Collection Management Librarians Andrea, Dontaná, and Kathy
Jump into summer with these new books, movies, and TV shows that we think will be hot, hot, hot all summer. And don’t forget to register and track your reading for adult summer reading. Sign up and start tracking now »
Fiction
Curvy Girl Summer by Danielle Allen
Publication date: June 11
Why you should try it: Cinematic, steamy, emotional. All the hallmarks of a perfect beach read.
Description: Approaching her 30th birthday, Aaliyah seeks love through a dating app with her friends’ support, but finds unexpected connections amidst the lies, catfishing, fetishizing, and overall chaos of online romance.
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Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera
Publication date: June 18
Why you should try it: If you read and loved This is How You Lose the Time War, you need to read this.
Description: Bound together from here until the ends of time, two souls reincarnate ever deeper into the future, chasing the edge of human possibility, in this dark science fiction epic unlike anything you’ve read before.
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The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim
Expected publication date: June 25
Why you should try it: Not for the faint of heart, but definitely for fans of Hannibal, this is a read best served with a nice Chianti.
Description: With her life in disarray after her Appa’s extramarital affair and subsequent departure, Ji-won, plagued by horrifying yet enticing dreams of bloody rooms full of eyes, is overcome by hunger and rage that can only be sated by deceit, manipulation, and murder as victims accumulate around her college campus.
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The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani
Expected publication date: July 2
Why you should try it: A blood-soaked, queer crime thriller that invokes the spirit of classic fairy tales in a very not-fairy-tale-esque story.
Description: In 1979 Tokyo, Yoriko Shindo, bodyguard and driver for Shoko Naiki, an 18-year-old yakuza princess, finds herself far more invested in Shoko’s well-being than she ever expected, and surrounded by bloodthirsty and trigger-happy men, wonders if there could ever be a different life for two women like them.
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I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
Expected publication date: July 16
Why you should try it: Enjoy the newest from Stephen Graham Jones!
Description: A good kid in a small Texas town in 1989 finds himself cursed to kill for revenge in true slasher film style.
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They Dream in Gold by Mai Sennar
Expected publication date: July 30
Why you should try it: A “dynamic and impressive” (Booklist) debut novel that sings with the potential to be a midsummer hit.
Description: In 1969, in the Swiss countryside, Mama Eva prepares for the opening of her Senegalese restaurant, while her pregnant daughter-in-law waits for news from Mansour, the father of her unborn child, as the people he left behind reckon with their memories of him, and the truth of his disappearance is revealed.
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The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark
Expected publication date: August 6
Why you should try it: If the cover didn’t convince you, they’re definitely dead. But they’re also assassins who answer to a literal goddess. (No cats were harmed.)
Description: When the Festival of the Clockwork King turns the ancient city of Tal Abisi upside down, one of the Dead Cat Tail Assassins, Eveen the Eviscerator—highly skilled, discreet, and professional—is brought face-to-face with a past she isn’t supposed to remember and a vow she can’t forget.
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The Palace of Eros by Caro De Robertis
Expected publication date: August 13
Why you should try it: Lush and romantic, this Greek myth retelling is perfect if you love reading Madeline Miller and Jennifer Saint.
Description: A bold retelling of the traditional Greek myth of Psyche and Eros through a queer and feminist lens, grappling with the complex and thorny questions of how to harness the power of female and queer joy and cultivate freedom in a world that seeks to cage us
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Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris
Expected publication date: August 20
Why you should try it: We know how much y’all love reading award-winning books, and this one has finally arrived from across the pond.
Description: Short-listed for the Women's Prize for Fiction, a timeless story of strife and hope set during the conflict in the Balkans in the early '90s—a searing debut novel about a woman who faces the war on her doorstep with courage, fierceness, and an unshakable belief in the power of art.
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Nonfiction
Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Under Water by Amorina Kingdon
Expected publication date: June 4
Why you should try it: If you've ever been mesmerized by whale songs or intrigued by dolphin whistles, this book will be your new obsession.
Description: For centuries, humans ignored sound in the “silent world” of the ocean, assuming that what we couldn’t perceive, didn’t exist. But we couldn’t have been more wrong. Marine scientists now have the technology to record and study the complex interplay of the myriad sounds in the sea.
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When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour & Power at the Dawn of American Fashion by Julie Satow
Expected publication date: June 4
Why you should try it: Whether it's biography, history, or fashion that you love, Satow's book has it all—even pictures!
Description: Journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries, Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller, Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor, and Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel, who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps.
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The Explorers: A New History of America in Ten Expeditions by Amanda Bellows
Expected publication date: June 4
Why you should try it: Round out your history knowledge with this engaging title.
Description: The archetype of the American explorer, a rugged white man, has dominated our popular culture since the late 18th century, when Daniel Boone’s autobiography captivated readers with tales of treacherous journeys. But our commonly held ideas about American exploration do not tell the whole story—far from it. The Explorers rediscovers a diverse group of Americans who went to the western frontier and beyond, traversing the farthest reaches of the globe and even penetrating outer space in their endeavor to find the unknown.
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Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare & the American Mind by Annalee Newitz
Expected publication date: June 4
Why you should try it: If you have never read Newitz's extremely engaging nonfiction, now is the time especially if you have an interest in politics or culture wars.
Description: Annalee Newitz traces the way disinformation, propaganda, and violent threats—the essential tool kit for psychological warfare—have evolved from military weapons deployed against foreign adversaries into tools in domestic culture wars. Newitz delves into America’s deep-rooted history with psychological operations, beginning with Benjamin Franklin’s Revolutionary War–era fake newspaper and 19th-century wars on Indigenous nations, and reaching its apotheosis with the Cold War and 21st-century influence campaigns online.
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Hip-Hop Is History by Questlove
Expected publication date: June 11
Why you should try it: If you only know Questlove as a founding member of The Roots, think again. He's an author, a filmmaker, and the unofficial historian of hip-hop, all on display here.
Description: Questlove skillfully traces the creative and cultural forces that made and shaped hip-hop, highlighting both the forgotten but influential gems and the undeniable chart-topping hits—and weaves it all together with the stories no one else knows. It is at once an intimate, sharply observed story of a cultural revolution and a sweeping, grand theory of the evolution of the great artistic movement of our time.
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Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman & the Faith Dreams of a Free People by Tiya Miles
Expected publication date: June 18
Why you should try it: Miles enriches the legacy of Harriet Tubman by grounding her in reality instead of the mythology that has been built up around her—a significant contribution to United States history.
Description: You could almost say Harriet Tubman is America's Robin Hood, a miraculous vision, often rightly celebrated but seldom understood. Tiya Miles changes all that. She explores beyond the stock historical grid to weave Tubman's life into the fabric of her world, probing the ecological reality of Tubman's surroundings and examining her kinship with other enslaved women who similarly passed through a spiritual wilderness and recorded those travels in profound and moving memoirs.
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Cue the Sun: The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum
Expected publication date: June 25
Why you should try it: This is just like reality television—shocking, gossipy, and engrossing—and you won't be able to look away.
Description: Starting in 1948, Nussbaum pulls back the curtain on the cultural meat grinder that created a generation-defining form of entertainment, examining shows from The Real World to Survivor to The Apprentice. Through extensive interviews, Nussbaum follows the reality TV industry from its inception with shows like Candid Camera to its 90s heyday and 00s aftermath.
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I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki: Further Conversations With My Psychiatrist by Baek Sehee
Expected publication date: August 6
Why you should try it: This is sure to be just as riveting and insightful as Sehee's first book of conversations with her psychiatrist.
Description: Healing is an uneven process. In this second book, Baek's sessions intensify as her inner conflicts become more complex and challenging. Through her dialogues with her psychiatrist and reflective micro-essays following each session, Baek traces the patterns of her anguish, makes progress, weathers setbacks, and shares the revelatory insights that come just when she has almost given up hope.
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Movies
Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery Queen
Release Date: April 23
Why you should try it: Learning while having a good time? It’s possible in this series. Fantastic cinematic shots while you travel the UK with Lucy Worsley as she embarks on an Agatha Christie adventure!
Description: Lucy Worsley discovers the origins of Agatha Christie's macabre magic.
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The Taste of Things
Release Date: May 7
Why you should try it: Whether you're here for the "will they or won't they" trope or for the fantastic food scenes, this movie will leave you hungry for more.
Description: Cook Eugenie and her boss Dodin have grown fond of one another for over 20 years, and their romance gives rise to dishes that impress even the world's most illustrious chefs. When Dodin is faced with Eugenie's reluctance to commit, he begins to cook for her.
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Dune: Part Two
Release Date: May 1
Why you should try it: Arrakis has something for everyone such as spices, riding giant sandworms, and family drama!
Description: The mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen on a warpath of revenge and endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.
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Lost Soulz
Expected Release Date: June 4
Why you should try it: Where there is summer there is music. In this road trip journey, you meet a group of aspiring hip-hop artists trying to find their place in the world, and maybe you’ll find your new summer anthem.
Description: When aspiring rapper Sol is discovered by a group of Gen-Z musicians at a party, he joins their tour through the heart of Texas and embarks on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Leaving behind his best friend Wesley and the surrogate family who embraced him, Sol contemplates the meaning of home. As Sol and the musicians travel across Texas, they bond over their shared pains and longings. Vibrant and bold, yet sensitive and vulnerable, these musicians pour their souls into the music they create together. Set to a lo-fi, genre-bending hip-hop soundtrack, Katherine Propper creates a hazy and enigmatic energy that compliments her leading man's guilt and desire for friendship and belonging. Numerous musical performances, whether in their van or on a stage, allow the ensemble's chemistry to shine.
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Monkey Man
Expected Release Date: June (TBD)
Why you should try it: If you miss John Wick, Dev Patel has the movie just for you! With a fantastic soundtrack and killer fight scenes, you’ll wish there was a crossover movie between John Wick and Kid.
Description: Kid is an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city's sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.
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True Detective: Night Country, Season 4
Expected Release Date: July 9
Why you should try it: I’ve been told that you can watch season 1 to understand the story and just skip right to season 4. That’s just how good season 4 is.
Description: In Season 4, Elizabeth Danvers and Evangeline Navarro, former partners, join forces to investigate the mysterious disappearance of 8 scientists from the Tsalal Arctic Research Station in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska. The story unfolds during the months-long winter nights, and as the two protagonists confront their own personal struggles, they delve into the eerie secrets hidden beneath the eternal ice to solve the complex case. The narrative explores the challenges of overcoming differences and facing the darkness within oneself.
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The Boy & the Heron
Expected Release Date: July 9
Why you should try it: Hayao Miyazaki takes us on another whimsical adventure while also showing us his perception of grief in this most recent Ghibli film.
Description: A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. A semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.
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Perfect Days
Expected release date: July 16
Why you should try it: Scenes of Tokyo through Koji Yakusho’s eyes will have you wanting to go outside to enjoy the world around you too.
Description: A perfect song that hits at just the right moment, the play of sunlight through leaves, a fleeting moment of human connection in a vast metropolis: the wonders of everyday life come into breathtaking focus in this profoundly moving film by Wim Wenders. In a radiant, Cannes-award-winning performance of few words but extraordinary expressiveness, Koji Yakusho plays a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo whose rich inner world is gradually revealed through his small exchanges with those around him and with the city itself. Channeling his idol Yasujiro Ozu, Wenders crafts a serenely minimalist ode to the miracle that is the here and now.
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About Andrea
Collection Management Librarian Andrea is an avid audiobook and manga reader. When she isn't chipping away at her reading list, she's attending local pop culture conventions.
About Dontaná
Dontaná is a Collection Management Librarian who was born with an unending reading list. She is almost always reading two books simultaneously and is easily distracted by cool covers.
About Kathy
Kathy is a Collection Management Librarian who loves reading, sharing, and talking about books. Her missions in life are to: create communities of readers, convince folks that her official title should be "Book Pusher," and refute that "disco" is a dirty word.
