Awesome Beach Reads

Nauset Beach, My Favorite

“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon… the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

Henry James

I’ve read some really good books lately, and I thought I’d share them with you. Full discoslure: I’m a sucker for women’s contemporary fiction, anything from chick lit to great writing by brainy women. There are lots of male authors I enjoy too, though, and one of these books is by a guy.

Much to my disappointment, I rarely seem to find a page-turner anymore. I don’t know if I’ve gotten more demanding, or the writing is getting weaker, but I hardly ever have that feeling of looking forward to an afternoon just so I can curl up with a book. These three all qualify, in my experience. So pick them up in paperback, and take them along to the beach, or the pool, or a comfy chair next to an open window.

Whatever Makes You Happy

by William Sutcliffe

As soon as I started this book, I knew I was going to annoy my husband with the out-loud chuckling. As the mother of a 22 year-old knucklehead son, I could really relate to the women. But I think you will enjoy the portrayals of the arrested development of these guys. I’m always saying, “Boys are such idiots,” but sometimes I wonder, “What if I’m wrong? What if boys are reasonable and rational and I’m the idiot? Why am I telling women to chalk up bad boy behavior to idiocy?” Well, this book, by a man no less, confirms it once and for all. It’s a funny, sweet book and I highly recommend it. Plus, it’s by a Brit. Love that.

Amazon Summary:

Three British mothers decide that it’s time their 34-year-old sons start to act like mature grownups. And if their sons aren’t going to get with the program on their own, it’s high time for a little maternal nudging. Matt, Daniel and Paul were childhood friends. Now in their thirties, they’ve lost touch and have only one thing in common: their mothers. Little do they know that, having spent a cardless Mother’s Day discussing how their emotionally dysfunctional offspring should be settling down, Carol, Gillian and Helen have decided to pay their wayward sons a visit. On the same day, they turn up on their sons’ doorsteps, uninvited and unannounced. Their plan is to reestablish the mother-son bond by moving in for one week. Just a week. Surely that’s not a lot to ask.

Love Walked In

by Marisa de los Santos

This is a novel where all the female characters are wonderfully drawn and sympathetic, despite their problems. I was moved to tears more than once reading this book. It’s also got one of the best descriptions I’ve ever read of not falling in love, even though you want to. Marisa de los Santos is a poet, and this is her first novel. She writes beautifully.

This was a big bestseller, and Sarah Jessica Parker is making the movie with the director of Sideways. There’s also a sequel called Belong to Me that I’m looking forward to devouring.

Amazon Summary:

When Martin Grace enters the hip Philadelphia coffee shop Cornelia Brown manages, her life changes forever. But little does she know that her newfound love is only the harbinger of greater changes to come. Meanwhile, across town, Clare Hobbs—eleven years old and abandoned by her erratic mother—goes looking for her lost father. She crosses paths with Cornelia while meeting with him at the café, and the two women form an improbable friendship that carries them through the unpredictable currents of love and life.

Testimony

by Anita Shreve

I’ve been reading Anita Shreve for years. I have adored some of her books, and found others decidedly mediocre. I found this one  impossible to put down. What I found particularly surprising and interesting were the unexpected feelings I developed for some of the characters. Sympathy for the guilty, anger at the not-so-innocent victim, disbelief at the incompetence of the administration. This would be a great book to discuss with other people; there’s no black and white here, just many shades of gray.

For the record, here are my other favorites of hers: Resistance, Strange Fits of Passion, and more recently, Body Surfing.

Amazon Summary:

At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora’s box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices–those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal–that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.

Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellingly  explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.

Have you read anything really good lately? Please share it, I need a new book! And let me know what you think of these…

Related posts:

1. Why Doesn’t He Call?
2. Chad Kultgen’s Unputdownable Novels
3. What Women Really Want From Men
4. Are You Too Smart to Date?

Tags: amazon, Anita Shreve, arrested development, boys, comfy chair, contemporary fiction, friend, good books, guys, henry james, idiocy, love, Love Walked In, Marisa de los Santos, motherssex, page turner, parents, romance, smart, sons, summer afternoon, Testimony: A Novel, Whatever Makes You Happy, william sutcliffe