The weather has turned from oppressively hot to kind-of-nice-outside. That means we’re coming upon everyone’s last chance to lay out at the park, on the roof, beachside, or wherever you prefer to schlep your to-be-read list of books. We’re going to go ahead and assume you’ve already made a sizable dent in that list this summer and recommend a few last additions that should provide a giddy, can’t-put-down momentum that makes for smooth sailing as the summer wanes. Get to know former CULTURED cover star Gwyneth Paltrow in all her complexities, investigate a disappearance in a luxury condominium, or stay up late in a small town where eerie howling sounds in the night. Here, we’ve ranked our selections in order of likelihood to scratch your itch for salaciousness.
1. The Compound by Aisling Rawle
What It Is: This debut from author Aisling Rawle sees a 20-something named Lily awaken in a remote compound, one of 20 contestants in a popular reality TV show that has them compete for luxury goods alongside necessities, like a front door for their home. In this dystopian future, the fight to survive the game is bad, but the outside world might be worse.
Why It’s Worth a Look: In the real world, despite best efforts, Love Island contestants are inescapable and our fascination with watching hot people fight amongst themselves has reached new heights. The Compound reads like a thinly veiled reflection of our times: The planet is becoming increasingly inhospitable, and we’re brawling over designer duds. The book is as titillating as TV.
Shop: Barnes & Noble ($26)
2. Gwyneth by Amy Odell
What It Is: Amy Odell, a veteran fashion journalist who previously penned Anna: The Biography, spoke to more than 220 sources for this tome. Readers are taken through the early acting years, A-list romances, rise of a wellness empire, Harvey Weinstein trials, and more in this comprehensive portrait.
Why It’s Worth a Look: It’s almost hard to remember the Gwyneth of nascent Wes Anderson fame, Gwyneth the 26-year-old Oscar winner, Gwyneth the conscious uncoupler. She’s become Gwyneth of Goop, or one of those figures who isn’t really of anything, but ever-present anyway. Perhaps the biggest question Gwyneth the book can answer is, why do we still care?
Shop: Barnes & Noble ($27.99)
3. The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir by Edmund White
What It Is: Edmund White wrote more than 30 books, mostly on the topic of gay sex and love, and won a Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation for it all. The Loves of My Life offers a winding, at times hilarious look back at the best, and worst, dalliances he encountered.
Why It’s Worth a Look: The book opens with a description of his “small penis.” No but really, White’s last publication (the author passed only a few months ago) has been bumped up two slots in the salaciousness scale for the sheer historical merit of documenting gay sex across several chapters in American history, both accepting of his sexuality and decidedly not so.
Shop: Barnes & Noble ($27.99)
4. The Payback by Kashana Cauley
What It Is: When a down-on-her-luck mall worker is relentlessly pursued by the Debt Police for her student loan payments, she joins forces with two other workers to take down the system that promised them a better life.
Why It’s Worth a Look: The New York Times noted an undercurrent of “Luigi Mangione-like disquiet” here. The Debt Police may be a figment of Cauley’s imagination, but the public’s rage is far from it. It’s a heist story crossed with the catharsis of feminist revenge thrillers.
Shop: Barnes & Noble ($27.99)
5. You Didn’t Hear This From Me by Kelsey McKinney
What It Is: Does gossip just have a bad reputation? Kelsey McKinney makes her case in You Didn’t Hear This From Me, a critical examination of the practice. The author is also the co-creator of the popular Normal Gossip podcast, in which she dishes on anonymous, listener-submitted stories.
Why It’s Worth a Look: McKinney has made a career off of providing guilt-free tea for the masses, and now she’s back to discuss whether all gossiping should be guilt-free, or at least recognized as an essential function of our society. After reading this book, you can confidently tell detractors that you are not, in fact, a “gossip”—you’re an oral storyteller.
Shop: Barnes & Noble ($19.99)
6. The Stalker by Paula Bomer
What It Is: This book is billed as “An Untalented Mr. Ripley” and a “Dumb American Psycho.” In it, the heir apparent to a once-wealthy family (no longer in possession of any wealth) cons his way through New York. Starting on a cot at the YMCA, he spins tales of a high-powered finance job and manages to couch-surf his way to Soho.
Why It’s Worth a Look: What gives this tale of privilege and swindling real heft is the fact that the main character is not just foolish, but downright predatory. For him, this is a relatively exciting trip through the city, but it quickly becomes a dangerous situation for the women around him, and Paula Bomer refuses to let her audience avert their gaze.
Shop: Barnes & Noble ($28)
7. She Didn’t See It Coming by Shari Lapena
What It Is: Bryden and Sam have the perfect life: two jobs, one nice apartment, and a daughter. Then, Bryden goes missing. Nothing disturbed, no phone call, no trace. As is usually the case with these things, what once seemed idyllic begins to show its flaws.
Why It’s Worth a Look: This is a solid, no-mistake-about-it mystery from an internationally bestselling author. It is perhaps less a fit for the beach and more so something you should tuck into under your covers with a flashlight and the front door locked. We’re not saying it’ll get scary, but it could, couldn’t it?
Shop: Barnes & Noble ($21)
8. The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis
What It Is: Little Nettlebed is a strange, gothic town in 18th-century England, and the Mansfield girls are the strangest of all. Ravens have been gathering, things are washing ashore, and at night, the villagers can hear barking. Then, someone claims to have seen one of the Mansfield girls transform.
Why It’s Worth a Look: What’s with women turning into dogs in the last year? Nightbitch doesn’t seem to have gotten the job done, so Xenobe Purvis is here to take another swing with this novel about paranoia and prejudice in an age still marked by witchcraft trials.
Shop: Barnes & Noble ($26.99)
9. So Far Gone by Jess Walter
What It Is: Rhys Kinnick is an off-the-grid oldster on the outs with his family. He punched his son-in-law in the mouth, tossed his phone, and is currently shacking up at a literal shack in the woods. Then his grandchildren are kidnapped by a dangerous militia.
Why It’s Worth a Look: Many have tried to capture the current American political climate. Few have done so through the eyes of a man on a crusade to rescue his grandkids, with the help of a manic retired detective and confrontational ex-girlfriend.
Shop: Barnes & Noble ($27)
10. The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
What It Is: “Chilling,” “unsettling,” “righteous”: these are the words critics are using to describe The Dream Hotel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Laila Lalami. In it, a woman lands at LAX, only to be told by customs that she will soon commit a crime. That’s right, soon. They have used data pulled from her dreams to determine that she is a risk to her husband’s safety and must be detained for nearly a month.
Why It’s Worth a Look: If you haven’t read this book yet, listen to me when I tell you this: buy the next copy you come across. Lalami’s novel imparts a message we seem to have failed to internalize from 1984 and Brave New World. Technology isn’t inherently evil, but it could give us the tools needed to be so ourselves.
Shop: Barnes & Noble ($29)
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