Summer Reading: What’s on Your List?
I like listening to NPR. I learn about stuff that wouldn’t necessarily be in my awareness. I hear interesting music and interviews, and reviews of books. The NPR website has the results of a poll they conducted—albeit unscientific—of the 100 best beach books. Here’s the list:
1. The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
3. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
4. Bridget Jones’s Diary, by Helen Fielding
5. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
6. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells
7. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
9. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg
10. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver
11. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
12. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
13. The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan
14. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
15. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
16. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
17. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett
18. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
19. Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
20. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen
21. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
22. The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver
23. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith
24. The World According to Garp, by John Irving
25. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
26. The Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy
27. Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel
28. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
29. The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler
30. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
31. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
32. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
33. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
34. Beach Music, by Pat Conroy
35. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
36. Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier
37. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
38. Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
39. The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough
40. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon
41. Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
42. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
43. Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice
44. Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier
45. Empire Falls, by Richard Russo
46. Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes
47. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
48. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, by Tom Robbins
49. I Know This Much Is True, by Wally Lamb
50. Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie
51. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
52. The Stand, by Stephen King
53. She’s Come Undone, by Wally Lamb
54. Dune, by Frank Herbert
55. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
56. Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
57. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
58. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
59. The Godfather, by Mario Puzo
60. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
61. Animal Dreams, by Barbara Kingsolver
62. Jaws, by Peter Benchley
63. Good in Bed, by Jennifer Weiner
64. Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner
65. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
66. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
67. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
68. Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut
69. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
70. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
71. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
72. The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy
73. Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns
74. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
74. Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe [tie]
76. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
77. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon
78. The Shell Seekers, by Rosamunde Pilcher
79. Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver
80. Eye of the Needle, by Ken Follett
81. Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck
81. The Pilot’s Wife, by Anita Shreve [tie]
83. All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy
84. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
85. The Little Prince, by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
86. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
87. One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich
88. Shogun, by James Clavell
89. Dracula, by Bram Stoker
90. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera
91. Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow
92. Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
93. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
94. Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris
95. Summer Sisters, by Judy Blume
96. The Shining, by Stephen King
97. How Stella Got Her Groove Back, by Terry McMillan
98. Lamb, by Christopher Moore
99. Sick Puppy, by Carl Hiaasen
100. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
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gerry rosser said,
August 3, 2009 @ 8:30 am
I know this will come across as “snarky,” but I don’t mean it that way.
I have no idea what a “beach book” is, or why a worthwhile book would be better to read one place than another.
Amy said,
August 3, 2009 @ 8:47 am
Hmmm…I’ve read 57. Pretty decent list, although I agree with Gerry–a good read is a good read, no matter where you read it. I was delighted to see one of my all-time favorite books, Angle of Repose, on there. If I was going to add, I’d put David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and Black Swan Green on there–two wonderful and very different books.
fromskilledhands said,
August 3, 2009 @ 8:56 am
I agree with both you and Gerry, Amy. Do you think the terms summer reading or beach book assume that people have time to sit around, to relax and to read more in the summer? As to the books, I’ve read quite a few; and TRIED to read quite a few as well. Some came highly recommended but they just didn’t work for me.
willow said,
August 3, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
(o) Willow was here…teehee!! (that’s my stone)
I love to listen to NPR, as well.
rudeek said,
August 3, 2009 @ 10:46 pm
I think a good beach read is a page turning thriller. Some of these books seem like they’d be better homework assignments than beach reads. I’ve read several of these books, but I don’t think I’ve read many of them on the beach, with the exception of The Godfather and Tom Clancy-though I’m not sure it was The Hunt for Red October. I would add any James Patterson, Clive Cussler or Robert Ludlum books as likely beach reads. I did just finish a Baldacci book while sitting on the beach Sunday.
Amy said,
August 5, 2009 @ 10:31 am
I think it depends on the mindset you’re in when you’re on the beach. I read Cloud Atlas when I was on a family vacation to Jamaica. Normally I wouldn’t think of that as a beach book, but it was perfect, for reasons I can’t seem to explain. Who knows what will appeal to that person on that stretch of sand?
MaryWitzl said,
August 6, 2009 @ 10:13 am
I’m thrilled: I’ve read more than half of those, probably closer to 75%. Most of the time, I find books on these lists that I’ve never even heard of. I’m glad Barbara Kingsolver’s Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven made the list — I loved both of those, though not so much Poisonwood Bible.
I’d put The Cloister and the Hearth on the list, personally. Greatest adventure story I’ve ever read.
gerry rosser said,
August 7, 2009 @ 9:56 am
I think I’ve read 40 of them.