What are the Best New Books Coming in July 2020?

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 2020. If you ask us, the perfect July read is  So what are the best new books to read coming out in July 2020? Our intrepid team has been exploring and here’s what we found. 

what are the most-anticipated new book releases for July 2020?

Wondering what to read in July 2020? We’ve surveyed the landscape, and rounded up a list of the best new books coming this July.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the impact it has had on retail book stores being closed, and airline flights being largely cancelled, several high-profile new books that were supposed to be released in July 2020 have been postponed until later this year. It’s hard to promote a book when you cannot do signings at bookstores, or travel to do press interviews.

Nevertheless, there are a lot of great new book releases coming in July 2020. Here are some of the ones we’re most excited about.

the best new books coming in July 2020

Here’s our pick of the top new book releases of July 2020 – novels, essay collections, and non-fiction – that we cannot wait to read. You can pre-order them now if you like (and if you do, full disclosure, we earn a commission on the sale).

New books coming in the week of July 7, 2020

1.

The Party Upstairs by Lee Conell. This debut novel unfolds in the course of a single day inside a genteel New York City apartment building. Tensions between the building’s super and his grown-up daughter spark a crisis that will, by day’s end, change everything – Publication date: July 7, 2020

2.

Want by Lynn Steger Strong. This timely novel is about a bankrupt working mother and wife who wants many things, including a successful career and the ability to be angry without it paralyzing her. When she reunites with Sasha, a childhood friend, it becomes clear that Sasha is facing the same uncertainty and want. – Publication date: July 7, 2020

3.

Mother Daughter Widow Wife by Robin Wasserman. The author of Girls on Fire returns with a psychologically riveting novel centered around a woman with no memory, the scientists invested in studying her, and the daughter who longs to understand it all – Publication date: July 7, 2020

4.

True Love by Sarah Gerard. This “darkly comic dissection of desire” follows a struggling writer on an odyssey from Florida to New York. Searching for connection in the modern world – Publication date: July 7, 2020

5.

Antkind by Charlie Kaufman. This novel from the screenwriter of Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind follows a failed film critic who stumbles across the greatest film of all time. It’s a three-month-long, stop-motion masterpiece that took 90 years to make. And has since been destroyed, save for a single frame. – Publication date: July 7, 2020

6.

Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin. The acclaimed French author’s English debut is a novel about Violette Toussaint, the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. Mourners and colleagues visit her home to find laughter, companionship and catharsis, along with the coffee she offers. But when the local police chief insists on scattering the ashes of his recently deceased mother on the gravesite of a complete stranger, it turns out that the odd gesture is intertwined with Violette’s own difficult past. – Publication date: July 7, 2020

7.

Cool for America by Andrew Martin. We loved the author’s first novel, Early Work. Now he’s back with a short story collection that is a mediation on many of the themes raised in his novel: intelligent and restless people searching for transcendence through art. The collection is book-ended by the misadventures of Leslie, the young woman from Early Work, who moves from New York to Missoula, Montana to try to draw herself out of a lingering depression. Over the course of the interconnected stories in this book, she gains painful insight into herself through a series of intense friendships and relationships – Publication date: July 7, 2020

8.

Lake Life by David James Poissant. In this novel set in the current day, a large family reunites at their North Carolina lake house for one last vacation before the home is sold. What should to be a joyous farewell takes a nightmarish turn when the family witnesses a tragedy that triggers a series of dramatic revelations, including a secret the parents have kept from their sons for over thirty years – Publication date: July 7, 2020

9.

Alice Knott by Blake Butler. In this new novel, reclusive heiress Alice Knott lives alone, haunted by memories of her deceased parents and mysterious near-identical brother. Much of her family’s fortune has been spent on a world-class collection of artwork. One day, she awakens to find it all destroyed. As video of the crime goes viral and similar incidents occur, Alice becomes the chief suspect in an international conspiracy – Publication date: July 7, 2020

10.

Fast Girls by Elise Hooper. This novel is inspired by true events in the lives of some of the members of the first integrated US women’s Olympic team. Betty Robinson, Louise Stokes, and Helen Stephens have all faced hardships, but the promise of competing in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin keeps them focused on one thing: being crowned the fastest women in the world. With intensifying politics surrounding the Olympic Games, these three women prepare to defy society’s expectations and unite their country through the love of competition – Publication date: July 7, 2020

11.

The Beauty in Breaking: A Memoir by Michele Harper. The author is a black woman who serves as an emergency room physician – amid a group of colleagues who are overwhelmingly male and white. Harper went to Harvard, where she met and married her husband. However, her marriage derailed just as she was about to embark on her life’s work. So she began her professional life in a new city, in a new job, as a newly single woman. As her career progressed, she came to understand that all of us have had moments of being broken–physically, emotionally, psychically. How we recognize those breaks, how we try to mend them, and where we go from there are all vital steps in the healing process – Publication date: July 7, 2020

12.

Bright Precious Thing: A Memoir by Gail Caldwell. The author traces the path from her west Texas girlhood through her emergence as a young daredevil, then as a feminist—a journey that reflected seismic shifts in American culture. It’s a moving meditation on the lifelong struggle to embrace one’s life as a precious thing – Publication date: July 7, 2020

13.

The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World by Sarah Stewart Johnson. A Georgetown University scientist tells the story of how she and other researchers have scoured Mars for signs of life, transforming the planet from a distant point of light into a world of its own. She interlaces her own personal journey—as a female scientist and a mother—with tales of other seekers, from Percival Lowell, who was convinced that a Utopian society existed on Mars, to Audouin Dollfus, who tried to carry out astronomical observations from a stratospheric balloon  – Publication date: July 7, 2020

14.

The Hungover Games: A True Story by Sophie Heawood. Single motherhood gets a caustic spin in this funny and wry memoir. What happens when you have an unplanned baby on your own in your mid-thirties before you’ve worked out how to look after yourself, let alone a child?  The author revisits the time her life turned upside down: when she left L.A. for her native England while pregnant, and her musician boyfriend walked out on her. And shares with great candor what it’s like raising a baby on your own when you’re more at home on the dance floor than in the kitchen – Publication date: July 7, 2020

15.

Memoirs and Misinformation by Jim Carrey and Dana Vachon. In this autobiographical novel, an actor named Jim Carrey navigates the world of Hollywood in ways that, while slightly outlandish, aren’t entirely out of the realm of possibility for the real world. A successful star drowning in wealth and privilege, Carrey is also lonely. Maybe past his prime. Maybe even . . . getting fat? This is “a story about acting, Hollywood, agents, celebrity, privilege, friendship, romance, addiction to relevance, fear of personal erasure” and more – Publication date: July 7, 2020

16.

Becoming Duchess Goldblatt: A Memoir by Anonymous is two stories: that of the reclusive real-life writer who created a fictional character out of loneliness and thin air, and that of the magical Duchess Goldblatt herself, a bright light in the darkness of social media. Fans around the world have found comfort in “Her Grace’s” voice: her wit, her life-affirming love for all humanity, and the fun and friendship of the community that has formed around her. In this book we learn how a writer deep in grief rebuilt a life worth living – Publication date: July 7, 2020

New books coming in the week of July 14, 2020

17.

Running by Natalia Sylvester. When fifteen-year-old Cuban-American Mariana Ruiz’s father runs for president, Mari starts to see him with new eyes. As the campaign unfolds, she begins to learn about the details of her father’s political positions, and realizes that her father is not the man she thought he was. But how do you find your voice when everyone’s watching? When it means disagreeing with your father—publicly? What do you do when your dad stops being your hero? – Publication Date: July 14, 2020 

18.

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell.  The author of Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks spins a new tale, this time one of music and money. A psychedelic British band finds both fame and flame out in the ‘60’s. Fans of Daisy Jones and the Six will love witnessing the fictional formation, rise and fall of a rock band in London just as the British Invasion is taking off – Publication Date: July 14, 2020 

19.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. This is one of the most eagerly anticipated horror novels of the year. The author, a member of the Blackfeet Native American Nation, spins a tale of four childhood friends that combines the culture and traditions of the Blackfeet and Crow people with the social truths of their contemporary life. The boys grow up and move away from their homes. But 10 years later they find themselves being tracked by an “entity” bent on revenge. Forced to reckon with an act of youthful violence during an elk hunt, their survival depends on whether or not they can earn their redemption – Publication Date: July 14, 2020 

20.

Filthy Beasts: A Memoir by Kirkland Hamill.  Running with Scissors meets Grey Gardens in this gripping and true riches-to-rags tale of a wealthy family who lost it all. And the poignant journey of a man coming to terms with his family’s deep flaws and his own long-buried truths. East Coast wealth, glamorous locations, and a dysfunctional family – sounds like the perfect beach read this summer  – Publication Date: July 14, 2020 

21.

Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman. As the hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend, the authors have made a name for themselves based on their frank and intimate conversations. In this book, they bring that energy to their own friendship—its joys and its pitfalls. They define “Big Friendship” as a strong, significant bond that transcends life phases, geographical locations, and emotional shifts. It is a call to action to value your friendships in all of their complexity. To nurture them, invest in them, and even fight for them if that’s what it takes – Publication Date: July 14, 2020 

New books coming in the week of July 21, 2020

22.

Pew by Catherine Lacey. In this fable, a child appears in a small town’s church; its gender identity and sex are unclear. Its skin offers only the barest hints about its race. And it refuses to, or cannot, speak a word. The child is given the nickname Pew (after the place he/she is found) and taken in by a family bent on reminding the child of their charity and goodness. But the longer Pew stays, the more the town’s ancient grudges break to new mutiny – Publication date: July 21, 2020  

23.

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. Set in Dublin in 1918, as the city is in the grip of one of the last great pandemics, this new novel from the author of Room follows a nurse in a maternity ward over three harrowing days – Publication date: July 21, 2020

24.

Austen Years: A Memoir in Five Novels by Rachel Cohen.  Around the time her children were born and her father died, the author began obsessively reading and rereading the novels of Jane Austen. Working through the same scenes dozens of times, and dissecting the language with a nearly mathematical precision, she mines the books for insight and guidance. Especially about the ways in which characters process grief  – Publication date: July 21, 2020

25.

Chasing the Light by Oliver Stone. A memoir from the prolific, controversial and outspoken Oscar-winning film director and screenwriter, we follow his journey from a rough New York childhood through his time as an infantryman in Vietnam. We know of his stellar career as the visionary behind films like Platoon, Midnight Express, and Scarface. This is the story of the struggle to achieve that level of acclaim – Publication date: July 21, 2020

New books coming in the week of July 28, 2020

26.

I Hold a Wolf by the Ears: Stories by Laura van den Berg. This is the first story collection since her prizewinning book The Isle of Youth, the author draws us into a world of 11 ghost stories. In one, a man feeds his wife sedative-laced seltzer to calm her nerves. In another, a young actress is paid to impersonate deceased wives for their widowers. It’s a surreal and darkly humorous look at the lives of modern women – Publication date: July 28, 2020   

27.

Life Events by Karolina Waclawiak. Evelyn, thirty-seven, is on the verge of divorce. And anxiously dreading the death of everyone she loves. She combats her existential crisis by aimlessly driving along the freeways of California. That’s how she discovers a collective of “exit guides” who provide companionship and a final exit for terminally ill patients. Each client she meets opens something new in Evelyn, allowing her a chance to access her own grief and face her complicated relationship with her father and her own life choices – Publication date: July 28, 2020

28.

The Butterfly Lampshade by Aimee Bender. The first novel in ten years from the author of The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake, this is an examination of the sometimes overwhelming power of the material world. And of the broken love between a mother and her highly sensitive and intuitive young child – Publication date: July 28, 2020

29.

Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey. When former Poet Laureate of the United States Natasha Trethewey was 19, her mother was shot in the head at point-blank range and killed by Trethewey’s former stepfather. Now, 35 years later — and just after he’s been released from prison for the crime — she’s publishing her account of her childhood and the trauma that has followed her all these years. – Publication date: July 28, 2020

30.

It Is Wood, It Is Stone by Gabriella Burnham. In this new work, we follow three women over the course of a year in São Paulo, Brazil. One is the anxious and listless Linda; the second, her conflicted but steady maid, Marta. And finally, there’s Celia, an intoxicating artist with whom Linda leaves home. The reviewer at Elle describes this novel as “a lush depiction of privilege and power” – Publication date: July 28, 2020  

31.

Afterland by Lauren Beukes. In this dystopian thriller – about how far a mother will go to protect her son from a hostile world transformed by the absence of men – most of men are gone, and women rule. If you liked The Power, you’ll enjoy this one, too. We do wonder what’s with all the women writing novels about how if women had power, they’d abuse it just as badly as powerful men. Let’s give women all the power, and see what happens! We bet it would end rather well, actually – Publication date: July 28, 2020  

32.

Must I Go by Yiyun Li. In a nursing home, Lilia Liska pours through the posthumously published diaries of a former lover — she’s merely a footnote in a “great” man’s text. But Lilia’s copious annotations to the diary allow her to be the heroine of her own story. She has outlived three husbands, raised five children, and seen the arrival of seventeen grandchildren. Through her recollections we follow an epic story of a life full of regret, but also of hope and perseverance and the importance of passing down our legacies – Publication date: July 28, 2020  

33.

Crossings by Alex Landragin. In this debut novel, consisting of three separate stories you can read straight through or out of order with a secret key (a guide appears in the intro), we follow the adventures of the poet Charles Baudelaire, a Walter Benjamin-type in WWII Paris, and the crossings of their souls into different bodies. – Publication date: July 28, 2020  

best new book releases in July 2020

Those are our picks for the best and most-anticipated new book releases coming soon. And an overview of options to answer the pressing matter of what to read in July 2020. What’s at the top of your list?

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