10 new books to read in August

Peter Ames Carlin literally wrote the book on Bruce Springsteen, and now he’s back with a deep dive into one of The Boss’ most enduring albums. Tonight In Jungleland is a history of Born To Run, featuring interviews with Springsteen, members of the E Street Band, and other key players involved in the production. In the book’s introduction, Carlin explains that he seeks to answer a question posed to him by his friend, Springsteen historian Charles R. Cross: After two strong but imperfect albums, how did Springsteen’s sound grow so quickly? Or, as Cross put it, “How did it all get so great?” By the end of Tonight In Jungleland, Carlin just might have figured it out.

Though Loved One is Aisha Muharrar’s first novel, she’s been working as a television writer for years on shows like Parks And Recreation, The Good Place, and Hacks. She brings that offbeat sense of humor to this narrative about Julia and Elizabeth, two women trying to cope with the death of a mutual ex named Gabe. For Julia, that looks like travelling the world to get some of Gabe’s belongings back. For Elizabeth, that means keeping Gabe’s guitar out of Julia’s hands. As the two butt heads, they must finally confront their grief over Gabe’s death.

Absurd (and absurdly prolific) erotica writer Chuck Tingle is back with a more mainstream release than his usual butt-centric short stories. Lucky Day, Tingle’s latest novel, takes place in the aftermath of a Blip-like catastrophe known as the Low-Probability Event, which killed eight million people in freak accidents across the globe. Four years later, a mysterious special agent recruits Vera, a former statistics professor, to investigate an improbably lucky casino that might have been responsible for the LPE. Like Tingle’s previous forays into the horror genre, there’s still plenty of romance here, too.

If you’re looking for a late-summer sizzler, Emily Adrian’s Seduction Theory is a unique take on the genre. Part campus drama, part romance, the novel is written in the form of a graduate thesis that catalogs and critiques the extramarital affairs of two married creative writing professors—and the thesis author’s part in the drama. The best part is that the professors whose personal lives are so thoroughly excavated in the dishy thesis are also the ones who have to evaluate its merit.

Fourteen-year-old Ronny Nguyen’s parents, who are immigrants from Vietnam, only speak about their heritage in the context of food, teaching their children how to cook and that meat was a luxury in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. After Ronny is sexually assaulted at a party, she bites off her attacker’s ear and experiences an insatiable craving for raw meat. Catherine Dang’s What Hunger is a story about generational trauma told through the lens of horror—a well-worn trope at this point, but Dang’s cultural specificity breathes new life into the narrative.

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning fantasy author T. Kingfisher delivers an enticing new spin on Snow White with Hemlock & Silver. Kingfisher turns the classic fairy tale into a medical mystery that follows Anja, a healer and poison expert who has been employed by the king to discover the source of the illness that afflicts his daughter, Princess Snow. Anja’s quest for a cure takes her into a dangerous mirror world filled with untold horrors that she must face in order to make it back to Princess Snow alive.

You probably won’t be surprised that The Possession Of Alba Díaz, Isabel Cañas’ latest gothic horror novel, concerns a woman named Alba Díaz who is possessed by a demon. But there’s a lot more to this historical romance than its evocative title. As the plague sweeps through Zacatecas, Mexico, in the mid-18th century, Alba and her family, including her fiancé, Carlos, take refuge in a remote silver mine. There, Alba starts sleepwalking and experiencing hallucinations. Elías, Carlos’ cousin who has just arrived from Spain, might be the only person who can help Alba fight off the demon—if it doesn’t destroy both of them first.

Mizuki Tsujimura is a bestselling author in Japan, though her novels are only sporadically available in translation. Lost Souls Meet Under A Full Moon centers on Ayumi Shibuya, a teenage “go-between” who arranges meetings between the living and the dead. As the novel progresses and Ayumi helps a colorful variety of clients, Tsujimura unravels Ayumi’s story in parallel, revealing his history and secrets as well.