Beach Reads for the Weekend Hostess

Happy Memorial Day Weekend (aka no work, no work, no work, no work)!

If you're hosting this weekend, by backyard bonfire or gazebo, plan for long lines in the Tostitos aisle and chilly temperatures by the pool.

But if you're planning on having guests extend their welcome by the lake or ocean, you've got bigger burgers to grill.

I've long lamented house guests, but the exception lies by the sea shore. Having friends up to a beach house (aren't all beach houses "up"?) is as fun as drinking when you're 18.

But beyond food and fanfare, your guests probably want to relax. The best thing you can stock your summerhouse with is a good beach read.  My tastes run lighter than most, but try these out, or at least put them on your shelves for like-minded guests. Send me your summer favorites and I'll post them throughout the fairer months!

Nora Roberts Bride Quartet

Four books may seem a little daunting for a summer's day, but these will read as fast as one... and I mean that as a good thing.

Each book features a different woman's fantasy in each one - and I'm not talkin' 50 Shades of Grey. In true romance style, the women work in, you guessed it, weddings, respectively as a photographer, cake designer, florist and wedding planner.

In yet?

Well, get in. You'll like it. You'll recommend it to your friends, your co-workers, your mom.

Maybe someday you'll blog about it.







Elin Hilderbrand's Barefoot

There once was a girl from Nantucket...

And she wrote like thirty books about living there. Though I've devoured them completely indiscriminately, this one particularly struck me.

Elin's books are as much about the island as they are about the families that occupy them, and never fail to surprise you while making you want a lobster roll (no mayo).

This novel studies the secrets held between old friends, and their affect on the friendships and families built around them.

It's good. Really good.

Also, I want to go to Nantucket.








The Fran Lebowitz Reader

Sometimes - rarely - I read something that wouldn't fall under the chick lit category. In fact, I don't think Fran Lebowitz, also the author of Tales from A Broad, would love being called a chick at all.

But in a world where Bossypants failed me (what are you all lol-ing about? Seriously?), this reader consistently makes me laugh.

In short stories for the person who doesn't read short stories, Lebowitz laments factors of the world from city walking to arrogant children ("when he turned three, he called himself a trilogy").

If you're a plot purist, you won't like it. But I like plots, and still liked this, especially if you might have to go back to work some day far, far away and plan to read something on the train.






James Patterson's Roses are Red

It wouldn't be summer without James Patterson, the author who exclaims! with reckless abandon so that you can understand the excitement of the plot through a two-beach-beer haze.

He thrills with five-cent words, and writes books about every two weeks so that the Kindle never runeth dry.

Hey, take summer off and make a summer goal to read all of them. Betcha you can't.

This plot, centered around Patterson veteran Alex Cross, deals with - I know this will shock you - a serial killer who must be caught before he strikes again.

This is filed in my mind under, "If you like Criminal Minds, you might also like..."








Nicholas Sparks' The Best of Me

Confession: As I write this, I haven't read it yet.

But I'll obviously like it.

High school romance novels? Good.

North Carolina? Good.

Nicholas Sparks? Goooooood.

Has anyone read it yet? Let me know what you thought!