Chatelaine has a list of their top 50 Beach Books up this month. Lord knows I love a good list and I’ve actually read 30 of the books chosen. Much better odds than the 1001 Books list, that’s for sure. Oh, and they’ve done the list as a PDF too, which means you can print it off and carry it to the book store when stocking up for the summer. Smart!
But the list got me thinking: are there books that you specifically save for summer reading? Do you tend on the fluffy side or tackle a classic or two? I generally save any new Chris Bohjalian novels for the week I spend up north by myself, and read a lot of mysteries in the summer. I also try to plow through some big classics because reading Little Women as a girl up north from an old library copy found when Havelock actually had a library (am I even remembering this correctly? Probably not) was one of the moments that actually changed my life. I guess I try to recreate that ‘feeling’ each summer with a new classic or two. In fact, I spent so much of my summer up at the cottage that all of my favourite reading experiences actually happened there—and they still continue to do so.
So what’s on your summer reading piles this year?
Harry Potter for me.
John Irving.
And I usually try to reread at least one Jane Austen.
I know what you mean about Bohjalian being more beach fare – it seems to fit, doesn’t it? Personally, I am also guilty of reading all my chick lit up north on Lake Huron. I spent many a teenaged girl lying on the sand with a trashy Sweet Valley High or such, so I guess that hasn’t changed much.
Harry Potter is usually a Christmas read but, since I neglected to read the last one over the holidays, I’ll tackle that and the new one this summer. I also tend to do a lot of re-reading of my faves so if I can find my AWOL copies of The English Patient, Oryx & Crake, and The Time Traveler’s Wife those will be on my summer reading list.
I’ll read the HP as soon as the Mrs. puts it down. I try not to dumb down my reading while on vacation, but the time I decided to read The Gulag on a cruise was ill-advised.
I’ve got a Jodi Picoult on hold for summer reading (among many others.)
And I first read Little Women “up north,” too. Cried buckets.