Can anyone recommend a great book (novel) to read while sitting on the beach in Zihua for a week? Either something that takes place in Mexico, or just an engrossing beach book would work.

Thanks in advance for any recos!

Have you read anything by John D. Macdonald especially his Travis McGee series? He has several set in Mexico including "Cinnamon Skin". I might also suggest you spend a day at MJ & Richie's on Playa Madera Zihua's best beach café for food & prices. Raphael has a large book exchange where you can trade books.

PS Try & find a copy (available from her daughter Carol Marchant in Zihua) of "After the Kids are Gone" By Lorene Wingard about the Early days in Zihua. Also stop at Owen's Beach club at Las Gatas Beach & get a copy of "A Prisoner in Paradise" by Owen Lee who is a former Jacques Cousteau diver & a long time Zihua pioneer.

I think the Border Trilogy by Cormac Mccarthy is some fine reading and amazing writing. It takes place in both in the U.S. and northern Mexico, so a little far from the beach, but wothwhile notheless.

There's also the classic "Under the Volcano" by Malcolm Lowry. It's years since I read it, and I remember it as being hard going in places - but anyway, just another one for the list.

I would not recommend "The Ruins" by Scott Smith. I picked this up when it was on the NY Times bestseller list--it is the weirdest book I've ever read. Even DH who is a devoted sci-fi fan put it down. However, I just finished "Dancing Naked at the Egde of Dawn" and while only a small part of it takes place in Mexico--it did make me yearn for a hammoca on la playa!

Death of the Fifth Sun; Robert Somerlott.
M

"There's also the classic "Under the Volcano" by Malcolm Lowry."

A good book & a even better movie but kind of heavy for a beach read IMO.

If you like historical fiction, or just a great read, then the only choice is AZTEC, by Gary Jennings. Its a terrific book and really gives you some perspective on the land you are visiting.
Buen viaje.

Agree with Aztec.
A bit more ...
Labyrinth of Solitude; (Nobel prize winner) Octavio Paz.
Bordering on Chaos; Andres Oppenheimer.
Limits of Friendship; Pastor and Castaneda.
Distant Neighbors; Alan Riding.
Conquest of New Spain
There's a word for it in Mexico...
Mexico: Biography of Power: A History...
M

I read "The Power and the Glory" on my last Mexican trip (you can't go wrong with anything by Graham Greene). But its not really a page-turning, beach book (like a Ludlum).

Like Water for Chocolate is good if you haven't read it yet.

If your sitting, sunning on a Mexican beach, you should be reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Mexicos own Nobel Prize winning Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Mikeswife, while Marquez lived for a time in Mexico, I believe that almost everyone else would identify him as Colombian. I have never seen him identified as a Mexican Noble laureate.

Just learned that "After The Kids are Gone" is available at "Lily's" on the pier in Zihua & also at the Captains Daughter restaurant in El Centro in Zihua.