Hottest Summer Reads of 2021

by Zakiya Dalila Harris

A biting social satire–cum-thriller; dark, playful, and brimming with life. Full review >

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by Elin Hilderbrand

If novelists are auditioning to play God, Hilderbrand gets the part. Full review >

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by Jonathan Lee

A highly satisfying mix of mystery and character portrait, revealing the constrained heart beneath the public carapace. Full review >

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by Fabian Nicieza

Delightfully irreverent and so very entertaining. Full review >

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by Diane Johnson

Doing what she does best, Johnson shows us why she's been compared to writers like Henry James, Jane Austen, and Voltaire. Full review >

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by Violet Kupersmith

Drawing from genres as diverse as horror, humor, and historical fiction, Kupersmith creates a rich and dazzling spectacle. Full review >

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by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

If this isn’t the Great American Novel, it's a mighty attempt at achieving one. Full review >

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by Ash Davidson

An impressively well-turned story about how environmental damage creeps into our bodies, psyches, and economies. Full review >

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by Carol Anderson

An urgent, novel interpretation of a foundational freedom that, the author makes clear, is a freedom only for some. Full review >

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by Rebecca Hall ; illustrated by Hugo Martínez

An urgent, brilliant work of historical excavation. Full review >

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by Clint Smith III

A brilliant, vital work about “a crime that is still unfolding.” Full review >

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by Lawrence Wright

Maddening and sobering—as comprehensive an account of the first year of the pandemic as we’ve yet seen. Full review >

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by Emma Dabiri

A must-read for anyone seeking to be an agent of much-needed societal change. Full review >

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by Cynthia Barnett

An absolutely captivating nature book. Full review >

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by Kristen Radtke ; illustrated by Kristen Radtke

Superb. A rigorous, vulnerable book on a subject that is too often neglected. Full review >

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