Every year, dozens of places release their “beach reading” lists or thinkpieces about beach reading come out of the woodwork for the summer season. Many of them cause some amount of eye rolling.
We recently received an email from Reader Big K:
I saw this piece in the Boston Globe, and I thought I’d check it out to look for some books for an upcoming vacation.
Categories included: literature, non-fiction, mysteries, and sports. Seriously? I love three of those four categories, but if you are going to break down summer beach reading past fiction and non-fiction, I need the Globe to include romance. To add insult to injury, at least a couple of the books in the “literature” category are sci-fi/fantasy, but NONE of them seem to be romances. I apologize if you did this already and I missed it, but would you please send out a list of beach reads for the summer? The Blue Castle, for instance, which you guys just reviewed, would be a great beach read. My sister and I read that one every year. Ilona Andrews’ last book in her most recent series is coming out in August, so people could read the first two and then devour the last one. 🙂
I’m going to write the Globe now — sports but no romance? Are we still having this conversation?
Sarah: I’ve talked about this before, and it’s never a problem to mentally project myself onto a beach and ask myself, “What do you feel like reading?”
I love beaches, and I love reading, so really, I can play this game all day long. For me, a beach read is almost always a romance (guaranteed HEA all the way!) and is usually one that’s funny or on the lighter side, without a lot of dark emotional angst or wrenching tragedy. I don’t read that on a normal day, so I’ve schlepped myself to a sandy, waterfront location, and remembered the sunscreen, I don’t want to cry and worry and get anxious.
Now that I think about it, and I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before, I have a few very vivid memories of the beach in New Jersey, and the ocean trying to eat my library copy of Rising Tides by Nora Roberts.
Atlantic Ocean: You want Rising Tides? Yeah? I’ll show you rising tides. Fuggedabahadit.
Most of Nora Roberts’ contemporaries (not the suspense and not the ParaNoras) were my go-to beach reading when I was younger. I’d borrow at least one trilogy from the library and read straight through. I remember reading the Chesapeake trilogy (before it became a quartet) in a beach chair, and the Born In series as well – plus Naked in Death ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ), back when my brain wasn’t so easily undone by entrails, suspense, violence, and murder.
A good beach read is one that I can dip in and out of easily (again, like the ocean), and my preference is for comedy with excellent dialogue and smart characters doing intelligent things. There’s a considerable amount of overlap in my “comfort reading” and “beach reading” requirements, in part because both are indulgences with a specific task in mind: relaxation.
So for my recommendations, here are a few:
No surprises here: Act Like It and Pretty Face by Lucy Parker ( A | BN | K | AB ). I’ve re-read them many times, and am still charmed.
Kate Noble’s Summer of You ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) is still one of my favorite historicals, and it says ‘Summer’ right there in the title. IT’S A SIGN.
And most recently, Shelly Laurenston and the Call of Crows series ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ) were great beach reads, in part because of the unabashed silliness of some of the crows, and the inspiration that I derive from watching women kick all kinds of ass together.
Elyse – would you recommend Jennifer McQuiston’s Summer is for Lovers, for historical beach reading?
RHG: This past weekend, I was at Nahant beach reading Petra Durst-Benning’s The American Lady ( A | BN ), the second book in the Glassblower Trilogy recommended at our Reader Rec Party at RT. Would recommend! (Honestly, I brought three books with me, because what if I didn’t like one? I do not bring my kindle to the beach, not even in a plastic bag.)
I agree that a beach read needs to be light, both in density and angst. The beach is a distracting place. At the beach I regularly go to, there’s usually at least three soccer games going, with some fine specimens of humanity, (shirts optional). You have to be prepared to defend your snacks against marauding seagulls. There’s also swimming! These are all very distracting things, so I can’t take something that is going to require concentration. And I often want something on the happier side of things, because the beach is happy place.
So I would suggest Sarah MacLean’s Numbers series ( A | K | G | AB | Scribd ) or Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ) or something by Caroline Linden or Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
Remember your sunscreen!
Amanda: I am not a fan of the beach. It’s hot. Bathing suits are uncomfortable. Sand gets in every crevice. Bringing a book is the one solace I get, being able to do something I enjoy while trying to fight being miserable.
As RHG mentioned, there are a million distractions at the beach and, if you go with friends or family (and they’re anything like mine), they won’t stop pestering you until you go in the water at least once. So bringing something that you can easily pick up and put down is a good idea. Maybe don’t bring a book with a plot that requires a ton of undivided attention and, of course, that varies by reader.
One series that I’m totally over the moon for is Ilona Andrews’ Hidden Legacy series, which Big K suggested. The first book is Burn for Me ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ). It has magic and a great cast of fun characters. There’s also a lot of fireballs being thrown about, which is perfect when you’re roasting out in the sun.
Anthologies are a good pick-up and put-down sort of reading. Unfortunately, a lot of anthologies I’ve read or seen are pretty Kindle-dependent, if you don’t want to mix technology and the elements. Me? I don’t mind bringing my Kindle to the beach since my presence around water is slim to none. I just want to read and nap on a towel.
I’d also suggest Christina Lauren, namely The Wild Seasons series. They have a good mix of romance and humor, plus plenty of sexy times. The covers are all bright and colorful too!
Elyse: For me beach reading is vacation reading because, while there are beaches near me, they are on the Great Lakes and the water temp is 50 degrees on a good day. My husband and I try to vacation somewhere warm and tropical every winter to break up the long gray months.
When I travel I try to pack light, but I don’t like using my tablet by the pool, so I usually try to go with mass market paperbacks that I can leave at the hotel for other readers.
Most of my reading is romance, so therefore most of my beach reading is romance. I try to bring a few historicals, a contemporary and a couple of mysteries. I usually read about a book a day on vacation plus one on each flight.
The last trip I took I found some serious Old Skool WTFery at my local used book store, Lovespell by Nelle McFather. It was glorious beach reading. I kept stopping to read my husband passages. I think this book involved a hero who inherited a family curse and everyone knew because he was born with an extra finger.
I’ve also read most of Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache mysteries while on vacation. It’s a little weird to be sitting on beach imagining a frozen Canadian winter, but I powered through them. I think they are all trade paperback now. I’ve also read the Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) while on vacation.
Sarah, I think Summer is for Lovers would be a great beach–or anytime–book!
Sarah: I thought so!
Of course, while we were discussing our recommendations and explaining what we see as a “beach read,” I didn’t expect that the idea of whether or not one should be ashamed of beach reading would be called into question.
Yet again I underestimate the power of people having opinions about what other people do – in this case, read.
Jennifer Senior’s NYT review of The Windfall by Diksha Basu contains this bit of head-tilt: in identifying the audience, she says the book is:
For readers who know little about modern India and are beach-novel curious (but too embarrassed to buy one)
Wow. I’m not sure of the Venn diagram overlap of those two groups, but if you or someone you know is embarrassed to buy a book they are interested in, please come sit with us. We can talk about ebooks, privacy, and reader shaming. Later we’ll tackle internalized misogyny and also the path to not giving a fuck, but for now, we want you to read the books you want to read.
Being so familiar with the shame and stigma heaped upon readers who openly and happily want to read what they like, I despair to think that there are people embarrassed to buy fiction that makes them happy and relaxed, but I also resign myself to the fact that there absolutely are.
(Y’all are so welcome here. Seriously.)
Also, for additional humor, when Jennifer Weiner later celebrated the bravery of women who power through their shame to read a beach book, one reply, from Cathie Cashman, made me snort water up my noise: “Here I thought it was about the bathing suit. I. Am. So. Effing. Brave. Yay me.”
Wear whatever suit you want and read whatever book you want. Hell, put a swimsuit on your book!
Now I’m going to end up Googling neoprene cases for Kindles which is rather off-topic.
My point here is that pretty much whatever book you want to read on a beach is a “beach read.” But when we talk about the confluence of romance fiction and books with strong romantic elements, the beach, and relaxing vacation reading, these are the ones we recommend most.
What do you think about beach reading? Which books are you sticking in your beach bag?
I’ve read a handful of the books on that Boston Globe list (hey, hey, DARK MONEY), but there are few there I’d consider beach reads. For me, a beach read has to be a page-turner or something that makes me smile. 50 pages of footnotes are not going to cut it. So, here are some of my picks!
– THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid – the fictional tale of a Marilyn Monroe/Elizabeth Taylor Hollywood star, this has twists and turns, romance, glamour, and queer characters (I go back and forth between not wanting to spoil that fact for readers and being insulted that the marketing uses that aspect of the story as a TWIST). I LOVED this book.
– AMBERLOUGH by Lara Elena Donnelly – Cabaret meets John Le Carre in this fantasy with romance, shocks, blood, and more queer characters! Another top favorite of the year.
– THE SOLDIER’S SCOUNDREL by Cat Sebastian – m/m historical romance with some opposites attract, light mystery, light bdsm, just super fun
– EVE’S HOLLYWOOD by Eve Babitz – journalist and It Girl of the 60’s, Babitz’s essay collection/memoir is sharp, funny, gossipy as all get out, perfect for the beach!
– HOW SWEET IT IS by Melissa Brayden – f/f romance with a bakery, small town, and post-mourning storyline.
– SOULLESS by Gail Carriger – all of her books are funny, romantic, witty, delightful, and this is the very start.
– A DARK-ADAPTED EYE by Barbara Vine aka Ruth Rendell – a pitch perfect mystery with touches of gothic and heaps of that family secrets thing.
And, I have to second ACT LIKE IT and SUMMER IS FOR LOVERS!
Oh and I forgot to add, I’m looking forward to reading in the following in the sun and surf:
– THE GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE by Mackenzi Lee – a YA (NA?) romp through 18th century Europe with two young men (one of whom has a crush on the other), and the younger sister of one of them, who is *supposed* to be in finishing school
– EVERY FRENCHMAN HAS ONE by Olivia De Havilland – De Havilland’s memoir of her time adjusting to life in France with her son and new French husband. I grabbed this from my library’s Beach Read Picks, actually, and it looks charming and witty
The Nocturne Falls books by Kristen Painter are probably my favorite beach reads. Super light and sweet!
I also need a page turner to keep my mind off of sun hot, I am so sweaty, but that’s as likely to be a really good intense romance as something Dan Brownish. BTW new Dan Brown on the horizon. I’ll also add anything by Alice Clayton who makes me laugh and turn the page.
Beach reading has to be something that will keep my attention but that I can dip in and out of when necessary. I agree with Sarah that there can’t be too much gore or the plot can’t be too dark. My recommendations are My Lady Jane which is YA historical fiction-ish. It tells the story of Lady Jane Grey, who was queen of England for 9 days before being beheaded. This is a reimagining of her story and is not always historically accurate but SO much fun and an engaging and quick read. I would also recommend the Phyrne Fisher mystery series as well as both of Deanna Raybourns series with Lady Julia Grey and Veronica Speedwell. Deanna Raybourn also has a stand alone set in Africa in the 20’s, A Spear of Summer Grass, that would be perfect for reading at the beach. Finally I would recommend An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole because it is SO good and will suck you in from the very first chapter.
I have a problem with the label Beach Reading. Is a book that is fun and takes you out of yourself only worthy to be read on vacation? My husband used to read sci-fi for R & R, so I guess that qualifies as a beach read.
That being said, back when I did go to the beach or take vacations (pre-ebook era), I always took one or two lengthy, sprawling sagas with me. I have a weakness for the rich people behaving badly genre and used to adore Judith Krantz. Also, a schemey villainess is my guilty pleasure even though I do recognize the inherent sexism of that particular trope.
I usually have more time to read for fun in the summer, which is great. I agree with Sarah. I like to read funnier, lighter books in the summer, like contemporary romances and fantasy books with a lot of action/humor.
Comics/graphic novels are great for traveling/beach/vacation reads. I find them easier to concentrate on and get back into if I get interrupted. I recently finished Jessica Jones: Uncaged and Deadpool: Too Soon? The Deadpool one was amusing, for those looking for lighter reads.
I don’t tend to read on the beach but I do read on vacation. And I like your point, SB Sarah, that any book you read on the beach is a beach read, whether it’s a giant computer programming tome or the latest Nora Roberts.
For vacations, I like to read longer, more immersive books than I can manage during my regular life. The Signature of all Things by Elizabeth Gilbert, Love in the Time of Cholera, misc Harry Potter books are all books I’ve immersed myself in on vacation. Plus tons of romance.
We vacation on a beach with my extended family every year, and the older generations judge harshly if one is not reading something “worthy”. I’ve been reading SF since I could read, so they’re all used to that by now, but I get a few raised eyebrows and snide remarks for reading Sarina Bowen or Susan Mallery paperbacks.
Kate, A Gentleman’s Guide was a total romp. And shout out to little sister.
It’s not sexy, though there is romance, and it’s YA, but Louise Rennison’s Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging is my once-a-year comfort read. There are ten books in the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series and they can each be read in a few hours.
Somehow, they have held up for me for more than a decade, despite the teenage protagonist. They’re funny and sweet and occasionally raw, and all the while oddly, unusually honest. Princess Diaries without the fairy tale. Rennison was a phenomenal author and humorist who managed to write for and about teens without ever being cloying. If you have a teen or ever were one, I recommend the series.
I think the Mary Robinette Kowal Glamourist series is excellent summer reading. I’m not one to turn down an alternate Jane Austen-inspired universe with some light magic thrown in.
My friend sticks her Kindle in a ziplock bag around her pool.
One reason I love my kindle is because no one knows what you are reading!
Some of my favorite authors for beach reads are Elin Hilderbrand, Mary Kay Andrews, Mary Alice Monroe, and Dorothea Benton Frank. I’ll buy the latest by one of them in hardback to take on vacation. The books hold up well to sand, napping, and beach snacks. I also like to pick up a lighter mystery, like one of Elaine Viets “shopper” series or a Mrs. Murphy mystery by Rita Mae Brown. No beach plans this year, but I have Elin Hilderbrand’s The Identicals on tap for when a beach read mood strikes.
I *LOVE* romance all year round but it’s especially decadent in the summer to have that beach read. I’m for rereading The Hating Game already, I swear, and I’m going to revisit the Luxe series for some pure soap opera.
I’m down for reading Hold Me by Courtney Milan because awesome writer plus trans lead is a win. I put it off because I struggle with New Adult. But I’m ready.
I like to download a couple of (lengthy-ish) series on my Kindle for vacations or long plane trips (Stephanie Laurens’ Bastion Club is a favorite because it’s both entertaining and 7 books long). That way I have something fun to read that’ll keep my attention for a while. I also will download a handful of “recommended” reads, whether from here at SB or from authors that I love or books that have been on my TBR pile for ages. Sometimes I get through those, other times I don’t.
I read voraciously (like two or three books a day pace) so inevitably I would run out of books on vacation pre-Kindle. But thank goodness for ebooks. I rarely run out of books now, and I nearly always have my favorites at hand if I need a comfort re-read.
I agree with Sarah that beach reading is anything that you read at the beach, but I also have to have something I can pick up and put down easily. Nora Roberts is good for that, as is Stephanie Laurens, since most of their characters and plots are recycled, and I can get the gist pretty quickly.
I super second the recommendation of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but I question it as a beach read because it made me ugly cry at points. But it was compulsively readable, which is a hallmark of the beach read, to be sure.
I want my beach reads to be reasonably long and extremely absorbing. (I’m looking for those kinds of books all the time and not just for the beach, so send recommendations my way!) I think The Royal We is an especially excellent example of this in romance. The Secret History was also like this for me, though it is not a romance. Anything Gillian Flynn for the lovers of the messed-up murdery stuff. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet for anyone who thinks “cozy sci-fi” is a genre you might enjoy.
Although it’s not strictly a romance, Greer Macallister’s GIRL IN DISGUISE about the first female Pinkerton agent, could make a great beach read. It’s based on the real Kate Warne and is told almost episodically. While there is the overreaching arc of her career, her cases are a chapter or two long. Read a case, take a dip in the pool. This also happens to be my romance reader book club’s June pick.
If I were to go to the beach, I would take some old skool Victoria Holt to reread. Or a vintage Harlequin with some crazy-ass jet-setting plot. Agatha Christie books are also fun to read or reread on the beach.
I tend to go romantic suspense or comedy at the beach. Last year, I chaperoned my daughter’s field trip to the local water park, and by that I mean she left me sitting in a beach chair while she went down the water slides with her friends. I read pretty much the entirety of Broken by Cynthia Eden. Tessa Dare and Julia Quinn would be great suggestions for beach reads. I mean, you can’t go wrong with Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb in that area either. I recently read Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett and that one, hoo boy. Beach bonfires and boardwalks. You could practically smell the coconut sunscreen, so it would be PERFECT for the beach.
I totally got déjà vu from an email I sent a few years ago! I remember ranting that everything on the beach reads list were downright depressing. My main criteria is that it must be happy and funny. Julie James, Tessa Dare, and Jill Shalvis fit the bill for me. I’ve been saving Christina Lauren and Shelly Laurenston for this summer.
All time greatest escapist beach read: Jilly Cooper’s Riders.
Trust me- I’m 55 and I’ve read ’em all.
I don’t do the beach anymore, but I think science fiction and fantasy romances are perfect–such as anything by Lindsey Buroker, Linnea Sinclair, Michelle Diener, for starters.
I’d also suggest audio books for people who can’t read in the bright sunlight for extended periods (even with sunglasses and umbrellas).
@Anna: Dayum! Two or three books a day? Every day? I’m amazed!
I learned the hard way that – at least for me – the book has to sorta fit the setting where I vacation as well. So while I could read Ilona Andrews and Julie James and georgette heyer anywhere anytime ( and frequently have, they are my comfort reads that I would take to the beach any day), there are some combinations that won’t work. I took haruki Murakami with me on our honeymoon to Madagascar and it was beyond jarring. I love the author, I loved the vacation but together they just didn’t work. Maybe that’s a no-brainer? Oh well, live and learn. Ever since I wanted to created a website that would recommend books for countries you visit. Maybe some day I’ll get around to it.
If I were choosing/packing vacation reads right now…
I’d go for light, delightful, and humorous. Patricia C. Wrede’s Cecelia and Kate trilogy, Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax books, and maybe some Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody for rereads. A couple of Miss Marple stories, and I’m up to Busman’s Honeymoon in my Dorothy L. Sayers reread, and I really should get around to reading Miss Buncle’s Book already.
Throw in all things Sharon Lee & Steve Miller and Lois McMaster Bujold—it’s always a good time to do a Liaden Universe or LMB binge reread—and all unread female science fiction authors I have in the TBR. I’m feeling science fictiony all of a sudden.
*nods* That’s a plan I can live with.
For the non-beach vacation, ie, park and mountain and tent vacation reading (or just airplanes): PAMELA CLARE!!! The COLORADO HIGH COUNTRY series – it’s about the mountain rescue team, all of them far too hot, in a quirky Colorado vacation town. They go out and drink microbrews and there’s a B&B and it’s like you’re on vacation in their town with them.
BARELY BREATHING, the first one, is 99 cents – I have to say, do not miss this. Full length, for 99 cents, from Pamela Clare. I just read it this week while on vacation. I was transported away from the humidity and thunder, and I was under the stars with Pamela Clare’s exquisite writing.
I have a memory of beginning the North and South Series by John Jakes while on a trip to Charleston. Part of the trilogy takes place in 19th century Charleston so it felt appropriate at the time. I guess that means I think of historical or non family sagas for trips like this.
@Carol S, yes! Or an exotic Mary Stewart, like This Rough Magic.
I’m so not a beach person (hot! sand! lycra!) but every summer I get the urge to read big fat sprawling books. I just finished The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett last week and yesterday dove into Empire Falls by Richard Russo.
Just want to second the plug for zip locks as waterproof kindle cases. A quart bag fits perfectly and keeps everything nice and dry!
Like Amanda, I am not a fan of the beach – a beautiful pool yes, beach not so much. However, I did take a couple of beach vacations in the last few years for reasons and two books that I literally read on the beach and loved were Ready Player One by Ernst Cline – almost entirely science fiction, but there is a small romance thread in there too. And the first book of The Hunger Games trilogy – my husband had already read all three and I have vivid memories of lying under a beach umbrella telling him I was going to be royally pissed if Katniss got with Gale and not Peeta – because I was team Peeta all the way and I kept randomly telling my husband throughout the entire trip “Gale is not for her.”
I’m going to be leaving on a 2-week British Isles cruise in a couple of weeks, so it’s important to me to have something that I won’t finish halfway through the trip, or (worse!) on the plane. I’ve been saving Written in My Own Heart’s Blood for this very reason.
For those who like exotic settings in their vacay reading, I’m gonna timidly mention that I have a new “old skool” romantic suspense novel (my first attempt at that genre, since I usually write Regency) out now: Moon over the Mediterranean was inspired by (and follows the same itinerary as) a Barcelona-to-Venice cruise I took a couple of years ago, and is my nod to Mary Stewart, M. M. Kaye, and all those women whose books gave me a lifelong craving to travel!
I love historical fiction, so I was always an Eloisa James beach reader. Smart, snarky, women and wonderfully emotionally rich heroes! The stories are always typically light-hearted, but rich in character development. Its ironic that I write contemporary fiction, I guess! Any suggestions for a good contemporary that is set in the Caribbean (my favorite escape!)?
For me, beach reads will always be associated with those old school Harlequin medical romances. When I was single, I used to rent a summer place at the New Jersey shore with two friends who happened to be nurses, and one of our pastimes was to pick up those books used at a yard sale or wherever, and read them aloud to each other. Then the 2 nurses would critique the medical stuff, which was often ridiculous. There was one book where the doctor hero and heroine nurse are operating on someone in the African jungle when a group of guerrillas carrying machine guns burst in. But since it was being read aloud, one of my friends thought it was a bunch of gorillas carrying machine guns, and she said something like, “I didn’t know gorillas could handle weapons?” Hilarity ensued, and still ensues, whenever I think of that conversation.
And thank you Sheri Cobb South, for that recommendation. I loved M.M. Kaye’s books set in exotic locations, and I’d love to read anything inspired by her.