Looking Ahead: August Books on My Radar

September and October are the months of many book lists, but that doesn't mean August doesn't have its fair share of interesting-looking reads. A few on my radar (all links go to Indiebound):

Barbara the Slut and Other People: Stories, by Lauren Holmes: The stories in Holmes' debut collection are strange and wonderful, exploring the many forms that sex and intimacy can take. (On sale today!; Riverhead Books; full review to come in Shelf Awareness)

Multiply/Divide: On the American Real and Surreal, by Wendy S. Walters: Walters' collection spans fiction and nonfiction in a series of short pieces that reflect on the culture of place in America today--including race relations. It's fascinating, well-written, speculative at times, strange at others, and really excellent. (August 11; Sarabande Books; full review to come in Shelf Awareness)

The Automobile Club of Egypt, by Alaa Al Aswany: Aswany's novel is epic in scope: dozens of characters pepper hundreds of pages. It can take a while for their stories to become clear, but when they do, the strife of a group of oppressed workers at the Automobile Club of Egypt in 1950s Cairo stands as a microcosm for the greater political upheavals on the horizon in the country as a whole. (August 18th; Knopf)

Zeroes, by Chuck Wendig: Wendig's books are always a riot to read, and Zeroes was no exception. This fast-paced hacker thriller/suspense packs big questions about privacy and digital rights in with clever little nerd quips. (August 18th; Harper Voyager; full review to come in Shelf Awareness)

The Beautiful Bureaucrat, by Helen Phillips: Phillips slim book is eerily weird, as the heroine of the story accepts a job processing numbers from files in a strange, dimensionless office building where her boss is simply the "The Person with Bad Breath." (August 11th; Henry Holt; full review--and giveaway!--to come next week)

A Window Opens, by Elisabeth Egan: I grabbed a copy of Egan's book at BEA this year, and the first fifty pages promise a rollicking tale of a books editor (perhaps inspired by the author's own experience as books editor at Glamour magazine) trying to do it all and realizing it just isn't possible. (August 25th; Simon & Schuster)

Bright Lines, by Tanwi Nandini Islam: The publisher description says this: "A vibrant debut novel, set in Brooklyn and Bangladesh, follows three young women and one family struggling to make peace with secrets and their past." Family drama, two different countries, coming of age struggles: yes, this, please. (August 11th; Penguin)

In a Dark, Dark Wood, by Ruth Ware: Featured at the BEA "Buzz Books" panel, this is the first of two titles to kick off a new literary press, Scout Press Books. It sounds like a creepy, twisted psychological thriller: perhaps something along the lines of Tana French? Only time will tell. (On sale today; Scout Press Books)

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What are you looking forward to reading this month?