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Books

Thu Jul 31 2025

Clare Mulroy | Books Reporter

Happy Thursday, booklovers! As August nears, I'm reflecting on a well-read July and hoping the summer slows down enough to get through all the new books on my TBR.

July was packed with impressive new releases about AI consequences, the Idaho murders, seaside inheritance games and Nazi-fighting witch covens. We've got a list of 15 of our favorite new books across genres, but here are a few worth an extra mention:

🤖"Culpability" by Bruce Holsinger: Oprah loved this one, too . A gripping family drama, the book centers on the fallout of a fatal car crash involving a family driving an automated car. How much are they responsible for? How far can we blame artificial intelligence?

🍷"Maggie; Or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar" by Katie Yee: It sounds like the start to a joke, but it's actually the heart-wrenching end of a marriage. Yee packs a serious punch in barely 200 pages on motherhood, infidelity, interracial marriages and aging.

⚓"A Marriage at Sea" by Sophie Elmhirst: Narrative nonfiction lovers: This true story of a shipwrecked couple is guaranteed to be your next obsession. Maralyn and Maurice Bailey's journey of being stranded at sea is a gripping ode to survival and hope.

Inspired to pick up a new book? Challenge yourself to our summer bingo giveaway and you could win a $100 gift card to Bookshop.org. Your job is to match your reads to our bingo board, which includes categories like "whodunit mystery," "music as a major element" and "has 'beach' in the title."

What did you read and love this month? Let me know what you're reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com or reach me on Instagram. Thanks for reading USA TODAY Books this week.