give me a book & the beach.

Every year before the annual family beach trip, my attention drifts to one thing. While most (normal) girls would be getting new bathingsuits and sundresses, I am very carefully & pointedly picking out the most important thing to pack.....books. I agonize over my selections - Is it set in the summer? Will it be a page turner that I dont want to put down? The one problem in all of this tends to nag at me in the form of a question for weeks before i leave - Will I have enough books to last the entire week? To most this sounds ridiculous and silly, but to me it is a concern full of validity. I have always been a bookworm, whether sneaking them into restaurants as a child or sitting on the beach all day, I prefer to spend my free time reading. My record for most books read during one beach trip (which is usually saturday to saturday) is 6. Now do you understand why I am concerned I might not have enough!

This is what I have picked to take with me so far:

A novel of cheeky satire about a Chelsea art gallery that has a piece of art hanging in it that no one cares about until the artist suddenly dies. The painting's name is the same as the book - so no, I'm not reading a self-help book about doubting God.

This novel follows to college friends who have feelings that have yet to confess for the other. The story begins the day after they graduate and continues on from there. “One Day” checks in on their intersecting lives once a year, every July 15, from 1988 through 2007. I am under the impression that it will be a version of the movie guys and girls alone like, When Harry Met Sally.

I am finding it impossible to go any amount of time this summer without reading a novel by Pat Conroy. After reading South of Broad, Mr. Conroy's style of writing has poisoned me and I no longer enjoy reading anything else. I would even go as far to say that he is south carolina's father of fiction.

Everyone has buzzed about it for years, but I just assumed it was about carnies. Then i found out that Hollywood is putting it out on the big screen, staring Reese Witherspoon (my personal fave) & Robert Pattinson. Needless to say I bought the book immediately after hearing this.

A classic and one of my all time favorites. It never gets old.

"Books were this wonderful escape for me because I could open a book and disappear into it.

- Dean Koontz