Here are the best new books of the week! You’ll find #1 best-selling author Nicola Yoon of The Sun Is Also A Star fame crushing the thriller genre with One Of Our Kind, a cross between The Stepford Wives and Get Out. Plus, James Lee Burke’s latest mystery novel set in New Orleans gives the spotlight to fan favorite Clete, Elin Hilderbrand brings her beloved Nantucket series to a climactic finale, a little girl is a little too talkative in school, Machiavelli gets the historical novel treatment and so much more!
Summer is a great time to read some great books. Whether you’re intrigued by a multi-generational novel set in the world of lucha libre or a probing look at the life and legacy of Joni Mitchell, this week has something for everyone. So let’s get reading. At the head of the Parade is….
The 21 Best New Book Releases This Week: June 11-June 17, 2024
Courtesy of Europa Editions, William Morrow, Simon & Schuster
1. The Throne by Franco Bernini
2. Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
3. The Sons of El Rey by Alex Espinoza
If you loved Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, dive into The Throne, an Italian historical novel with the same verve of a thriller while bringing the past to life. It’s the first of a trilogy about the 16th century thinker and provocateur Niccolò Machiavelli.
Italian noblemen have nothing on Margo in Rufi Thorpe’s new novel. Margo is the daughter of a Hooter’s waitress and a n ex-pro wrestler, so she’s used to drama. But when she’s a single mother, out of work and about to booted from her home, starting an OnlyFans account seems like a really good idea.
Speaking of wrestlers, the Mexican world of lucha libre (masked wrestlers with larger-than-life personas) provides the backdrop top Alex Espinoza’s novel about three generations struggling with life. Grandfather Ernesto’s glory days are behind him, son Freddy is trying to keep their gym afloat and grandson Julian will wrestle with his sexual orientation amidst the machismo-drenched culture he grew up in.
The Throne by Franco Bernini; translated by Oonagh Stransky ($30; Europa Editions) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe ($30; William Morrow) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Sons of El Rey by Alex Espinoza ($28; Simon & Schuster) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of MCD, Knopf, Flatiron Books
4. Moonbound by Robin Sloan
5. One Of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon
6. The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
Three engaging, provocative and rousing works of sci-fi/fantasy. In Moonbound, the author of Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore extends the “penumbra-verse” with a fantastical tale set 11,000 years in the future that’s suffused with the power of Story.
File best-selling author Nicola Yoon’s latest under thriller or literary fiction or dystopian fiction, but make sure you read One Of Our Kind, a story of the “perfect” gated community for people of color where all–inevitably–is not as it seems.
Sci-fi author Yume Kitasei follows her acclaimed debut The Deep Sky with another winner. The Stardust Grail is space opera of the smartest sort, offering the current trend of museums repatriation of stolen artifacts to their original cultures, but in this case it’s being done by an interstellar art thief now tasked with the challenge of a lifetime. Retrieve and return a stolen artifact that could save an entire alien species from extinction.
Moonbound by Robin Sloan ($29; MCD) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
One Of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon ($28; Knopf) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei ($28.99; Flatiron Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: Parade’s D-Day Tribute: June 6, 1944 As Told By The People Who Were There
Courtesy of Dey Street Books, AUWA
7. Traveling: On The Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann Powers 8. Hip-Hop Is History by Questlove
Joni Mitchell is always and forever in the mix when debating the greatest artists of all time. Her legacy is rich and even at 80–and after a stroke!–Mitchell is still adding to it. NPR critic Ann Powers offers a deep dive into the work and life of Mitchell. No straightforward biography, Powers talks to everyone she can, charts the life journey of this singular artist and her impact on the world. And it’s all done in a freedom, jazzy style Mitchell herself would approve.
Now imagine Mitchell would sit down and have the generosity of spirit to cover the history of folk music. That would be cool. But many major acts like Mitchell and Bob Dylan are not the best guides to music, other than their own. Questlove of The Roots is a great exception. He’s a major artist and a major fan. With co-author Ben Greenman, Questlove covers 50 years of hip-hop with insight, passion and the geeky love of a true believer. Pro tip: the audiobook version is a special treat since Questlove narrates and it’s like hanging out with him for eleven hours while he chats up a storm. Not to be missed, but as with the Mitchell book, keep your music streamer up and running. You’ll be using it constantly.
Traveling: On The Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann Powers ($35; Dey Street Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Hip-Hop Is History by Questlove and Ben Greenman ($30; AUWA) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Atlantic Monthly Press, Riverhead Books, Harper
9. Clete by James Lee Burke
10. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
11. The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd
James Lee Burke offers up the latest in his widely praised, best-selling books about Detective Dave Robicheaux. But fans will be intrigued to know this time it’s his longtime partner Clete Purcel who takes center stage. Mexican drug cartels, brutal murders and a dangerous new drug all play a part in Burke’s 24th novel in the series.
Author Liz Moore makes good on her breakthrough Long Bright River with another thriller destined to be among the best of the year. In The God of the Woods, Moore offers a nail-biter with depth in which a child goes missing from a summer camp in 1975…the same camp her older brother disappeared from forever in 1961. Yes, you want to read it.
And in another historical thriller, a brutal murder in 1988 Dubai is linked to the accidental death of an aristocratic painter and her masterpiece in a fire 50 years earlier…only it wasn’t an accident. Does 1988 really count as an historical thriller? A period thriller? The question is too depressing for me to decide.
Clete by James Lee Burke ($28; Atlantic Monthly Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore ($30; Riverhead Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd ($29.99; Harper) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of St. Martin’s Press, Little, Brown and Company, Berkley
12. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
13. Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand
14. Not In Love by Ali Hazelwood
Romance is most definitely in the air. Hilderbabe alert! Fans of Elin Hilderbrand’s Nantucket novels surely know that after about 30 novels, she is bringing the series to a close with Swan Song. Hilderbrand insists she is retiring, but maybe a rapturous reception from her legion of readers will convince her that maybe, someday, she’ll return. Meanwhile, Swan Song offers all the drama, lavish parties and heart they’ve come to expect from her.
Katherine Center offers another source for the pleasurable charms readers of Hilderbrand will soon be desperately jonesing for. In Center’s latest, an aspiring screenwriter gets a chance to work on a romantic comedy script with the famous Hollywood hero Charlie Yates. But he’s a jerk! And he’s only cranking out this script to get another project greenlit. And he doesn’t believe in love! Oh, it’s on.
STEM researchers–folk who focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine–are pretty damn sexy in Ali Hazelwood’s latest romance. Rue is killing it in the world of food science until her start-up is targeted by a distractingly handsome front man for a company planning a takeover. They really should not fall for each other. Or do anything about it. Or at least they shouldn’t let anyone find out about it.
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center ($29; St. Martin’s Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand ($30; Little, Brown and Company) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Not In Love by Ali Hazelwood ($19; Berkley) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Knopf Books For Younger Readers, Random House Books For Younger Readers, Versify
15. Bibsy Cross and the Bad Apple by Liz Garton Scanlon; illustrated by Dung Ho
16. The Color of a Lie by Kim Johnson
17. Brownstone by Samuel Teer; illustrated by Mar Julia
One book for kids and two for teens grappling with real-life challenges. Bibsy Cross is an exuberant kid who loves to raise her hand and answer questions or raise her hand and ask questions and just generally drive her third grade teacher nuts. Liz Garton Scanlon’s sweet-natured tale couples with the amusing illustrations of Dung Ho to tell the story of a kid who can’t understand an adult who can’t understand them.
In The Color of a Lie, author Kim Johnson grapples with the issue of “passing,” when people of one race/gender/sexual identity can choose or are forced to “pass” in a wider culture hostile to them. It’s 1955 and Calvin’s family leaves Chicago in the wake of a tragedy to find a safe space…in a “Whites Only” neighborhood. Calvin can pass. He does it all the time. But when he discovers the deeper, darker truths of their new community, will he want to?
The graphic novel Brownstone tells of the summer that teenager Almudena spends with her Guatemalan father when her white mother goes away on a trip. One problem among many? He speaks Spanish at a rapper’s clip and she doesn’t really speak it at all. While he (and his neighbors) all voice their opinions on how she should dress, talk and think, Almudena struggles to listen to her own heart.
Bibsy Cross and the Bad Apple by Liz Garton Scanlon; illustrated by Dung Ho ($6.99; Knopf Books For Younger Readers) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Color of a Lie by Kim Johnson ($19.99; Random House Books For Younger Readers) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Brownstone by Samuel Teer; illustrated by Mar Julia ($18.99; Versify Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: 15 Books You Must Read if You’re Obsessed With Taylor Swift’s New Album
Courtesy of Fantagraphics
18. Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies by Stan Mack
Once, I was walking down Broadway in New York City. Two well-dressed women in their 40s were walking by and I overheard one of them laughing as she said to her friend, “Oh that’s right; I forgot about your second husband!” Those snatches of real life proved the stomping ground of artist Stan Mack. He roamed the streets of NYC and published snatches of conversation and scenes of real life in the Village Voice from 1974 to 1995. Mack also interviewed people, hung out with the homeless, attended protests and sketched it all. And the dialogue? Verbatim, he swore! This sprawling collection is a funny, pointed snapshot of the city over three decades, as well as a testament to his talents as an artist and chronicler of life.
Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies by Stan Mack ($50; Fantagraphics) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of William Morrow, G.P. Putnam’s Sons
19. A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson 20. Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay 21. Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart
It’s a good week for crime! Here are three more thrillers I can’t wait to read. Peter Swanson delivers a twisty chiller when a librarian newly married to her salesman husband discovers an unsettling pattern between his travels to various cities and the unsolved murders of young women. Stephen King heartily endorses Horror Movie, which plays off The Blair Witch Project to imagine a cursed movie made in 1993…and the one surviving cast member determined to remake the lost project, whatever the cost. And in Assassins Anonymous, the world’s greatest assassin is determined to never kill again. Unfortunately, he’s immediately attacked on all sides and must race against time to determine what the heck is going on, while not killing anyone. Turns out, not killing people isn’t nearly as easy as it seems.
A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson ($30; William Morrow) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay ($30; William Morrow) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart ($27.99; G.P. Putnam’s Sons) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
