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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. We end today with one last installment in our summer culture miniseries, which we've been doing at the end of all these membership drive shows. Today, it's what books to pack or download for beach or park bench, or sofa by the AC reading this summer. We are borrowing our guide for this from across the hall, All Of It producer Jordan Lauf. Hey, Jordan, thanks for coming on with us today with some must-reads for the summer before your own show with Alison Stewart. Hi.

Jordan Lauf: Hi. Thanks so much for having me, Brian. Always a pleasure to be on.

Brian Lehrer: I see the top of your list is the latest from someone who has to be one of the top beach read authors of all time. I think was just on your show, wasn't he, Carl Hiaasen?

Jordan Lauf: Yes, Carl Hiaasen was just on All Of It. In fact, his new book has beach in the title. His latest novel is called Fever Beach. It's out now. He was just telling us on the show how many of the absurd details in this novel because he's known for this outsized satire about people in Florida. They're not as absurd as you might think. A lot of them were drawn from real people and things that he witnessed. He's also a journalist for a long time in Florida.

This new one, Fever Beach, is about a white supremacist in Florida who is so inept that he is actually kicked out of the Proud Boys and decides to start his own failing white supremacist movement. They've also teamed up with a corrupt congressman to go forward with this plan they've concocted. He might get thwarted by his liberal roommate, a woman named Viva, who is trying to take him down behind the scenes. It's laugh-out-loud funny genuinely, and just a really, really good time.

Brian Lehrer: I will say I am a big, longtime Carl Hiaasen fan and having him turn his social satire fiction on to the Proud Boys and plant his latest book squarely in contemporary times. I haven't seen the book yet, but it sounds like it'll be a dark but funny relief for some of the things that are going on. All right. Let's keep going. The Antidote by Karen Russell. What's that?

Jordan Lauf: That is another novel that is out now. You could go grab it at your local bookstore. This is a Dust Bowl epic. It is historical fiction, but it's got a magical, mystical element to it. There is this character who goes by the Antidote, where the title comes from. She styles herself as a so-called prairie witch, and she has the power to take in people's memories, store them in her own body, and then those memories are erased from the person who came to deposit a memory with her.

As the book goes on, we learn that this really struggling Dust Bowl town is full of residents who have given up their most challenging and traumatic memories. They've erased them, but at what cost? What happens when you actually remove things that you would rather forget from your mind, especially if you're someone who is living on land that wasn't originally occupied by white settlers? What sorts of memories have been erased? What happens if those memories come back to these townspeople? That's The Antidote by Karen Russell. It's one of my favorite books I've read this year. I think it's just a beautiful novel.

Brian Lehrer: I see you've got three novels on your list that are coming out next month. Coming out in June. Flashlight by Susan Choi, who wrote Trust Exercise, King of Ashes by SA Cosby, and The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater. If I said that name right. Want to pick one?

Jordan Lauf: Yes. You know what? I will go with King of Ashes by SA Cosby, which is out June 10. For people who love crime fiction, if you haven't read any SA Cosby, you can go pick up any of his novels, and I think you'll have a really great time. This new one is in the vein of his other books. It's a Southern atmospheric noir, but this novel centers around one family and a son who comes home named Roman and realizes that while he's been gone, his family has found themselves in debt to a local gang, and that gang has now come to enact their revenge.

He has to try to figure out how to extricate his family from the clutches of this gang. His books-- I think I said atmospheric already, but that's the best word I can use to describe them. Like you can feel the heat coming through the pages. It's one of those books that'll keep you up at night turning the pages. I really recommend anything by SA Cosby, but particularly the new one comes out June 10th.

Brian Lehrer: Great sounding picks for fiction this summer. I'm going to keep this list. Now we're going to move on to some of your picks for nonfiction coming out this summer. A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst, coming out in July. What's that?

Jordan Lauf: Yes. I was describing this to actually my team over on All Of It yesterday. When I got to the end, they were like, "Wait, that's a novel, right??" I was like, "No, this is a true story." This is about a married couple in the '70s named Maurice and Marilyn who decided to quit their job and live on a sailboat and spend their lives at sea. Unfortunately, a whale-- This is a true story. A whale knocked a hole in their boat. It sunk, and they were forced to live on a life raft for months before they were rescued.

This is a new nonfiction book about the story of, number one, how they survived on a life raft for months in the open ocean, and also how their marriage survived and how they didn't drive each other absolutely bonkers while stuck on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean together for days on end. It's a story of survival and also a portrait of a marriage.

Brian Lehrer: I see you've got Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs coming out in August. You know, we just celebrated James Baldwin's 100th anniversary of his birth as one of our 100 Years of 100 Things series segment. What's Baldwin: A Love Story?

Jordan Lauf: This is a new comprehensive biography of Baldwin and his life, but it's really framed around his intimate and artistic relationships throughout the years and how those relationships shaped his life and his work. As you mentioned, we just celebrated the centennial last year. This is a great time to revisit your Baldwin knowledge or gain some new Baldwin knowledge. It is big. It might not be best to log on the beach. It is over 700 pages. That might be an inside the house project.

Brian Lehrer: Or on your Kindle.

Jordan Lauf: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Before you go, 30 seconds. What's this month's Get Lit selection with All Of It?

Jordan Lauf: Yes. The book this month is Audition by Katie Kitamura. Our event is next Thursday, the 29th at 6:00 PM. Our musical guest is Reeve Carney of Hadestown fame. He played Orpheus. It's going to be a great time. If you're thinking, "Oh, my gosh, I haven't read the book yet," you have time. The book is under 200 pages. It's a long weekend. You can do it. I read it in two sittings, and you can get your tickets at wnyc.org/getlit.

Brian Lehrer: We leave it there with Jordan Lauf, who's usually known here as a producer for All Of It and for their book club, Get Lit with All Of It, sharing some book picks for the summer with us. Now, don't go away yet, Jordan, because I just want to tell everybody that coming up right after the news, artist and activist Tourmaline will discuss her new book, Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson. That's on All Of It today.

The New York Botanical Gardens, Joanna Groarke talks about the new exhibition Van Gogh's Flowers, which juxtaposes the Dutch painter's floral works with some of the actual flower varieties that inspire them. I see you have indie rocker Briston Maroney today performing songs from his brand new album, Jimmy, ahead of a couple of local concerts tonight and tomorrow. What do you do now? You're going to go over and sit in the director's chair with Alison or something?

Jordan Lauf: I am actually producing the Briston Maroney live performance, so I'm heading over to the music studio to hear some music.

Brian Lehrer: Thanks for coming on with us. To be fair and pay you back, I'm going to come and sit in with Alison to help her with the last day of the pledge drive. See you in a minute.

Jordan Lauf: See you.

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