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The best new books to read: Top releases, updated weekly

The Post regularly compiles the best books released in the past month. In the meantime, take a look at our favorite titles released in the last year.

This week’s best new books

When We Were Friends

Holly Bourne (fiction, MIRA)
Fern and Jessica were best friends — until they weren’t. More than 10 years later, they’re now in their early 30s, and Jessica is a divorced mom. When she shows up one night to one of Fern’s work events, Fern is stunned and wary — wondering if it’s a good idea for them to renew a friendship that ended with a shocking breach of trust. Things are different now, and both women have grown up and matured — or have they?

It’s News to Me

RG Belsky (fiction, Oceanview Publishing)
When a popular college student named Riley Hunt is murdered in Manhattan, it’s a big story for TV newswoman Clare Carlson. Quickly, a troubled Afghanistan war veteran is identified as the main suspect. Then the suspect’s mother approaches Clare with information that could prove her son is not the killer.

The Revivalists

Christopher M Hood (fiction, Harper)
In this beautifully written debut novel, the Shark Flu pandemic has wiped out much of the world’s population. Bill and Penelope have survived and are rebuilding their new lives — when their grown daughter Hannah gets in touch over the radio and tells them she’s joined a cult in Bishop, California. Bill and Penelope begin a dangerous cross-country trek to save their family as they navigate a strange and often terrifying new world.

Street Smart: The Primer for Success in the New World

John Positano and Rock Positano (nonfiction, Savio Press)
What does it mean to be street smart? It isn’t what you think. A primer on how to spot, seize and make the most of lucky breaks — and translate them into lasting success. It’s targeted at millennials, but accessible to everyone.

Best book releases that hit shelves last week

 

The House Party

Rita Cameron (fiction, William Morrow)
Maja Jensen has left nothing to chance when building her dream home in the Philadelphia suburbs. After all, she has high hopes for its ability to compensate for a disintegrating marriage and the fact that she hasn’t had kids. But when a group of teenagers trash her home weeks before she’s about to move in, her plans and dreams are ruined.

 

It’s Not Me, It’s You: Break the Blame Cycle, Relationship Better

John Kim, Vanessa Bennett (nonfiction, Harper One)
Two therapists analyze their own relationship and use it as a playbook with accessible tips on how to make a relationship last. John Kim is the so-called Angry Therapist, so you know the advice in this book will be funny and no-holds-barred.

 

Stay True: A Memoir

Hua Hsu (memoir, Doubleday)
Hua is the son of Vietnamese immigrants; Ken is “mainstream,” with a Japanese American family that has been in the country for generations. Yet the two become fast friends, a relationship forged by late night cigarettes, long drives and everyday college life. And then one day Ken is gone, killed in a carjacking, while Hua struggles to hang on to the memory of his friend.

 

Prisoners of the Castle

Ben McIntyre (nonfiction, Crown)
Colditz Castle was where the German army housed its most difficult Allied prisoners during World War II, and their frequent attempts at escape became legend. But the escape attempts were only part of life at Colditz, which was populated by a fascinating cast of characters.

 

New York: 1962-1964

Germano Celant (art, Skira)
A beautiful coffee table book that showcases the stunning exhibit by the same name, currently at the Jewish Museum of New York. It takes a look at the cultural transformations in New York that took place between January 1962 and December 1964 — and the impact they would have worldwide.

 

Mother Brain: How Neuroscience is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood

Chelsea Conaboy (nonfiction, Henry Holt & Co.)
New parents know that having a baby changes you; what they might not realize is how profoundly their neurobiology changes as well. Science has mostly ignored this aspect of parenthood until recently, and the book explores fascinating new research.

Best book releases from the week of August 14th

The Marriage Portrait

Maggie O’Farrell (fiction, Knopf)
In 1550s Florence, young Lucrezia is the third daughter of a grand duke. Her childhood is happy until it ends quite abruptly in her marriage to a much older man, the duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio. She leaves home behind to enter the court of Alfonso — a man she barely knows and who, as she soon realizes, has plenty of secrets. A fascinating fictionalized account of the young Lucrezia de Medici.

Hell and Back

Craig Johnson (fiction, Viking)
Sheriff Walt Longmire has woken up in the middle of the street in the town of Fort Pratt, Montana, with no memory of who he is or how he got there — and only a name badge to tell him. 30 young Native American boys had died in a boarding school fire, and now something Northern Cheyenne refer to as the Taker of Souls is stalking. A new entry in the popular Longmire series.

Uncultured: A Memoir

Daniella Mestyanek Young (memoir, St. Martin’s)
Daniella Mestyanek Young was raised on a commune in Brazil, the daughter of a high-ranking leader in the religious cult The Children of God (also known as The Family.) At 15, fed up with all she was forbidden from doing, Daniella escaped to Texas, where she joined the US military.

Rules of Engagement

Stacey Abrams (fiction, Berkley)
Intelligence operative Dr. Raleigh Foster has been asked to infiltrate Scimitar, a terrorist group that has stolen lethal environmental technology. She’s assigned a partner to pose as her lover — the brooding Adam Grayson — and soon it seems that falling in love is another risk to add to her list.

Matchmaker’s Gift

Lynda Cohen Loigman (fiction, St. Martin’s)
It is 1910 on NYC’s Lower East Side, and Sara Glikman knows she has a gift for matchmaking. But the other matchmakers are older men who have no interest in allowing a young girl to break into their profession, and Sara must fight for recognition in the field. Two generations later, Sara’s granddaughter Abby is a successful Manhattan divorce lawyer. When Sara dies, she leaves Abby her matchmaking journals — and the pages raise many questions.

A Man of the World: My Life at National Geographic

Gilbert Grosvenor (nonfiction, National Geographic)
An inside look at the man who helmed National Geographic for six decades, taking a four generation family legacy — explorers like Robert Peary, Louis Leakey, and Jane Goodall were always visiting the family home — and overseeing the brand’s entry into television, film, books, as well as its flagship magazine.

Best book releases from the week of August 7th

Dictator Lunches

Jenny Mollen (cookbook, Harvest)
Just in time for Back to School, the Instagram personality behind the hilarious account @dictatorlunches is back with plenty more lunchbox ideas to make even the pickiest tyrant (ie., child) eat — and eat well.

The Most Likely Club

Elyssa Friedland (fiction, Berkley)
In 1997, four high school friends make big plans to conquer the world. 25 years later, their reunion is looming, and nothing has worked out the way anyone planned. Is it too late to make their dreams happen?

Oath of Loyalty

Vince Flynn (fiction, Atria/Emily Bestler Books)
President Anthony Cook is convinced that Mitch Rapp is a threat to him; a truce is engineered wherein Rapp leaves the country for as long as Cook controls the White House. This works until Cook’s security adviser convinces him Rapp won’t honor the agreement, and then leaks the identity of his partner, Claudia Gould. All hell breaks loose, and new assassins are now on her trail.

Fairy Tale

Stephen King (fiction, Scribner)
17-year-old Charlie Reade has started doing odd jobs for Howard Bowditch, a recluse who lives with his dog Radar in a big house on a hill. There’s a locked shed in the backyard, and sometimes Charlie hears strange sounds from it. When Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a wild story — and the claim that the shed is the portal to another world.

Bad Angel Brothers

Paul Theroux (fiction, Mariner Books)
Cal’s older brother Frank has always cast a long shadow over him; when Cal grows up, he becomes a gold prospector who attains incredible wealth — and more importantly, independence. But Frank is still lurking around, and he soon commits the ultimate betrayal.

Drunk on Love

Jasmine Guillory (fiction, Berkley)
Margot Noble is stressed out from running the family winery, and needs some time to unwind. When she meets a handsome stranger named Luke and the two have a one night stand, it seems like the perfect no strings attached evening. Until Luke shows up the next day at the winery, and it turns out he’s the newest hire.

Best book releases from the week of July 31st

Bad Day Breaking

John Galligan (fiction, Atria Books)
A new religious sect has moved into Bad Axe, Wisconsin. Armed with guns, they start to establish their compound in an old storage lot. Rumors fly in town, and the reaction to the newcomers is hostile, to say the least. Sheriff Heidi Kick is just trying to keep order in an increasingly tense town — and then one of the followers turns up dead.

Suburban Hell

Maureen Kilmer (fiction, GP Putnam’s Sons)
Amy Foster has settled nicely into the suburbs, finding a group of like-minded moms to drink wine with. But when the group christens a She Shed in Liz’s backyard as a place for them to hang out — husbands and kids not welcome — strange things start happening. Has the She Shed unleashed a demonic force into the neighborhood?

Scenes from My Life

Michael K. Williams with Jon Sternfeld (memoir, Crown)
Michael K. Williams was beloved for his roles in The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, and Lovecraft Country. This memoir by the late actor, who died in 2021, is a story of addiction, overcoming adversity, and fighting tirelessly to give back to his community.

Wrong Place Wrong Time

Gillian McAllister (fiction, William Morrow)
A mother witnesses her teenage son kill a man — and then wakes up the next day to find the killing hasn’t yet happened. The next day, it’s two days before the fateful day. If she wakes up early enough in time, can she figure out a way to stop it from happening — and save her son’s future in the process?

A Career in Books: A Novel about Friends, Money, and the Occasional Duck Bun

Kate Gavino (fiction, Plume)
A graphic novel about a trio of friends who “want to work with books” — despite having not much of an idea of what it entails. Shirin, Nina and Silvia have landed their first jobs in publishing at University Press — and they aren’t quite sure what to make of it. Then they meet their elderly neighbor, and it turns out she’s a Booker Prize winner.

Feeding Littles and Beyond

Ali Maffucci, Megan McNamee and Judy Delaware (cookbook, Avery Press)
This accessible family cookbook aims to raise babies and toddlers to be adventurous eaters — with 100 baby-led-weaning (or baby-led-feeding) recipes that will introduce little ones to a variety of aromas, shapes and colors.
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