Our critics choose their favorite new releases for your summer reading list

Gilbert Cruz, Book Editor, The New York Times:

The first is Swan Song. Elin Hilderbrand is an author who puts out a book every summer. They’re all about Nantucket. They’re all about drama. They’re all about romance. And somehow I’ve managed to read one of her books every summer for the last ten years.

I’m kind of – I was only on Nantucket for two hours, and it was the coldest day I can remember, so I have no idea what it’s like to be there in the summer, but I kind of know because I’ve read a dozen Elin Hilderbrand books.

I’m a huge horror fan. There’s a book called “Horror Movie” by Paul Tremblay. And there are some people who save their scary stuff until October or fall. I’m not that kind of person. I like it all year round. And I think there are a lot of people like me.

Essentially, it’s an independent horror film made many years ago. A lot of tragedies happened. The film became a cult film. And the only person left from the production experienced strange things. So that’s Paul Tremblay’s “Horror Movie.”

And finally, another genre book, a fantasy book: The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman. If you’ve heard of Lev Grossman, it’s because of his Magicians trilogy, a series of books that essentially imagined what if Harry Potter was, but with older people and swearing and all the things that older teenagers do.

This new book imagines the days and months after the death of King Arthur. There are many retellings of the King Arthur legend in books, films and musicals. This one is a sequel of sorts.