Beach Reads

Do you have your summer reading sorted?

I hope you all had a good Christmas! Have you got your summer reading sorted? When we think about beach reads, we think of lighter, easy to read books that don’t require too much thinking but make us want to pick up the book each day and read a little bit, doze a little bit (if you don’t have kids around you!), and read a little bit more. For some reason this year, my summer reads are anything but light and fun! I seem to have inadvertently accumulated a pile of books that are heavy, thought provoking and intense! This post is not about those books, but some recommendations for what I think will make some great summer reads.

Before I launch in, I just want to shout out to my lovely friend Miriam who, after reading my post, purchased two copies of Lessons in Chemistry for Christmas gifts! Yay! I hope your friends enjoy this book!

Let’s get into it…

First up we have The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes - a book about books (you can’t go wrong!). This one is based on a true story of the women who deliver books to those who don’t have access to books in the back and beyond of Kentucky. They become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky. This is a beautiful story of strong women who challenge the status quo (is there a theme with my recommendations?) “What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity, and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.

Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.”

Next for something a little lighter, we have The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. This one was published in 2013 so many of you will have read this. If not, grab a copy!

Another good page turner is Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. This was long listed for the Booker Prize in 2020; is a Reese’s Book Club pick; and has won multiple awards. This book is a “striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.”

Now we are going to go to something really light and fun - The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary. I read this one earlier in the year when I was recovering from surgery. I was in need of light and easy to read in my post anesthetic fog, and this was just the medicine. A good one for fans of Marian Keyes.

Another one along similar lines is Book Lovers by Emily Henry. Now I don’t normally do this, but I was at the library and saw this one sitting on the shelf and the cover was so pretty that I grabbed it without knowing anything about it. I had just read something that hurt my heart, and this one looked so fun and easy that I grabbed it. I was not disappointed and it far exceeded my expectations. Another book about books (well, book editors). This is a nice and fun book from 2022 that will be great for beach-side reading.

And now some quick fire recommendations from some of the books I read in 2022 (because my husband keeps telling me my posts are too long!)

• Verity by Colleen Hoover (I am not a Colleen Hoover convert, BUT I did think this was a good page turner).

• A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (fun fact, I love reading young adult fiction so you will see these pop up from time to time). Think Serial meets Making a Murderer.

• Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce. A New York Times Bestseller from 2020.

• Us by David Nicholls (perhaps not the best book to read if your marriage is in crisis). This one has also won multiple awards.

• Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah . This one did lead to a few tears shed (turns out I am terrible at suggesting light reads!). This is now a Netflix series too.

• The Guest List by Lucy Foley. A Reese’s Bookclub recommendation - murder mystery, whodunnit.

I’d love to know what you are reading for the summer. I hope they are fun and relaxing, because life is too short to read bad books.