6 Beach Reads For Summer

 When it comes to literature we have no problem taking on complex, challenging, or even wildly obscure books. But, every now and then we simply want an enjoyable, easy-to-digest pageturner like a murder mystery novel, time travel adventure, or quirky conspiracy theory. Our picks for summer are easy on the eyes but also well-written and in some cases gorgeously written as in the case of LESS, which won the Pulitzer. If you’re searching for something meatier, peruse our Best Fiction Spring 2018 List. You’ll have to wait until fall when we review the darkly profound and heartwrenching novels that send us into a catatonic spiral.SMARTER BEACH READSEasy breezy books that won’t send you into a catatonic spiralLESS by Andrew Sean Greer won the Pulitzer for 2018. It's a delightful book about an aging but still boyish gay author from San Francisco on an odyssey to find himself. Beautiful writing--Nabokov with a dash of Thomas Mann. One of our favorites of the year.THE ORACLE YEAR by Charles Soule tells the story of a young man who discovers he has the gift of prophecy. What he decides to do with it and how his life (and the world) gets turned upside downHOW TO STOP TIME by Matt Haig is being made into a movie with Benedict Cumberbatch (perfect casting) as the lone hero who is born with a condition that drastically delays the aging process allowing him to live hundreds of years as a young man. Sounds like a great problem to have except, for the most part, it’s not.THE FRENCH GIRL by Lexie Elliott is a smarter guilty pleasure about a group of posh Oxford college friends whose summer in Provence comes back to haunt them a decade later. Murder, intrigue, and unrequited love. Great with an umbrella cocktail by the pool.The Last Equation of Isaac Severy by Nova Jacobs. A mysterious death, a family of famous mathematicians, and a quirky young woman who tries to solve the puzzle of her adopted grandfather’s dying wish. A clever, fun read by a brilliant first-time novelist.THE TRANSITION by Luke Kennard is a witty, intriguing book about a young English couple who, in lieu of prison, is sentenced to a cultish rehabilitation program for millennial slackers. Set in the not too distant future, The Transition as aptly described by reviewer Mark Athitakis "embodies the anxiety and entrapment of everyday capitalism, the way you can be a critic of commercialism’s abuses even while you can’t help being one of its victims."