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Life’s a Beach!

Hello and welcome to our monthly discussion thread for June! In honor (or protest) of the 90-degree weather, we’ll be escaping into vacation destinations through our reading. Our theme for this month is “Life’s a Beach,�� aka beach reading, the trashy books that are our guilty pleasures! All of our recommended books will take you on a vicarious vacation to the ocean, but feel free to jump in with anything that you’d consider a “beach read.��

For those who don’t want a lighter read, we’ll recommend some beach-related nonfiction titles and a few that are more literary, but nothing too taxing!

Fiction
That Old Cape Magic: A Novel by Richard Russo (Cape Cod)
Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead (The Hamptons)
Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead (Cape Cod)
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber (Miami Beach)
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier (Lyme Regis, England)
The Power Trip by Jackie Collins (on a yacht)
The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter (Martha's Vineyard)
Water Bound by Christine Feehan (Sea Haven, California)
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume (Martha's Vineyard)
Nation by Terry Pratchett (fictional desert island)

Nonfiction
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick (Mass. coast)
The Water Is Wide: A Memoir by Pat Conroy (Yamacraw Island, South Carolina)
Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell (Hawaii)

Let us know what you plan to read, and suggest the best guilty-pleasure books you know!

To get us started, I'll admit that my guilty reading pleasures are 1. cozy murder mystery series and 2. historical fiction set in the dark ages. I like it even better when the two are combined such as with Ariana Franklin's "Mistress of the Art of Death" series or Ellis Peters's "Brother Cadfael" books.

I've never been one for romance or thrillers, but I do love it when some medieval cleric solves a crime!

Light historical fiction set in the 19-century is also really fun to me, and for my current beachy read (alas it is not being read at the beach), I've got Tracy Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures, which is based on real life early 19th-century lady fossil hunters. Of course they did all of their fossil hunting in a British seaside resort town. Tracy Chevalier's books have been hit or miss for me, but this one sounds good!

I really love Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell. It felt sort of like watching Titanic. You know the boat will sink, but you still watch hoping it won't. I read that book feeling emotional and hoping that Hawaii wouldn't be annexed by the United States.

She also has a book called Assassanation Vacation which is summer vacation/road trip themed. Although much of it involves spots in DC like the Washington Hilton and Wok n Roll, James A. Garfield died in a beach town in New Jersey.

I am looking forward to Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand, and is set in Nantucket. I have enjoyed her previous books, and this should be a great beach read.

Ashley, I've been meaning to read some Sarah Vowell for a while now. Which of those books would you say is funnier? Unfamiliar Fishes probably appeals to me more b/c I don't know very much about Hawaii.

Sook-Yi, let us know how you liked Beautiful Day.

I finished Remarkable Creatures, a historical novel about Mary Anning, and I'd say it was a bit of a let down as a beach read. First of all, the location, despite being a beach and a fashionable tourist resort (Lyme Regis during the Regency period) was actually really dreary! It was always raining or cold in the book, or there was a landslide or some other natural disaster.
Secondly, I look forward to Tracy Chevalier's brand of historical fiction because I want there to be a bit of a heartwarming love story thrown in there. Same with certain Philippa Gregory novels. It may not be historically accurate, but it will make you smile. This did not deliver on that account. In fact the protagonists seemed to start off lonely and get lonelier as the book went on.

Still, it was a pleasant read and made me want to learn more about Mary Anning, fossils, and dinosaurs. It's crazy to think that 200 years ago people didn't know about dinosaurs!

I love summer reads!

I'm just starting A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams, which is a historical set in a Rhode Island beach town.

I loved Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan, set mostly in a Maine summer cottage community.

Anita Diamant's The Last Days of Dog Town isn't an especially frothy summer read, taking place in the harsh full year climate of a MA coastal community. But if you're vacationing in New England, it may help you appreciate how cushy life has become!

Just read Margaret Atwood's collection of short stories Wilderness Tips on the train. All are short stories about young women (teenagers, twenties, thirties mostly), especially in sort of outdoor settings (a student in love with her professor who follows him to do research in a bog in Scotland, the female counselors at an upper-class summer camp, etc.). The stories can be slightly chilling/serious (e.g. not exactly chick lit), but very entertaining, and each is relatively bite sized. Thought I'd recommend it since the stories are all very summery!

Elizabeth, I had forgotten about The Last Days of Dogtown, which I absolutely loved! My mother's family is from Gloucester, MA (present day Dogtown), and I had been visiting there my entire life without knowing any of the history. Plus, it had a tragic love story, which I enjoy :P

Elena, I've never heard of Wilderness Tips, but it sounds good. I've only read sci-fi or speculative stuff by Atwood, and I'd like to see how she does more realistic scenarios.

I'd like to let everyone know that Stephen King's new book,Joyland, is the epitome of a summer read. The whole book just embodies summer, especially the nostalgic feeling of looking back at seminal summers from one's youth. It's not too scary and a lot of fun and if you have been considering reading it, just do it!

On another note, I'm always surprised (re-surprised again and again) by how good a writer Stephen King is. I always go into his books expecting cheap thrills and coming away with a really meaningful experience. You'd think I'd learn...

Slightly off topic, but you mentioned Tracy Chevalier, and I just wanted to point out that she grew up in DC and Bethesda.

I would say Sarah Vowell's funniest book, that I've read, was probably The Partly Cloudy Patriot, which is a collection of essays, it's hilarious. But Unfamiliar Fishes and Assassination Vacation probably stuck with me longer because they were about things I thought I knew, but realized I didn't really: the history of Hawaii and its anglo influence leading up to annexation and the strange details behind the assassination of the presidents, James A. Garfield in particular. I've read The Wordy Shipmates as well, but I didn't really get too into it.

Ashley wrote: "the history of Hawaii and its anglo influence leading up to annexation"

On a related note, a directly relevant to this topic, there's a great new collection of short stories by Kristina Kahakauwila set in Hawaii called This Is Paradise. I'm just finishing it up, and it's a great window into life on the islands.

Ashley - I couldn't really get into the Wordy Shipmates either, which is why I've been slightly hesitant to try another of her books. I'm glad to hear the others are funnier/better.

Tony - I saw that book when it came into POP and was intrigued by the cover, but I hadn't heard anything about it. I'm glad to hear it is good and will definitely check it out!

Maria- The Wordy Shipmates was also the first book I read by her, and I ended up not reading any of her other books for a few years. I can't think of why I gave her another try, maybe because she seemed so funny in TV appearances.

Tony- I've added This is Paradise to my to-read list!

I've also been wanting to read "Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen." I haven't gotten to it because I like reading books on paper and the library doesn't have a copy. It is in the public domain though, so it's not hard to access. The book in it's entirety is the first result when I google it.

Ashley wrote: "I haven't gotten to it because I like reading books on paper and the library doesn't have a copy. It is in the public domain though, so it's not hard to access. "

We might be able to print a copy for you on the Library's new Espresso Book Machine. I'll check on that this week!

Tony wrote: "Ashley wrote: "I haven't gotten to it because I like reading books on paper and the library doesn't have a copy. It is in the public domain though, so it's not hard to access. "

We might be able t..."

I have googled "Espresso Book Machine" and I am excited to learn that these exist!