Want to get a leg up on your summer reading? You may already know that Michael Chabon and Don DeLillo are back, but have you heard about Richard K. Morgan, Christie Mellor or Kate Braestrup? Here are the top 25 galleys that—with the help of Peggy Halley at Book People in Austin, Tex.; Gerry Donaghy at Powell's in Portland, Ore.; Brad Parsons at Amazon; and Sessalee Hensley at Barnes & Noble—we pulled out of a teetering pile of more than 150 submissions.

Literary Books for Long Days

Topping everyone's list is Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union(HarperCollins, May). "Chabon kicks ass," declares Donaghy, backlist czar at Powell's. "He does for speculative fiction and the detective novel what he did for comic geeks with The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. You don't have to have a New York Jewish pedigree to appreciate this book." But Amazon.com fiction editor Parsons cautions: "While extremely satisfying, it might prove not as accessible to readers as Kavalier and Clay."

Don DeLillo, back with Falling Man (Simon & Schuster, June), is a close second to Chabon. "Even the idea of Don DeLillo writing about 9/11 is electrifying," says Amazon fiction editor Parsons. This relatively short book—which follows the intimate lives of several people after the Twin Towers turn to smoke and ash—is getting "solid inhouse reads" at Amazon.

Speaking of national (in)security, there's also Richard Flanagan's fourth novel, The Unknown Terrorist (Grove, May), about a woman who spends a night with a stranger and becomes a suspect in an attempted terrorist attack. "We had a lot of staff members who loved Gould's Book of Fish, so we're all really looking forward to seeing what Flanagan can do with a grittier, more realistic story," says Halley, buyer at Book People.

Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini returns to Afghanistan in his much-anticipated second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns (Riverhead, May 22).It's the story of two women who are both married to a man hardened by his culture's misogyny. "I haven't witnessed such unanimous inhouse enthusiasm since Life of Pi," says Parsons. "It reminds me of how Jeffrey Eugenides exceeded sophomore expectations with Middlesex. The film version of The Kite Runner in late 2007 will also help make this the year of Hosseini."

Booker-winner Ian McEwan's short novel set in early 1960s England, On Chesil Beach (Doubleday, June), also looks at lovers whose unexpressed misunderstandings and resentments shape their lives. "Reviews will drive a lot of customers to this one, but McEwan fans on staff should give the book legs," says Halley. (McEwan is also the subject of the first film developed by Powells.com, to be screened online and at events in 40-plus indie bookstores in June, as the author will not be touring.)

Lisa See, author of the 2005 book club favorite Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, brings another twist to the marriage theme in Peony in Love (Random, June 26). Set in 17th-century China, it's the story of three women sequentially married to the same man, and their obsession with an opera that causes death by lovesickness. "It has a supernatural element that's going to take it a long way," said B&N fiction buyer Sessalee Hensley.

Armchair Adventures

Robert Kurson's 2004 bestseller Shadow Divers was a great read and "Dad" book. Now, in Crashing Through: A Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See (Random, May 15), he delivers the story of Michael May, the CIA's first blind analyst and a world-champion skier, who in 1999 underwent risky surgery to restore his vision. "This story sounds amazing," observed Donaghy, "though hopefully it won't go too maudlin."

The mother of four young children who lost her husband, a Maine state trooper, in an accident, Kate Braestrup tells how she embraced his dream and became a Unitarian Universalist chaplain on search-and-rescue missions in Here if You Need Me (Little, Brown, Aug. 1). "I cried twice within the first half hour of reading it," Hensley says. "She has a great ability to describe emotional and spiritual levels of honoring the dead, while still keeping it humorous."

With 1000 Places to See Before You Die, which has 2.2 million copies in print, Patricia Schultz hit on a golden formula. Now, North America is the focus, in 1000 Places to See in the USA & Canada Before You Die (Workman, July). "Whether planning an actual trip or just dreaming of someday, this is a great way to spend a summer day," says Halley.

Those with an appetite for food lit may like The Devil in the Kitchenby Marco Pierre White (Bloomsbury, May), the most decorated chef in British history and the youngest ever to receive three Michelin stars. "While the writing doesn't pop off the page with the obsessive ferocity of Buford or the hip, jaded cadence of Bourdain, this remains a fascinating, exhilarating look into the life of a culinary genius and living legend," says Parsons.

Page-turners for the Plane

Rising science fiction star Richard K. Morgan's Thirteen (Del Rey, July)—a Bladerunner-like story about a man who tracks a violent superhuman from Mars—was an easy pick for Halley and Donaghy. "If John Woo, William Gibson and Raymond Chandler ever combined their genetic material to sire a love child, they would have given birth to Richard Morgan," says Donaghy. "He's one of the few writers that I don't even think twice about recommending to just about anyone."

Speaking of William Gibson, the SF master is back with Spook Country (Putnam, Aug.), a novel about a Russian-speaking Cuban, a journalist, a junkie and a "producer." "Contemporary settings seem to suit Gibson's darker nature, and the audience that made Pattern Recognition a bestseller should snap this one up," says Halley.

Fans of well-written psychological thrillers may enjoy In the Woods by Tana French (Viking, May). Set in a suburban Dublin neighborhood in 1984, it features a detective investigating a murder in a wooded area where, as a child, he was the lone survivor in an unsolved murder case. "Our rep, Jon Mooney, loved the story, the atmosphere and the writing," says Halley. "He did a really good job of making it sound unputdownable."

Fun on the Beach

Looking for the reading equivalent of a summer cocktail? Legendary comic Don Rickles's Rickles' Book (S&S, May 15) gets the nod from Amazon's Parsons. "His expert timing makes almost all of the short, James Pattersonesque chapters of his memoir land on the page like a rimshot zinger," he says. "It doesn't dive too deep but delivers the goods."

Alyson Beatrice's true tales of trolling the Internet and planning events for obsessive TV fans, Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? (Sourcebooks, Aug.), could also be a winner. "I'm a sci-fi geek, a genre television geek and an Internet community geek," says Halley, "plus I love any author who can bring on the funny, so this one is right up my alley."

For stressed-out parents, actress Christie Mellor calmly explains how to harness the energy of toddlers-gone-wild in Three-Martini Family Vacation: A Field Guide to Intrepid Parenting (Chronicle, June). "Her first book [The Three-Martini Playdate] was hilarious, in an 'I know I shouldn't be laughing at this, but heee!' kind of way," says Halley, "and we did very well with it."

Debuts to Watch

Set in 17th-century Iran, Anita Amirrezvani's Blood of Flowers (Little, Brown, June 5) is the story of a 14-year-old Iranian woman who becomes a servant in the home of her father's half-brother, and transforms her life through her talent as a rug designer. Says Halley, "The subject of this one just sounded fascinating, and I'm always up for a good historical."

Hipster alert: Dishwasher by Pete Jordan (HarperPerennial, May), creator of the eponymous zine, tells of his 12-year mission to wash dishes in all 50 states and how he abandoned it for love. "I think it'll do well with the McSweeneys/Found/Postsecret crowd," says Donaghy.

Pop culture lovers many also find Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Become Invincible (Pantheon, June) a smart and amusing debut—not least because of the gorgeous Chip Kidd cover. "It's a sort of literary version of The Incredibles. For me, it moves into the spot occupied by World War Z last summer," says Parsons.

Also Noteworthy:Michael Ondaatje's Divisadero (Knopf, May) is a novel of love and loss set in Northern California in the '70s and in France decades earlier.

Armistead Maupin's Michael Tolliver Lives (HarperCollins, June) updates us on a key character from his beloved series, Tales of the City. Stephen Carter's New England White (Knopf, July) returns to the New England setting and elite African-American milieu of the author's bestselling debut.

Chuck Palahniuk's Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey (Doubleday, June) offers a morbid tale that won't disappoint the author's cultish fans.

Günter Grass's Peeling the Onion (Harcourt, June 25) is the Nobel Prize—winning German author's memoir of his boyhood and young adulthood, in which he reveals that he was drafted into the Waffen-SS.

Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Year of Food Life (HarperCollins, May) is the bestselling novelist's memoir of a year spent procuring and cooking local food (HarperCollins, May).