Beach reading for 2012

October 28, 2012 1:35 AM

Beach reading. 2012 edition. Difficulty - Must be available for purchase for Kindle in Australia.

Heading out for a week at a beach house in north Queensland. Looking for intelligent page turners. Crime, thriller, urban fantasy or sci fi is perfect. Comedy edge is great. Trashy is fine as long as it is readable, tropical setting is a bonus.

I have recently read and enjoyed Await Your Reply, White is for Witching, The Windup Girl, and Rivers of London. If someone knows of a Travis McGee type set in the South Pacific I will eat that shit up with a spoon and beg for more.

posted by arha to media & arts (15 answers total)

Have you read Shantaram? It's a good beach book: involves crime and sorta tropical setting.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:52 AM on October 28, 2012

Have you read Carl Hiaasen?
posted by essexjan at 2:19 AM on October 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

Very funny books I recently enjoyed:
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

White Tiger
posted by waving at 2:19 AM on October 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

Read almost all Carl Hiaasen, - spot on what I would like though.
posted by arha at 2:22 AM on October 28, 2012

I am enjoying Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
posted by 4ster at 4:46 AM on October 28, 2012

You know you can change your kindle settings ?
Change your location to somewhere in USA or UK and buy what you want.
posted by adamvasco at 5:52 AM on October 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

Hilary Mantel is great, but not what I would necessarily consider a beach read. For mysteries, try Tana French (she has four linked books, you can read them in any order) or Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler series (read them in published order). Urban fantasy, I recommend Seanan McGuire's October Daye books (also read in order, bear in mind that the first two are slightly weaker than the following -- note that I was indifferent to Discount Armageddon as it was too light/romancey for me, and I don't like zombies). Karen Maitland's stuff is lots of fun -- I'd go for her first, Company of Liars. She writes sort of historical horror, though not gross-out horror, more suspensey. The Rook was a fun urban fantasy. I think most of the Vorkosigan books (sci-fi) are available from a free Baen cd. Robert Girardi's The Pirate's Daughter was awfully fun, and is the only book I can think of offhand set somewhere tropical.
posted by jeather at 7:19 AM on October 28, 2012

Seconding Tana French.

Before I Go To Sleep is also great. When I read it I thought about how great it would have been as a vacation read.
posted by something something at 7:57 AM on October 28, 2012

You might like Kate Atkinson: "Case Histories", "One Good Turn" and "When Will There Be Good News?" Set in the UK/Scotland, light reading type of crime novels, but good writing. All available on Kindle.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 8:29 AM on October 28, 2012

Tim Dorsey seems to aim at all the same things as Carl Hiaasen.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 11:50 AM on October 28, 2012

I love Kate Atkinson, and maybe it's just me, but I find her terribly melancholy and not beach-ready.

I don't know if it's buyable where you are, but I loved The Knowland Retribution. It's fun, smart, and takes place partly in the Caribbean.
posted by rtha at 1:43 PM on October 28, 2012

Contest by Matthew Reilly (hes an Australian author)

Its not as sci-fi as it sounds and I really liked it for its fast-paced action but also its deeper look into human ethics and such. Nice quick read that I couldn't put down.
posted by fuzzysoft at 2:18 PM on October 28, 2012

Have you read any of the Kate Daniels books by Ilona Andrews? Urban fantasy, very fun. (Although the actual book cover art is horrific - don't let it dissuade you!) I have them all on my US-Kindle; not sure if they're available in Australia. Best to read them in order.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 7:09 AM on November 3, 2012

Another fun urban fantasy series (I've been on a roll lately) is Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry books. Also have these on my (US) Kindle.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 7:15 AM on November 3, 2012

Thanks everyone, I ended up with a mix of the suggestions here. Before I Go To Sleep is indeed pitch perfect holiday reading. Couldn't make it through The Knowland Retribution but only because I desperately wanted to slap the love interest, hard.

Saving the rest for my Christmas break. You guys are awesome.

(and I can also recommend Gone Girl for a holiday read.)
posted by arha at 7:16 PM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]