# It's that time again: Soliciting good beach books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-that-time-again-soliciting-good-beach-books/307064 "2005-06-06T00:39:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-that-time-again-soliciting-good-beach-books/307064/1 "2005-06-06T00:39:50Z")
I’m heading off Friday for the Pundits annual pilmagrage to Hilton Head, SC. I plan on plopping my body on a fluffy towel and reading many books on the beach. Any good beach novel recommendations? By this, I mean something that is not heavy. No _War & Peace_, though a good mystery would be okay. It must be something I can put down and pick up multiple times in case the children are being attacked by a shark or something. Last year I re-read the entire Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich, but I don’t know where to turn next. Thanks in advance! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-that-time-again-soliciting-good-beach-books/307064/2 "2005-06-06T00:42:59Z")
**Terry Pratchett**. Pick one…any one. The same goes for **Robert Rankin**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![comrade33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@comrade33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/comrade33)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-that-time-again-soliciting-good-beach-books/307064/3 "2005-06-06T03:22:04Z")
“slapstick”, by vonnegut. very light, very absurd, very good. ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-that-time-again-soliciting-good-beach-books/307064/4 "2005-06-06T04:05:18Z")
read Julia Spencer-Fleming’s mysteries that starts with In the Bleak Midwinter. They’re my new favorite series. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-that-time-again-soliciting-good-beach-books/307064/5 "2005-06-06T11:44:46Z")
If nonfiction is eligible – Bill Bryson’s [A Walk in the Woods](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0767902521/qid=1118058860/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-3941781-2231243?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) – ridiculously funny. One summer I took it to the beach, and it got passed around to at least four other people in the house before the week was out. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-that-time-again-soliciting-good-beach-books/307064/6 "2005-06-06T11:51:38Z")
_The Secret History_ - can’t remember the author, but it was a mystery/thriller about genius misfit university students, couldn’t put it down. If you’re into light fantasy, _Diana Wynne Jones’s Castle in the Air, Howl’s Moving Castle, The Dark Lord of Derkholm_ and _The Year of the Griffith_ are all great. Oh yeah, _A Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing_! Just read it. Funny coming-of-age girl novel. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-that-time-again-soliciting-good-beach-books/307064/7 "2005-06-06T11:54:56Z")
Right now I’m reading **The Informant** by Kurt Eichanwald. It’s about the ADM price-fixing scandal in the 1990s. That sounds like dry-stuff for beach-reading, but I’m telling you. . .it reads like a Tom Clancy novel. It’s got wire-taps and lies and double-crosses and money and the FBI. I got it when I was looking for Eichenwald’s new book about the Enron collapse – “Cpnspiracy of Fools” – and saw it sitting next to it on the shelf. It’s the most enjoyable book I’ve read in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Kakofonous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9a140/32.png) [@Kakofonous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kakofonous)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-that-time-again-soliciting-good-beach-books/307064/8 "2005-06-06T13:43:14Z")
P.J. Tracy has two mysteries out in paperback - _Monkeewrench_ and _Live Bait_. I think they’d make excellent beach reads. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-that-time-again-soliciting-good-beach-books/307064/9 "2005-06-06T14:03:39Z")
If Chins Could Kill - Bruce Campbell’s autobiography. Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series. Fantasy/mystery in modern day Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![AmericanMaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@AmericanMaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmericanMaid)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-that-time-again-soliciting-good-beach-books/307064/10 "2005-06-06T14:05:44Z")
If you’re a fan of SNL, Live from New York, is out in paperback and is a fascinating read. My God, Chevy Chase is a pompous ass!