SIZZLING BEACH READS

What better way to relax than with a great book, a cold drink and a reclining lounge chair? From Nigeria to Nebraska, Mesopotamia to Mississippi, travel the world without leaving your backyard with the literary itinerary below.

- MARION WINIK

FAST-PACED SATIRE

Plays Well With Others by Sophie Brickman

"Mother Inferior" Anne Lewin is a sassy New York City-based advice columnist who gets completely sucked in by the insanity of the elite kindergarten admissions process. Three kids under 5, a workaholic husband and a vicious, canny archrival add up to hell for her-but heavenly hilarity for readers. $28

FAMILY DRAM-COM

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

Her annual summer week in Cape Cod takes on unusual poignancy for Rocky-partly because of menopause, sure, but also because of the power of her feelings for her aging parents; her adult children; her sweet husband; her cat, Chicken; and a few sad secrets she's lived with for too long. Books with this one's warmth and humor are truly rare. $27

EPIC HISTORICAL FICTION

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Braiding the stories of three narrators over millennia and continents, following the path of a single drop of water, this powerhouse author has poured her soul and her knowledge into a rapturous feat of storytelling. From the shores of the Tigris River in antiquity to a houseboat on the Thames in 2018, immersive adventure beckons. $30

JULY BOOK CLUB PICK

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Brodesser-Akner's follow-up to her hit debut Fleishman Is in Trouble centers on the kidnapping of a wealthy factory owner and the decades of family trauma that follow his return but if anything has ever proven that laughter is the best medicine, it's this book. The saga of the Fletchers in their ritzy Long Island suburb delivers brilliant psychological insight and spot-on cultural context along with dialogue so funny, it hurts. $30

BFF'S ON THE ROAD

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin