Beach reads required!

April 12, 2024 11:48 AM

I’m leaving on vacation tomorrow and need recommendations for engrossing beach reads! Specifications within.

I’m about to head out on a desperately needed vacation. The trip is all about relaxation and rejuvenation. But I’ve neglected to prepare a key component, which is gathering books to enjoy!

Specifications:

• Must be deeply engrossing. Page turners only!
• I'd appreciate recs for "beach reads". Last year, I read Happy Place and fell in love with Emily Henry! Unfortunately, I've already read her entire body of work. Recs in the same vein are greatly appreciated!
• I also enjoy sci-fi. I just finished The Three Body Problem and The Dark Forest, so Death's End is on the list. I'm not a "hard sci-fi only" type (I loved the Wayfarers series!) so I'm open to suggestions in any direction.
• Mysteries are also good! I've enjoyed Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series. I recently read The Guest List by Lucy Foley, which was pretty good, but I tried both The Hunting Party and The Paris Apartment and couldn't get in to them.
• Themes I enjoy: women/queer main characters, competent characters, emotionally intelligent characters, witty dialogue
• Things I'd like to avoid: diet/weight talk, themes of grief or illness, memoirs and non-fiction, sappy/cheesy writing, unbelievable plot lines (a lot of the chick-lit I've tried to read features meet-cutes that are beyond belief!)

We're headed to Hawaii (first time!!) so bonus points for on-theme recommendations!

posted by bluloo to Media & Arts (30 answers total)

for sci-fi I can recommend "The Expanse" and also "Murderbot Diaries"
posted by alchemist at 11:54 AM on April 12 [6 favorites]

For sci-fi I would recommend Arkady Martine's Teixcalaan books: A Memory Called Empire, followed by A Desolation Called Peace. Couldn't put them down, and they tick this box like you wouldn't believe:

Themes I enjoy: women/queer main characters, competent characters, emotionally intelligent characters, witty dialogue
posted by number9dream at 11:58 AM on April 12 [9 favorites]

Gideon the Ninth is excellent (and its audio book narrator is fantastic). Scifi/fantasy of necromancers. Really excellent characterization. (Sequels are less good imo, but the first is a page turner)
posted by ellerhodes at 12:05 PM on April 12 [3 favorites]

The House on Cerulean Sea is light and engrossing and features queer main characters. One of the characters is emotionally intelligent from the beginning and the other becomes more so over time.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 12:07 PM on April 12 [2 favorites]

Fiction fiction: Have you read any Emma Straub? I really enjoyed All Adults Here, This Time Tomorrow, and Modern Lovers. They're books with multiple people, various relationships, emotion. This Time Tomorrow may be less of a beach read read than the other two. I also loved Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez. Family Family by Laurie Frankel was also one I enjoyed.

Fantasy: I really loved To Shape A Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose if you want an engrossing dragon school book. The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick is huge but has fun found family.

Mystery: I liked A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver - a thief becomes a spy to help catch traitors in WWII England. Vera Wang's Advice for Murders by Jesse Q. Sutanto is hilarious and heartwarming!

Romance: Second Chances in New Port Stephen by TJ Alexander is a fun trans romance!

YA/Mystery: We Regret to Inform You by Ariel Kaplan is the mystery of someone solving why she got into 0 of the college she applied to.
posted by azalea_chant at 12:13 PM on April 12 [3 favorites]

I just started this Arc of the Scythe series by Neal Shusterman. it's a bit light and fluffy, but I found it fun and very readable. Plucky female lead, dark conspiracies, frustrated romance...

I am just starting on Only Bad Options by Jennifer Estep and I think it has potential. it's light on world-building but plucky female lead in trouble, obnoxious potential romantic interest or maybe rival, intrigue, scheming...
posted by supermedusa at 12:15 PM on April 12

Just saw the no themes of grief or illness. AVOID This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub then! Feel free to read the other books I recommended but avoid that one for sure.
posted by azalea_chant at 12:22 PM on April 12

Try The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy, a mid-century plucky-American-girl-in-Paris story. Genuinely one of the funniest books I've read in the last 10 years.

I loved the Arkady Martine books recommended above and would add Ann Leckie's books as additional sci-fi/fantasy options (Ancillary Justice trilogy on the sci-fi end and The Raven Tower on the fantasy side). Also The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison and its sequels (they follow a different character in the same world).
posted by Lawn Beaver at 12:23 PM on April 12 [4 favorites]

The Mimicking of Known Successes and The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles are two fun "murder mystery in the future, in space!" novellas featuring a lovely lesbian couple.

I also loved The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson and can't wait to read Those Beyond the Wall which she just released.
posted by obfuscation at 12:23 PM on April 12 [4 favorites]

Have you read the new Tana French? "The Hunter", a sequel to "The Searcher" which you should read first. A standalone pair set in Ireland. Also if you liked earlier Tana French, Jane Harper might appeal to you - start with The Dry.

Also Naomi Novak books. I would normally recommend Uprooted to start, but there is a fair bit of grief in that one if I recall correctly.
posted by true at 12:24 PM on April 12 [2 favorites]

Blake Crouch "Recursion"
Emma Straub's books -- basically any of them
posted by virve at 12:27 PM on April 12

I LOVE Katherine Center's books. I'd start with the Bodyguard. Completely fun, escapist chick-lit.

I also recommend Katy Birchall. I really enjoyed The Secret Bridesmaid and The Wedding Season.

Classics: The Eyre Affair, the Crocodile on the Sandbank, and Confessions of a Shopaholic.
posted by tafetta, darling! at 12:40 PM on April 12 [1 favorite]

For me short stories at the beach are the best.

Two collections I can read over and over are:
Ken Liu - the paper menagerie and other stories
Ted Chiang - exhalation
posted by Acari at 12:54 PM on April 12

Themes I enjoy: women/queer main characters, competent characters, emotionally intelligent characters, witty dialogue
Things I'd like to avoid: diet/weight talk, themes of grief or illness, memoirs and non-fiction, sappy/cheesy writing, unbelievable plot lines (a lot of the chick-lit I've tried to read features meet-cutes that are beyond belief!)

"Spellman Files" ticks many of those boxes. It's about a fairly dysfunctional family of private investigators. Very witty, very funny.
posted by toucan at 1:08 PM on April 12 [3 favorites]

Ooh, you and I could be in a very happy book club together. Try these:

The End of Mr. Y involves an alternate universe and a couple of different plot lines that are fun to follow and kind of a trip.

Cassandra In Reverse is a glimpse into one woman's autistic mind. She chose not to write a memoir, but a fictional story with a main character who thinks a lot like her. Super interesting, and all about character.

Sourdough is another fun read, more fantasy than sci fi, but with great relatability. I love the thought of a book whose protagonist questions her career and purpose, being read on a beach in Hawaii.

Enjoy!
posted by nadise at 1:13 PM on April 12 [2 favorites]

We're headed to Hawaii (first time!!) so bonus points for on-theme recommendations!

I am always looking for good fiction set in Hawaii and hopefully written by Hawaiians! For some reason, it's hard to find mysteries that fit that bill.

For general fiction:

I won't recommend The Descendants, which is all about bereavement, but Kaui Hart Hemmings has two other books, House of Thieves and The Juniors, that are very readable, and very local to Hawaii. The Juniors is considered a Young Adult book.

Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn made Obama's list of favorites when it came out, and I liked it very much.

I am very fond of Susanna Moore's so-called "Hawaiian novels," which draw on her experience growing up on Oahu, but again, I think too much death and bereavement. (I'm including this because you may want to come back to Moore at some point; she is so brilliant. She is also the author of In The Cut.)

If you're at all interested in a history book, I recommend The Lost Kingdom by Julia Flynn Siler. It's very heavy on the narrative and especially on the story of Queen Lili'uokalani. I read it one time in Hawaii and was excited to discover that Lili'uokalani's diary is freely available to download, and it's very good.
posted by BibiRose at 1:18 PM on April 12

Strongly endorsing the Arkady Martine recommendation.

Also try T Kingfisher, Ursula Vernon's pseudonym when writing adult titles. The Saint of Steel ones (Paladin's Grace / Strength / Hope / Faith) sound pretty spot-on and are more on the romance side but feature queer characters, people who are not small and skinny, have good emotional intelligence and they are really good page-turners. Nettle and Bone and A House with Good Bones are standalone novels which are also great. These ones all have elements of horror mixed in, she has other titles that lean more on the horror side of things which I've also enjoyed but it might not be quite what you're after.

Grave Expectations by Alice Bell is a romp - female lead who gets drawn into investigating a murder because she can actually speak to dead people. Queer and non-binary characters, great sense of humour, I can't wait for her to write more!
posted by Athanassiel at 2:10 PM on April 12 [3 favorites]

Mystery/suspense? Nicci French, I prefer the stand alone books but they also write a series. Totally engrossing thrillers. And of course the master (mistress?) of psychological thrillers, Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine. These are darker and more unusual.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:37 PM on April 12 [1 favorite]

You would love the Harbinder Kaur series by Elly Griffith. She’s a queer Sikh detective in the UK. The series has a light book theme. Love them, as someone who adores Tana French and Agatha Christie.
posted by anthropomorphic at 5:05 PM on April 12

To continue with the sci-fi mysteries:

Catfishing on Catnet by Naomi Kritzer. Best sci-fi beach read ever (it is YA, just FYI).

The Strugatsky Brother's The Dead Mountaineer's Inn is a vacation setting mystery with a sci-fi twist.

Tade Thompson's Far From the Light of Heaven is a locked room mystery set on a spaceship.

Mur Lafferty's Midsolar Murders series isn't the best-written fiction out there, but it's definitely a fun murder mystery beach read set in space.

I can't promise these don't touch on some of your unwanted themes as it's been a while since I've read most of them, but I don't remember any of them having a strong focus on your dislikes.

I also can't second the rec for Naomi Novak enough. I read virtually all of her books over the course of a week of very rough travel and family stuff (a lot of time on trains and planes) and they were very engrossing but not at all challenging, which is perfect for a beach read!

Finally - this is an old ask of mine that has some phenomenal recommendations in it (it's where I learned about Catfishing on Catnet).
posted by snaw at 6:15 PM on April 12

You liked Emily Henry? Read anything/everything by Kate Clayborn. No shade to EmHen, but I think Clayborn is even better at writing compelling women (and men), brilliant and witty prose, fun plots, and layers and layers of smart. All her books are take seriously the crucial and complicated role of friendships between women in ways that are really powerful.

The Other Side of Disappearing just came out at the end of March and is great! One of my best friends loves the previous book — Georgie, All Along — even more and that’s saying something! Two other standalones — Love Lettering and Love at First — also wonderful. And the Chance of a Lifetime trilogy is just…🌟❤️🌟.
posted by Wisco72 at 7:11 PM on April 12 [1 favorite]

The Unhoneymooners is a cute romance set at resort in Hawaii.
The Other Half by Charlotte Vassal is an English murder mystery that is so fun.
posted by entropyiswinning at 7:14 PM on April 12

Louise Penny’s Gamache mystery series (emotionally intelligent, gay recurring-but-minor characters)

Back to the Garden by Laurie R. King (mystery, lesbian central character though the fact that she is lesbian is understated)

Self-Portrait with Nothing (odd, kind of a mystery, partly set in Poland)

Lessons in Chemistry (smart but not difficult read)

Killers of a Certain Age (more or less a caper novel about middle-aged hit women)

Nothing to See Here (about kids who burst into flames when upset i.e. show their emotions quite literally)
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 1:04 AM on April 13 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you so much, everyone! I have books to fill my vacation and beyond! Feel free to keep them coming, as I'll eventually get through all the great recommendations so far.
posted by bluloo at 1:06 AM on April 13

It's not out until June, but for NEXT vacation you should absolutely take Rebecca Fraimow's novel Lady Eve's Last Con, which is an absolutely delightful queer heist in space, including an important fake beach on a satellite. I read an ARC on a train and it was perfect.
posted by yarntheory at 9:30 AM on April 13 [1 favorite]

Lessons in Chemistry is a pretty fun read in general, but I will note that grief is a very prevalent theme in it, and it also features a sexual assault.

I'll rec Lynn Messina's Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries series. These are short, fun reads that might feel samey if you read them in one big gulp, but they're charming Regency mystery/romances that have made me laugh out loud multiple times.
posted by yasaman at 10:54 AM on April 13 [1 favorite]

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki is a fun standalone sci-fi read with a trans main character and queer romance. I think fans of Becky Chambers would enjoy.

For competent characters, great writing, and a surprising page turner, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel really did it for me - the TV show I disliked, but the book really captures the interiority of Thomas Cromwell and the practical intelligence and maneuvering that goes into having your own agenda while dealing with the powerful capricious people above you.
posted by lizard music at 11:09 AM on April 13 [3 favorites]

I just finished Birnham Wood by Eleanor Catton, a character study that turns into a thriller when guerrilla gardeners meet a billionaire villian, and highly recommend it.I was thinking of an Askmefi for followups, but I think it may have been answered here.
posted by blue shadows at 12:14 PM on April 13

I think you might like Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld! I love Emily Henry too, and this is in a similar vein: fun and light but also well written. The main character is a woman who writes for an SNL-like show, so she is smart and funny and the subject matter is interesting. There’s a bit of grief-related stuff, but it’s not a focus.

That’s my top recommendation, but here are some other romcom-type books that I liked: In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer, Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez, Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan, Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, and various books by Christina Lauren!
posted by bijoubijou at 5:23 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]

Mod note: [btw, this has been added to the sidebar and Best Of blog!]
posted by taz (staff) at 6:49 AM on April 16