New month, new books! Book Light is our Dandelion Chandelier curated list of the most-anticipated new book releases every month, and next up is July 2021. If you ask us, the perfect July read is liberating, carefree and sunny. So what are the best new books to read coming out in July 2021? Previously, we’ve shared our picks for the best beach reads and thrillers for summer 2021. But our intrepid team has kept exploring, and here’s what we found: 15 of the most eagerly anticipated new book releases, including novels and non-fiction, coming out this July 2021 that are at the top of our list for what to read next.
what are the most-anticipated new book releases for July 2021?
Wondering what to read in July 2021 among all the new novels and new non-fiction books?
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new novels and books of poetry July 2021
The month sees new novels and short story collections from Katie Kitamura, Hermione Hoby and Dana Spiotta. And several buzzed-about debuts.
new non-fiction books July 2021
The non-fiction aisle will see the arrival of a wonderful collection of letters written by Shirley Jackson that’s curated by her son. Plus a wonderful account of a relationship between a woman living alone and a wild fox. There’s an overview of the marvels of the deep ocean. And another about the global history of quarantines.
The most eagerly anticipated new book releases, including novels and non-fiction, coming out this July 2021.
15 of the best new books coming in July 2021
Here’s our pick of what to read from the crop of eagerly anticipated new book releases coming in July 2021. The best books from a range of genres, including novels, essay collections, and non-fiction. You can pre-order them now if you like.
The best most anticipate new fiction and non-fiction book releases coming in July 2021. Courtesy Photos.
But wait. There’s more! In addition to these new July 2021 book releases, we’ve got even more suggestions about what to add to your reading list (or that stack on your bedside table).
If you’re in search of additional great summer reads in a specific genre, check out our list of the best new beach reads (steamy romances, fizzy novels, historical fiction, humorous essays and celebrity memoirs) of 2021. And/or our list of the best new thrillers of summer 2021 (including legal, psychological, medical and spy thrillers).
New book releases the week of July 6, 2021
1. Wayward by Dana Spiotta.
In Wayward, her fifth novel, the author explores the journey taken by Samantha, a middle-aged mother undone by the results of the 2016 election. She flees her family and buys a fixer-upper in Syracuse. This novel joins the new micro-genre of “women driven to extremes by the election of 2016,” which includes Shelter in Place and The Smash-Up, just to name two.
BUY NOW: $22.99.
2. The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller.
The debut novel The Paper Palace is a wry twist on the classic summer romance. Since childhood, Elle has returned each summer to the same house on Cape Cod. Now in her 50’s, married and with a family of her own, she considers upending her steady life after indulging in a tryst with an old love.
BUY NOW: $23.49.
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3. Fox and I by Catherine Raven.
Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship is an account of the relationship that the author forged with a wild fox who visited her home every afternoon.
BUY NOW: $23.49.
4. London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency by Kate MacDougall.
In the charming memoir London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency, it’s 2006. Kate MacDougall was working at auction house Sotheby’s. But after an accident nearly destroyed a work of art, she quit and set up her own dog-walking company. This, despite knowing almost nothing about dogs and even less about business. Nevertheless, she persevered.
BUY NOW: $23.49.
5. This is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan.
In This is Your Mind on Plants, the notable author plumbs history, medicine, science, culture and memoir for an entertaining and informative dive into what’s behind our attraction and antipathy to three plant-based substances: opium, mescaline and caffeine.
BUY NOW: $
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6. The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales.
The Brilliant Abyss: Exploring the Majestic Hidden Life of the Deep Ocean, and the Looming Threat That Imperils It is the perfect summer beach read. A marine biologist shares the marvels that have been uncovered in what has become “a golden era of deep-sea discovery.” Revolutionary new studies in the deep ocean are rewriting the very notion of life on Earth. And the blue abyss is being revealed as perhaps the most amazing part of our planet.
BUY NOW: $
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New book releases the week of July 13, 2021
7. The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam.
What happens when a Power Couple marry and work for the same company, when one becomes a superstar and the other is “the wife of” said superstar. No, we’re not talking about Bill and Melinda French Gates. Although there are some uncanny parallels between their story and the plot of the new novel The Startup Wife. Asha, a Harvard STEM major, re-encounters her high school crush, Cyrus. In a haze of passion, Asha drops out of school, marries him, and they both start work at a tech start-up called Utopia. She writes a new algorithm and builds an app that essentially replaces religious rituals. But as the company takes off, its Cyrus who becomes a superstar, eclipsing Asha. Wow. Did not see that one coming.
BUY NOW: $21.99.
8. Embassy Wife by Katie Crouch.
In the new novel Embassy Wife, we experience another story of marriage between professionals and the concomitant pressures and travails. Love and work are uneasy companions – especially when one is far from home. Here, two wives try to grapple with the lifestyle required by the spouse of someone in the Foreign Service. Amanda gave up her job in Silicon Valley to move to Namibia with her husband, who is in-country on a Fulbright scholarship. Persephone, the wife of an American diplomat, has lived in Namibia for months. It turns out that both of these women have no idea what their husbands are actually up to in their work lives.
BUY NOW: $23.99.
9. Ghost Forest by Pik-Shuen Fung.
How do you grieve, if your family doesn’t talk about feelings? This is the question the unnamed protagonist of Ghost Forest considers after her father dies. One of the many Hong Kong “astronaut” fathers, he stays in the city-state to work while the rest of the family immigrates to Canada before the 1997 Handover, when the British returned sovereignty over Hong Kong to China. In light of what we know now about the tragic events of 2021 in the territory, this novel is heartbreaking on both a personal and universal level.
BUY NOW: $22.99.
10. The Letters of Shirley Jackson, edited by Laurence Jackson Hyman.
Written in a distinctive lowercase typewriter font on yellow paper, the correspondence offers another view
BUY NOW: $31.49.
11. Well, This Is Exhausting by Sophia Benoit.
In the essay collection Well, This is Exhausting, a GQ columnist shares her lifelong struggle with burnout. Striving to be perfect, to be a “mom” to her younger siblings after her parents’ divorce, and living with the toll of never saying “no” thanks to Fear of Missing Out. Let this be an object lesson to us all as we tiptoe out of quarantine and into the New Normal . . .
BUY NOW: $
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12. Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke.
Seek You explores one of the most topical issues of the day: the epidemic of loneliness that is present all across America. An assessment of the ways in which we attempt to feel closer to one another, and the distance that remains. A sharp-eyed look through the lenses of gender and violence, technology and art. It’s a comprehensive history of loneliness and longing that might make us all feel . . . less alone.
BUY NOW: $
New book releases the week of July 20, 2021
13. Intimacies by Katie Kitamura.
Intimacies is a new novel, from the author of the brilliant A Separation, set in The Hague. There, a woman works as an interpreter at the International Court, hearing the testimonies of people accused of orchestrating terrible atrocities and their victims.
BUY NOW: $22.99.
14. Virtue by Hermione Hoby.
Virtue is a novel about, well . . . being virtuous. Or not. Arriving in New York City for an internship at an elite but fading magazine, Luca feels invisible. Among his peers is Zara, a young Black woman whose sharp wit and frank views on injustice create tension in the office (shades of The Other Black Girl!). Luca is intrigued by her, but equally drawn to an attractive and wealthy white couple. Their lifestyle is so alluring that he accepts their invitation to spend the summer in their beach home. Only after he learns of a terrible tragedy back in New York does he realize the moral consequences of his allegiances.
BUY NOW: $23.49.
15. Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine by Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley.
Until Proven Safe is a deep dive into the practice of quarantining and what it has led to over the course of history. In research begun long before COVID-19, the authors trace the history and current assumptions about the act of quarantine. They frame quarantine as the most powerful response to uncertainty: waiting to see if something hidden inside will be revealed. It is also quite dangerous to the concept of fairness, since it operates on an assumption of guilt. People are considered infectious until proven safe. Which has far-reaching implications for both the “sick” and the well.
BUY NOW: $23.49.
eagerly anticipated releases of new novels and non-fiction books July 2021
Those are our picks for what to read this month: the best and eagerly anticipated new book releases coming in July 2021. So many options to answer the pressing matter of what to read in July 2021 . . . What’s at the top of your list? Whatever you decide, stay safe and strong and have a good month, dear reader.
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