Fun Beach Reads! Part 2
Because joy is a muscle #83
It is definitively summer, it is definitively time to be with friends and family in cute dresses, and it is definitively time to reward ourselves with a few fun beach reads.
Though if social media is to be believed (and what in the past few years has suggested that social media lies?), none of you are actually on a beach right now. Instead you are all simultaneously in Greece, Montana and Portugal. And god speed to you, I say, not least because I do not know one word of Portuguese. I guess it doesn’t matter, you can all speak English to each other about your golden visas and your egg tarts, Halloumi cheeses and libertarian hiking.
The best part about beach reads is that they go down so smoothly and easily, like a 250-page deckle-edged Whispering Angel, so you can read a few for a whole summer dose of pleasure and joy without any kind of hangover. Unless it’s a HAPPINESS HANGOVER and your head pounds with WITTY BANTER or SHIVERY MYSTERIOUS PLOT TWISTS, you’re welcome.
So don’t miss last week’s Fun Beach Reads Part 1, check out part 2 below (plus a few popular books I haven’t loved) and drop your favorite beach reads in the comments as a public service!
One thing about me, I love a book that’s in on its own joke and Book Lovers is about books, bookstores, and tiresome romcom tropes, while fulfilling them all. You won't be surprised by a single thing that happens in this book, and yet this romcom with its witty banter and heartfelt emotion hits every note you want.
Power summary: Cutthroat literary agent Nora goes on a small town vacation with her sister and runs into her handsome editor nemesis Charlie … need I say more? Frenemies, small towns, bookstores, etc etc.
I loved her earlier book Beach Read but personally did not love People We Meet on Vacation. This was the proverbial rubber match and it delivered.
OK, so Bath Haus with its sinister tension and violent scenes is not a five-lamb-fun-fest, but it is a spine-tingly thriller that kept me up reading all night and made me check the front door lock. So if you like that kind of thing, you might like this!
Power Summary: When Oliver’s loving partner Nathan is away on business, Oliver finds himself drawn to online hookup apps, secret bath houses, and the irresistible urge to cheat. When he barely escapes with his life, he thinks the worst has happened, but his life continues to twist in dangerous ways.
Creepy! Claustrophobic! Kept me guessing!
As a summer fantasy fix, Ordinary Monsters will hook you right up.
Power summary: In Victorian London, children with magical powers are found around the world and brought to an academy for protection, as they’re hunted by a man made of smoke, undead creatures, and the adults who have taken on their care but may have ulterior motives.
I had to look up both ‘penny dreadful’ and ‘Gaslamp fantasy’ which described this book and they’re both very apt: historical horror, fantasy and magic, all wrapped up in this hefty but fast-paced novel. More plot-driven than magical powers and world building, and crazy atmospheric with its trains, bridges, lanterns, it’s a fun read.
Also, like, every fantasy and mystery book in the world now, it ends with a nod to the next book. I get it, authors, you’re all about extendable IP and marketing. And yes, I will fall for it.
Veep meets Red, White and Royal Blue meets Succession in the political comedy fiction Let’s Not Do That Again.
Power summary: Nick Harrison, son of political scion and Senatorial candidate Nancy Harrison, has sworn off politics and campaigns until he receives a call about his sister, who’s been caught on video protesting in Paris and throwing a champagne bottle into a fancy restaurant. Can Nancy and Nick find her and save Nancy’s campaign?
I loved 90% of this book - the writing is terribly smart and bitingly funny, the critiques of politics, youth and family are simultaneously scathing yet somehow fair - then the ending really threw me for a loop. Please read it so we can talk about it. (But as great reader Jeff says, “it’s a fun book! don’t overthink it!” so he’s probably, as usual, correct.)
Yes, yes, everyone has already read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue except me. My take: while I preferred Life After Life from which this was clearly inspired (read why), I very much enjoyed this as well for an easy historical fiction fantasy romance read.
Power summary: In 1714 France, a young girl makes a desperate deal with an otherworldly force, resulting in her immortality at the cost of never being remembered. But in 2014 New York, one young man remembers her, and everything changes.
There’s nothing literarily challenging or even really remarkable about this book, but it’s still a well-told story, you know? The magical elements are well thought out, the romance elements feel earned, the drift through the eras and cities is immersive, and you’re definitely rooting for Addie. Plus, there’s just enough melancholy “life is short” to make it a memorable read. This would be a great book club book, probably.
Not for Me, Maybe For You: Mini-Reviews
The Last Mrs Parrish has a good premise about the too-good-to-be-true marriage but the writing, for me, was so basic and cliche that I can’t recommend it.
Siren Queen is an odd and imaginative book about actual monsters running studio system Hollywood, and has some interesting things to say about racism and homophobia, but for me it never really landed its message.
Under the Whispering Door is an earnest, sweet little meditation on making a valuable life and having a good death but - there was nothing truly special about this for me. The author's The House in the Cerulean Sea is better.
You had me with Bath Haus. What does this say about me???