{"id":46227,"date":"2025-08-05T21:21:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T21:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/46227\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T21:21:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T21:21:20","slug":"jamaica-kincaid-the-invention-of-a-bronte-bruce-springsteen-27-new-books-out-today-literary-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/46227\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamaica Kincaid! The invention of a Bront\u00eb! Bruce Springsteen! 27 new books out today! \u2039 Literary Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"Gabrielle<\/p>\n

August 5, 2025, 4:55am<\/p>\n

August is here, and with this new month comes new books to look forward to\u2014and we certainly need things to look forward to. Below, you\u2019ll find a whopping twenty-seven new books to consider in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, spanning everything from the lives of Charlotte Bront\u00eb and James Schuyler to Bruce Springsteen albums; poetic odes to Black musicians; infertility; the revealing lives of birds; a sequel to the celebrated Korean American sci-fi novel\u00a0Ocean\u2019s Godori; a new career-spanning collection from Jamaica Kincaid; and much, much more.<\/p>\n

Find some sun (unless it\u2019s one of those by-now-common heatwave days), curl up with one of these, and enjoy. I hope these bring you something you need. Stay safe, everyone.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

\"Extinction<\/p>\n

Mariah Rigg, Extinction Capital of the World: Stories<\/a>
(Ecco)<\/p>\n

\u201cThese ten stories expertly explore desire, loss, displacement, and environmental fragility across characters throughout Hawai\u2019i\u2026.Electric and lyrical. Rigg\u2019s a master short story writer with unbelievable skill.\u201d
\u2013Debutiful<\/p>\n

\"Moderation<\/p>\n

Elaine Castillo,\u00a0Moderation<\/a>
(Viking)<\/p>\n

\u201cTender and cutting, engrossing and immediate\u2014Elaine Castillo\u2019s\u00a0Moderation\u00a0is a moving meditation on connection, growth, and how, in a world that\u2019s constantly on the verge of ending, one way we move forward is cultivating our own. Castillo\u2019s prose is luminous and lucid, balancing humor and emotion with wicked aplomb. Castillo expertly stretches the possibilities of language;\u00a0Moderation is infinite.\u201d
\u2013Bryan Washington<\/p>\n

\"Dwelling<\/p>\n

Emily Hunt Kivel,\u00a0Dwelling<\/a>
(FSG)<\/p>\n

\u201cFestooned with razor-sharp observations and style, Emily Hunt Kivel\u2019s debut is a tale for our precarious moment, treating the melancholy facets of social decay, austerity, and gentrification with dazzling wit and originality.\u00a0Dwelling\u00a0announces the arrival of a new voice in literature who is exhilaratingly up to the task.\u201d
\u2013Alexandra Kleeman<\/p>\n

\"Putting<\/p>\n

Jamaica Kincaid,\u00a0Putting Myself Together: Writing 1974\u2013<\/a>
(FSG)<\/p>\n

\u201cKincaid\u2019s cutting prose shines, and the collection makes for a marvelous account of the author\u2019s life and career. This is a triumph.\u201d
\u2013Publishers Weekly<\/p>\n

\"We<\/p>\n

Brian Buckbee, Carol Ann Fitzgerald, We Should All Be Birds: A Memoir<\/a>
(Tin House)<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved every page of this book: Funny, sad, romantic, and full of pigeons\u2014glorious but under-appreciated, mysterious yet near-at-hand, each an individual, their dramas unseen right under our noses. Yet for Buckbee, suffering from a broken heart and broken body, birds like the injured Two-Step fling open doors of enchantment, healing, and communion. He\u2019s right: We really should all be birds-but since we can\u2019t, the best remedy I can think of is this book.\u201d
\u2013Sy Montgomery<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Graham Watson,\u00a0The Invention of Charlotte Bront\u00eb: A New Life<\/a>
(Pegasus Books)<\/p>\n

\u201cLiterary scholar Watson explores in his vivid debut biography the mystery and sensation that surrounded Charlotte Bront\u00eb. Piecing together letters collected from Bront\u00eb\u2019s friends, family, and publishers, Watson deftly shows how the painfully introverted Bront\u00eb manipulated anecdotes from her \u2018comfortless childhood\u2019 into \u2018a story of self-justification and self-glorification honed over years.\u2019 This fast-moving account of literary fame satisfies.\u201d
\u2013Publishers Weekly<\/p>\n

\"Dead<\/p>\n

m. mick powell,\u00a0Dead Girl Cameo: A Love Song in Poems<\/a>
(One World)<\/p>\n

\u201cIn poet m. mick powell\u2019s debut collection,\u00a0Dead Girl Cameo, the deaths of iconic Black female singers and musicians\u2014Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, Lisa \u2018Left Eye\u2019 Lopes, Billie Holiday and Phyllis Hyman\u2014go beyond the headlines. Powell resurrects their vivid lives and artistry to paint a more humanizing picture of their legacy while exploring themes of sexuality, survival, grief and stardom.\u201d
\u2013USA Today<\/p>\n

\"Joy<\/p>\n

Sasha Debevec-McKenney, Joy Is My Middle Name: Poems<\/a>
(Norton)<\/p>\n

\u201cJoy Is My Middle Name is a mantra, motto, and winking forewarning in this magnificent debut\u2026.A poet with the capacious charms and chops of Sasha Debevec-McKenney comes around once a generation or so: Morgan Parker, Wanda Coleman, Frank O\u2019Hara. Joy Is My Middle Name is bold as hell. It\u2019s revitalizing.\u201d
\u2013Terrence Hayes<\/p>\n

\"Regaining<\/p>\n

Harryette Mullen,\u00a0Regaining Unconsciousness: Poems<\/a>
(Graywolf)<\/p>\n

\u201cRegaining Unconsciousness unfolds like wisdoms written on the walls of a maze of mirrors. Straightforward passages turn into figurative reflections and allusive pathways\u2026.No poet is more mercurial while frank, more understated while exacting, or more enlightened while inquisitive. Regaining Unconsciousness is every bit as virtuosic and singular as the great Harryette Mullen.\u201d
\u2013Terrance Hayes<\/p>\n

\"Teo's<\/p>\n

Elaine U. Cho,\u00a0Teo\u2019s Durumi<\/a>
(Zando\/Hillman Grad Books)<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout a moment to catch our breath,\u00a0Teo\u2019s Durumi\u00a0picks up right where\u00a0Ocean\u2019s Godori\u00a0left off. The thrills and chills of nonstop action belie the profound questions on capitalism, colonialism, caste, family loyalty, and identity formation upon which the wildly inventive, cinematic plot is built. All this, and two achingly steamy love stories, make for a delicious, thought-provoking, can\u2019t-put-it-down read.\u201d
\u2013Alice Stephens<\/p>\n

\"Atomic<\/p>\n

Megan Cummins,\u00a0Atomic Hearts<\/a>
(Ballantine Books)<\/p>\n

\u201cAn exquisite first novel about the body\u2019s fragility, the spirit\u2019s opacity, and the elastic absolution of narrative. Megan Cummins\u2019s restless, devoted protagonist\u2014a young writer working toward something like truth in the shadows of her father\u2019s addiction, and in friendship\u2019s frank light\u2014is the kind of protagonist I\u2019ll find myself thinking of years later, as of a good friend: \u2018I should call Gertie.’\u201d
\u2013Rachel Lyon<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Jason Mott,\u00a0People Like Us<\/a>
(Dutton)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe follow-up to Mott\u2019s National Book Award-winning\u00a0Hell of a Book weaves the stories of two Black authors\u2014one on an international book tour, the other confronting a deadly school shooting\u2014into a comedic, surreal exploration of love and loss.\u201d
\u2013The New York Times<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Nathan Kernan,\u00a0A Day Like Any Other: The Life of James Schuyler<\/a>
(FSG)<\/p>\n

\u201cI discovered James Schuyler\u2019s poems fifty years ago and the charm and the mystery of his poems has made him always my Number One. Now Jimmy\u2019s life, so warmly and astutely told by Nathan Kernan, is here for us, a page-turner and a queer and passionate, glittering literary gem.\u201d
\u2013Eileen Myles<\/p>\n

\"Tonight<\/p>\n

Peter Ames Carlin, Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run<\/a>
(Doubleday)<\/p>\n

\u201cCarlin, who has published biographies of R.E.M., Paul Simon and the Boss himself, pulls back the curtain on the making of Springsteen\u2019s Born to Run album fifty years after its release. Drawing on interviews with the artist and his inner circle, Carlin revisits how each song was written and recorded while shedding light on the arduous studio sessions and their parallels to Springsteen\u2019s career.\u201d
\u2013The New York Times<\/p>\n

\"Trying<\/p>\n

Chloe Caldwell,\u00a0Trying<\/a>
(Graywolf)<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this sharply honest memoir,\u00a0Women author Chloe Caldwell sets out to write about infertility\u2014but ends up charting a far messier, more unexpected transformation. What begins as a chronicle of trying to conceive becomes a reckoning with betrayal, queer desire, and the question of what it actually means to build a life.\u201d
\u2013Electric Literature<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

Tochi Eze, This Kind of Trouble<\/a>
(Tiny Reparations Books)<\/p>\n

\u201cTHIS KIND OF TROUBLE is an incandescent and moving portrait of star-crossed lovers caught between the weight of tradition and secrets carried across generations. In turns tender and unflinchingly honest, Tochi Eze explores a world where duty and desire are often at odds. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this intimate, emotionally resonant, and profoundly human story.\u201d
\u2013Francesca Ekwuyasi<\/p>\n

\"L.A.<\/p>\n

Ella Berman,\u00a0L.A. Women<\/a>
(Berkley)<\/p>\n

\u201cElla Berman\u2019s writing is transportive, hypnotic, and addictive. I fell wholeheartedly in love with the intensity of these L.A. Women and the way Berman unabashedly explores the deep, glimmering, and turbulent waters of artistic ambition amid the alluring backdrop of 1960\u2019s Los Angeles. This novel reads like a spell, a California fever dream, and a risk taking excavation of the moments that most define us. L.A. Women is phenomenal.\u201d
\u2013Chelsea Bieker<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

Princess Joy L. Perry,\u00a0This Here Is Love<\/a>
(Norton)<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the manner of Edward P. Jones\u2019s\u00a0The Known World, this sweeping and greathearted novel presents a cast of unforgettable characters driven by their hopes and yearnings, men and women who in the face of the suffering and loss and violence of bondage manage to go about the \u2018brave business of love.\u2019 This is a beautiful book.\u201d
\u2013Janeet Perry<\/p>\n

\"Between<\/p>\n

Khadijah Queen,\u00a0Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: A Veteran\u2019s Memoir<\/a>
(Legacy Lit)<\/p>\n

\u201c[Y]et another extension of the brilliant universe of Khadijah Queen, one where the pages are richly populated. With people, with places, with rich, granular details. And, with all of that population, still, an attention to and affection for each single part of the larger machine, which makes Queen\u2019s narrative world-building feel like it is reaching for you, demanding you to enter, and be walked through each place, each life, each passage of time. This book is a gift.\u201d
\u2013Hanif Abdurraqib<\/p>\n

\"Nagasaki<\/p>\n

M. G. Sheftall, Nagasaki: The Last Witnesses<\/a>
(Dutton)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more than 100,000 still-living hibakusha\u2014survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sheftall\u2019s book recounts the survivor memories of Aug. 9, 1945, when the world\u2019s first plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, three days after the world\u2019s first atomic weapon was dropped on Hiroshima\u2026.A definitive account of a watershed moment in history.\u201d
\u2013Kirkus Reviews<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

Fara Dabhoiwala, What Is Free Spech? The History of a Dangerous Idea<\/a>
(Belknap Press)<\/p>\n

\u201c[A] global history of free speech\u2026written with wit, fluency, and dazzling erudition. Constantly surprising, and full of subtlety and nuance, it reveals what a new and innovative idea free speech was when it was first upheld as a civilized goal in the eighteenth century\u2014and how many extraordinary twists and turns it has taken ever since\u2026.Examining who in history could speak and who was silenced, Dabhoiwala reminds us of the crucial relationship between speech and power\u2026a work of great profundity and brilliance.\u201d
\u2013William Dalrymple<\/p>\n

\"When<\/p>\n

Lisa Ridz\u00e9n,\u00a0When the Cranes Fly South<\/a>
(Vintage)<\/p>\n

\u201cA simple yet effective meditation on mortality, love and care\u2026.Anyone anywhere who has worried for a crumbling parent, or worried about the crumble in themselves, or simply worried that their dog understood them better than their family, will identify with Ridz\u00e9n\u2019s novel and take it to heart.\u201d
\u2013The Guardian<\/p>\n

\"Crocosmia<\/p>\n

Miranda Mellis,\u00a0Crocosmia<\/a>
(Nightboat)<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo women, mother and daughter, move to the woods to escape dark forces that plague the mother\u2019s dreams. What follows is an incisive and beautiful meditation on imagination and intention in the Anthropocene. An apocalypse narrative infused with hope and a domestic story that shines a light on our collective power,\u00a0Crocosmia\u00a0functions in conversation with Jenny Offill\u2019s\u00a0Weather\u00a0and Debbie Urbanski\u2019s\u00a0After World while existing in a universe all its own\u2026a revelation.\u201d
\u2013Sarah LaBrie<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\u00c5sne Seierstad,\u00a0The Afghans: Three Lives Through War, Love, and Revolt<\/a>
(Bloomsbury)<\/p>\n

\u201c\u00c5sne Seierstad is one of the greatest, most courageous journalists of our time. While others were desperately fleeing Afghanistan, Seierstad traveled there alone to see the impact of the Taliban victory. This is an important, heartbreaking book about the limits of military power, religious fundamentalism, America\u2019s broken promises and the profound betrayal of Afghan women.\u201d
\u2013Eric Schlosser<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Kathleen B. Casey, The Things She Carried: A Cultural History of the Purse in America<\/a>
(Oxford University Press)<\/p>\n

\u201c[E]xamines purses, pocketbooks, and handbags not through a fashion lens, but as \u2018fraught but vital object[s]\u2019 with fascinating histories. The book\u2019s evocative case studies and contemporary images focus on working- and middle-class women and their pouches of personal items from the antebellum South through the twentieth century, uncovering how purses functioned as emblems of identity, protection, and status\u2026.A common theme is that purses have served as intimate spaces of women\u2019s privacy and power\u2026an impressive study.\u201d
\u2013Foreword Reviews<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Joshua Sharpe,\u00a0The Man No One Believed: The Untold Story of the Georgia Church Murders<\/a>
(Norton)<\/p>\n

\u201cA riveting page-turner about miscarried justice, an insightful journey to a fascinating time and place, and a triumphant tale about the search for truth in our tangled legal system. With his tireless reporting, Joshua Sharpe shines a light that not even the dark waters of the Okefenokee can obscure.\u201d
\u2013Thomas Mullen<\/p>\n

\"King<\/p>\n

Scott Anderson, King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation<\/a>
(Doubleday)<\/p>\n

\u201cIn his masterful and gripping account of the Iranian revolution, Scott Anderson gives us a page-turning history lesson that is more relevant than ever: A story of American diplomatic blunders and miscalculations that led to the loss of a vital ally and the commencement of hostilities that have roiled the world for nearly four decades\u2026lays bare the folly and hubris that led to the shah\u2019s demise, the hostage crisis and a radical theocracy that would reshape the Middle East.\u201d
\u2013Rajiv Chandrasekaran<\/p>\n

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