous brother is very much alive and wanted for a high-profile murder.

Genre: Science fiction/Literary fiction 
 


Cybil can't wait to read this book because: Unabashedly weird and mesmerizing, Laura van den Berg is doing something no one else can with her form of surreal literary fiction. Her latest is set in post-COVID Florida, where everyone is hooked on an addictive new virtual-reality device. Throw in ominous cats, a mother’s burgeoning cult, and some troubling belly button developments, and well, you have yourself an ominous summer read!

Genre: Weird literary fiction 
 


Cybil can't wait to read this book because: Irish author Kevin Barry goes west with his first novel set in America. In his latest, two young lovers in 1890s Montana flee their troubles—with a posse of Cornish gunmen in hot pursuit. Early reviewers are remarking on the sublime prose throughout this funny and romantic western.

Genre: Historical fiction 
 


Sharon can't wait to read this book because: I've got a soft spot for ambitious novels that sprawl across multiple narratives and huge swaths of time, so this book that promises four intersecting stories across 3,000 years caught my eye immediately. Throw in some bickering gods, East Asian mythology, and comparisons to Cloud Cuckoo Land and Cloud Atlas from an early reviewer? I'm sold!

Genre: Literary fiction
 


Cybil can't wait to read this book because: Buckle up! This novel is a pulpy thrill ride. And this premise? Three sisters are in a rock band that travels the country, acting as vigilantes offstage. Thinking they were close to capturing a serial killer, they instead fall into a mobster's trap. The only way to escape pits the siblings against each other in a life and death battle.

Genre: Thriller
 


Sharon can't wait to read this book because: A young Palestinian woman gets caught up in a pyramid scheme reselling Birkin bags in an attempt to live and thrive in contemporary New York. Adding to her troubles, her—ahem—unconventional and eccentric teaching methods get her in trouble at the school for underprivileged boys where she works. Hello, zany premise.

Genre: Contemporary fiction
 


Cybil can't wait to read this book because: In a dozen inter-connected stories that span three centuries, this haunting book explores how the past can echo through the present. These stories are told in pairs, with the second of each containing a revelation hidden in the first. 

Genre: Historical fiction
 


Sharon can't wait to read this book because: Karla Cornejo Villavicencio's The Undocumented Americans was a five-star read for me, so of course I immediately put her first fiction book on my Want to Read shelf as soon as I heard about it. This time, the author presents a specific undocumented American, the witty and observant Catalina Ituralde, whose approaching graduation from Harvard sends her into an existential tailspin.

Genre: Contemporary fiction
 


Sharon can't wait to read this book because: Korean American adoptee Abby Rodier has dedicated her professional life to studying sea slugs and bacteria, in the hopes that understanding the origins of life might help her better come to terms with her own origins as a "drop-box baby." When she makes a groundbreaking scientific discovery, however, everything in her life changes. I have a feeling I should keep tissues handy while reading this book.

Genre: Contemporary fiction
 


Sharon can't wait to read this book because: I was delighted by the blurb for this debut novel that describes "a palace the size of a city, ruled by giant Ladies of unknowable, eldritch origin" in "a land left to slow decay." Finally! A medieval Europe-inspired fantasy that gets just how weird and dream-logicky medieval literature is/was!

Genre: Fantasy
 


Sharon can't wait to read this book because: This lightly magical realist novel features three generations of Mexican American women. Family matriarch Olvido has just died but finds herself unable to cross over to the afterlife. Convinced that she just needs to get things in order for her daughter and granddaughter for her spirit to move on, Olvido sets to gently meddling with their lives from beyond the grave. Moms, amirite?

Genre: Contemporary fiction
 


Cybil can't wait to read this book because: This debut novel set in 1980s Appalachia sets a pair of sisters on a hunt for the killer of two women hikers found in the woods. Described as unsettling and chillingly atmospheric, this novel is being touted as a cross of rural gothic and fairy tale.

Genre: Gothic/Horror/Mystery
 


Cybil can't wait to read this book because: This debut novel is billed as "Stepford Wives meets Grey Gardens for the age of artificial intelligence." Give that publicist a raise, because that description alone got me to click on the Want to Read button on this book. But there's more: The life of a woman adrift in Santa Cruz is upended by the arrival of the tech billionaire next door and his glamorous girlfriend, who seems to be missing some key memories. 

Genre: Science fiction
 


Cybil can't wait to read this book because: What if Abbott Elementary had a dead body episode? Young Adult author (Moxie) and real-life high school English teacher Jennifer Mathieu makes her adult debut with a look inside a very intriguing faculty lounge, where an elderly substitute's corpse has just been found. It's a discovery that sets off a wild series of events among the teachers and busybody parents at Baldwin High School. 

Genre: Contemporary fiction
 


Sharon can't wait to read this book because: I LOVE a good microhistory, especially if the topic is nice and juicy. So this nonfiction exploration of the history of the Faustian bargain, which promises side quests into all kinds of other social ills, is entirely up my alley. I'm not saying I sold my soul to the devil for an early review copy, but I'm also not NOT saying that…

Genre: Nonfiction/microhistory
 


Which new releases are you looking forward to reading? Let's talk books in the comments!


Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

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message 1: by Law (last edited Jul 01, 2024 04:30PM) (new)

Law I'd read Black Buck first to see if Mateo Askaripour is any good. Then I'd read This Great Hemisphere. Whoever You Are, Honey seems to fall into the speculative fiction genre and State of Paradise seems timely. Where to start? Can you recommend me any books to read from this list? I prefer sci-fi and fantasy.


message 2: by Raagul (new)

Raagul K G I would read devils contract


message 3: by Ted (new)

Ted Goldbergh The Man on the Train by Debbie Babitt.


message 4: by Ted (new)

Ted Goldbergh The Man on the Train by Debbie Babitt. A suspense thriller Mr Hitchcock would have been excited to read!


message 5: by Jane (new)

Jane Fudger Just ordered Devils Contract and The Melancholy of Untold History - could not resist both!


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