10 books to read in August: new releases from Jill Lepore, Claudia Rankin and more
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Set us as preferred Reading List10 books for your August reading listIf you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.If your summer could use a little energy boost, forget the complicated smoothie — turn to one of these fresh book releases instead.From fast-paced World War II history to a slow-burn rescue in rural Wyoming, along with an art-world mystery and a punchy look at modern America, you’ll find something to galvanize your bedside book stack.
Happy reading!FICTION:Appraisals: A Novel By Claire BoylesW.W.
Norton: 288 pp., $30(Aug.4)While Boyles’ debut novel ostensibly follows the fate of an Eastern Colorado family farm, its deeper purpose involves showing how dire water resources are for all agricultural endeavors in the region.
Maggie and her husband Fish have inherited their land from her grandparents, but they and their teenage daughter Ozzie all know that without irrigation, even defeating big development plans won’t make much of a difference to locals.The Seekers of Deer Creek: A Novel By Thao ThaiMariner Books: 320 pp., $30(Aug.4)Vietnamese American sisters Vivi and Calla are also a curator and an artist.
When their father dies and leaves behind a sketch that might be the work of renowned Vietnamese painter K.P.Lý, the siblings embark on a quest to find out whether Lý had connections to their family.
Along the way they reexamine their difficult upbringing and find new ways to communicate that matter more than any artwork.Etna: A Novel By Paul YoonScribner: 208 pp., $28(Aug.4)Anyone who has seen “The Odyssey” with Matt Damon or is anticipating “Heart of the Beast” with Brad Pitt (about a veteran and his war dog), should pick up Yoon’s remarkable tale of a combat survivor in an alternate present who happens...