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!
