Help! I need a good "beach book" for vacation!

Govtgirl

Govtgirl

Cathlete
I am so excited, we are going on vacation to the beach next week with my husband's family (they're wonderful), and I'm looking for a good book to read while I sit on the beach sipping a margarita :)

Have you read a great book lately? Could you please tell me what it was?! :p Some of my favorite books, just to start the ball rolling for anyone else, include:

Gone With the Wind ---need I say more?
Devil in the White City ---based on true events about Chicago World's Fair and a serial killer
Stiff ---fascinating (and funny!) non-fiction about uses of cadavers in science and research
Homicide ---True account of Baltimore homicide cops on which the TV show was based
A Dog Year ---true story about a guy that adopts a troubled dog, just a nice story
The $64 Tomato ---just about a guy that decides to become a gentleman farmer; I'm new to gardening and it was a fun read

I really don't just read books about killers and stuff, but they're good books! I'll write more, right now my brain isn't processing (it's still early!) Thanks! :7 :7 :7
 
RE: Help! I need a good

Homicide is a great book! You might also try Joseph Wambaugh if you like that sort of thing. Also try these, some oldies but goodies :)

Snowflower and the Secret Fan - Lisa Yee
A Death in Belmont - Sebastian Junger
Into the Woods or Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping - Judith Levine
Anything by Annie Proulx or Amy Tan
Wild Swans - Juang Chang
Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener, World - Diane MaCeachern
In Defense of Food - Michael Pollan

HTH!! Have a great time! :)
 
RE: Help! I need a good

Janet Evanovich - Stephanie Plum books
Anything by Jennifer Weiner
Sue Grafton - Alphabet mysteries
Anything by Lee Child and Greg Iles
The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson
A Fine Dark Line and The Bottoms - Joe R. Lansdale
The Center of Everything - Laura Moriarity
Tallgrass - Sandra Dallas
Pink Slip - Rita Ciresi
Girls' Poker Night - Jill A. Davis
The Song Reader - Lisa Tucker

Have a fun and relaxing vacation!
 
RE: Help! I need a good

OH MY! My personal list of books to read keeps on growing.

Here are my favorites for summer-time reading:

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Blessings by Anna Quindlen
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
The "culinary series" by Diane Mott Davidson
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Tara Road by Maeve Binchy
The Red Tent by Anita Diamont

Gayle
 
RE: Help! I need a good

I recently read, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," by Sherman Alexie. It's a book for teens/young adults, but I loved it.

And, of course, I always suggest my favorite "Love in the Time of Cholera," but is just so goooood!! And I love reading it in the summer...so hot and sultry.

AND, for something really fun, funny, and well-written, "Confederacy of Dunces." I re-read that at the beach a couple of years ago. Just be prepared to have people ask you why you're laughing so hard while you're reading it. And you WILL read aloud passages to them!
 
RE: Help! I need a good

Some books that I have enjoyed at the beach, myself, are :

Islands - Anne Rivers Siddons
The Beach House - James Patterson
Roses are Red - James Patterson
Shell Seekers - Rosamunde Pilcher

These are all very good, but Shell Seekers is very long and depending on how quickly you read and how much time you will spend reading that week, you may or may not finish it. The Patterson books are very good and quick reads. I think I read the first one and a Patterson one last year at the beach.

My brother also wrote a book called Prairie Springs, by L.R. Williamson. I am, of course, biased, but it is a great book! It is currently at Random House being reviewed so he is thrilled about that. It does have some language and there are two gay characters so you have to be ok with that to enjoy the book. It is funny and thought provoking, and in the end, is really about loving people for who they are. It is set in a small Texas town, with all of the issues that come about with that.

http://www.amazon.com/Prairie-Sprin...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213627405&sr=1-1
 
RE: Help! I need a good

Anything by David Sedaris.

Sarah Vowell's "Take the Cannoli" and "Assassination Vacation"
 
RE: Help! I need a good

OMG!! I thought the same thing (anything by DS) after I posted mine!!!

Love him (and his sister, Amy) and Sarah Vowell. I will be seeing David in October when he is on tour! Can't wait!

It might even be a better idea to get his books (with him reading them) on CD or download them form iTunes. There is something about that voice that makes his stuff even funnier!
 
RE: Help! I need a good

<<It might even be a better idea to get his books (with him reading them) on CD or download them form iTunes. There is something about that voice that makes his stuff even funnier!>>

ITA!! Did you see him on The Daily Show last week? He was promoting his new book...great interview.
 
RE: Help! I need a good

Gayle, you and I certainly are on the same wavelength today (I read your response to my post on the X-files thread AFTER I gave you my own "OMG" response here!!!).

I watch the re-run of the Daily Show at 8:00 pm the day after the live broadcast. I rarely go out on a week night, but the night David Sedaris was on, I went with a friend to the Sex and the City movie. I can't wait for them to repeat that interview. Oh, and whenever Sarah Vowell is on, Jon Stewart looks like he is just beside himself! He loves her!

I love it when DS is on "This American Life." I just sit there with my cup of coffee, laughing out loud. There was a review of his new book in the NY Times yesterday; it's definitely on my "To Read" list!
 
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