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Long flights and lazy days at the beach call for a good book. Pack one of these new books that people are buzzing about for this summer:

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate

Al Franken (Twelve)

Senator Al Franken’s memoir will appeal to people who grew up watching Franken on Saturday Night Live playing Stuart Smalley—remember his affirmations? “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and doggone it, people like me!” The book covers his transformation from a comedian into a politician.

Do Not Become Alarmed

Maile Meloy (Riverhead)

In this dark thriller, two well-to-do couples and their kids go ashore from a cruise ship in Central America and end up losing their children—every parent’s worst nightmare. It’s a gripping page-turner that will keep you up all night.

The Half-Drowned King

Linnea Hartsuyker (HarperCollins)

Game of Thrones fans will love this first novel in a literary epic Norse trilogy. It tells the story of the struggle for power that led to the rise of King Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, seen through the eyes of his most trusted warrior. With exciting battles and dramatic domestic tribulations, it can be compared to Edison Marshall’s The Viking.

Swell

Jill Eisenstadt (Lee Boudreaux Books)

The author of the acclaimed book From Rockaway goes back to Queens, this time to a family who has just bought a ramshackle beachfront house in Rockaway. But this house comes with a ghost and a handful of nutty neighbors, making beachfront living not all it’s cracked up to be.

Dinner with DiMaggio

Rock Positano, John Positano (Simon and Schuster)

Yankee great Joe DiMaggio rarely granted interviews, carefully guarding his personal life while maintaining his legacy. But in his last decade, he befriended a foot doctor who had successfully treated him, and the two became close, despite their 40-year age difference. Now that doctor, Rock Positano, with his brother John, has shared never-before-told stories of his time with DiMaggio and the famous people the Yankee Clipper rubbed shoulders with. You don’t have to be a baseball fan to devour this loving tribute.