Much-anticipated, curious, or simply thrilling, here are some new and notable books out this month.

A Gut Reaction: A True Story About a Mother’s Fight to Save her Son’s Life and his Amazing Recovery from Crohn’s Disease (Inanna Press) by Sky Curtis — This is a true story about Curtis and her son’s battle against his life-threatening Crohn’s disease. Odds are overcome with the aid of the Internet and two “unusual” doctors, and Curtis’s relentless quest helped to create a new protocol for the treatment of Crohn’s disease. Release Date: July 1, 2013

Further Adventures in Monochrome (Copper Canyon) by John Yau — Yau believes  “true poets and artists know where language ends, which is why they go there.” His new collection of poetry challenges those limits of language in a theme dealing with the problems of aging, meaning, and identity. Release Date: July 3, 2013

The Problem with Pleasure: Modernism and Its Discontents (Columbia UP) by Laura Frost — The role of pleasure takes centre stage in this ambitious re-examination of high/low cultures, with a wide variety of academic, historical and contemporary pop culture examples presenting pleasure or “unpleasure’s” importance in shaping both entertainment and intellectual experiences. Release Date: July 9, 2013

The Hare (New Directions) by César Aira, translated by Nick Caistor — Argentine author César Aira’s whimsical tale about a search for an elusive magical hare turns unexpectedly into a clever gaze at human language, culture, and emotions.  Release Date: July 25, 2013

Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists (Penguin) by Kay Larson — Where the Heart Beats reveals the inner life of famous composer John Cage — specifically, his tremendous struggle for self-acceptance. The peace he found through Zen Buddhism resulted in exciting musical developments that turned him into a force to be reckoned with in American music history. Release Date: July 30, 2013