The Best Beach Reads of Summer 2026, According to THE NEW YORK TIMES

Find out which books The Times selected as their best beach reads of summer 2026, consider the ragebait lit trend, and help rebuild a Black-owned bookstore. Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

The NYT’s Best Beach Reads of the Summer

The New York Times is here to help you choose your summer 2026 beach reads. These are new and upcoming books that neatly fall under the broad category and promise a good time. I’m especially interested in Take What You Can by Naima Coster, described here as an "old-fashioned friendship yard" and Whistler by Ann Patchett, pegged for readers who love heartfelt family dramas. The selected books cover numerous genres and categories, from love stories to thrillers. And if you’re looking for some older books, you can check out our list of The Best Beach Reads of All Time.

Is Ragebait Lit the Next Big Trend?

Over at Harper’s Bazaar, Maris Kreizman writes about "The Rise of Ragebait Lit" and what these books and the discourse around them says about today’s feminism. Maybe you’ve been thinking about feminism’s progress and setbacks in light of all that’s going on in the world and looking at it all through the lens of literature. I have, and that’s why this Culture piece caught my eye. Even if you haven’t immersed yourself in the Substacks and social commentary surrounding Belle Burden’s Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear, Lena Dunham’s Famesick, and Lindy West’s Adult Braces , to name a few, you’ve probably picked up what Kreizman is putting down about the response to the mess set forth by at least one of these books (and if not, I applaud your commitment to touching grass). This is a short, pensive commentary about the various versions of feminism that show up in these books, how they and we grapple with being a woman today, and the rise of "Angry Women." It sows seeds of thought worth growing as we encounter and engage with the discourse.

Help Rebuild a Beloved Black-Owned Bookstore

One of too few Black-owned bookstores has been dealt repeated blows and needs our help. A pattern of storms affecting the bookstore’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood has been flooding the basement of Gladys Books & Wine. If you want to help keep this inclusive space protected, consider donating to the Gladys Books & Wine rebuilding gofundme. Here’s a little more about this wonderful shop:

Gladys Books & Wine is named after my grandmother, Gladys Dockery. She was a sharecropper from Mississippi who didnt get past the 5th grade but was also the person who breathed life into my dreams and encouraged my early love of reading. She was the kind of woman who made room for everyone (literally everyone) at her table. That’s what I wanted to build in Bed-Stuy: a home for Black feminist and queer literary culture, a place where folks could find themselves on our shelves and in each other’s company.

The Best Books At the Intersection of Memoir and Self-Help

A reader who had given up on self-help books found what she was seeking in memoirs. Whether you’ve been looking for personal motivation, are curious about someone else’s lived experiences, or both, these inspiring self-help adjacent memoirs will hit the spot.