Beach reading

I'm back from a week on Cape Cod, where we get together with my husband's family every summer. We had gorgeous weather, and I had lots of time to read on the beach and at the pool, which was a little slice of heaven. However, there were pitfalls, too, including several plagues--lice and a vicious stomach virus. We managed to stay uninfected until the day we were leaving, when my littlest one came down with the stomach virus, and vomited cross-country on the plane ride. Sorry for the grisly details, but really, it was a trial for me. I don't like plane travel at the best of times, and this was a little slice of hell. However, we are home, and my small one has her appetite back--at last!

Before we left, I threw it out there that I was looking for light airplane reading, and the charming and ever-informative Litlove suggested I find something by Elinor Lippman or Barbara Trapido. I couldn't find anything by Barbara Trapido, but found a book by Elinor Lippman that fit the bill, a novel called Then She Found Me. Apparently it was made into a movie. It was a nice, light, engaging airplane read for the flight out--just right!

While on the Cape, my sister-in-law--who is always looking out for me in the reading department, bless her--brought me a book of linked short stories by Elizabeth Strout called Olive Kitteridge. I really liked this book. Not only was it set in a small town in New England--I always like to read about the places I'm visiting--it was also beautifully written, sad and sweet, and a wonderful study of human nature. I had read an earlier novel of hers, Amy and Isabelle, which I also liked. But to me, this was even better.

Then I got to something that had been languishing on my to-read pile, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, by Maggie O'Farrell. It was a suspenseful read, and terribly sad, and set in Scotland, both in Edwardian times and in the present--I enjoyed the juxtaposition.

I also bought a couple of books while I was there, at the Brewster Book Store, an independent book shop that I've posted about before. I love to support the independents! I bought The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows, which I got through in one day. It was a lovely little book that I had heard about on the book blogs, and when I was at the cash register, the woman behind the counter said I would love it. She was right, it was charming and a page-turner.

I also bought The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, by Helene Hanff, a sequel of sorts to her memoir, 84, Charing Cross Road. 84, Charing Cross Road is one of my all-time favorite books about books and reading, and it's something I find myself re-reading every once in awhile. It was satisfying to read about Hanff's journey to London after the publication of 84, Charing Cross Road, where she finally got to meet some of the people she had corresponded with for so long. But though it was entertaining and well worth reading, it wasn't quite as good as the first book.

And, on the recommendation of my sister-in-law, I bought Beginner's Greek: A Novel, by James Collins--another book to read on the plane. Of course, I didn't get any reading done on the plane on the way home, but I did manage to start the book at least, and I'm finding it to be warm and witty at the same time.

All in all, a great vacation for reading! (Mostly because my kids were totally engaged with their cousins and I barely saw them!) What have you read on vacation this year?