As many of you know, my definition of a beach read is anything that is read while at the beach. So here we go, reads from my family beach week. This year we were twelve, ages 14-92. (For favorites of younger readers, see the latter part of this blog.)
Although a lot of required reading happened for an online master’s program in public health, I’ll spare you that list.
Without further ado, here are the pleasure reads, with comments when any were made. These fall into two categories: Brought Here and Found Here.
Brought Here
- Kobe Abe, The Face of Another
- Kobe Abe, Secret Rendezvous
- Joanna Bagniewska, Modern Bestiary: A Curated Collection of Wondrous Wildlife
- Great collection!
- Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us
- Absolutely wonderful: beautifully written, important, highly relevant today
- Dante Alighieri, Inferno
- A collaborative project by 20 fine 20th century poets presenting modern translations
- Rian Hughes, XX
- Rebecca Kuang, Yellowface
- Excellent commentary on race & identity, loneliness & creativity, social media & communication
- I.T. Lucas, Dark Whispers from Afar: Children of the Gods Series #63
- I.T. Lucas, Dark Whispers from Beyond: Children of the Gods Series #64
- Haruki Murakami, Windup Bird Chronicles
- Fiona Quinn, Striker
- Fiona Quinn is a local author I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing about her writing process and her Iniquus series.
- Charles Soule, Star Wars: Light of the Jedi
- Military Images (magazine)
Found Here
- Alison James, The School Friend
- Fun mystery, an easy vacation read
- John Hodgman, Vacationland
- Funny, funny, funny, AND well-written
- Terry Southern, The Magic Christian
- Commentary of 1950s society, clever, but not good
For the Younger Crowd
Because my family isn’t getting any younger, I reached out to a friend for what her young relatives (ages 1 to 7) are enjoying. There’s been a bit of a theme all summer, even before they went to the beach!
- Mark Teague, The Pirate Jamboree
- Ken Geist, The Three Little Fish and the Big, Bad Shark
- Michael Garland, Miss Smith Under the Ocean
- Kim and Doug Kennedy, Pirate Pete’s Talk Like a Pirate
- Eric Carle, A House for Hermit Crab
- Marcus Pfister, Rainbow Fish
- Melinda Long, Pirates Don’t Change Diapers
- Mari Schuh, The Supersmart Dolphin
- Giles Andraea, Commotion in the Ocean
- Reader’s Digest Pathfinders, Sharks and Other Sea Creatures
- Joanna Cole, The Magic School Bus: On the Ocean Floor
- Suzanne Tate, Skippy Scallop: A Tale of Bright Blue Eyes
- Betsey Chessen, A Dolphin is Not a Fish
- Arthur John L’Hommedieu, Ocean Tide Pool
- Seymour Simon, Incredible Sharks
- Jerry Palotta, Who Would Win: Killer Whale vs. Great White Shark
- Becky Weerasekera, Count With Me: Ten Pesky Pirates
- Audrey Wood, Ten Little Fish
- Anne Cameron, Orca’s Song
Bottom Line: “Beach read” could mean any books read at the beach or books to prepare to go to the beach!