The Millions published one of its most exciting posts of the year this week, highlighting the books readers should be most excited about this summer. The literary publication has selected 80 books for its Great Summer Preview, creating a handy guide to must-read books in summer 2024.
The titles range in genre and include both fiction and non-fiction (and let’s go ahead and do what we are not supposed to do – the Covers are fantastic!). You’ll find both trendy titles and a huge selection of books that might otherwise get lost in the noise.
Here is a small selection of their recommendations:
- Misunderstanding of Madison Newbound: “Newbound’s debut novel, touted as being in the style of Rachel Cusk And Patricia Lockwoodtells the story of an aimless, heartbroken woman searching for meaning in the infinite Internet. Vladimir author Julia May Jonas describes it as “a shockingly modern” novel that captures “isolation and longing in our screen age.”
- Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner: “In this specific case, the ‘Long Island Compromise’ refers to the long-awaited continuation of the Fleishman is in troublenot the technical term for boarding the LIRR Babylon Line after 1 a.m. with a bunch of Bud-obsessed Mets fans”
- The Coin by Yasmin Zaher: “Zaher’s debut novel about a young Palestinian woman falling apart in New York City is an essential, thrilling addition to the Women on the Verge subgenre. Don’t just take my word for it: The blurbs for this book are some of the most rave-worthy I’ve ever read, and the book’s ardent fans include Katie Kitamura, Hilary Leichter, and, yes, Slavoj Žižek, who calls it “a masterpiece.””
- The Lucky Ones by Zara Chowdhary: “The memoir of Chowdhary, a survivor of one of the worst massacres in Indian history, weaves together personal and political stories to paint a harrowing picture of anti-Muslim violence in her native India. Alexander Chee calls it “a warning to the world,” and Nicole Chung describes it as “an astonishing narrative feat.”
- In the Shadow of the Fall by Tobi Ogundiran: “Inspired by West African folklore, Ogundiran (author of the excellent Jackal short story collection, Jackal) centers this fantasy novella, the first of a duology, on a kind of anti-Chosen One: a young acolyte who wants to become a priestess but can’t make the Orishas speak. So she tries to capture one of the spirits, but in doing so becomes embroiled in a cosmic war – exactly the kind of grand, anything-can-happen premise that makes Ogundiran’s stories so powerful.”
- Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party by Edward Dolnick: “In recent years, three teenagers in North Dakota found the fossilized remains of a young Tyrannosaurus rex, and an 11-year-old sandpiper in southwest England stumbled upon the jaws of an ichthyosaur, sparking scientific excitement. Dolnick’s book looks at similar discoveries from Darwin’s own century, when baffled laypeople did not yet have centuries of paleontology to draw on and drew their own conclusions from the fossils and footprints they unearthed.”
Check out the full preview of The Millions and fill up your summer (and fall!) reading list.
