<p>Love Dianne Mott Davidson, but agree to read them in order. I also went through all the Joseph Finder books two summers ago and of course the Janet Evanovich series. Chick lit is also fun for the beach if you can find an author you like. I gravitate toward Jennifer Weiner but not many of the others. I also went through the Dan Brown books for Beach Read. I’m going to go check out The Help as I was looking for something this summer. I just finished the Stieg Larsen series.</p>
<p>^ I haven’t read the series, but have a gf who loves the Janet Evanovich series. She has her phd in education and teaches. She always has good chick-lit on hand to lighten the load. Balance.</p>
<p>Anything by Anna Quindlen. I’m currently reading The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo and fourth or fifth that as well as The Help.</p>
<p>Years ago my sister was on a cross country plane trip and a friend gave her the first Janet Evanovich book. She was laughing out loud the entire plane ride and everyone on the plane was asking her what she was reading. She gave it to me and I stayed up all night laughing and reading and was hooked and read my way through the series. I, too, am not sure if the writer can “keep it going” much longer, but the series as it exists now is classic easy breezy reading. My 87 year old father even loves them.</p>
<p>A 3rd or is it 4th vote for The Help. A 2nd vote for anything by Sophie Kinsella. I also like Mary Higgins Clark and Jodi Picoult for pool/beach reading - have not read a bad one by either author yet.</p>
<p>I live at the beach…so I’m wondering what makes for the “beachy” read?
Something you don’t mind looking up from? All this free time, you want a book you can soak in? one you can’t stop turning pages? </p>
<p>my recent reads:</p>
<p>“Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon–And the Journey of a Generation” by Sheila Weller. Triple biography.</p>
<p>“The Grandmothers” by Doris Lessing</p>
<p>Hilma Wolitzer’s “The Doctor’s Daughter”</p>
<p>“Dog On It” by Spencer Quinn</p>
<p>“Interrred with their Bones” by Jennifer Lee Carrell</p>
<p>I started Clive Barker’s “Coldheart Canyon” earlier this morning.</p>
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<p>I have Crocodile on the Sandbank waiting for me. One of my daughters read the series and highly recommends it.</p>
<p>I also have the Outlander series waiting for me. </p>
<p>It’s nice to see all the recommendations. Now I need to turn off the computer and pick up a book. :)</p>
<p>Thanks for all the recommendations!</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve read the Janet Evanovich series - those are the Stephanie Plum novels. They are laugh-out-loud funny, but now that she’s on Book 14 they’re getting repetitive. But if you haven’t read them yet, be sure to read the first half-dozen or so in order. After that I think you will know all of the characters and you can read them in any order you want. The scene with Grandma Mazur in the funeral parlor (I think it’s in book 4) had me laughing so hard the tears were rolling down my cheeks.</p>
<p>Will check out the Outlander series and The Help. </p>
<p>author - my definition of a beach read is something entertaining that I can pick up and put down… something to relax with beside the pool or on the beach. Something fun and interesting, but nothing that’s going to make me depressed while I’m enjoying my vacation. And I’m a bit of a book-a-holic, if I’m reading something really good I ignore everyone and everything around me - when the kids were little I was literally afraid to start a book because I thought I wouldn’t make dinner, or the kids would fall down the steps or something because I’d get too engrossed in the book and forget to watch them. I don’t want something that I’m going to get THAT wrapped up in while vacationing with my family - just something to pass the time on the plane and keep me entertained poolside.</p>
<p>Costco had a huge end cap full of the Outlander books last week. I have never considered them since I don’t like fantasy. Should I reconsider my fantasy ban?</p>
<p>Beach mysteries- I like the early Faye Kellerman books. I also like her H’s early books. I also like some of the Lee Childs books. Or the name of the author is escaping my 50 yr old brain but she writes her books in order of the alphabet, the first one is “A is for Alibi”.
Another mystery series that is easy reading for the beach is the Bookman series by John Dunning.</p>
<p>If you like Fantasy, Jim Butcher’s Dresden Series is fun and easy reading.</p>
<p>A for Alibi and the alphabet books as I call them: Sue Grafton. I like those too for summer reading but haven’t read them all. I’m a sucker for the mysteries, gotten many a sunburn because of them.</p>
<p>Another vote for The Help; I also love Dorthea Benton Frank and Pat Conroy. His new book, South of Broad, came out late last summer and is a good read, though not in the league with The Prince of Tides. Another Southern favorite is Anne Rivers Siddons.</p>
<p>If you like ancient Roman history, Colleen McCullough’s Master of Rome series is exciting and educational! The first book, The First Man in Rome, starts before the birth of Julius Caesar, and the last is Anthony and Cleopatra. They’re nice big books so you could take the whole summer to get through the series. Not really good for romance, though.</p>
<p>Here’s some old threads with lots of advice:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/496009-fun-books-you-recommend.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/496009-fun-books-you-recommend.html?</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/664993-quick-i-need-book-take-me-spring-break.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/664993-quick-i-need-book-take-me-spring-break.html?</a></p>
<p>Mom60–yes, reconsider and read the Outlander series. I resisted them for years because they are often shelved with romance. I am completely hooked on them now. I love the time travel aspect as well as how well-researched they are. And, ok, the steamy romantic bits keep me reading, too. Why did I resist so long?</p>
<p>Pat Conroy and Dorothea Benton Frank have been among my favorites for years, because our annual summer vacation is to the Charleston Area. My dad has a beach house there, and that’s where I’ll be again when I’m reading my “beach reads” for this summer. Kinda fun to read books about the area while I’m there. The Outlander series is sounding more and more intriguing though… I guess I’m off to Barnes & Noble with my recommendations list!</p>
<p>Outlander series: the first book is wonderful. The second and third were good. I didn’t finish the fourth and have not read the rest. I might go back and try to reread them and finish the series. The later books would have benefitted from editing and tightening.</p>
<p>Even if you don’t want to read the whole series, do read the first one. It’s really memorable. I heard the author speak and do a reading once. She’s quite brilliant.</p>
<p>bookiemom, Funny, I liked the first Outlander book, but loved the next few books. The one I was a little disappointed in is the last one, and even with that I can’t wait until she writes the next one.</p>
<p>My H- who normally reads " men books" and would not generally read a romance or " literary" fiction ( although he does have a more diverse reading list, now that he reads on his ipod/kindle app- I suspect because he doesn’t look at the cover each time)- loves the Outlander series.
He has read the whole series- I got him into it about two or three books before the most recent one and even though he is not so interested in the literary detail of lovemaking- he is quite enthralled with everything else.
I haven’t read the latest one, I started it- but it was going kind of slow.</p>
<p>Since you seem to like politics, have you read Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin? It is a very riveting and entertaining view of the 2008 election season. Covers all the major candidates, lots of juicy little stories and nuggets about the campaigns and the participants. I am about 2/3 of the way though, and it is calling to me all day while I am supposed to be doing other things. I sure wish I had a day at the beach to just read it!</p>
<p>I’ve gotten some great suggestions here. I am going to read The Help as soon as possible, and I will also read Outlander. I have not read any of the books in the series, but based on recommendations here I will try the first one. My usual preferred light reading is mysteries. </p>
<p>One book I read recently and loved is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - not fiction, but it was impossible to put down.</p>