Nothing says “summer’s here!” than reading near a body of water. And what qualifies as a beach read has evolved to include more than romances and thrillers.
From histories on New York’s 1960s art scene and the making of the film “Sunset Boulevard” to biographies on James Baldwin, Clint Eastwood and Bruce Lee, to gripping memoirs from Miriam Toews and Molly Jong-Fast, there’s something from every nonfiction genre. Meanwhile, our fiction picks include books with alternate timelines, ones that blur the boundaries between what’s imagined and what’s real and multiple dark academia novels.
Here are 30 upcoming books — publishing between late May and September — recommended by regular Times critics.
"Memories That Smell Like Gasoline" by David Wojnarowicz. Nightboat Books (June 24)
Nightboat Books is an extremely important publisher, and it crowdfunded the publication of this book by artist Wojnarowicz, who died in 1992. “Memories That Smell like Gasoline” is a hybrid book of art and text that reflects Wojnarowicz’s experience of the AIDS epidemic. I can’t get enough of his work. Like “Dear Jean Pierre,” published by Primary Information, I’m so glad that independent publishers are here to make sure Wojnarowicz’s work, which feels like it could’ve been written yesterday, is never forgotten.