Hot book titles to take to the beach

All summer reading lists by book editors are, in the end, exercises in vanity and folly. They will always be judged by values extrinsic to the books themselves. They're resented because they fail to reflect the full spectrum of human diversity, aspiration and wisdom. 'He doesn't read enough women/black/LGBT authors.” Oh, well. You can't please everyone.

Meanwhile, we need to carry something to the beach, so we put up with these lists as a necessary evil. The following is a far from comprehensive list of books you should consider picking up this summer or into early fall. They reflect my interests, so, for what it's worth:

'Go Set a Watchman” by Harper Lee is the most anticipated novel of the year, a sequel to 'To Kill a Mockingbird, the most popular American novel of the past century. Lee wrote the book in the 1950s, well before 'Mockingbird,” but set it aside; the manuscript was discovered in her papers and brought to market. It claimed the No. 1 spot on Amazon in preorders shortly after its publication was announced earlier this year. When released next month, it will generate Harry Potter-like numbers and unbelievable levels of hype. I suspect it will also be well-written and worth the half-century wait.

'Seveneves” by Neal Stephenson. Here's the scenario: One night the moon is shining brightly on the horizon, then it is gone. An inexplicable cosmic explosion leaves seven giant fragments in its place. That's merely frightening, but the 'Hard Rain” that follows a few months later will be the beginning of an extinction event that will last for thousands of years and make the surface of Earth uninhabitable.

So an international effort is hatched to launch a remnant of humanity to the stars in search of a new home. 'Seveneves” is an exhilarating, if exhaustively detailed, science fiction novel about how mankind takes the next step in evolution. Available now.

'Dreams to Remember: Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul” by Mark Ribowsky is the primer on soul music we've all be waiting for. Had he not been killed in a plane crash a mere five years into his career, Otis Redding might have achieved the musical holy grail of combining soul, folk and rock.

Redding recorded his biggest hit, 'Sitting (On the Dock of the Bay),” two days before he died. Ribowsky makes a good case that this was the direction he was ultimately headed in after a round of throat surgery limited his ability to sing at his old range. Available now.

'Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe” by Lori Jakiela. If there's a better memoirist in Pittsburgh than Lori Jakiela, I'll be amazed. Her last book, 'The Bridge to Take When Things Get Serious,” was perhaps the funniest and most poignant book I've read by a local writer in a decade. 'Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe” is Jakiela's exploration of what it means to be adopted. It is beautifully rendered, heartbreaking, funny and hopeful in every way it has to be. Available in August.

'Sick in the Head: Conversations about Life and Comedy” by Judd Apatow. The comedian/screenwriter/director collects interviews he has conducted with comedians over two decades under one cover, and it is a stunner. It turns out that Apatow is a comedy Zelig who somehow managed to get into the room with every major comic of the last 50 years. Available June 16.

'How to Be Drawn” by Terrance Hayes. Sure, you say you hate poetry, but that's because you haven't given yourself a chance to be in the company of a certified master like Terrance Hayes, the South Carolina native who has made Pittsburgh his home. His latest collection is astonishing in its range and flair for experimentation. Every poem is both brave and beautiful and devoid of false lines and intentions. Available now.

'Hip-Hop Family Tree, Book 3: 1983-1984” by Ed Piskor. The third installment of local cartoonist Ed Piskor's brilliantly illustrated history of early hip-hop drops in August. His legion of fans can hardly wait. This is where we get the Munhall native's take on the Beastie Boys, Run DMC, the Fat Boys and all the other heroes that made 1983-1984 one of the most important years in rap history.

'The Wright Brothers” by David McCullough. If you want to understand that peculiar strain of American genius that made the Wright Brothers' flight at Kitty Hawk an inevitability, and not just a possibility, this book by the Pittsburgh native is essential reading. Available now.

'Natural Born Heroes: How a Daring Band of Misfits Mastered the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance” by Christopher McDougall. The best-selling author of 'Born to Run,” the tome that, for better or worse, set off the barefoot running craze a few years ago, is back with another wide-ranging exploration of human potential. This time McDougall uses the 'miraculous” abduction of a Nazi general by misfit Allied officers and irrepressible Greek resistance fighters during the occupation of Crete as the backdrop to this fast-paced sermon on the joys of natural movement. Prepare to do lots of googling of 'parkour” and 'freerunning” after reading this inspiring, but terrifying book. This is perfect reading for the beach. Available now.

'Loving Day” by Mat Johnson. I'm fully prepared to believe that Mat Johnson is the best fiction writer I'd never heard of until recently. His latest novel 'Loving Day” hits all of my sweet spots: race, Philly, interracial love, urban identity, familial conflict and the wicked, humorous absurdity of being human in the modern world. This is great writing, folks, pure and simple. Available now.

Books for early fall:

'The Girl in the Spider's Web: A Lisabeth Salander Novel Continuing Stieg Larsson's Millennium Series” by David Lagercrantz. Some books are literally critic proof. This is one of them. The death of the author of a highly profitable literary franchise no longer means a series is doomed. The late Stieg Larsson's memorable computer hacker Lisabeth Salander will probably be with us for decades. I can live with that. Available in September.

'Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates is a throwback to the James Baldwin style of philosophically nuanced polemic about the black experience. Coates' astonishing gifts as a writer have vaulted him to the forefront of public intellectuals. I'm halfway through this relatively slim gem of a book that won't be available until September.