O's Top 20 Books to Read This Summer

In this wily short-fiction debut, characters—often unnamed and gender nonconforming—fumble through disjointed dreamscapes toward (or away from) an understanding of self. In the stunning "Moon Colonies," a group of burnouts hits it big in Atlantic City, only to lose the money before it can change their lives. In "La Gueule de Bois," our narrator awakens transformed not into a cockroach but into wood; in "Jeff," the actress Lily Tomlin propels an emotional breakdown. But while Arndt's stories trade in deep existential mystery—what does it mean to be a human? what does it mean to have a body?—one truth is simple and clear: Hers is a bold new literary voice, borderless and brave.