It’s July, so the odds are high that you will be plopping yourself down beside a pool or hitting up a summer cabin sometime in the immediate future. And unless you’re a philistine, you’ll have a book in tow. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a quick, foolproof guide to the season’s hottest new reads for every interest.
Best for Fiction Junkies
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Whitehead follows up his Pulitzer-winning novel, The Underground Railroad, with a tale about two boys trapped at a hellish reform school in Jim Crow–era Florida.
Best for Outdoorsmen
This Land by Christopher Ketcham
The author exposes how politics, energy development, and “corporate conservation” have affected the way public lands are managed—or not.
Best for Foodies
Hungry by Jeff Gordinier
Jeff Gordinier, Esquire’s food writer, follows the acclaimed chef René Redzepi to the Yucatán Peninsula, the Arctic, and beyond, in an epic hunt for the world’s finest flavors.
Best for Sports Nuts
They Bled Blue by Jason Turbow
A vivid account of the L.A. Dodgers’ 1981 World Series–winning season, following some colossal screw-ups in the late 1970s.
Best for Thrill-Seekers
The Need by Helen Phillips
In this surreal novel, a woman tries to uncover the identity of an intruder who breaks into her home and creepily knows details about her life.
