The best new books to read in June

Do you have a favorite rocket company? Mine’s the ISRO of India. (I’m writing this with one eye on a live stream as they launch a few more GPS satellites into orbit.)

There are more than a hundred companies in the rocket biz right now. Compared to their private peers at SpaceX and such, the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation exudes no-nonsense, underdog vibes. Their mission control personnel are stoic and middle-aged, decked out in saris and sweater vests instead of flashy matching Dri-Fit polos. They sit at massive computer consoles and announce each stage of the launch on handheld microphones trailing old-school curly landline cords. The ISRO ain’t slick, but it doesn’t matter. Their math is good. The rockets go up.

In his new book, When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach (Ecco, $35, out now), author Ashlee Vance profiles a handful of the industry’s more promising up-and-comers, four American companies just a tier or three below NASA and those billionaire rocketeers.

These littler launchers really embrace their upstart/start-up status, promising to work smarter and cheaper to carry their clients’ payloads into orbit. Like SpaceX was a decade ago, they’re crewed by self-styled mavericks somewhere on the spectrum between “space hippies” and tech bros. They think rockets are cool. They hate red tape. They love to hire one another at bars based on dubious cut-of-your-jib metrics. Kind of a mixed bag inspiration-wise, but their math and rockets are also on point (mostly).

Full of colorful people, risky investments, and teachable explosions, Vance’s book is fascinating from a business standpoint, but it probably won’t spark joy for the wonders of the cosmos.

For some of that, check out Starstruck: A Memoir of Astrophysics and Finding Light in the Dark (Dutton, $29, June 6) by Sarafina El-Badry Nance. An astrophysicist, breast-cancer survivor, and popular social media personality, Nance is all about making space feel accessible and personal through education and engagement. Should help STEM-curious readers feel less alone in the universe.

Stand by for main engine cutoff (and more reading recs)…

Ikemefuna flies into Houston from Lagos to marry a stranger, and half a page after the meet-cute — a deceptively promising scene; she and instant-fiancé Nna smiling at each other over a bowl of spicy porridge yam — we realize she’s in trouble. Her future in-laws, who hail from the same Nigerian village, want grandkids ASAP, and they don’t say so in a playfully nagging kind of way. “You must prove you are fertile before the wedding,” declares the mother-in-law-to-be. Yikes. Twisted and intense, this marvelous debut novel transforms from a domestic drama into a story of secrecy and survival you can’t put down. The Philly-based Adorah Nworah will talk about House Woman at South Philly’s A Novel Idea bookshop on June 9. (Unnamed Press, $28, June 6)

Buy it now on bookshop.org

Within the parameters of “gritty, bloody crime novels,” S.A. Cosby has exhibited hellacious versatility. First there was the guns-and-cars caper of 2020′s Blacktop Wasteland, then the elevated street-vengeance noir of 2021′s Razorblade Tears, and now he’s back with a chilling, terrifying serial killer hunt. All the Sinners Bleed sees gruff and tough Titus Crown — ex-FBI and the first Black sheriff in the history of his close-knit Virginia hometown — navigating a political minefield while getting to the root of some SVU- and Criminal Intent-type nastiness. (Flatiron, $27.99, June 6)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

In British author Claire Fuller’s dreamy, desperate debut, 2015′s Our Endless Numbered Days, an unhinged survivalist dad dragged his daughter into the wilderness to escape an undefined apocalypse. In The Memory of Animals, the doomsday is firmly in focus — a global plague the scientists just can’t keep pace with. Forced to watch the world unravel are twentysomething Neffy and a handful of other human guinea pigs who volunteered for vaccine trials on the eve of destruction. No mere survival story, the novel explores the isolation and grief that comes with outliving the people with whom you have unfinished business. (Tin House, $27.95, June 6)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

Christian Cooper is a 60-year-old Long Island-born, Harvard-educated, “rainbow-queer” Black nerd who’s made his living writing for science magazines and groundbreaking Marvel comics. Unfortunately, he’s also the guy who went to Central Park to look at birds one morning in May of 2020 and had a run-in with a panicky Karen, and that means a lot of people only know him from the resulting viral video. In Better Living Through Birding — part memoir, part window into the delightfully vibrant bird-watching subculture — he invites readers to get to know him a little better, while seeing nature with his unique blend of wonder and worldliness. Cooper’s new series on NatGeo, Extraordinary Birder, starts June 17, and he’ll be at the Parkway Central Library to discuss his book June 27. (Random House, $28, June 13)

Buy it now on bookshop.org

Until recently, thanks to best sellers like last year’s The It Girl, British author Ruth Ware could be confidently classified as “Agatha Christie-esque,” a crafter of slow-burn psychological mysteries. This new one, however — starring a wife-and-husband team who hack corporate security systems for fun and profit — is a total seat-of-your-pants thriller. Will Ware suddenly find herself spinning on an airport rack between Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy? Probably not. But comparisons to The Fugitive are inevitable, as the plot concerns our canny, resourceful heroine trying to evade capture and clear her name following the shocking murder of her spouse. Top-notch beach book. (Gallery/Scout Press, $27.99, June 20)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

Also out this month:

The author of decorated page-turners like The Turnout and Dare Me, returns with a cabin-fever suspense novel laced with menacing Rosemary’s Baby-ish undertones. (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $28, out now)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

This “fever dream of a novel” offers a view of humanity through the eyes of “a queer and dangerously hungry mountain lion” who lives under the Hollywood sign. Read something crazy this summer. (MCD, $25, June 6)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

A young artist must steal back his finest creation — an oversize mechanical tiger — in this cinematic 18th-century heist adventure by the author of 2015′s daring and tragic The Tusk that Did the Damage. (Knopf, $28, June 13)

Buy it now on bookshop.org

After losing her husband (and finding out he was cheating), a young widow takes the life insurance money and runs to the French Riviera to drink wine and get lost in luxury for a while. There will be twists. (Harper, $28.99, June 13)

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

This “time-traveling sci-fi odyssey” about friendship and evil aliens is aimed at fans of Kelly Link and/or Dr. Who. In other words: It’s fun and weird. (Blackstone Publishing, $27.99, June 23)

Buy it now on bookshop.org

In his new book, When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space within Reach (Ecco, $35, out now), author Ashlee Vance profiles a handful of the industry’s more promising up-and-comers, four American companies just a tier or three below NASA and those billionaire rocketeers.

Buy it now on bookshop.org | Borrow it from the Free Library

Check out Starstruck: A Memoir of Astrophysics and Finding Light in the Dark (Dutton, $29, June 6) by Sarafina El-Badry Nance. An astrophysicist, breast-cancer survivor, and popular social media personality, Nance is all about making space feel accessible and personal through education and engagement. Should help STEM-curious readers feel less alone in the universe.

Buy it now on bookshop.org