Hot new reads for the season
TRANSCRIPTION
by Ben Lerner (Granta, £14.99)
In this latest work by US BEN LERNER author and Pulitzer finalist Ben Lerner, a writer is invited back to his alma mater to interview his former mentor, nonagenarian Thomas. Except he loses his only method of recording the conversation thanks to a dalliance between his smartphone and a hotel sink. Thus begins a story that unfolds across three locations: Hotel Providence, Hotel Villa Real and Hotel Arbez - the last being a venue where, during World War II, Jews were hidden from the Nazis. This coming-of-age tale is also a commentary on screen addiction and the freedoms felt once you let go.
The Director
By Daniel Kehlmann, trans by Ross Benjamin (Quercus, £10.99)
German-Austrian author Daniel Kehlmann's last book, Tyll, tackled the 30 Years War and 2005's Measuring the World DIRECTOR reimagined the lives of two 19th-century scientists. This time he's playing fast and loose with the life of Georg Wilhelm Pabst. The Austrian director fled to Hollywood in 1933 to escape the Nazis, but after a visit home to see his sick mother, Pabst was made an offer by Joseph Goebbels he couldn't refuse. The Director looks at his final film under the Third Reich, which was abandoned mid-filming after liberation. Kehlmann's tale unpacks this moment in history by examining the illustrious lure of the silver screen.
My Lover, the Rabbi
By Wayne Koestenbaum (Granta, £14.99)
To the majority of a small New Jersey congregation, Lover, their rabbi is merely the The leader of their pack. A Rabbi middle-aged, somewhat unkempt and arrogant man. But to our unnamed protagonist, he is so much more. Why? He couldn't say. It is this search for reason in the irrational pit of emotion that guides the narrator, pushing him to seek answers in the rabbi's past. Whatever the rationale that pushes the narrator on, this third novel by queer American author, poet and artist Wayne Koestenbaum sets out to explore a devotion that goes beyond the realms of religion and into psychosexual fixation.
By Danielle Goldstein
This article appears in the Summer 2026 issue of JR.