I blogged about beach reads (i.e., anything read at the beach) in 2016, 2018, and 2019. I was in the Rocky Mountains in 2017, and we all know what didn’t happen in 2020. But here’s this year’s take on what people actually read at the beach. These 16 people are ages 12 to 90, and 8 are female. FYI, some raved about their reads; no one said, “Don’t bother.”

Here, in the order people wrote them down, with writers’ comments where noted

• Ron Lieber, The Price You Pay for College
  • Really informative
  • “An Entirely New Road Map for the Biggest Financial Decision Your Family Will Ever Make”
• Louise Erdrich, LaRose
• Stephen King, The Shining
• James Corey, Leviathan Wakes
  • Book 1 of the Expanse series
• Steve Benen, The Imposters: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics
• Jianhua Bai, Beyond the Basics: Communicative Chinese for Intermediate and Advanced Learners
• Fu-Se (伏瀬), That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
  • In Japanese: 転生したらスライムだった件
  • A long series

• F. C. Yee, The Rise of Kyoshi
  • Entertaining
• Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves
• Ursula K. LeGuin,  Changing Planes
• Douglas Adams, The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• Henrik Pontoppidan, Lucky Per (or Lykke-Per)
  • Danish, 1907 Nobel Prize 
• Jill Lepore, The Secret History of Wonder Woman
  • MUCH more than a history of this character
• I. T. Lucas, Dark Power Unleashed
  • Children of the Gods series
• Brittney Sahin, Chasing Shadows
  • Stealth Ops series

• Ian McEwan, Atonement
• Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Donna Andrews, The Gift of the Magpie
• Mary Kay Andrews, Sunset Beach
• T. G. H. James, Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt
• Karen MacInerney, Anchored Inn
• James Herriot, All Things Wise and Wonderful
• M. Ilin, Black on White: The Story of Books
• Michele Maria Surat, Angel Child, Dragon Child
• Pénélope Bagieu, Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World
• And this doesn’t even include the 7 books bought the last afternoon before leaving!

And some people don’t choose what they’ll be reading at the beach. Work demands, school demands, parenting demands… Does reading the newspaper count as pleasure reading or required reading?

• Student papers to grade
• Reports for work, if the internet connection cooperates
• Legal something-or-other for an upcoming court appearance
• Coursework for Continuing Education requirements
• Comparing textbooks for homeschooling
• Manuscripts to edit

And there you have it folks: 16 people, 25 books (and other reading materials)—plus turtle viewing, boogie-boarding, brewery touring, thrift shopping, sewing, story telling, cooking, euchre, dancing, cribbage, Mexican Train Dominoes, hair, makeup, nails…

Bottom Line: Yep, lots to do at the beach—but don’t leave home without at least one good read!