Beach reading at its best

Every bookstore I visited in the US on my recent vacation had a table that featured light-reading material, which is sometimes called beach reading.

My latest summer reading list includes books that I call in-between books. They have literary merit, but they’re not overly heavy and ponderous.

They’re the books that I often turn to after a very intense read.

Here’s a list of some of my favourite “summer” reads.

The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve — For years, Anita Shreve happened to be one of my favourite in-between reads. Her plot-driven stories feature characters who face conflicts that most readers can relate to even if they haven’t experienced the same type of events in her stories. In The Pilot’s Wife, a woman struggles to piece together the story of her pilot husband after his plane blows up. Trying to understand the tragedy, the pilot’s wife seeks to find answers about the event and discovers her husband had a secret double life. Many people have had at least one relationship that left them wondering how much they really knew about that person whom they cared for and trusted.

All of Anita Shreve’s books fit the beach read category, but The Pilot’s Wife continues to be my favourite.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins — I visited many bookstores in Seattle, Washington, Nashville, Tennessee and Mansfield, Ohio this holiday and the one book I found on all the summer reading lists was The Girl on the Train.

It’s a psychological thriller and mystery that will have you on the edge of your seat.

The movie is coming soon so don’t miss this book.

Radio Girls by Sarah- Jane Stratford –Set in 1926 London, this story about the early days of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) recently made my summer reading list. It looks like a great escape into history and journalism.

If I Forget You by Thomas Christopher Greene — A novel about two former lovers who see each other in a crowd on a Manhattan Street caught my attention because it reminded me of a small, but great book entitled Maybe by playwright Lillian Hellman.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway — Hemingway’s story of the Lost Generation is a modern classic.

These party-loving Americans living in Europe always turned out to be one of the favourite Hemingway books in my English class. It is a particularly timely read now because of a recently released book entitled Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway’s Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises.

Dracula by Bram Stoker — Vampires make good summer reading companions, and there’s no better place to start than this vampire classic.

Count Dracula is one of the most memorable characters in history.

Belgravia by Julian Fellowes — If you’re pining for the hit British series Downton Abbey, penned by Fellowes, then you’ll want to check out Belgravia.

Like Downton Abbey that started with an historical event, the sinking of the Titanic, Belgravia starts with another historical event: the Battle of Waterloo. Fellowes is a master at evoking history and a master at creating memorable characters.

The best site I saw for a wide selection of beach reading comes from Pop Sugar at the following link: http:// www.popsugar.com/ love/Best-2016-Summer- Books-Women- 41345931#photo- 41345931.