The Curator: anti beach reads
book suggestions for the anti-beach-read reader. Sun optional.
I don’t really DO “beach reads”. It’s not because I hate the beach or reading at the beach or books that are easy to understand, entertain, or ingest. I love the beach (I live in California it’s part of my identity) and the pool and vacation. I love comfort books and thinking books. I love soft little squishy floppy paperbacks that fit perfectly inside a tote bag.
I hate it because most beach-read suggestions convince me to abandon my preferences, abandon everything I know about myself, and become a summer-romance-wielding psychopath. I hate it because there is usually very little depth to the reading lists. I hate it because what I read on holiday sets the entire tone for the trip now and ever after in my memory and if I pick the wrong book it will be devastating to me and my future progeny (generational trauma??).
Since we do NOT need another listicle telling us to read the entire backlog of Emily Henry and TJR (no shade to those authors, I actually love TJR mostly), I thought long and hard about my beach reads recommendations. First, the rules:
Must be available in paperback
Must be from a genre you actually enjoy
Must make you feel happy [joy, hope, amusement, etc.] (i.e. the book can’t be so devastating you collapse in your beach chair)
400 pages or less preferred
People or family-centered drama preferred
Stealing from Obama’s summer reading list highly encouraged (* marked below)
Anti Beach Reads Summer *Reading List*
Books I *Highly* Recommend
Station Eleven* by Emily St. John Mandel - you knew this was coming!! Because I am in love with this book. It’s fast but deep, people-centered, epic, and hopeful.
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell - a story about rock and roll, love, and a band that actually gets along, sees success, and has a damn good time. Read during a trip to the beach that I will never forget because the vibe was SO perfect.
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susan - do not sleep on this 1960s banger!! It’s full of drama, romance, drugs, sex, fame, and intrigue. Also, remember it’s extremely outdated so just accept it for the perfect trashy read that it is.
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne - like a Wes Anderson film in a book. Hilarious, madcap weird adventures but with serious heart.
The Candy House* by Jennifer Egan - speculative fiction with a side of humor and form play. Entertaining and it makes you think!
Leave the World Behind* by Rumaan Alam - this one isn’t for everyone. You need to be seriously ok with open-ended existentially terrifying endings. Probably better read during a summer evening with an Aperol spritz.
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr - everything this man writes is like poetry in novel form. Absolutely stunning.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - a beautiful haunting portrait of a man at the end of his career in 1950s England. It is languid and genteel and perfect for lounging.
Savages by Don Winslow - some So Cal pot-smoking surfers face off against Mexican cartels in the quick brilliant crime novel.
Books on My *TBR* Summer Reading List
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff - an allegory for Greek tragedy, about a marriage on the brink. This could go one of two ways - if it saunters too far into despair I will have to abandon until the daylight sooner fades.
Sea of Tranquility* by Emily St. John Mandel - again with Ms. Emily because she is perfection. It’s about a moon colony say no more!
Gilead* Series by Marilynne Robinson - endorsed by both Oprah and Obama and now by me after reading the first three pages of Jack in a used bookstore and getting hooked immediately. It’s all about people and relationships and apparently gorgeously written - sign me up!
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert - a woman reminisces on her wild days of youth in the 1940s - getting kicked out of college, making mistakes, and loving quite a few men. Sounds like a wild romp!
Still Life by Louise Penny - the first in the Inspector Gamache series, these mystery novels are described as “literary mystery”, and I’ve heard nothing but pleasant things. Also, they come in trade paperbacks - what could be more beach read-y than that.
That’s my list - if you have any great anti-beach read suggestions, leave them in the comments!
READING 📖→
Trying to pick my first anti-beach read from the list above. I started Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff and LOVING it so far.
Mastering Suspense and Plot by Jane K. Cleland to learn how to write a novel people actually want to read. It’s AMAZING thus far.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros because the internet won’t shut up about it. It’s very interesting, very enemies-to-lovers fantasy-lite, but the narrator sounds like she has a cold. I’m not sure I could recommend this one yet.
WATCHING 📽️→
Rewatching The Conjuring OG #1 in prep for our next Hundred Second Haunts scary movie review. Vera Farmiga is a GODDESS.
BOOK NEWS 📰→
This article on Crime Reads “7 Fabulous Crime Novels” starts with the perfection of Nancy Drew novels and then goes on to highlight seven other novels that do one important thing really well (like grabbing you from the first sentence).
Megan Garber for The Atlantic talks about the complete blur between life and entertainment, fiction and reality in her article “We've Lost the Plot”.
The Thursday Thread over on Anne Helen Petersen’s Culture Study asked everyone to report what they were reading, and offer recommendations. It’s a wealth of knowledge but also a joy to see so many people enjoying reading. If you don't subscribe, I highly recommend you do.
LET’S CHAT☺→
Leave a comment with your favorite all-time beach read and the memories you have of reading it. Usually the combo is what makes it such a good time.
Or per ush, let me know what you’ve been reading in the comments. I’m always game for a good rec (or warning, grievances, etc. ). If you tell me your favorite TV show or movie lately, I’ll give you a book recommendation.
In Case You Missed It 🖤
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See you around the bookshelf!
Natalie
Its so true that a vacation/beach novel can stick with you forever, for better or for worse! I remember lugging Gone Girl in hard cover on a plane to Greece, trying not to read it ALL on the flight because it was so good, and then when I finished it I gave it to my friend who handed me a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey because it was the only book in english on our hotel's exchange shelf...I still think about how TERRIBLE that book was but I read the whole thing because I had nothing else. I also once stayed up reading The Bell Jar by candle light in a little beach shack in Mexico because there was no electricity but I couldn't put it down.