What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in July

Writers and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

Dreaming of Dead People by Rosalind Belben review – rivals anything by Virginia Woolf

More than 40 years on from its first publication, this exploration of one woman’s thoughts and fantasies is a gem worthy of rediscovery

When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén review – a novel anyone will take to heart

A huge hit in Sweden, this portrait of one man and his dog as the end approaches is a simple yet effective meditation on mortality, love and care

This year’s Booker prize longlist looks in new directions

Former winner Kiran Desai leads a varied field, while Alan Hollinghurst misses out

The Fathers by John Niven review – class satire with grit

Two fortysomething Glaswegians from either side of the tracks form an unlikely friendship in this comic melodrama

Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart review – is this the future for America?

Set a decade from now, this coming-of-age caper offers a child’s-eye view of family troubles in a ‘post-democracy’ USA

The stranger in a strange place is an enduring narrative in Australian fiction. But what if the crime scene is a whole continent?

In my new novel The Leap, there is no single mystery to solve, no killer to track down. Just deliberately forgotten truths about racism, massacres and hatred

More sex please, we’re bookish: the rise of the x-rated novel

From the Women’s prize to the bestseller lists, authors are pushing the boundaries of how explicit the novel can be – and readers can’t get enough

‘A novel to be swept away by’: Lucy Steeds wins Waterstones debut fiction prize for The Artist

Judges praised the novel, set in 1920s Provence, for its ‘atmospheric, sensory prose’ and described Steeds as ‘an exciting new voice’

What Kept You? by Raaza Jamshed review – an extraordinary debut full of ritual and poetry

A young woman grapples with the stories that shape her in this tightly crafted and complex portrayal of grief and growing up

Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis audiobook review – a sharp comedy about Islamic State brides

Sarah Slimani’s droll delivery is the perfect fit for this hilarious Women’s prize-shortlisted debut, in which an academic embarks on a UN mission in Iraq

Siang Lu wins Miles Franklin award for Ghost Cities, ‘a genuine landmark in Australian literature’

Author, who takes home $60,000, says finding out he won Australia’s most esteemed literary prize left him ‘in such shock that I lost all feeling in my hands and legs’

Drayton and Mackenzie by Alexander Starritt review – a warmly comic saga of male friendship

This tale of two entrepreneurs dips into the perspectives of real-life tech moguls, with thrilling results

Groundwater by Thomas McMullan review – a lesson in foreboding

A sense of menace hangs over a couple’s attempt to make a fresh start in lakeside seclusion, but the tensions too often sputter out

Father Figure by Emma Forrest review – a slippery tale of teenage obsession

Bristling with sexual, political and emotional angst, this finely tuned coming-of-age tale thrives on the grey areas of adolescence