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July 3, 2026

A much needed breeze ruffles a slightly damp page. Todd Heisler/The New York Times

	By Joumana Khatib

Dear readers,

OK, everyone, what are we reading during this merciless heat wave?

In these temperatures I need a book I can comprehend even when my brain is cooked to the texture of scrambled eggs. So I’ll probably put Hilary Mantel aside for the weekend. But it would be reasonable to let the climate guide your choices. A great hot-weather novel, sultry in all senses, is Deborah Levy’s “Swimming Home,” which captures the madness and feral energy of a languid summer. Prefer something subartic and escapist? Try Julia Phillips’s novel “Disappearing Earth,” set on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.

Of course, there’s always a beach read, whatever that means to you. My colleague Elisabeth Egan wrote about a great selection of books that might fit the bill. I’m eying Mary H.K. Choi’s “Pool House” from that list. If nothing appeals, glance over this list of cold books for hot days and see if any of them catch your interest.

In honor of America’s semiquincentennial (I had to — when else can we use this word?), on the latest podcast the Pulitzer-winning historian Jill Lepore discusses books that can help you understand our current political moment. You can see a snippet of her discussion below. To all who celebrate, have a happy holiday weekend and I’ll see you next week.

The New York Times

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THIS WEEK IN THE BOOK REVIEW

Matt Dorfman; Photo, via Getty Images Ideas Liberals Are Preaching Moral Values. What Took Them So Long? Until recently, the language of morality belonged to social conservatives. But the history of liberalism suggests that values have been at its core all along. By Jennifer Szalai

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THE BOOK REVIEW PODCAST

The Book Review Jill Lepore on What to Read This Fourth of July A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian offers a reading list for America’s 250th birthday. Then we discuss some of the summer’s most anticipated beach reads. 52 MIN LISTEN

ETC.

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Duncan Tonatiuh Children’s Books How Four Children’s Picture Books See America at 250 New works by Christy Mihaly, Carole Boston Weatherford, Howard W. Reeves and Derrick Barnes show that there is still much to celebrate, rebel against and amend. By Abby McGanney Nolan

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