20 Books That Will Turn the Dog Days of Summer into the Dog-Eared Days of Summer

Autumn's just around the corner, but it's not too late to fall into a new summer read. There's plenty of time to read on the beach...or at least pretend that you are, from the comfort of your own home. We’re still very much in the grips of uncertainty, yet the one thing we know for sure: the books will always be lit.

This month we have a collection of short fiction centered on California's Cambodian community by a promising young author who passed away last year, a quirky debut novel about nuns in Rhode Island, and a generational epic set against the backdrop of the Redwood forests. There's a spine-tingling story of a woman who suspects her husband of murder and a historical opus tracing one family's lineage over the course of centuries.

There's also new faves by some old faves: Mexican Gothic author Silvia Moreno-Garcia returns with a 1970s-set noir, while the bestselling scribe behind The Dog Stars and The River, Peter Heller, returns with an eerie mystery that takes place at a nature retreat for the super-wealthy. And we've also got an incendiary new thriller by Girl on the Train author Paula Hawkins.

Read on for more of the best books of August 2021, 20 picks that will turn the dog days of summer into the dog-eared days of summer. And who knows, we might even have a special surprise for you later this month!