If you were packing today for a Caribbean vacation, what book would you include?

I prefer to read topics relevant to where I may be staying so some thoughts - "Old Man & the Sea", "Flirting with Mermaids", "An Embarassment of Mangoes" or "Montserrat on my Mind" are all recent, good reads.

Whoops! I guess I should have posted this on the books, movies,etc. forum. I just noticed it existed! Haven't had my coffee! I'd take the Anita Shreve book I've just begun.

that's o.k. twigs...it's reading ON THE BEACH! So I think it's appropriate for this forum

I've been putting together a list for my trip in novemeber and so far I've got a Luis Sepulveda book whose title is eluding me right now, "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, "Deception Point" by Dan Brown, and probably I'll treat myself to a reread of Jane Austen.

I'd really like to read the new book by the same author as "Strange Incident of the Dog in the Night" (Mark Haddon? Is that right?), but I don't like traveling with clothbound books so I suppose I'll await the trade paper release.

"A Trip To The Beach", by Melinda Blanchard. It is the true story of how the Blanchards who had previously lived in Vermont opened the restaurant "Blanchards" on the island of Anquilla. I also loved "An Embarassment of Mangos".

Thanks to each of you for your reply. I'm heading to the book store for "An Embarassment of Mangoes."

"A Trip to the Beach" should be required reading for anyone attempting to 'make a go of it' in the Caribbean. Great book.

Herman Wouk's "Don't Stop the Carnival" is a must-read for anyone who loves the Caribbean.

Hey you guys, this is getting good!!!

Anything by David Sedaris makes a perfect vacation read for me!

The more you read of Dan Brown the more you realize "The DaVinchy Code" was a fluke and he really has a knack for really blowing it! I mean - I'll never read him again. He either goes to sleep
or has really aweful non-employable ghost writers

For those folks who do like Dan Brown, you should also check out James Rollins.

For the ladies{or a very sensitive man} include anything by Elizabeth Berg. Titles that come to mind are Talk Before Sleep, The Pull of the Moon, and Range of Motion.

For an island view with an edge, track down 'Fire in the Cane' by Bajan novelist Glenville Lovett, and Jamaican
novelist Patricia Powell's 'The Pagoda'.
Two other recent favorites:
'Istanbul:Memories of a City' by
Orhan Pamuk and Gael Greene's
'Insatiable:Tales from a life of delicious excess'.

Just finished reading The Namesake and it was excellent. I am reading a Tree Grows in Brooklyn right now and love it. Maybe not beach reads, but both good books.
Over the summer, I read Eight by Katherine Neville. That was a good mystery. I also read Skinny Dip and thought it was just okay,but a quick beach read.

girl, I really liked The Namesake, too. Have you read her earlier collection of short stories called The Interpreter of Maladies? I thought it was even stronger than her novel. You might also like Zadie Smith's works since you like Larhiri's.

No, I never read any of her other books. I found the Namesake to be so interesting. It was our August book club read.
My husband is a first generation american, but his parents are austrian/german. His parents tried to be very american and gave up much of their own culture to fit in america.

I knew little of the indian culture till reading the novel. I found this book very interesting. (I don't want to give anything away to a potential reader.)
I will check out the other titles you mentioned. Thanks.

Sorry this is getting off track but a movie based on The Namesake is expected to be released early next year. The director is Mira Nair, the same one from Monsoon Wedding.

mnag, thanks for the info. With her at the helm and that material to work from, it promises to be quite a good film!