Beach Reading Minus the Beach

Beach reading minus the beach...

No, it not the same as beach reading on a beach.  I have hit a new high, or low, on starting books and not reaching the end.  Right now I have three perfectly respectable, well reviewed books on my iPad.  Over the weekend I switched back and forth, reading ten pages here and there and never engaging fully.  When I couldn’t fall asleep last night I reached for Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie, an oldy but goody that always makes me laugh.  I didn’t fall asleep until 2:30 am, but I was smiling.

The problem is the lack of a beach.  While listening to waves and seagulls I could relax and read peacefully.  I could remember the early days of marriage and identify with the married couple in a contemporary romance.  With a beach I would not have the urge to shake them and tell them to grow up.  I could appreciate the description of wealth and opulence in an earlier version of New York City.  With a beach I would not be tempted to tell the characters to stop being so annoying and entitled and look beyond their small, selfish world.  I would feel more compassion for the fictional depictions of great authors and artists at an earlier point in American history in a part of the country due north of here.  On a beach I would sympathize with the weight of their lofty thoughts and idealism and resist the urge to tell the main character that morphine is not a good way to treat migraines.

I need a beach.  A little more sleep would also be good.

- S. Bakos

Further reading: Click on our blog label cloud for more posts about 'beach_reads'

Non-Beach Reads

Summer is upon us and what better way to enjoy summer than to lie in a hammock with a cool

breeze, a nice cold lemonade and a great book. But which book?

There are definitely books that you are more apt to read in the summer. They are usually

lighter, happier and carefree. Last year I decided to veer in a different path and I read those

books that people said were “must reads”.

What to Read? Click on  our Label Cloud tags in the sidebar
for more Summer Reading or Beach Reads

 While on vacation I packed my kindle and a few of our 50 cent sale books that just so happened

to be on my “must read” list. The flight was a long one so I was able to read How The Garcia

Girls Lost their Accent by Julia Alvarez in it’s entirety. The girls and their parents flee the

Dominican Republic in 1960 and arrive in NYC where the girls embrace the culture including
the English language and bell bottom pants earning their parents disapproval. I left the book on
the plane for the next passenger to enjoy. First day on the beach, I began the Guernsey Literary

Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows. This was an absolutely charming

book but not exactly the carefree reading you associate with summer. A writer uncovers a letter

and begins a correspondence with the people of Guernsey. Her life and her writing become

entwined with people she has never met. When I finished that I embarked on Cutting For

Stone by Abraham Verghese. This is the story of two twin brothers orphaned when their mom

dies and their father disappears. The author leads you on the brothers journeys from birth to

adulthood from the poor villages of India to NYC. Yes, It is a fabulous book but it is not a

beach read not to mention how much space it took up in my bag!! Oh I forgot to mention, my

kindle is full of those cozy mysteries about quintessential towns, cheese and flower shops and

culinary delights. Easy reads but is murder really a fun summer read?

I realized I was doing my summer reading homework while on vacation. My children hadn’t

packed their required summer reading for school but it appeared I had. During one of our

sightseeing excursions, we came across a quaint town with a great little coffee shop, and an

even better new and used bookstore. Blissfully I selected books native to the area as well as

true beach reads. Soon I was immersed in a world of beach barbeques, drinks with quaint

umbrellas sticking out of them and true summer fun.

I’ve learned my lesson. This year when we head out for vacation I will pack the newest book by

Taylor Jenkins Reid ~ One True Loves, and perhaps a Dorothea Benton Frank. I will save

those “must reads” for the fall when the children go back to school and we can all do our

homework together. Of course, I sure hope our vacation includes at least one new bookstore to

peruse.

~ Ann-Marie Sieczka

      June 17, 2016

Chick Lit - Not to be confused with Literature

Chiclets

Wikipedia defines chic lit as genre fiction which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly. Really, a marketing wizard somewhere decided to label a profitable segment of sales with a phrase reminiscent of chiclet candy.  If you don’t remember, chiclets are cute, sweet, minty and come in a variety of pretty colors.  What more could you want in chewing gum or books?  Although chick lit will never be confused with literary fiction (defined by Wikipedia as a term principally used for fictional works that hold literary merit) many authors of books geared to a female audience fall into a larger commercial or mainstream category, defined as somewhere between chick lit and literary masterpieces.  Reviewers and critics should be very cautious in applying the chick lit label to writers presenting a more realistic, balanced and less-escapist approach to issues confronting women.

Putting aside my small chiclet tirade, I read chick lit.  Some of my colleagues would consider that statement to be embarrassing, but I have already confessed in earlier posts to having crazy cats named after the Blues Brothers. Have I ever mentioned my fondness for the two Hellboy movies?  I especially like chick lit during the summer and I prefer series to stand-alones.  The authors listed below, a mix of chick lit and mainsteam/commercial, manage to include laughter, a few serious issues, knowledge of some field I know nothing about (restoration, wine and beer making, dolphins, etc), and love.  Their books hold more than a box of chiclets ever could.

My favorite series:

       Darcy Burke                     Ribbon Ridge

       Mary Alice Monroe         Lowcountry Trilogy (currently 4 books – Lowcountry Wedding just out)

       Wendy Wax                      Ten Beach Road (my new favorite)

       Beth Kendrick                  Black Dog Bay (Once Upon a Wine due in July)

       Kristan Higgins                Blue Heron

Lit Chicks, perhaps less judgmental sounding than Chick Lit,  would also include Jennifer Weiner, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Beth Harbison, Susan Mallery, and Sophie Kinsella.

Happy beach reading.  

-S. Bakos

              

Summer Reading: a Summer trilogy, Books about Bookstores, turn back the clock a decade or two and more...

Summer Reading So Far

I have been remiss in writing a summer reading post this year.  My intentions were good, as usual, but the last few hot days have served as a reminder that I can’t ignore.  I always start with a summer/beach trilogy and Mary Alice Monroe’s Low Country Summer Trilogy is just right.  When the first book, Summer Girls, ended with a cliff-hanger, I was anxious to see how the second book, Summer Wind, would start.  Well, it started the next day.  No flashbacks or explanations, the action picked up right where it ended.  The last book, Summer’s End, ties up the loose ends and almost everyone lives happily ever after.  

Next, several staff members were excited about Cynthia Swanson’s The Bookseller.  I was a little reluctant after Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry and Sarah Jio’s Goodnight June.  Really, how many good books can you expect about bookstores? The Bookseller surpassed my expectations and returned me to an earlier time in the 1960s. 


To turn the clock back one more decade,  Judy Blume’s In the Unlikely Event  takes us back to the early 1950s in Elizabeth, New Jersey.  Three plane crashes and many deaths brought the city to a standstill.  You couldn’t live in Elizabeth without knowing someone who had suffered a loss or been somehow impacted by the tragic accidents.  Newark Airport was closed during the investigations.  In the Unlikely Event offers a precisely cut slice of life in 1950s Elizabeth in the same way that Blume’s Wifey offered a slice of Plainfield in the 1970s. 

Many people know that TheGuernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society is one of my favorite books.  I  found  it so charming that I couldn’t decide if I had high expectations or no expectations for The Truth According to Usby Annie Barrows, co-author of TGL&PPS.  Once again I was speeding back in American history and, this time, I landed in the late 1930s.  The characters are as quirky as the small town is pretentious. The federal government is busy employing people through the WPA (Works Progress Administration) to move the economy forward at the same time a local factory is squashing any attempts to unionize.  I enjoyed the fictionalized history lesson; I enjoyed the main characters; I laughed when appropriate; I pondered the mysterious fire at the factory; I enjoyed the parts of the story told by letters to people we never met; and, I sympathized with any and all affairs of the heart.  However, I was more confused than charmed by the story as a whole.  Although my praise is so faint it may disappear from  the screen, I am glad I finished the book.  

Although I never want summer to end, I am looking forward to The Girl in the Spider Web (David Lagercrantz continuing for Stieg Larsson) and The Secret Chord (Geraldine Brooks).  Fall always brings books to remind us that lazy reading is over and it’s time to get serious again.

- S. Bakos