July’s best books range far and wide

These are the fiction titles our reviewers liked best this month.City of Widows, by Nadia Hashimi (William Morrow)In her latest novel, Nadia Hashimi brings readers inside the experiences of Afghan women in the lead-up to the Taliban’s August 2021 takeover. It is grim indeed. Will a pregnant Marjan, named after the lion statue guarding the entrance of the Kabul zoo, survive after escaping her warlord husband? The options for a young woman and infant girl on their own are few and fraught, yet Marjan persists working odd jobs, finding shelter, and eventually joining the Female Tactical Platoon that assists the U.S. Army. The lengths she goes to secure a safe life for her daughter are extraordinary. Hashimi’s tale of unflagging effort amid wretched inequality astounds. – Erin Douglass Why We Wrote This Our reviewers’ fiction favorites include Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Trilogy finale, plus stories about women in pre-Taliban Afghanistan and academics in rural Vermont. On the nonfiction side, World War II women aviators called Atta-Girls! get their due, while books investigating romance scammers in Nigeria and the Nord Stream sabotage dive into more recent history. Country People, by Daniel Mason (Random House)“Country People,” Daniel Mason’s first contemporary novel after a string of historical fiction including “North Woods,” is a playful romp that explores the power of storytelling, family, and community. It tells the story of a family that moves from northern California to rural Vermont when the wife, an English professor, accepts a prestigious one-year visiting position. The husband, who’s supposed to be finishing his long overdue dissertation on Russian folktales, instead gets distracted by a local historical society investigation, in which a group of amateur historians digs into a 19th-century report of a purported entrance to a spectacular underworld nearby. Mason highlights – with levity and humor – how erroneous ideas, gullibility, and blinders can lead even people who should know better down rabbit holes. – Heller McAlpin Someone To Cook For, by Maiko Seo (Europa Editions)Yuko is a sweet-natured Japanese girl who experiences different “parents” in her life after her mother dies and her biological father moves away. Watching her grow, while being raised by these caring and quirky individuals, feels life affirming. In the novel’s second part, Yuko, now grown, goes with her fiancé to each “parent,” seeking their blessing. The book simmers with joy, wisdom, and delectable cooking. – Stefanie Milligan Cool Machine, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday) Colson Whitehead caps off his Harlem Trilogy with “Cool Machine.” Set in New York City in the 1980s, an era of explosive capitalism alongside daunting poverty, it continues the story of Ray Carney, the successful Harlem businessman who sometimes fences stolen goods. With his keen eye and remarkable prose, Whitehead explores the circumstances and motives of his characters, revealing how the truth might be buried under layers of hidden experiences. – Joan GaylordMcKenna’s Guy, by Mike Lawson (Blackstone)When mild-mannered widower and government worker Roger Smith unwittingly kills a home invader, an exhilarating cat-and-mouse chase ignites, with Washington, D.C., detective Grace Lillinthal bent on solving who wants Roger killed and why. Add in Roger’s jovial friend named McKenna, who owns a bar that’s a den of thieves, and various other colorful characters, and this thrill ride is first-rate entertainment. – Stefanie Milligan The Cloak and Dagger Club, by Jackie McMahon (Berkley)Golden Age mystery writers of the 1930s convene at London’s Ritz Hotel, where The Cloak and Dagger Club’s tyrannical president is murdered. Author Jackie McMahon’s tribute to Agatha Christie’s real-life Detection Club finds the formerly engaged Lucy Hubbard and Frank Murray racing to unmask the killer before Frank is arrested. Swirling with humor, beguiling suspects, and an endearing second-chance romance, this crime puzzle is utterly irresistible. – Stefanie Milligan An Infinite Love Story, by Chanel Cleeton (Berkley)Vivian, a journalist-turned-astronaut’s-wife, wakes up in 1968 to learn that her husband Joe’s spacecraft has lost contact with Mission Control on its way to the moon. What happened to the ship, why mysterious clues about the voyage keep popping up, and whether a grieving Vivian will demand answers or quietly carry on propel the story. So, too, does a dual timeline that rewinds to the early days of Joe and Viv’s relationship. Bestselling author Chanel Cleeton delivers a moving tale of dedication, sacrifice, and, yes, the possibilities of infinity. – Erin DouglassSong for Another Home, by Bora Lee Reed (37 Ink)Bora Lee Reed’s historical fiction details a North Korean family’s escape to Seoul during the 1950s Korean War. Reed’s fully drawn characters are a wonder, wielding hope and transforming through separations, hardships, and heartbreak, while cherishing their dreams and discovering unexpected found family. Courageous and immersive, this is magnificent, emotional storytelling. – Stefanie Milligan These are the nonfiction titles our reviewers liked best.The Yahoo Boys, by Carlos Barragán (FSG)After journalist Carlos Barragán’s mother gets targeted by a romance scammer, he sets off to Nigeria in search of the man who duped his mother. Though Barragán fails to find him, his reporting results in “The Yahoo Boys: Love, Deception, and the Real Lives of Nigeria’s Romance Scammers,” a nuanced, compelling look at the young men perpetrating romance scams, their victims abroad – and the loneliness that unites them all. – Mackenzie FarkusThe Traveler, by Andrea Wulf (Knopf)In his heyday in 18th-century England and Europe, naturalist George Forster was a popular figure who influenced scientists, poets, and other thinkers. He’s largely forgotten today, but in “The Traveler,” author Andrea Wulf argues that he shouldn’t be. In a sprawling narrative that takes readers to the bottom of the planet, tropical islands, and the salons of the Old World, Wulf celebrates Forster as an early champion of tolerance – what Wulf calls “his unshakeable belief in humankind.” – Danny HeitmanThe Nord Stream Conspiracy, by Bojan Pancevski (Henry Holt)In September 2022, the pipeline network that transported cheap gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea was destroyed. Award-winning journalist Bojan Pancevski set out to discover who was responsible for the largest act of sabotage in modern history. His gripping and meticulously researched book tells the story of an audacious operation by charting the exploits of both the perpetrators and the investigators. – Malcolm ForbesThe Small Stuff, by Ian Bogost (Atria Books)Though books about happiness abound, author Ian Bogost explores something less grand in “The Small Stuff,” which celebrates the little sensory experiences that give life its flavor. Whether it’s a sunset, a bright puddle, or the tinkle of ice in a glass, such physical connections help keep us grounded, he believes. In a world where many of us spend so much time online, Bogost argues that the “sensory enchantment of everyday life” is something we should not ignore. – Danny HeitmanSpitfires, by Becky Aikman (Bloomsbury Publishing)American women aviators wanted to prove their mettle during World War II, but they were barred, on the basis of gender, from flying for the United States. Britain was desperate for transport pilots to ferry military aircraft, and they trained women for the Air Transport Auxiliary, aka the Atta-Girls! Author Becky Aikman traces the lives of more than a dozen of these women, whose personalities were almost as big as the bombers they delivered. The work was dirty, dangerous, and required extraordinary levels of risk-taking. Aikman focuses a bit too much on the women’s social lives, while in the same breath praising their courage in the cockpit. But her research is solid, and those interested in aviation history – and women’s history – will enjoy the book. “Spitfires” joins the recent novel “Where the Sky Begins,” by Cindy Dees and Mary Wine, in telling the stories of early women flyers, whose sisterly solidarity could be accompanied by intense competition. – April Austin