Going on vacation soon? (I certainly am — in two weeks, actually.) Then you must be thinking of your "summer reading," your "beach reading," or whatever else you call that neglected list taped to the fridge door. Fretting you'll show up with last season's Michael Connelly novel? Let mediabistro.com be of some assistance.
This summer is awash with new releases by media luminaries like Christopher Hitchens and Tina Brown as well as tart little novels by some of the best fiction writers in the business. Don’t be afraid of a little sand between the pages, folks:
God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens (Twelve Books) — Our favorite liver-damaged pundit returns with another in a string of god-damning tomes (see Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, etc.).
The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown (Doubleday) — The controversial former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker takes a swing at the Princess Di tragicomedy.
A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Carl Bernstein (Knopf) — The first lady and presidential frontrunner gets a 640-page treatment from the journalist who helped break Watergate and take down Nixon. (See also Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Jeff Garth and Don Van Natta Jr. [Little, Brown and Company].)
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese) — Yes, it's got "beach" in the title, but it's also the latest novel by one of the best British writers of his generation. Here, the former Booker Prize winner uncovers sexual tension in pre-Beatles England.
Falling Man by Don DeLillo (Scribner) — A harrowing exploration of post-9/11 fallout by the author of White Noise and Underworld.
