Beach Reading
 

Does anyone have any recommendations for "light" beach reading? A couple of years ago, someone recommended the "Ya Ya Sisterhood" on this site. I loved it. I thought some avid readers might have some other "great reads". I'm not going to the beach until September, so I have plenty of time.

I really enjoyed reading Rick Bragg's book, Ava's Man, and his other book which is his biography and about his mother.<BR><BR>Wally Lamb's books are usually good.<BR><BR>Also, I highly recommend any book by Ann Rule. <BR><BR>Good luck.

"Beach Music" by Pat Conroy.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett<BR>If you like detective fiction, any of the books by Janet Evanovich are good beach reading.<BR>

These are REALLY light, but entertaining, with something resembling a travel theme: The Nanny Diaries, An Italian Affair, Le Divorce. 'Blue Highways,'though nearly 20 years old (maybe more!), is an amazing book, and I think it's available in paperback now.

I second Janet Evanovich's eight books, all numbered in the title and all full of funny, wacky mysteries. I just found her and I really like her.<BR><BR>I also love anything by Carl Hiaasen, James W. Hall, Laurence Shames, and Randy Wayne White - all Florida mystery writers with smirks.

James Patterson's "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" would be a good choice for the beach, most of the story takes place on Martha's Vineyard, it's a love story, bring a hanky though!

Try "Coming Attractions", a book that Fannie Flagg wrote before she had such success with "Fried Green Tomatoes". <BR><BR>It's lighthearted and fun, perfect beach reading. It's been reissued under a new title "Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man" but don't let the title drive you off. Very enjoyable.

I second for Janet Evanovich...they are quick reads...can't put em down...she just came out with the eight installment which i will be taking w/me on vaca next week!

Best guy "Beach Book" of all time is "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe.<BR><BR>Best beach to read "The Right Stuff" on is Destin, Florida. Nothing like having F-15's fly over will reading about these former test pilots<BR><BR>Best beer to drink on the Destin Beach while reading "The Right Stuff"....Miller Light......in a can.<BR><BR>Best back ground music to listen to while reading "The Right Stuff" on Destin Beach as the F-15's fly overhead while sipping on an ice cold Miller Lite......Dire Straits.

"Me Talk Pretty One Day", by David Sedaris. I picked this up after seeing it on the first summer reading list here and it really is guffaw-out-loud terrific. Each chapter is a short vignette, complete in itself, chronicling various aspects of his life: one, for example, on thwarting his speech therapist who was trying to get him to overcome a lisp and how he learned to speak without ever using an "S"..all light and plain entertaining. The title was taken from his stay in France and how he and his fellow American students' French for "One day I'll be more fluent in French" would have translated back to English. The chapter on the students trying to explain Easter to a Moroccan Muslim in their "pig-French" is wonderful! The book is pure, unadulterated, good fun.

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

Cindy: If you want hundreds of ideas, type in "summer reading" in the text search.

Am in the middle of John McEnroe's autobiography, "You Cannot Be Serious," and it's fabulous. I'm a tennis player so his thoughts on the game are interesting to me, but I think his experience with fame would be of interest to anyone. He writes just like he talks -- like a colorful New Yorker.

I LOVE Janet Evanovich, but make sure you read her books in order. Sara Paretsky's female detective series is also good. I recently read The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love which you might appreciate if you are over 50.

I also love Janet Evanovich, and have recently found another author with a series of books about a female bounty hunter. The author's name is Chris Rogers; she's written Bitch Factor, Rage Factor and Chill Factor and is working on a fourth.<BR><BR>The heroine in this series is Dixie Flannigan, a "skip tracer" in Houston. I've enjoyed these books as much as the Stephanie Plum series, although they're more serious with less humor. To give you a comparison, I'd cast Sandra Bullock as Stephanie Plum, and maybe Angelina Jolie as Dixie Flannigan.<BR><BR>Try them out!

The only kind of reading I like is "light" "beach" reading! I read too much heavy stuff for work . . .<BR><BR>Anyway, I also love Divine Secrets and can't say enough good things about the Nanny Diaries. For some more light humor reading, I really like books by Jennifer Cruise. Welcome to Temptation, Crazy for You, and Fast Women. Books by Sophie Kinsella are good as well - Confessions of a Shopaholic and Shopoholic Takes Manhattan. <BR><BR>I wonder what happened to the list that was up earlier this year regarding summer reading, I got some great ideas there.

Oooops! That's Jennifer Cruisie (not Cruise), my typing skills are severely lacking LOL

I love John D. MacDonalds' Travis McGee series-- absolutely perfect beach reading. Am also crazy about Peter Mayle- "Year in Provence" and "Chasing Cezanne" would fit the bill as well.

Got to agree about McGee. The series holds up well upon rereading. And the size is right for beach reads: Short and portable.