July 2024 Book Releases
you'd think my summer reads would be much, much lighter than they have been
Hello readers! It’s time for another monthly release newsletter ~ yay! Get out your reading journal, Goodreads, library catalog, etc and prepare to vastly expand your TBR with these titles releasing in July 2024. Remember that the Saturday edition of this publication is always available for all readers ~ I am so happy you have welcomed me into your inbox ♡
Before we dive in today, just a programming note that I will not be landing in your inbox next week. I will be traveling north for my annual sibling get together at my sister’s, and I know many of you will also be away from inboxes ~ let’s all take a little break! I’ll be back on Tuesday, July 9th for paid subscribers and Saturday July 13th for everyone!
Touch Some Grass …. or Fabric or Berries
Speaking of taking a little break from the screen and inboxes, I can always tell when I’m spending too much time on my laptop because I feel a visceral pull to create tangible art. I love to write and I love to spend hours down bookish rabbit holes online, but recently I found that between my newsletter work and an online class I was teaching, laptop time was dominating my (summer!) days. That’s so out of line with my vision of a life lived with my values and priorities in order, so I immediately set out to remedy things.
One of my summer goals was to master the art of freeform fabric piecing with my quilting scraps. Not paper piecing, no patterns, and randomness at the heart of the design. Well, I spent several periods over the course of a few days deep into a flow state piecing fabric scraps from the graduation quilt I made for the oldest ….. and created a Kindle / book pouch to send to her! I’m so happy that I finally tackled this form of quilting and I plan to start working on an entire quilt using this technique. Art takes so many forms, but I feel the most free when just allowed to …… go. Go where the colors and patterns take me. Use beloved prints I remember from former projects. And most of all, create 100% one-of-a-kind designs.
Another summer project I try to fit in most years is making strawberry jam. In the past I used to prioritize strawberry picking as well, but it just didn’t happen this year and I’m totally okay with that ~ I was able to get the same berries from a farmer selling out of his truck in a parking lot ☺ I just make the Sure.Jell freezer jam recipe and it’s truly ridiculously easy, yet making jam (and applesauce!) always makes me feel exactly like I’m living in my favorite movie (what? why?) of my childhood. The youngest and I recently spent one rainy afternoon making jam and it brought me so much joy.
→ I encourage you to make something tangible this summer ~ whatever makes you happy ♡
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Content sent to paid subscribers this week:
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Favorite Substack Read This Week
This essay by
about being nostalgic for now and my very favorite book of the summer so far is just. perfection. I actually wrote a piece called Already Nostalgic for Now back in October ~ how on trend! Sara writes so eloquently about why Sandwich by is about parenting and caring for parents, but really about so so so much more, and is beloved by even those of us who hate parenting books.July 2024 Releases on My Radar
Yet again, in addition to highlighting below the July releases that I have already read and enjoyed, I also created a collection on Bookshop.org1 of all of the releases that I have on my radar for this month. Please head on over to take a look if you want a visual feast of all of the bountiful goodness that July 2024 shall bring book lovers! There are FIFTY-SIX (56!) books on the list ~ three pages of titles!!! I’m such a visual shopper when it comes to books and I wanted to provide you with an easy (pretty) way to see all the covers AND be able to click through for descriptions and release dates. Enjoy!
Please note that this collection is not an inclusive list of all July 2024 releases ~ it just includes the titles that I have already read or that I actually want to read and will seek copies of in the future.
My July 2024 Release Recommendations
I didn’t race to read a bunch of July releases this past month, but instead have been slowly enjoying them over the past month? Why? Well, I accidentally thought some of these released in prior months, and was surprised to see July release dates when I went to include them in the the release highlights for those earlier months - ha! This is a pretty eclectic collection and starkly antithetical to my statement that I love to read mostly light and frothy books in the summer. Yes, there are two romances, but there are also suicidal thoughts, ghosts, dysfunctional families, addiction, and multiple deaths and mysteries to round things out. Maybe my summer reading tastes are changing!?
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore ~ the woods have never felt more ominous than while reading this summer camp and dysfunctional family mystery told in multiple timelines | read my full review | July 2
The Wedding People by Alison Espach ~ yes, it does start with a planned suicide, but I promise it’s actually funny and heartfelt | read my full review | July 30
The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan ~ what? a book set in MAINE!? You don’t say. My new favorite from the author. With ghosts and so much history. | read my full review | July 2
The Same Bright Stars by Ethan Joella ~ a quiet beautiful story of a middle aged restaurant owner trying to decide whether or not to finally let go ~ beachy cover, but set over the course of a year | read my full review | July 2
Until Next Summer by Ali Brady ~ a cute, heartfelt and at times spicy story of a summer camp ~ for grown-ups! | read my full review | July 9
Business Casual by B.K. Borison ~ #4 in my favorite Lovelight Farms series ~ I’m so happy Berkley brought these books to traditional publishing | read my full review | July 16
It’s Elementary by Elise Bryant ~ a modern cozy mystery set in the world of a single mom navigating the elementary school PTA social circle ~ so much fun | read my full review | July 9
→ Remember that if you are not in a position to purchase any of these books, you can request that your public library purchase them! And often the person who requests the purchase gets to be the first to read when they arrive ☺
Have you read any of these books? Have any of them on your TBR? Let me know!
And remember ~ all of these great June reads are available now!
That’s all for this week ~ thanks for reading!
I love to hear from readers, so please do reach out to me with questions or feedback at mindfullibrarian@substack.com . If we aren’t already connected on Goodreads, I would love to see you there as well!
If you purchase a book from my Bookshop.org collection, I will earn a tiny bit of money if I ever hit the threshold that Bookshop will actually pay out at. I shall not become rich from you shopping from my collection, but I merely used the platform to create an easy way for you to see and learn about all the titles in one visually appealing place that supports independent bookstores.
I have a few July releases on my summer TBR, I can’t wait to read them very soon! Your quilting is very inspiring, I’ve wanted to learn how to quilt for awhile but haven’t found a teacher yet…can I teach myself? And I’m not a jam maker, but in the Fall, I make heaps of applesauce to eat throughout the year!
The jam looks amazing. My grandmother always had homemade strawberry jam ready to go and we all called it (and still call it!) “red stuff” - it was childhood staple. Thanks for the July book tips!