It's that time again, 2003 summer reading list!
 

We're coming up on the 2003 summer beach reading list. Just a reminder to all the newcomers. We prefer interesting but not too deep (we need to keep one eye out for stray dorsal fins and hyperactive children). So, what book can you recommend for a great summer read?<BR><BR>I'll start, <BR>The Nanny Diaries,<BR> very funny yet frightening, perfect for a day at the beach!<BR><BR>Suggestions please, I've got 3 weeks at the beach and no novels on the horizon!

Nina, you'll be able to bite off a good piece of "War and Peace" by the time summer 2003 rolls around. Good planning, though.

Yeah, I know, I said 2003 but I meant 2002. God knows why I'm trying to rush things. I hate not having an edit function!

Ivanna, You are ignoring the rules. War and Peace is much too heavy for beach reading, even if it's not to be completed by next year.

I know, honey. Just stick to Redbook and you'll do fine.

If you're going to Florida, you must read anything by Carl Hiassen. Start with TouristSeason, Skin Tight, Double Whammy, Sick Puppy (New)

If you watch Regis and Kelly, Kelly will give you some great juicy novels to read. She just started a book club for beach readers the first one is "If Looks Can Kill".<BR><BR>IMO-Daddy's Little Girl by Mary Higgins Clark is a great read.<BR><BR>I agree the Nannie's Diary is great to.<BR><BR>i<BR>

"Getting Over It" by Anna Maxted.

I like a good mystery.<BR>English preferably-<BR>Aunt Diminty's Death is good:)

My favorite book could be fun reading at the beach,but it could make you cry,it did me!<BR>Gone with the Wind.

ANYTHING by John Irving! Love him.

The Janet Evanovich series of crime novels with a protagonist named Stephanie Plum, a bumbling bounty hunter. I've never laughed out loud more, but I can't read the funny passages to my 12 year old daughter when she asks because they tend to be so bawdy. There are 7 so far, with another due out in June. The titles are all based on numbers - starts with One for the Money.

"Red Lobster, White Trash & the Blue Lagoon - Joe Queenan's America" by...Joe Queenan.<BR><BR>A very funny look at American culture, from Broadway to Billy Joel. Less than 200 pages w/ big print. A beachside natural.

Forgot to add - have ya'll read "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood"? I loved that book - can't wait for the movie to come out on June 7th.

"Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain. Nice light reading about the reality of the restaurant industry in New York as told by a chef who has seen it all. <BR><BR>Funny, well written and honest.

I agree, The Janet Evanovich series is a great beach read. Nora Roberts books too!<BR><BR>Headhunters - Jules Bass (very cute fun book!)

Pat-Mrs Kal read Ya Ya last trip to Kauai and is waiting for the movie, too.<BR><BR>Ditto Hiassen while on a beach vacation!<BR>Or Elmore Leonard.<BR><BR>"Killing Pablo" looks very interesting.<BR>The search for and subsquent death of Columbian Coke Kingpin Pablo Escobar.<BR>"Take my silver or take my lead...you have a choice". Interesting.<BR>Kal

Thanks!!! Some of these sound great, especially Al's suggestion and the kitchen confidential one. Lot's of fun stuff!

all of Harlan Coben's books are great. His new paperback is Tell No One, a great read. He also has a series featuring Myron Bolitar, all of which are excellent.

Okay, so it may not qualify as "light" summer reading, but you know how it is when you just finish a terrific read and want to share....? So I've got to offer Anna Quinlen's novels, "One True Thing" and "Black and Blue." Excellent story-telling, both of them. <BR><BR>Elizabeth Berg's novels (tho I liked the first, "Durable Goods" the least) are all quick reads - well done and with food for thought about women's lives.

I've just finished "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. Funny, informative, and great if you like hiking.

Round Ireland with a Fridge is a fun book. Much more serious but a great read is The Passion of Artemesia (there are two books about her, make sure you get this one). Falling Angels is good and light enough. And I'm taking Just Good Friends by Joanna Trollope with me this weekend. Finally The Girl with the Pearl Earring and The Girl in Hyacinthe Blue.

for Kate who likes English Mystery: Have you read any of Elizabeth George's novels? It is a series, and I started in the middle, with Playing for the Ashes, and then found out there was a series, and started at the beginning. They are really great - I just go to the library and get them one after another.

It isn't new but Timeline by Michael Crichton is an excellent beach read and according to imdb.com, they have already cast the movie!

Nina, you scared me with that 2003 thing! Thought I spent a whole year on Fodors without noticing!<BR>My suggestion: <BR>Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann Ross<BR>

Gee, isn't it great to know with trolls like Mike Hocki**** blah blah, old lame name joke Mike... that there are some among us who are well-traveled and READ! Maybe even spell well, LOL!I have a few new ideas for books to take on my cruise next month. Thanks, people!

Travel???? Would Nina & her ilk please take this foolishness to another board!<BR>I am a voracious reader but I would never look to a travel forum for my summer reading list. Nor would I go to Fodors Travel Forum to decide what to wear! Nina, I implore you, please stop postings your inanities on this Travel site. I am really looking forward to your 3 weeks on the beach for a much needed reprieve from your silliness. Sure hope you will not have your laptop w/ you.<BR>(Nina's questions on the beach: What should I have for lunch? Is it time for me to turn the page? Do I need more sunscreen....and, Nina's all time fav...what should I wear to dinner tonight????)

Lighten up Susan you premenstrual bitch!! Traveling by air, bus, train etc. can be tedious. Many of us need good reading other than purchasing the inane ad-filled magazines at the airports.Dressing questions for towns/climates/resorts is a legitimate subject as well! If you don't like the thread, don't read it! GET A LIFE!

Well said, Dinah. Golly, there are bathroom threads, kielbasa, homeless, white trash....what's wrong with some intelligent banter here? Susan, you are a jerk.

Maybe Susan just needs a good book to read? Sounds like she's been watching too much of The View. <BR><BR>Here are my suggestions for beach reading:<BR><BR>"Confessions of a Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella<BR>"A Shopaholic Takes Manhattan" by Sophie Kinsella<BR>"The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" by Melissa Bank<BR>"See Jane Date" by Melissa Senate<BR>"Slightly Single" by Wendy Markham<BR>"For Better, For Worse" by Carole Matthews<BR>"Bad Heir Day" by Wendy Holden<BR>"Last Chance Saloon" by Marian Keyes<BR>"A Walk to Remember" by Nicholas Spark<BR><BR>And for Susan, anything written by Emily Post or Miss Manners. If she isn't premenstrual, Susan has been sucking on too many lemons.

Dinah and Joan: I could give you the ISBN's of some books on anger management if you like. Let me know.

Well excuse me Susan. So sorry my posts offend you. However this forum is Fodors.com, for travelers, of which I am one, and while I irk you, I was able to help 3 travelers with questions they had about Nantucket and Bermuda today. Did you answer anyone's travel queries today? Fear not Susan, I never take a laptop on vacation, only books. <BR><BR>Now, back to those books. I'm writing down these titles before Susan has a hissy fit and gets this thread pulled. I guess some people don't like to read on the plane, or at the beach, but for me it is a part of travel. Let's keep them coming, and thanks for all these great suggestions!

Hey, Nina,<BR><BR>I sort of feel like I know you, and I think with your sense of humor you'd really enjoy "Me Talk Pretty Some Day" by David Sedaris. He's brutally sardonic and very funny.

Susan, did the post about movies that take place in New York also inflame you? I've seen many a thread about books to be read regarding certain areas, whether they be travel books or books that are just based in that area. Would you not have been insulted if Nina had asked for books about New England? Then we could have also recommended anything written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Since you don't come to Fodor's for fashion advice or book suggestions, why not just skip those threads instead of airing your anger here. Since when did you join the Fodors' Gestapo? Either your panties are twisted or your bra is on too tight. You owe Nina an apology.<BR><BR>And on that note, I have to agree that "The Nanny Diaries" was a lot of fun to read. Is my first edition worth anything? Oops, that's a question I should ask on EBay.

In between new Carl Hiaasen books, I enjoy James W. Hall mysteries, Randy Wayne White, and the mystery/comedy of Laurence Shames. All of the books take place in Florida, mostly in the Keys.

Nina and Arabella - The Nanny Diaries and Me Talk Pretty Some Day were two of my spring vacation books! The David Sedaris was one of the funniest books I've ever read but the Nanny Diaries just made me feel sad - maybe because I'm a Manhattan mom and I've seen some of these people in action.<BR><BR>And Ellen, I love mysteries and I've read every one of Elizabeth George's series (Liked Deception on His Mind the best.) Did you know they're filming A Great Deliverance for the BBC and it should air on PBS's Mystery later this year or next year?<BR><BR>On my bookshelf for this summer I've got Paul Auster's I Thought My Father Was God, Ruth Reichl's Comfort Me With Apples (loved her first memoir) and hoping for new mysteries in Julie Smith's New Orleans series, Tamar Myers' Pennsylvania Dutch series or anything by Sparkle Hayter.<BR><BR>Happy reading everyone.

Miss Scarlett, <BR><BR>when I was just a lil honey chile, I used to start EVERY summer tanning session with Gone with the Wind. I must have read that book at least 4-5 summers in a row. <BR><BR>:-)<BR><BR>HRH

Ahhh! The Oprahfication of Fodors. Does it get any better? Doubtful.<BR>(unless , of course, someone starts a "It's 2004 already, and I'm going to be sitting on my fat fanny a lot while on the beach, got any Martha Stewart projects I could work on?" thread.)

Arabella, you do know me, so I must get the Sedaris book!<BR><BR>LDW, please! Don't mention that Martha woman. I am not M.S., nor do I ever aspire to be. Well OK, I wouldn't mind the money, but that's it. Oh, and the houses too, she does have some fabulous abodes. Oh and maybe the staff, just a little bit of the staff would be nice, and how does she make those origami napkin rings out of empty juice boxes?

Interesting but not too deep by the sounds of it is not what I look to read. Will put something down if it competes with TV in terms of content. <BR><BR>Memoirs of a Geisha for light and interesting. Light because I know it is a novel. Interesting because the background of the Author assures authenticity.<BR><BR>Hawaii by James Mitchner<BR><BR>Wild Swans (autobiographical), for intense and eye opening reading. Three generations of women in one family and what they experience in China from war lordship to Mao and beyond. Light in the sense that you will not be able to put it down, so it is perfect for a one-two week stay. Some details of what goes on in China are hard to read but you will have a new found respect for the Chinese that made it through these difficult periods.<BR>