10 books you should read in August, including Michael Mann’s Heat 2 and T.J. English’s Dangerous Rhythms

Also check out Scenes From My Life, a moving memoir from late actor Michael K. Williams

By Cat Auer  |  July 28, 2022 | 8:00am
Books News Heat
10 books you should read in August, including Michael Mann’s Heat 2 and T.J. English’s Dangerous Rhythms
Clockwise from bottom left: Complicit (Image: Simon & Schuster), Witches (Image: Catapult), Didn’t Nobody Give A Shit What Happened To Carlotta (Image: Brown), Dangerous Rhythms: Jazz And The Underworld (Image: William Morrow), A Career in Books: A Novel About Friends, Money, and the Occasional Duck Bun (Image: Plume) Graphic: Libby McGuire

Every month, a deluge of new books comes flooding out from big publishers, indie houses, and self-publishing platforms. To help you navigate the wave of titles arriving in August, The A.V. Club has narrowed down the options to 10 of the books we’re most excited about, including an exploration of the ways jazz and the mob intertwined, an on-page follow-up to the on-screen classic Heat, a biography of Man Ray’s muse, and a memoir from the late Michael K. Williams.

previous arrowKiki Man Ray: Art, Love ​​And Rivalry In 1920s Paris next arrow
Kiki Man Ray: Art, Love ​​And Rivalry In 1920s Paris
Image W. W. Norton

Mark Braude (August 9, W.W. Norton) If the only “Kiki de Montparnasse” you are aware of is a lingerie brand, please check out this top-notch, highly readable nonfiction from cultural historian Mark Braude right now. There was a real Kiki, and she’s worth knowing. Born into poverty in 1901 and raised by her grandma in the French countryside, Alice Prin made her way to Paris, where she eventually became Kiki, queen of Montparnasse—no less than the face of an age, a model and muse for many early 20th century artists. Exploring how she managed that—and her complicated relationship with American expat photographer Man Ray—is Braude’s aim. Prin died in 1953, years after peak Kiki, leaving behind a diverse body of work: her 1929 memoir (which she later extensively rewrote)—Hemingway contributed the intro to the original English version; several appearances in silent short films of the 1920s; a recording of her singing ballads in her late chanteuse phase; her own drawings and paintings; and, of course, the many sculptures, photos, and paintings for which she posed. (Someone ping —better late than never.)

6 Comments

  • teageegeepea-av says:
    July 28, 2022 at 4:29 pm

    Real-life Black teen Carrie Johnson, who killed an armed white cop
    entering her home during the capital’s 1919 riots (charges against her
    were ultimately dropped)

    That fits with William Stuntz’ claim about how pro-defendant the criminal justice system was in Gilded Age northern cities (although 1919 is past the Gilded Age and DC isn’t quite the north).

    Reply
  • charliemeadows69420-av says:
    July 28, 2022 at 6:18 pm

    TJ English is the best true crime writer about the Mafia.   Havana Nocturne is a great book.   

    Reply
  • naturalstatereb-av says:
    July 28, 2022 at 9:09 pm

    Not exactly what I’d call an exciting literary month.

    Reply
  • koopatroopastupidkinja-av says:
    July 28, 2022 at 9:41 pm

    New Anthony Marra novel, Memory Pictures Presents, is out Aug. 2. His story collection and previous novel were amazing, so can’t wait for this.

    Reply
  • djclawson-av says:
    July 28, 2022 at 11:50 pm

    What? Nothing about the bi-romantic asexual Obi-Wan book?!?

    Reply

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