Summer is nigh, and with it relaxing hours to be filled, a page at a time, on the beach, by the pool, or in air-conditioned comfort. The season’s literary releases offer promising options for every setting and inclination: a heart-pounding mystery from Rachel Howzell Hall; a hip-hop history lesson from Questlove; and multigenerational tales of Los Angeles luchadores and, on Long Island, polystyrene magnates.
There are memoirs from Dr. Anthony Fauci, artist Anna Marie Tendler, and not one but two men whose lives intersected meaningfully with Joan Didion’s. Debut novels arrive from film producer Essie Chambers and Palestinian journalist Yasmin Zaher. And if it’s not hot enough, author Casey McQuiston is back with a romance they call their “spiciest” yet, and memoirist Glynnis MacNicol recounts how a few months in postpandemic Paris helped her get her groove back.