'Trespassers at the Golden Gate: A True Account of Love, Murder, and Madness in Gilded-Age San Francisco'
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Summer's here, and that means you can read -- whatever you want. This list of books we're looking forward to in the coming months is certainly not comprehensive, and it's purposely democratic. If summer provides a little more time, most people want to use it to dig in to their preferred style, whether that's deep history, clock-stopping thrillers, introspective fiction or sunny romances. So here's to taking unnecessary limits off the term "beach read." Enjoy the season. (Some of these books are out already. For those that aren't, we've listed their expected publication date.)
'Allies at War: How the Struggles Between the Allied Powers Shaped the War and the World'
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By Tim Bouverie
History | This volume charts the fraught relationships among the United States, the Soviet Union and other Allied countries during World War II. Drawing on extensive archival research, Bouverie shows how these nations came together and captures some of the conflicts that almost drove them apart. (Crown, June 10)
'Atmosphere'
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By Taylor Jenkins Reid
Fiction | The author of "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" and "Daisy Jones & the Six" takes readers on another emotional journey back in time. When Joan Goodwin becomes one of the first female scientists in NASA's space shuttle program in the early 1980s, she's living a dream she couldn't have imagined. But when a mission goes awry, she'll have to recruit all her knowledge and courage to thwart disaster. (Ballantine, June 3)
'The Boy From the Sea'
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By Garrett Carr
Fiction | In 1973, a baby washes ashore in small-town Ireland, dramatically changing the tight-knit fishing community there in the years that follow. Carr's first novel for adults -- after a trilogy for young adults and a work of nonfiction -- received praise in Britain when it was published there earlier this year. The Guardian said the story gets at "deep strands of truth by embedding the magic in the real and never letting the reader lose sight of either." (Knopf)
'Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America'
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By Sam Tanenhaus
Biography | This long-awaited biography captures the man who did as much as anyone to define American conservatism in the second half of the 20th century. In novelistic detail, Tanenhaus writes of Buckley's privileged childhood and education, his founding of the influential magazine National Review, his more than 30 years hosting the weekly TV show "Firing Line," and his ideas about government that changed the country. (Random House, June 3)
'The Catch'
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By Yrsa Daley-Ward
Fiction | Daley-Ward, a poet, model and actor who collaborated with Beyoncé on the film "Black Is King," is now a novelist as well. Her debut is about twin sisters, Clara and Dempsey, who are each adopted by different families after their mother disappears in London in 1995. Decades later, Clara believes she sees her mother -- though she hasn't aged. (Liveright, June 3)
'Checked Out'
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By Katie Fricas
Graphic novel | Retail worker Louise longs to finish her graphic novel about World War I carrier pigeons, and when she lands a job in a private library, she thinks she might have the chance. Fricas's willfully crude cartooning perfectly captures both the desire to make art and the messiness of living an artistic life. (Drawn and Quarterly)
'Collisions: A Physicist's Journey From Hiroshima to the Death of the Dinosaurs'
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By Alec Nevala-Lee
Science | If 2023's "Barbenheimer" summer is feeling too far in the rearview mirror, you can recapture some of the "-enheimer" half in this biography of the American physicist Luis W. Alvarez. He worked on the Manhattan Project and measured the blast at Hiroshima from an observation aircraft above the city. He also, to much controversy, proposed the theory that an asteroid strike killed off the dinosaurs. (W.W. Norton, June 10)
'The Dark Maestro'
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By Brendan Slocumb
Thriller | Like his previous novels, "The Violin Conspiracy" and "Symphony of Secrets," the latest from Slocumb is set in the world of music. The story revolves around Curtis Wilson, who, growing up in Washington, D.C., found solace in reading comic books and playing the cello. His musical prowess takes him far, but in this fast-paced thriller, Wilson gets caught up in his father's criminal past and is forced to make sacrifices to stay alive. (Doubleday)
'The Doorman'
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By Chris Pavone
Thriller | The doorman of the title is Chicky Diaz, who works at a ritzy New York apartment building called the Bohemia. He knows all. Diaz remains discreet and polite, even as he feels lesser-than amid the wealth and celebrity of the Bohemia's residents. Diaz is also a former Marine, and that training comes in handy when violence erupts in the city and he is called on to do more than open doors. (MCD)
'The Dry Season'
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By Melissa Febos
Memoir | After a bruising breakup that capped years of ill-fated relationships, Febos decided to take an extended vacation from romantic love. The author of "Whip Smart" and "Girlhood" documents the year she spent solo, exploring how her disavowal of one type of attachment strengthened her many other bonds, including the one with herself. (Knopf, June 3)
'Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI'
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By Karen Hao
Current affairs | In this timely work of reporting, veteran technology journalist Hao turns a critical eye on OpenAI, the company leading the large language model revolution, while also telling the inside story of the chaos that almost engulfed it. Hao also surveys the environmental impacts of chatbots and analyzes where these technologies might be taking us. (Penguin Press)
'The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780'
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By Rick Atkinson
History | Atkinson follows his widely acclaimed "The British Are Coming" (2019) with the second volume of his planned trilogy about the American Revolution. The action picks up with George Washington and the Continental Army exhausted but determined, and on the British side, King George III and Gen. William Howe worried about the war's increasing cost and attrition. Along the way, the conflict becomes a global one. (Crown)
'The First Gentleman'
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By Bill Clinton and James Patterson
Thriller | The third thriller co-written by Patterson and the former president once again focuses on the highest office in the land. This time, the country's first female president is seeking reelection. Meanwhile, her husband, a former NFL player, is on trial for murder. (Little, Brown/Knopf, June 2)
'Great Black Hope'
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By Rob Franklin
Fiction | This debut is written across a large social canvas. In its opening scenes, Smith, a queer Black man not long removed from graduating at Stanford, is arrested in the Hamptons for possessing 0.7 grams of cocaine. He goes to Atlanta, his hometown, to get away from trouble, and then back to New York. All the while, Franklin writes about race, class and family expectations in America. (Summit, June 10)
'The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich'
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By Evan Osnos
Current affairs | Osnos takes readers on a tour through the age of oligarchy in this collection of his articles for the New Yorker. In the title essay, he examines the politics of the world's biggest privately owned boats with dizzying scope. Throughout, he pulls back the curtain on other aspects of the lives of the super-rich, showing how they're reshaping our world to their own benefit. (Scribner, June 3)
'Hotel Ukraine'
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By Martin Cruz Smith
Thriller | The beloved Russian homicide detective Arkady Renko, who first appeared in Cruz's "Gorky Park" in 1981, returns one last time, in a book set during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A diplomat has been killed at a hotel in Moscow, possibly attacked by two assailants. Renko joins forces with an American journalist to find the truth. (Simon & Schuster, July 8)
'King of Ashes'
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By S.A. Cosby
Thriller | Few thriller writers in recent years have ascended as quickly as Cosby. In The Post, Richard Lipez described him as "one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction." His latest, which his publisher describes as "'Godfather'-inspired," involves a man who returns to his Virginia home after his father is in an accident to find his family being threatened by dangerous criminals. (Flatiron, June 10)
'Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar'
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By Katie Yee
Fiction | In this novel, a woman newly diagnosed with cancer strikes up a conversation with her tumor -- and names it after the woman with whom her husband is having an affair. A study in heartbreak and survival, Yee's book stands out as one of the most unusual literary debuts of the summer. (Summit, July 22)
'Misbehaving at the Crossroads'
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By Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Essays | Jeffers had a breakout hit in 2021 with her novel "The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois," one of The Post's 10 Best Books that year. Her new collection of essays is animated by the same capacious interest in the history of Black women, from colonial times and earlier up to the present day. Some of the book's most powerful writing is about her own family. (Harper, June 24)
'The Original Daughter'
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By Jemimah Wei
Fiction | Growing up in a one-bedroom apartment in 1990s Singapore, Genevieve gets a surprise: a new sister, adopted by her parents and a living reminder of her grandfather's deception. Over the years, Genevieve and the younger Arin bond as they strive for greatness; but only one of them makes it, complicating their connection. (Doubleday)
'One Golden Summer'
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By Carley Fortune
Romance | Fortune's latest bestseller is about Alice, a successful but burning-out photographer who takes her ailing grandmother to a lake cottage so both of them can recuperate. It's a place where Alice had spent very meaningful time as a teenager, and as an adult she remeets Charlie, someone from that earlier time who might have more to offer her now. (Berkley)
'Problematic Summer Romance'
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By Ali Hazelwood
Romance | Four months after releasing her most recent bestseller, "Deep End," the prolific Hazelwood is back. This time, sparks fly between a 20-something grad student and her brother's best friend, a successful tech executive who's pushing 40 and claims he has no interest in her. Yeah, right. (Berkley)
'Simplicity'
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By Mattie Lubchansky
Graphic novel | In the year 2081, anthropologist Lucius Pasternak leaves the walled city of New York to investigate an intentional community that has been thriving in the Catskills since well before the collapse of the United States decades before. Lubchansky's cartoonishly dynamic visual style belies a growing sense of dread as Pasternak tries to make sense of the people he's come to study and the world beyond their sanctuary. (Pantheon, July 29)
'Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson'
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By Claire Hoffman
Biography | Aimee Semple McPherson, a charismatic and wildly popular evangelist, disappeared in 1926. When she reappeared weeks later, she claimed she had been kidnapped. But had she? This is among the questions Hoffman explores in her engaging and deeply researched biography of a larger-than-life and largely forgotten figure who pioneered the megachurch. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
'The Slip'
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By Lucas Schaefer
Fiction | In the summer of 1998, 16-year-old Nathaniel Rothstein discovers a boxing gym and finally starts to come out of his shell. But then he vanishes. A decade later, his uncle begins a search for answers, taking him to strange places where he'll meet even stranger characters. This is a bold, provocative debut in which nearly everyone is trying to escape (or blur) their identity. (Simon & Schuster, June 3)
'Sunny Side Up'
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By Katie Sturino
Romance | Sturino is a body-acceptance advocate and the founder of beauty brand Megababe. Sunny Greene, the plus-size 35-year-old narrator of her debut novel, brings her message of positivity to fiction. Recently divorced, Sunny is determined to move into the next phase of her life -- which includes juggling several potential relationships -- with confidence. (Celadon, June 24)
'Trespassers at the Golden Gate: A True Account of Love, Murder, and Madness in Gilded-Age San Francisco'
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By Gary Krist
True crime | Early one evening in November 1870, A.P. Crittenden, an attorney and politician, was shot by his lover, Laura Fair. Krist's gripping book explores the scandal that led to the killing and the trials that ensued, while also delving into the social history of 19th-century Northern California as it underwent dramatic change. (Crown)
'Vera, or Faith'
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By Gary Shteyngart
Fiction | The reliably entertaining and incisive Shteyngart returns with the story of a family narrated by 10-year-old Vera, who observes her Russian Jewish father, WASP mother and older brother in a near-future America. Vera's desire to meet her Korean biological mother is just one strand of the book's interest in identity and what it means to belong in an increasingly divided country. (Random House, July 8)
'When the Harvest Comes'
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By Denne Michele Norris
Fiction | Everett, an accomplished violist, has just married the man of his dreams when he learns that his estranged father -- a severe reverend -- has been in a terrible car accident. That event forces Everett into a confrontation with his past as he tries to make sense of the man who raised him and the person he is now. (Random House)
'Whites'
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By Mark Doten
The Post called Doten's novel "Trump Sky Alpha" (2019) a "tour de force of vicious satire" and "speculative fiction as burning ring of fire." The author pulls just as few punches and experiments just as wildly in this collection of stories that attempt to capture the more demented and dismaying aspects of Americans at one another's throats and terminally online. (Graywolf, Aug. 19)