Gonna need a bigger bookcase

SUMMER WAS MADE for slow, languid days and stories that linger long after the final page. We've curated 20 of the upcoming season's standout titles. Yearning for a seaside Italian affair? An investigative journalist's page-turner that reads like a thriller? Maybe a laugh-out-loud political satire or a moody mystery set in the heart of Paris? Perhaps you might want to time-travel to Eve Babitz's glamorous and gritty Los Angeles, or bite into a high-octane adventure. Pour yourself a cold drink, here are our book reviewers' selections to start planning your hot summer stack.

- Sophia Kercher

NOVELS

RASPUTIN SWIMS THE POTOMAC
By Ben Fountain
Flatiron
June 9

Fountain’s 2012 hit novel “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” is a masterpiece of satire, and somehow, he’s managed to do it again. In his latest book — which is very difficult to condense into a short item, but let’s try — tells the story of a U.S. president and reality show star seeking a third term in office, but whose campaign is threatened by a mysterious illness sweeping the nation that causes people to break out weeping. There's also a reporter named Clarence Thomas Jr., an ex-country music star with a White House job, and the titular pro wrestler, who might have paranormal powers. It’s a lot, for sure, but Fountain pulls it off with his gleefully absurd sense of humor. — Michael Schaub

YELLOW PINE
By Claire Vaye Watkins
Riverhead Books
July 21

Rose, the hero of Watkins’ third novel, is torn. How much of her life does she dedicate to domesticity, now that she’s reunited with her ex, Miles? And how much does she dedicate to Nothingness Flats, her home in the Mojave Desert that’s being uprooted and flattened for the sake of a massive solar array? Watkins’ story thrives in exposing the dilemmas that climate change has increasingly forced us into, and she writes with a wisdom that’s informed by classic books about desert life — Edward Abbey, Joy Williams, Ben Ehrenreich and more all get name-checked — alongside her own lyrical observations about the complex desert ecosystem. — Mark Athitakis

BEGINNING MIDDLE END
By Valeria Luiselli
Knopf
July 28