It wouldn’t be summer without a trip to the beach! Whether it’s for a weekend or a week, a beach
close to home or one in a tropical locale, the idea of getting away from it all
and spending countless lazy hours in the sand and surf is, in itself,
relaxing! I can smell the sunscreen and
hear the seagulls!
But, at some point, you will come out of the water and
either sun dry yourself or lounge in a beach chair…and do what? Well, you’ll do
what we all do - pull out a good book!
These days, it may be more like, turn on and click open a good book but
the idea is the same. Books and the
beach go hand in hand like Boardwalk Fries and lemonade.
A good beach book is engaging and a quick enough read that
you can finish most of it before your sunscreen wears off. A better beach read
is one that you’ll pick up after dinner while sitting on the balcony or
deck. Beach reading isn't necessarily
"literature", but it will entertain.
Family & MWR has developed this list to help you choose
an entertaining read that fits your personality, whether you like romance,
thrillers or something smart but not too heavy. We’ve pulled together a couple
of reading selections for men, women, young adults, and a couple of the
classics. With these beach books in hand,
all you need to remember is your towel and sunscreen.
Please note that all book summaries were copy/pasted from
BarnesandNoble.com
The Classics
To Kill A Mockingbird by
Harper Lee
The unforgettable novel of a
childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked
it. Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply
moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers
to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and
cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Seconds before the Earth is
demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a
researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs
to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space.
The Little Prince by
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
After being stranded in a desert
after a crash, a pilot comes in contact with a captivating little prince
who recounts his journey from planet to planet and his search
for what is most important in life.
The Great Gatsby by F.
Scott Fitzgerald
The story of the fabulously wealthy
Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on
Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink
and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America
in the 1920s.
Men
The Mirror Thief by
Martin Seay
A globetrotting, time-bending, wildly entertaining masterpiece in the
tradition of Cloud Atlas. This novel is an ominous
modern thriller, a supernatural mystery, and an enchanting historical adventure
story. Set in three cities in three eras, the core story is set in Venice in
the sixteenth century, when the famed makers of Venetian glass were perfecting one
of the old world's most wondrous inventions: the mirror. Venetian mirrors were state of the art
technology, and subject to industrial espionage by desirous sultans and royals
world-wide. But for any of the development team to leave the island was a crime
punishable by death. One man, however—a
world-weary war hero with nothing to lose—has a scheme he thinks will allow him to outwit the city's
terrifying enforcers of the edict, the ominous Council of Ten. Meanwhile, in two other Venices—Venice Beach, California, circa 1958,
and the Venice casino in Las Vegas, circa today—two other schemers launch similarly dangerous plans to get away
with a secret.
Invisible by James
Patterson
Everyone
thinks Emmy Dockery is crazy. Obsessed with finding the link between hundreds
of unsolved cases, Emmy has taken leave from her job as an FBI researcher. Now
all she has are the newspaper clippings that wallpaper her bedroom, and her
recurring nightmares of an all-consuming fire.
Not even Emmy's ex-boyfriend, field agent Harrison "Books"
Bookman, will believe her that hundreds of kidnappings, rapes, and murders are
all connected. That is, until Emmy finds a piece of evidence he can't afford to
ignore. More murders are reported by the day—and they're all inexplicable. No
motives, no murder weapons, no suspects.
Women
Everybody Rise by
Stephanie Clifford
The upstart heroine of this novel
wages a one-woman assault on the old-money snobbery of the Upper East Side,
before the Wall Street stock market crash of 2008. Evelyn Beegan, a new-money
26-year-old whose social-climber mother finagled her into the right prep
schools, sells her soul in order to succeed in her first job at a social
networking site called People Like Us. In order to win over those at the center
of the young Upper East Side elite she spends more money than she has and lies
about her own background to climb to the top of the social heap.
I Almost Forgot About You
by Terry McMillan
Dr. Georgia Young's wonderful
life—great friends, family, and successful career—aren't enough to keep her
from feeling stuck and restless. When she decides to make some major changes in
her life, quitting her job as an optometrist, and moving house and home, she
finds herself on a wild journey that may or may not include a second chance at
love
Young Adults
The Lie Tree by Frances
Hardinge
Faith Sunderly leads a double life.
To most people, she is reliable, dull, trustworthy—a proper young lady who
knows her place as inferior to men. She and her family moved to the close-knit
island of Vane because her famous scientist father was fleeing a
reputation-destroying scandal. And she knows, when her father is discovered
dead shortly thereafter, that he was murdered.
In pursuit of justice and revenge, Faith hunts through her father’s possessions
and discovers a strange tree. The tree bears fruit only when she whispers a lie
to it. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, delivers a hidden truth. The tree
might hold the key to her father’s murder—or it may lure the murderer directly
to Faith herself.
Every Exquisite Thing by
Matthew Quick
Nanette
O'Hare is an unassuming teen who has played the role of dutiful daughter,
hardworking student, and star athlete for as long as she can remember. But when
a beloved teacher gives her his worn copy of The Bubblegum Reaper—a
mysterious, out-of-print cult classic—the rebel within Nanette awakens. As she befriends the reclusive author, falls
in love with a young but troubled poet, and attempts to insert her true self
into the world with wild abandon, Nanette learns the hard way that rebellion
sometimes comes at a high price.
If after you’ve read the synopsis of these books they just
don’t grab you and scream “take me to the beach with you!” go to the JBM-HH
Library and ask the staff for their recommendations. The cool thing about having a library close
to your job is being able to stop in when it’s convenient for you!
