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June 2, 2026

The New York Times

	By Joumana Khatib

Dear readers,

Here they are: the novels everyone will be reading this season, and the nonfiction we think will be similarly popular. (Last Friday’s newsletter did not include links to these lists. Mea culpa.)

To add to that bounty, here are 28 books coming in June — yes, we are somehow in June already — including novels by Andrew Sean Greer and Maggie O’Farrell, political reportage, memoirs by Jill Biden and Laverne Cox, and more.

I’m particularly keen on “Whistler,” the latest novel by Ann Patchett, about a chance encounter at the Met between a woman and her beloved stepfather after decades apart. Though our reviewer notes the principal characters are rather “sparkly” — “Bel Canto,” Patchett’s masterpiece about a birthday party that ends in a hostage situation, this is not — they animate a kind and generous story about our deepest bonds. I’ll take it.

See you on Friday.

LOOKING FOR YOUR NEXT BOOK TO READ?

The New York Times The Novels Everyone Will Be Reading This Summer New fiction from Maggie O’Farrell, Ann Patchett, Colson Whitehead, Silvia Moreno-Garcia and much more.

The New York Times The Nonfiction Everyone Will Be Reading This Summer Memoirs, histories, true crime, investigations and much more.

Editors’ Choice 7 New Books We Love This Week Reading recommendations from critics and editors at The New York Times.

Pablo Amargo The Hit Man Who Owns a Radio Station, and Other Riveting Crime Novels Our critic on four terrific new mysteries. By Sarah Weinman

RECENT BOOK REVIEWS

Fiction This Modern Fable Uses ‘Uncle Remus’ to Reclaim Black History In “Rabbit, Fox, Tar,” a white neighborhood’s local election is complicated when a mysterious, dark-skinned woman suddenly appears in town. By Mateo Askaripour

Fiction Her Clone Is Finally Coming Home. Should They Merge Back Into One? In her book “Sublimation,” Isabel J. Kim reimagines the dilemmas of immigration through a science fiction story about scheming clones. By Daniel Nieh

Nonfiction How the Gilded Age Economy Broke the World In “1873,” the historian and financier Liaquat Ahamed traces the political consequences of booming markets that left a lot of people behind. By Trevor Jackson

Nonfiction Inside the Mind of the ‘Man Who Read Everything’ A collection of Harold Bloom’s letters details the working life of one of America’s most influential intellects. By Dwight Garner

Fiction Maggie O’Farrell Draws a New Map of 19th-Century Ireland Set in the decades after the Great Hunger, “Land” is a rich portrait of family life amid Ireland’s long struggle against British rule. By Fiona Mozley

Fiction His Grandfather Was a Spy. Obviously, He Wrote a Novel About It. “The Fire Agent,” by David Baerwald, is a historical novel that spans two continents and world wars. By Dan Fesperman

Nonfiction The Many Revolutions That Almost Freed Iran In a quietly devastating new book, two journalists chart the protest movements fighting for change inside the country. By Reza Aslan

Fiction Go West, Young Neurodivergent Man Josh Weil’s new novel follows an autistic trapper on an odyssey during the California gold rush. By Hamilton Cain

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