Beach Reading Favorites

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The List

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Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer: "Wes Holloway, a hotshot presidential aide, is wounded in an assassination attempt that kills the president's close friend. Eight years later, the dead man reappears, disfigured but very much alive and apparently stalking the former president"

The Husband by Dean Koontz: "Mitch Rafferty considers himself an everyday guy, lucky to have a small landscaping business and a modest home he shares with his beloved wife in L.A. When his wife is kidnapped and the ransom is set at $2 million, he is determined to play the kidnappers' game, despite his inability to even envision that huge a sum"

Four to Score by Janet Evanovich: "Stephanie Plum, the trash-talking New Jersey bail bondswoman of this popular series, is tracking Maxine Nowicki, who's wanted for skipping out on a car-theft charge lodged by her ex-boyfriend"

Invisible Prey by John Sanford: "This is Sanford's 17th novel featuring Lucas Davenport. All of them have been good reading by a master of the police procedural. A few have been slightly better than the others. "Invisible Prey" comes close to being the best of the lot"

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus: "A hilarious, blistering satire based on the real-life experiences of former New York City nannies McLaughlin and Kraus"

I know this Much is True by Wally Lamb: "Dominick Birdsey learns about his family and himself in I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE, Wally Lamb's epic novel that centers on two men, identical twins, one of whom is mentally ill"

Heart of the World by Linda Barnes: "Heart of the World illuminates the power of our deepest regrets and the fleeting chances we sometimes get to fill the emptiness in our souls. Writing with sensitivity and grace, Linda Barnes once more demonstrates why ex-cop Carlotta Carlyle has become a treasured mainstay in the field of crime fiction."

Andrew Jackson by HW Brands: "H.W. Brands takes on an "American original" for the first time since his seminal, single-volume biography of Benjamin Franklin, and does a very good job with his subject"

Daddy’s Girl by Lisa Scottoline:" Natalie "Nat" Greco's law students just aren't that interested in the history of justice, and she can't seem to find a way to reach them. Then a new teaching opportunity develops that would take her out of the University of Pennsylvania and into a local prison classroom"

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovski: "This extraordinary work of fiction about the German occupation of France is embedded in a real story as gripping and complex as the invented one. Composed in 1941-42 by an accomplished writer who had published several well-received novels, Suite Française, her last work, was written under the tremendous pressure of a constant danger that was to catch up with her and kill her before she had finished"

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen: "The novel, told in flashback by nonagenarian Jacob Jankowski, recounts the wild and wonderful period he spent with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a traveling circus he joined during the Great Depression"

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult: "Bestseller Picoult (My Sister's Keeper) takes on another contemporary hot-button issue in her brilliantly told new thriller, about a high school shooting"

The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: "Joseph Conrad's novel "The Secret Agent" is referred to in many places as the prototype of today's political and espionage thrillers"

Trace by Patricia Cornwell: "Dr. Kay Scarpetta returns to Richmond and her former lab when she's asked to consult on the death of a young girl. Scarpetta suspects murder, but her investigation is thwarted at every turn"

Beach Road by James Patterson: "Former basketball star turned lawyer Tom Dunleavy is asked to represent a teenaged athlete accused of murdering four young men. With his former lover, also a lawyer, Dunleavy sets out to present a formidable defense"

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory: "Before Henry VIII ever considered making Anne Boleyn his wife, her older sister, Mary, was his mistress. Historical novelist Gregory (Virgin Earth) uses the perspective of this "other Boleyn girl" to reveal the rivalries and intrigues swirling through England"

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: "Although the title suggests that this is science fiction, Niffenegger's charming, emotionally charged novel is much more a love story"

Clearing the Bases by Mike Schmidt: "Clearing the Bases is a much-needed call to arms by one of baseball's most respected players. Drawing on his experiences as a third baseman, a manager, and, most recently, a fan, Mike Schmidt takes on everything from skyrocketing payrolls, callous owners, and unapproachable players to inflated statistics, and, of course, ersatz home run kings"

The Last Summer (Of You and Me) by Ann Brashares: "For many of us, there's a place -- a beach or a farm or the cold, clear waters of a lake -- where we locate our nostalgia for lost summers. For the characters in Ann Brashares's The Last Summer (of You and Me), this place is Fire Island. Here, sisters Riley and Alice and their neighbor Paul have spent the summers of their childhoods, maintaining a fierce loyalty to each other through the turbulence of adolescence and the encroachments of adult realities.

The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown: "Don't read the Diana Chronicles if you're expecting new bombshell gossip about the life of Princess Diana. But do read it if you're looking for an interesting book that offers a unique take on a famous life"

Rattled by Debra Gallant: "When Heather Peters, lawyer's wife and mother of a twisted third-grader, snaps up her dream McMansion in rural New Jersey, she doesn't know it's sitting, literally, on a rattlesnake den. Galant skewers the shallow, striving, McMansion-dwelling suburbanites in this engaging satire"

Eat, Pray, and Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert: "At the age of thirty-one, Gilbert moved with her husband to the suburbs of New York and began trying to get pregnant, only to realize that she wanted neither a child nor a husband. Three years later, after a protracted divorce, she embarked on a yearlong trip of recovery, with three main stops: Rome, for pleasure (mostly gustatory, with a special emphasis on gelato); an ashram outside of Mumbai, for spiritual searching; and Bali, for "balancing." "