What to Read in July and Other Book News

The Girlfriend talks to Abby Jimenez

Abby Jimenez’ latest novel, Just for the Summer, screams “Beach read!” Two singles, Justin and Emma, have a unique curse — everyone they date and break up with goes on to find their soulmate. If they date each other, will they find their own soulmates? I can’t imagine what happens next! The author, who’s known for rom-coms like Yours Truly and Life’s Too Short, will answer questions about her book and career (she’s also a professional baker) in an interview with Shelley Emling, editor in chief of AARP’s The Girlfriend. The live event on July 16 at 7:30 p.m. ET is free, but you need to be a member of The Girlfriend Book Club, a private Facebook group, to watch. It’s easy to join.

Photo Collage: AARP; (Source: Atria/One Signal Publishers; Saul Martinez/The New York Times/Redux)

Why we love Judy Blume

Judy Blume’s books captivated my generation of adolescents; it was like she understood us, with all of our awkwardness and insecurities (“We must, we must, we must increase our bust.”). She and her work have been firmly in the spotlight over the last year or so, in the documentary Judy Blume Forever; the adorable film adaptation of Blume’s classic Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and now in a new book The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us by journalist Rachelle Bergstein (July 16). The latter is both a biography and an exploration of Blume’s books’ influence on American culture, which was profound, Bergstein argues, because of their unprecedentedly honest portrayal of kids’ inner lives: “Young readers saw themselves in Judy Blume’s novels and felt she gave them permission to be truthful, too. More than truthful — to be complicated.”

I asked Bergstein, 42, for her favorite Blume book, and she responded by email, “Don’t make me choose!” Her sentimental pick is the author’s 1987 novel Just as Long as We’re Together, which she read at age 9 and which “seared itself into my memory from the very first line: ‘Stephanie is into hunks.’” But she also adores Are You There God? — “a near perfect book” because “it captures the earnestness and awkwardness of early adolescence so perfectly.”

Photo Collage: AARP; (Source: Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Audio Publishers Association; Penguin Audio; Random House Audio)

Edoardo Ballerini: audiobook star

People love audiobooks! They’re listening more than ever (or at least buying them more than ever): The audiobook market hit $2 billion last year, according to data from the Audio Publishers Association, the industry’s nonprofit trade organization. 

Among the most coveted narrators is Edoardo Ballerini, 54, an actor who’s appeared in The Sopranos (as the junkie Corky Caporale) and last year’s Hulu series A Murder at the End of the World, among others. But it’s his fantastic voice that’s earned him gobs of award nominations and wins, including Audie Awards for Best Male Narrator and a lifetime achievement award from AudioFile magazine. When asked about what makes Ballerini such a uniquely appealing narrator, AudioFile’s editor/founder Robin Whitten describes him as an “elegant chameleon” who “‘lives each book, and so do we as listeners.”

If you want to check out his recent work, he’s narrator of the bestselling 2024 short story collection Table for Two by Amor Towles (of A Gentleman in Moscow fame) and the just-released All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (author of 2020’s absorbing We Begin at the End), a story of undying love, set in 1975 in a small Missouri town.

New in paperback

Some of us prefer our books in lighter weight, less expensive form, so we look forward to their eventual releases in paperback. Heads up: These four winners from 2023 came out in paperback in the last few weeks:

What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman: Bird lovers aren’t the only fans of this book, which explores how these mysterious creatures communicate, think, court and more. Why are owls so different from other birds? Why are they active at night? Are they really so wise?

Wellness by Nathan Hill: One of my faves from last year, Hill’s novel is about a couple, Jack and Elizabeth, who meet in Chicago and fall wildly in love … then out of love when we revisit them as parents and at a point of middle-age exhaustion and disenchantment. It ends up being a thoughtful, often humorous, cultural critique and exploration of why we believe the things we do, why we love who and what we love, and so much more.

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan: A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Egan exposes corruption galore and the machinations of a group of KKK supporters, who include top politicians and officials and a particularly evil character, Sen. David Curtis “D.C.” Stephenson, eventually convicted of murder and other crimes. Publisher’s Weekly dubbed it “a certifiable page-turner.”

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See: This absorbing story, set in 15th-century China, follows a wealthy woman from childhood through decades as she learns the basics of Chinese medicine from her grandmother, then goes on to practice it in an era when elite women have few freedoms.