Top Ten Beach Reads

Tuesday, June 11, 2013


This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for our Top Ten Beach Reads (however YOU define a beach read!) For me a beach read isn’t necessarily fluff, but it is a book that hooks you and keeps you entertained while still providing good characters.

1) The Harry Potter series! I love re-reading these on vacation.

2) The Count of Monte Cristo: Couldn't. Put. It. Down.

3) Paper Towns: Road trips, Florida, it's perfect.

4) The Pillars of the Earth: A big fat epic novel that you can sink in
and enjoy.

5) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: Sweet story and the epistolary style makes it an easy read.

6) Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series: You can't help but get caught up in these.

7) The Shadow of the Wind: The perfect mystery novel.

8) Maeve Binchy novels (Tara Road, Circle of Friends): Great characters, great stories.

Categories I don't read on vacation:

9) Nonfiction: I love this genre most of the time, but while traveling I usually avoid it.

10) Shakespeare: I read a few of his plays each year, but definitely not on vacation.

Image from here.

14 comments:

Loni said...

The Harry Potter series would be a great beach read for me too. Such great books!

Sandy Nawrot said...

For sure Tana French! I cannot get enough of her, summer or any time.

Bekka said...

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who enjoys Harry Potter while on vacation! My friends and family think I'm a total weirdo for bringing those heavy volumes with me to the beach or pool, but I just love fantasy at the beach. You go on vacation for an escape, right? And I can't think of a better escape than Harry Potter.

Bekka
Pretty Deadly Reviews

Kristen said...

I haven't read The Shadow of the Wind but have heard great things about it. Wonderful list! I think it's about time I reread Harry Potter. :)

My Top Ten

Anonymous said...

Great list! I <3 The Shadow of the Wind, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and the Pillars of the Earth (and HP!). I hope to get around to the Count of Monte Cristo sometime this year :)

My TTT

Anonymous said...

Paper Towns is on my TBR list! Great list.

Kristi said...

I second Shadow of the Wind. I read it at the beach in Barcelona two weeks ago and it was perfect. It's quite the page-turner. Especially towards the end.

JoAnn said...

I couldn't put The Count of Monte Cristo down either! Ken Follett made my list, and so did Tana French. The Shadow of the Wind has been on my tbr list forever... sounds like an ideal summer book.

Booksnyc said...

This is the second list I have seen today with Tana French - think I need to put her books on my TBR.

The Relentless Reader said...

Pillars is one of my all time favorites. Great pick!

Jeanne said...

I've read Shakespeare comedies with friends while at the beach (out loud--most notably, A Midsummer Night's Dream) but never at the beach.

Also, I wouldn't read Dickens at the beach.

Sarah said...

TPOTE is a great pick! Even though it's so dense, it's TOTALLY engrossing. I sat on the couch for hours at a time reading that one.

Courtney said...

Rereading HP at the beach is a tradition of mine :) LOVE those books.

Also, love the rest of your list :) Great job!

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Loni - They are so much fun to revisit on vacation!

Sandy - She's a great one when it's cold out and you want to curl up with a mystery too.

Bekka - I've always dragged the books with me and now I finally have them on my kindle. I'm curious if it will feel different to read them this way! I kinda love the heft of the books.

Kristen - Oh my gosh, it's so good!!!

justcaffeinated - The Count is a beast, but it's so worth it in the end!

chrissireads - Green is good anytime!

Kristi - You got to read it in Barcelona!!!!! I'm so jealous right now. That's just perfection.

JoAnn - You should definitely check out Shadow. It's just wonderful.

Booksnyc - I waited to read her for so long after seeing bloggers rave about her. For me she definitely lived up to the hype.

Jennifer - I'm curious if the sequel to Pillars is good. I've been meaning to check it out.

Jeanne - I suppose reading Shakespeare comedies with a group would actually be really fun on vacation. I've never thought of that.

Sarah - Me too! I was totally caught up in that world.

Courtney - I'm going to re-read the HP books before a trip to HP World this fall. I can't wait!