Beachy Reading Bugs Me

Yes, yes, another list. It is the time of year when every magazine, online or otherwise, churns out its "beach reads" list. Why oh why oh why? Why is a book more suited for the beach than for one's porch? One's roof? One's bed? Why is it assumed that because I'm bikini-clad and lolling about in the sand, I'm in the mood for a different kind of book than if I were anywhere else on my free time? The assupmtion is that if I'm at the beach, I'm on vacation from all intelligent thought. As if the surf and sand will render my mind mush and I should likewise fill it with more mush.

Salon's new "beachy reads" list includes a heavy dose of froth and thrill including Peter Abraham's Nerve Damage, Peter Temple's The Broken Shore, and Val McDermid's The Grave Tattoo among the more substantial "light" delights of Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know.

Somehow, these listmakers have decided that while on vacation, one would rather give their mind a rest and read something frothy and light or mysterious and adventurous.  The thriller seems a permanent part of "beachy" reading lists every year. Why would our reading tastes change with the scenery? Mine doesn't. Does yours? 

UPDATE: A far better beachy-read list from, of all places, NPR...

UPDATE 2: And...upon further investigation (and several reader emails!)...an even better beachy read list that has none of the beachy and all of the qualities of good writing.

Comments

[Edan]

I get distracted when reading on the beach: all that sand, the beautiful landscape, the screaming children, the fact that I AM in very little clothing in public, the towel--goddamned why can my towel never remain smooth and clean!, my paranoia about getting sunburned...it's endless. For that reason, I like to read an extremely absorbing and entertaining book on the beach,and it must be paperback, so that I can fold the front half back and hold it with one hand. So, no, my tastes don't change, necessarily, but I am more likely to take Antoine Wilson's The Interloper to Malibu, and leave that heavy copy of Chris Adrian's The Children's Hospital next to my bed for when I return.
(Wait a minute, I never read two novels at once...!)

[Capybara]

My reading absolutely changes with the scenery. My vacation reading reflects three things: 1) I have more time to read; 2) I'm in a different place (I mean literally) and I like my reading to reflect that; 3) A good percentage of my reading will take place in noisier and more social circumstances than usual. As a result, my beach reading might include more "light" reading than usual. And my reading will be lighter in a literal sense as well.

On the other hand, the last book I read at the beach was "Moby Dick."

[Darby]

"Why would our reading tastes change with the scenery? Mine doesn't. Does yours?"

Depends on if I'm the one in the bikini...

[mhs]

I don't think "beach reading" or books that are considered fun and frothy are necessarily an escape from intelligent thought. What I look for when I take a book on vacation is something fun to read. And that can be anything from Graham Greene, Patricia Highsmith, Lisa Moore (Alligator is fantastic), Kiran Desai, Donald Westlake or Ross MacDonald, but is probably not Checkov, Steve Erickson or Cormac McCarthy. (not that they're not good, they're just not what I call "fun".)

[amcorrea]

I always just take whatever I happen to be reading at the time (usually two or three books at once). I can't get into most books that are typically labeled "beach reads" simply because I find them to be so boring.