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Know a good beach book?

by Bootsie Lucas | 12, Add your Comment | May 12, 2009

mbtoolbox-619-imageGot a recommendation for a really good beach book? Not one of  those flimsy, poorly written novels that you want to toss after the first 20 pages, but a real gripper. Something that will keep you under the beach umbrella while the rest of the family is floundering around in the water. It doesn’t have to be a new release, nor does it have to be fiction. Old and current favorites are what we’re looking for. For starters, here are a few suggestions that (I think) are worth packing into any beach bag:

Straight Man (Richard Russo). A hilarious week in the life of a college academic, who, among other things, threatens on television to kill a duck a day until he gets the budget for his English department.

The World at Night (Alan Furst). The first of several novels taking place in Europe in the early days of WWII. If you love John LeCarre, you’ll love Furst, who writes about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances.

Ahab’s Wife (Sena Jeter Naslund). “Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last,” reveals the narrator in the first line of this rip-roaring adventure and love story.

Dancing at the Rascal Fair (Ivan Doig). The settling of Montana as seen through the eyes of a young Scotsman. Friendship, marriage and struggle for survival on the frontier.

Cakewalk (Lee Smith).  Short stories by one of the South’s favorite writers.

No Ordinary Time (Doris Kearns Goodwin). Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: the home front in World War II.

Brazzaville Beach (William Boyd). An intellectual thriller in which a primate researcher uncovers a devastating secret in Africa.

Word of Honor (Nelson DeMille). A former Army lieutenant is court-martialed for his part in an alleged massacre 15 years previously in Vietnam.

Waiting for Teddy Williams (Howard Frank Mosher). Eight-year-old Ethan Allen lives and breathes baseball in a Vermont village and dreams of becoming a major-league player. A must for Red Sox fans.

woman-on-beachStorming Heaven (Denise Giardina).  A powerful political novel told through four voices about the painful unionizing of the coal mines in Kentucky and West Virginia in the early 20th century.

The Plot Against America (Philip Roth).  An alternate view of history seen through the eyes of a young Jewish boy in which Charles Lindbergh defeats FDR for the presidency in 1940.

The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver). All hell breaks loose when a misguided missionary drags his wife and four daughters to Africa in the 1950s.

Undaunted Courage (Stephen Ambrose). A brilliant and sweeping reconstruction of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The Tender Bar (J.R. Moehringer). A memoir and homage to the culture of the local pub by a Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist.

Bride of the Wilderness (Charles McCarry). McCarry is known for his excellent spy novels, but this is a satisfying love story and adventure that takes place in the wilds of 18th century America.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott). If you have a book inside you, witty and wise Anne Lamott will help you find it.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum (Kate Atkinson). A hilarious look at a dysfunctional  family in York, England.

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12 Responses to “Know a good beach book?”

  1. Terri Evans Terri Evans says:
    May 13, 2009 at 6:11 am

    A great list. Now all we need is a beach. Have read many of these (and agree they should be on the list), but am now especially looking forward to The Tender Bar, Straight Man and Cake Walk.

    Reply
  2. Robert Lamb Bob Lamb says:
    May 13, 2009 at 8:42 am

    You might want to avoid Atlanta Blues, by Yours Truly because it’ll be hard to put down when you’re ready to go into the water. But if you weren’t planning to get wet anyhow, this novel will keep you turning the pages. Set in 1981, it’s about the search for a missing college girl by an Atlanta Phoenix reporter and two Hotlanta cops. The search leads through the underbelly of urban Atlanta to murder and heartbreak. One daily newspaper year-end wrap-up called it “one of the three best novels of 2004 by a Southern writer — and maybe the best.” It was a contender for an Edgar Award. The publisher, Harbor House, closed down a few months ago (I deny there was any connection), but Atlanta Blues is available on Amazon.com in both hardback and paper.

    Reply
  3. Melinda Ennis Lindy Lou says:
    May 13, 2009 at 9:25 am

    Glad you included Kate Atkinson. Anything I’ve read of hers is more than worth the read. She has an utterly unique voice and the best of British wit (and you don’t have to be a Brit to get it). Therefore, I would add Human Croquet and Emotionally Wierd to the list (although lesser books than Behind the Scenes at the Museum). And, her Jackson Brodie series, for those detective lovers out there, is also must reading (Case Histories, One Good Turn). I’m addicted and waiting for my next Atkinson fix.

    Reply
  4. Geek Girl says:
    May 14, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    Okay, Bootsie, here’s my suggestions at your prompting:

    DOUBLE WHAMMY by Carl Hiaasen.

    I remember reading that on the beach at Panama City a lifetime ago, back in 1989. I laughed hysterically at every page because his stuff was so funny and so new & different. Alas, you cannot re-read the book and get that shock of something new and different – Hiaasen has found his shtick over the years, so while he’s still funny and great…it’s not new and different anymore.

    And the husband half of the household recommends anything by David McCullough.

    I agree that TRUMAN was a page turner, even though there are 1120 pages to turn, according to Amazon. Okay, so maybe it’s one of those desert island books, not a beach book?

    And this reminds me I still have a copy of DANCING AT THE RASCAL FAIR queued up to read, though I’m in the midst of BOOK THIEF right now (the beach book recommendation from the teenage boy in the house).

    Reply
  5. Cliff Green Cliff Green says:
    May 14, 2009 at 9:36 pm

    I say go with “Lush Life” by Richard Price. It came out last year so it should be in paperback by now. The best dialogue you’ll ever read.
    Yolanda, a Puerto Rican detective in Manhattan explaining how she tells the difference between an Irishman and an Italian: “One had rather drink than fuck.”
    This is more than a police procedural, this is literature.

    Reply
  6. Alice Murray says:
    May 14, 2009 at 11:50 pm

    Just heard Michael Malone at the Decatur library this week and I’m convinced any of his books are well worth reading. I read “Dingley Falls” in book club and bought his latest, “Four Corners of the Sky” and another one now in paperback, “Handling Sin.” I plan to take them both to the beach a week from Sunday.
    If you haven’t read him, check him out. He’s coming to this year’s Decatur Book Festival, so be prepared! And I’m anxiously looking forward to “The Help,” by Kathryn Stockett, which is sitting beside my reading chair. She’s also on the confirmed list for this year’s festival, as is Cassandra King. I loved her “Queen of Broken Hearts.” We’ll have a list of this year’s book festival authors ready to release in late June.”

    Reply
  7. Susan Aikman Miles says:
    May 17, 2009 at 5:10 pm

    Books by Mary Kay Andrews are always great for a read — at the beach or at home! Also I recommend the Lydia Chin – Bill Smith series by S.J. Rozan. And absolutely anything by Michael Connelly.

    Reply
  8. Christopher Burdette Critter says:
    May 19, 2009 at 1:46 pm

    Books by Randy Wayne Whight are tales of “adventure, travel and fishing” in depth travel descriptions and laugh-out-loud humor.

    Also, hilarious tales of living in the South Pacific, by J. Maareten Troost. Begin with The Sex Lives of Cannibals then onto Getting stoned with Savages.

    Can not leave out Roibinson Curusoe. A must when YOU are in a remote setting.

    All can be found in the Travel section.

    Reply
  9. Chris Wohlwend Chris Wohlwend says:
    May 22, 2009 at 10:33 am

    For those who like harrowing non-fiction: Hacienda by Lisa St. Aubin de Teran
    For those who like harrowing fiction: Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
    For those who like to read of lives more harrowing than their own: A Fan’s Notes by Fred Exley.

    Reply
  10. Jackson Hackett says:
    May 27, 2009 at 10:11 pm

    More suggestions for beach reading: I just finished “Runner,” the latest in the Jane Whitefield series by Thomas Perry, and recommend it or any other in the series for fans of mysteries/thrillers. A great baseball novel is “Veracruz Blues,” a tale set in the Mexcian League, by Mark Winegardner. Two very good non-fiction books, each following one team for a season of Italian soccer, are “The Miracle of Castel di Sangro” by Joe McGinnis and “A Season with Verona” by Tim Parks. And one of my favorite summer reads ever was “The Postman (Il Postino)” by Antonia Skarmeta, about a postman who falls in love and under the spell of the poetry of Pablo Neruda. The film, which is also great, was based on this book.

    Reply
  11. Heather says:
    July 22, 2009 at 12:03 am

    I just finished “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffeneger–it was fantastic!
    Something this morning, though I don’t remember what, reminded me of a short story I read a while back: “The Light of Other Days” by Bob Shaw. It’s about slow glass, a science fiction concept where glass can actually capture images and play them back days, months, or years later.
    Personal favorites include “The Power of One” by Bryce Courtenay, “Blind Your Ponies” by Stanley Gordon West, and “The Hungry Ocean” by Linda Greenlaw. I re-read “The Tao of Pooh” by Benjamin Hoff every other year or so, along with several from Bootsie’s List above.
    One I didn’t see on her list is “Out Stealing Horses” by Per Petterson–she recommended to me and it’s next on my list.
    Of course top of my list, and one I read over and over, is “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee…and the inspiration for our daughter, Dallas Scout (well, that and her granDAL Lee).
    Many great suggestions here that I can’t wait to check out!

    Reply
  12. Jake Cox says:
    July 13, 2010 at 7:00 pm

    If you want a good read, try anything Dorothea Benton Franks or Pat Conroy has written. Both are wonderful, clever, and entertaining authors. Their words are chosen so well they make you form a picture in your mind of each and every character, situation and scheme.

    Read the Dottie Franks books in order of printing for a real treat and you will never go wrong with Conroy!

    Reply

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Bootsie Lucas
About the author Bootsie Lucas: Bootsie Lucas is the pseudonym for an Atlanta writer who is a former editor and reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Macon Telegraph.

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