Well, now, here’s a question: What’s a “beach read?” What’s a good beach read? And what are some of your favorites of the species?
Once in awhile, I find OUTLANDER on someone’s list of “great beach reads,” but usually none of the other books. (This sticks in my mind, because one of the early public appearances I did when OUTLANDER was released, was a “Great Beach Read” program done with several other authors for a public library—wherein we were supposed to talk about our own books, but also give a list of other books we thought were great beach reads. I remember the occasion, because it’s the first—and thankfully one of very few—occasion on which I forgot I was supposed to be somewhere. I was in fact shopping for bunk-beds with my husband—and my children all “turned” last month, being now 26, 24, and 22, so you know it was awhile ago—when he got a frantic call (he having one of the new-fangled car-phones) from his secretary, to the effect that the Glendale (I think) Public Library was looking for me, and why wasn’t I on their stage? We rushed there instantly, and I made it in time to be last on the program, but still, Highly Traumatic. I shudder when I hear the words “Beach Read.”)
Now, personally, I’ve always figured that “great beach read” is one of those left-handed compliments. It implies that the book is a page-turner, all right—but probably not something filled with Deep Meaning, as my husband says (“Does this have lots of Deep Meaning?” he asks, suspiciously, when I hand him a new excerpt to read. “Or does something actually happen?”). Nobody describes WAR AND PEACE as a great beach read (though in fact it is, size quite aside. It actually is a page-turner, though the translation makes a difference. I got an edition translated by someone whose first language was apparently French, resulting in male characters not infrequently threatening to give each other “a bang on the snout!” Which was mildly distracting. But I digress…).
The implication is that the book should be entertaining, but something you can easily put down in order to play volleyball, and it won’t really matter if you doze off and let it fall on your stomach where it will absorb sun-tan lotion and all the pages become transparent. And when you leave the beach, you can toss it in the trash can if you’ve finished it, and into your trunk if you haven’t, there to be ignored until next Thanksgiving, when you discover it while cramming your trunk with turkey, bags of fresh cranberries, and whatever other family-specific food you consider indispensable to the occasion (my stepmother’s family traditionally serves buttered rutabagas at Thanksgiving. I consider this perverse, but as long as I’m not personally required to eat rutabagas—and no force of nature would compel me, I assure you—more power to them).
On the other hand—a beach read has the assurance of being entertaining, and of probably being popular. A beach read is something that everybody (in a given summer) is reading. Which is of course Highly Desirable, if you are the author of said book. I mean, if it comes right down to it, do you want the New York Times to say your book is “a brilliant, if depressing, portrait of humanity, filled with insights on dependency and longing,”—or do you want it to say, “#1″ on the Bestsellers list? Yeah, me too.
(Mind, if anybody happens to want to look for Deep Meaning in my books, it’s there [g]—no, really—but I do think there ought to be a Good Story on the uppermost layer of a book.)
Now, I personally am no judge of a beach read, because a) I read all the time, regardless of location, and b) I don’t live near a beach, and c) if I did live near a beach, I wouldn’t be sitting on it, reading. I hate sitting in the sun; it makes me sweaty and dizzy, and the last thing I’d do is read a book while doing it. But tastes differ.
IF we were to define a “beach read” simply as a book that’s very entertaining, but “light” (in the literary-fiction sense of the word)—what would you pick? (Or if you define a beach read differently, how would you define it?)
The nearest equivalent of a “beach read” for me, is probably a “plane book.” I.e., what you read on a plane to distract your mind from the knowledge that there is nothing under you but 30,000 feet of thin air (though my husband, who flies planes, assures me that air is really much more substantial than it appears). That would be things like Nora Roberts romances and futuristic mysteries, Michael Connelly thrillers, Janet Evanovich’s comic romance/mysteries, Anne Perry’s Victorian mysteries, John LeCarre’ spy/intrigue novels, and the like (I gather I’m not alone in these preferences, since these are the books commonly found in airport bookstores). Not THE LOVELY BONES; I read half of that on a long flight to Sydney, left it on the plane, and never felt the urge to get another copy and read the rest of it. I know a number of folks loved it, but I thought it was hollow and mildly repellant—though I freely admit this impression may have had more to do with the effects of being on an airplane for fourteen hours, than with the book itself.
(I should note here that while I have referred to the books I read on planes as “toilet paper books,” this is not a diss. It’s because such books perform an indispensable function—but you use them only once.)
Speaking historically, though—it seems to me that many of the great “beach reads” of the last 15-20 years have indeed been “big” books: James Clavell’s SHO-GUN (one of my all-time favorite books ever!) or TAI-PAN, Judith Krantz’s SCRUPLES, PRINCESS DAISY, etc., James Michener’s monster sagas, etc. These are books that would get you through an entire vacation.
I don’t know whether it’s the current economic climate affecting publishing (paper costs keep rising, as does the cost of shipping books), or whether there’s a change in public taste, but you see fewer “big” books than you used to. (Mind, when a new “big” book appears, it gets a lot of attention—vide THE HISTORIAN, or MR. NORELL AND WHOEVER THE OTHER GUY WAS—on the sheer basis of size. The assumption being, I imagine, that if a publisher was willing to pay to print this, it must be good. Sometimes this assumption is true; sometimes not so much.) What’s the “beach read” of this summer? (I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t paid any attention to publishing news at all. I’m also neck-deep in the research for ECHO IN THE BONE, plus a “Lord John” short piece I’m doing for an anthology, that involves yet another chapter of the Seven Years War. My guess is that neither Francis Parkman’s MONTCALM AND WOLFE, nor Kenneth Webb’s THE GROWTH OF SCOTTISH NATIONALISM would be in most people’s beach-bags.)
So…what’s in your beach-bag?
My “summer reads” this year I’m not sure will fit the criteria. I’ve been swallowed by Patrick O’Brian this year, and am eagerly awaitng the 4th Aubry/Maturin (which I hope is the Mauritius Command) from the library. And I just discovered that there is a lexicon! I’m hoping that will help me keep all the nautical stuff straight between reads. I did just start BEACH MUSIC by Pat Conroy in the interim, which does have beach in the title, but seems anything but light- in typical Conroy fashion. My cousin gave me A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR several years ago, telling me it was THE beach read in the Hamptons that summer, but I havn’t gotten to it yet- but it’s at the top of the TBR pile. A few Rankin Rebus books will actually come to Cape Cod with me- along with a zillion kid books to make the drive do-able. Other than those, I’m open to suggestion and taking notes!
As usual, I’m all over the place. These will probably only get me to my birthday in July- depending on how many Rankin and O’Brian I actually bring home. And I do love Irving….
I spent some time at the beach today reading “Simpsonology” – it’s a wonderful book about The Simpsons and sociology. Interesting and laugh-out-loud funny at parts, but with some actual sociological research thrown in.
In past summers, I’ve reads parts of all of the Outlander books at the beach. (But I’m always *extremely* careful to keep them dry and sand-free!)
I just discovered Sharon Shinn’s Archangel series and would include that in the list; Archangel, Jovah’s Angel, and The Alleluia Files.
zuzu-you must be a court reporter (the convention in Anaheim?) Me too!
Dear Amy–
Oh, does Ariana Franklin have a new one? I _loved_ MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH, and her CITY OF SHADOWS was good, too, though completely different in atmosphere. I’ll go right now and look for THE SERPANT’S (is that the correct spelling?) TALE.
I just got myself safely off my recent Jane Austen jag when I very sadly fell into a PG Wodehouse fixation. The curse of the constant reader — I fall for a writer I like, and they are inevitably prolific in their talents, so it takes some time to get through the entire oevre…
I need to hie myself into the twenty-first century soon.
~kc
My summer reading thus far consists of re-reading Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series, in preparation for her newest, which came out a few days ago. I’d never take a hardcover to the beach, though – too heavy, and I’d manage to coat it with sunscreen and sand.
My Kindle has changed my poolside reading [I'm not a fan of beaches, too much sun, sand and salt] dramatically. Now I CAN shlep the giant historical tome without a problem [although some of my favorite writers, such as Dorothy Dunnett, haven't been Kindle-ized yet]. I tend to read non-fiction, and listen to “light” [are Edward Rutherfurd's Irish saga and Bryce Courtenay's "Power of One" "light reading"?] fiction. In recent years, have found myself listening to well-read audiobooks more and more, simply because I can crochet or embroider at the same time. Living as I do in Israel, ordering books is expensive and takes time and fights with the local postal authorities who often want me to pay both VAT and Customs. And my handbag already weighs a ton and I’m not keen on another cortisone injection in my poor shoulder that bears the handbag weight!
And, oh yeah, one of Kindle’s advantages is that you carry a whole library with you–so I can have the entire OUTLANDER series, and jump back and forth as the fancy strikes me. Want something frivolous? Got it! Want something with “meat”? Got that too….
[BTW, Diana, you know me as Metpatpetet on Compuserve]
[kc] I need to hie myself into the twenty-first century soon.
~~~WHY, for heaven’s sake? I find it bad enough to be living in it
!
Dear kc–
Oh, what a treat! PG Wodehouse is one of my “role models,” as well as one of my favorite reads. He had something like 90-100 books, I think–though some of them are both out of print and difficult to find. I’m pretty sure you can get hold of virtually all the Bertie and Jeeves stories, though. (Must dig mine out for a reread!)
Diana I agree completely with what you said about “The Host”. Even though I didnt start out with high expectations, I forced myself to turn every page through to the very end. (which means Im not lovin it) Anyways, the Outlander series is not a beach read at all… but an EVERYDAY read! Seriously if Im bored I pull out one of your writings and get a Jamie fix.
My summer read so far has been the Mark of The Lion Trilogy by Francine Rivers. Great books with great characters.
I cannot say that I have special beach books. I can read anything anywhere. If I want to I can dive into the book and ignore my surroundings. And although I’d rather have some shade (because full sun on white pages is rather blinding) I don’t pick books that are an especially light read (only maybe concerning the actual kilogram-weight, but even then, if a book is good I do not mind to carry it).
And I’m one of the lucky people who always know what they have read/happened in a book before, no matter where or how long I stopped.
But I have to admit that a “light” read in combination with sun and fun is a tremendous mood-lifter.
Nightmusic I totally agree with. Moning’s Highlander series is great.
I read all the time so I have no real beach read. At the moment I’m in the world of the Spiderwicks. Dunno if anyone of you reads that kind of books but I think I’m much younger than most people here.
Well, this has nothing to do with anything, but rutabagas can actually be pretty good.
My suspicious American husband was terrified when I announced that a rutabaga casserole is an indispensable part of my Christmas menu, but he now freely admits to liking it. So maybe you should give the poor vegetable a chance, eh? 
As for summer reads, I just finished The Historian, which was a pretty frustrating read, and I plan to give Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth another chance sometime soon. (I started it on a plane once, but never got beyond page 30.)
I just stumbled on this blog the other day, while looking for an update on An Echo in the Bone. Not until next year, you say? *sigh*
Oh, Julia, thank you!! I was looking at all the titles people were posting and thought…gee, all these literary stories and I love the ‘fluff’ which, if you read Moning, isn’t entirely fluff, that’s not what I mean but…her books aren’t War and Peace (and that’s not why I read them
) In fact, I almost have them all memorized, but read them in order.
As for Rutabagas, my father’s mother made the meanest pasty around and they had rutabagas in them and they were heaven…though admittedly, I’ve not had them any other way. Aside from fish heads and bugs though, I’m always pretty much willing to try a new food.
Dear Diana,
Austria doesn’t even have a sea [g] but when I was at the beach, I read books from Nora Roberts (like the Key-trilogy) and from Karen Marie Moning KISS OF THE HIGHLANDER and the other books from her Highlander-serie. I also read BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE [g] around Christmas when we were in Albania on the beach.
Assuming my order comes in time (and that I don’t devour it on the way to the beach), I’ll be reading Rob’s first book. I read Eyes of the World and loved it. I’m also eyeing Harlan Coben’s Just One Look and Promise Me because I really enjoy the Simon Bolitar series.
As much as I might not enjoy a particular novel, though, simply trashing it or allowing it to be soaked with sunscreen positively gives me the heebie jeebies!
I live 30 minutes from the beach….. never go because I have the perfect skin for cancer. IMO, The DaVinci Code was the quintessential beach read — fun, a page-turner, and everybody read it that summer. Personally, I’d take Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell,
or Jasper Fforde. Oh, and definitely my iPod.
Midge
I like the True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. its a childrens book. but you can hear the waves and feel the sea while sitting at the beach reading.
this was when I was younger and the beach meant vacation. three small kids…no vacation for mom, ever. so.. I think I would love to re-read Voyager since a lot of it is on the sea. smell the air and really appreciate the descriptions. During my second read of Outlander this past winter, I made Cockaleekie soup over and over so that I had a smell to remember when I read they were eating it. It is a wonderfully comforting smell.
to me.. a good beach read is not one you can just put down. Its a book that carries you away and a book that you are emotionally involved in.
Gifts from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh is a phenomenal beach read and helps to re-center me.