I have always hated the phrase "beach read," and the notion it represents, that somehow your vacation is the only appropriate time for pleasure reading or genre fiction. It seems like the kind of unrealistic trope that is exacerbated by magazines, like you should buy some sunglasses based on your "face shape" and a swim suit that emphasizes your "small bust" and get a "beach read" for your vacation. I have a tendency to bring on vacation any book on my TBR list that is compact and lightweight, i.e. paperback, and there is usually no rhyme or reason to it. That said, I can concede that people often want good books for vacation time with the implication being that they'll be sitting in a hammock, on a beach, or poolside for long stretches of time and need a book that they can really disappear into. Thus, the following, my recommendations for beach books this summer:
'The Flamethrowers' by Rachel Kushner -- This novel slings you from the Utah desert salt flats, to the 1970s New York art scene, to Italy during a worker's strike. The narrative just sizzles and it feels so sweaty and inherently summery to me.
'The White Album' by Joan Didion -- Another collection of essays from my new favorite author, this one includes plenty of writing about Hawaii and California, so you can imagine beaches even if you're not at one.
'Americanah' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- An epic and very modern romance that spans continents and decades and somehow works in themes of feminism, immigration, and race.
'Going Clear' by Lawrence Wright -- When I think of summer I think of the movie 'The Master,' one of my all-time favorites and a movie whose aesthetic is so frequently drowning in white hot light. Joaquin Phoenix is squinting into the sun for about 70% of it. 'Going Clear' is a non-fiction account of L. Ron Hubbard and the Scientology movement and is fascinating, well-researched, and proves that truth is stranger than fiction.
'Lolita' by Vladimir Nabokov -- the ultimate road-trip novel, for those of you whose vacations involve long stretches of time in the car (and hopefully nothing else from this book).
'To the Lighthouse' by Virginia Woolf -- Highly recommended for those vacationing at "the seashore," whatever that is. A short but intense book.
'In Cold Blood' by Truman Capote -- Lots of people enjoy true-crime books on their vacations. I am not one of those people, which is why I love this book.
'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- The best kind of epic family saga. You can really melt into the magical realism of this one, and it includes key moments of hammock action. Plus, characters are constantly sleeping or otherwise being sedentary.