The 13 Hottest Summer Reads

According to Sara Nelson of The Daily Beast website, the following are her picks for the summer's beach-reading musts. Nelson is a critic for The Daily Beast and the former editor in chief of Publishers Weekly. She is the author of the bestselling So Many Books, So Little Time.

1. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
This is the second book in a trilogy that began with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. "It is: riveting, unputdownable, a sure bestseller."

2. The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
This book is about Mark Zuckerberg, "an unpopular nerd at Harvard, who invented Facebook (the social-networking site) one night in his dorm room, and by age 25 was a billionaire several times over."

3. The Invisible Mountain by Carolina de Robertis
"This debut about three generations of strong women in late 20th century Uruguay ... is a high-end, Euro Danielle Steel story full of sex, politics, and family."

4. Satchel by Larry Tye
This is about the pitcher born Leroy Paige who at 42 lead the Cleveland Indians to the World Series.

5. The Bolter by Frances Osborne
"The author is the great granddaughter of Idina Sackville, a Jazz Age femme fatale. Osborne recreates her ancestor's life and loves, from England to Kenya and back again."

6. The Slippery Year by Melanie Gideon
A memoir written "without sounding whiny and overprivileged" by a women who is "forty-four years old, married with children and has a satisfying work and social circle."


7. Lies My Mother Never Told Me by Kaylie Jones
This autobiography is written by the daughter of "James (From Here to Eternity) Jones. It is a cut above the rest, thanks to Jones' dry wit and some fantastic literary anecdotes."

8. Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga
"The stories in this collection exhibit the author's characteristic subversive sensibility and pointed prose."

9. My Judy Garland Life by Susie Boyt
"This debut memoir from a Financial Times fashion writer and great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud is a cross between a fan's notes and a heartfelt story of a lonely British girl who found more love and inspiration in one movie star than in anyone closer to home."

10. Queen Takes King by Gigi Levangie Grazier
"A novel about a high-flying New York real-estate executive whose divorce will "trump" even the more scandalous ones we've seen in real life."

11. Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa by Mark Seal
"The Vanity Fair editor pens this tale of the conservationist Joan Root. While Root came to prominence as a wildlife filmmaker in Africa with her husband Alan, her story really began after their divorce -- and was soon cut short by her shocking murder."

12. Israel is Real by Rich Cohen
"Cohen's book is about the people and politics that have shaped the young nation."

13. South of Broad by Pat Conroy
"Save this novel from the author of The Prince of Tides for an end-of-summer beach weekend to enjoy the flawed, sexy, melodramatic Conrovian characters."