The never-ending question: What is a Beach Read?

What is a Beach Read? via RA for All by Becky on 6/17/09

"Erin Collazo Miller, the moderator of About.Com's Guide to Bestsellers does an admirable job of trying to define the term.

Here is an excerpt:
A good beach book is engaging and a quick enough read that you can finish most of it on the beach before your sunscreen wears off. A beach book isn't necessarily literature, but a beach book will entertain.After this definition, Ms. Miller goes on to provide lists of beach reads based on appeal. "

The Never-Ending Lists of Beach Reads

Witness:

Under the Radar: Fiction Beach Reads via The Reader's Advisor Online Blog by Sarah Statz Cords on 6/21/09

What is is with librarians, newspapers, and magazines and beach reads?

Even more summer reading lists

On The Hunt For Fabulous Fiction via NPR Topics: Authors on 5/26/09

Being NPR, they've found books that are beyond the "Beach Read" usuals.
Summer Books 2009: The Complete Printable List

Book roundup: Fiction via USATODAY.com Books - Top Stories on 5/28/09

Book roundup: Mysteries/thrillers via USATODAY.com Books - Top Stories on 5/22/09

Amazon’s Summer Reading ListAskMen.com’s Top 5 2009 Summer Reading Picks for Guys
Bill O’Reilly’s 2009 Summer Reading List
Charlie Gibson’s Summer Reading List
Cleveland Plain Dealer Summer Books Paperbacks for Sizzling, Mesmerizing Reading
Daily Beast’s 13 Hottest Summer Reads
Dallas Morning News Summer Reading Season
New York Magazine’s What to Read This Summer: Reality Rules
Newsday Ten Books for Summer Reading

Stephen King's Summer Reading List

From:
(title unknown) via The Reader's Advisor Online Blog by Cindy Orr on 5/17/09:
Stephen King recommends seven great reads for summer

Summer Reads

Libraryland Roundup still isn't quite sure of the definition of what a "Beach Read" is, but there are plenty of lists out there to select and recommend from:


Short Takes: 50 Summer Memoirs for the Beach, Backwoods, or Flu Bunker
via Library Journal - Collection Development on 4/30/09


Summer books: Readers can turn the pages and escape
via USATODAY.com Books - Top Stories on 5/8/09

Kinda Defined: Beach Reads

We here at librarylandroundup have previously confessed to cluelessness as to just what exactly a "Beach Read" is. We suspected, and still maintain, that the beach/vacation/summer read for an adult could include leisurely reads. After some study of the summer movie season and book bestsellers, we have come to the conclusion that, for the majority of readers, summer/beach/vacation reading is somewhat similar. Whether this is due to the marketing of books and movies during summer or is somehow an actual human desire remains unclear.

Using Joyce Sarick's cross-genre RA framework and Nancy Pearl's "doorways" theory, we have come to the following conclusions:

Adrenaline: Fast-paced, thrilling, a real page-turner.

Intellect: Could be speculative, as in sf/fantasy/crossover or it could be escapist as in historicals or romance or a lot of westerns

Feeling: Lots of it. Thrills, chills, inspiration, love, etc.

Landscape: May or may not be important

Doorways:
The main doorways would be Adrenaline and Feeling. "Give me a heart-pounding, emotion-provoking book, please!"

Minor doorways would be Intellect and Landscape. "By the way, I just want an escape and I like a lot of description of the scenery."

That's it folks. Librarylandroundup sits corrected!

Some Great Reading Lists

Now we here at Libraryland Roundup have never quite figured out what a beach read, a summer read, or a vacation read really are. For some people it's something fast-paced and adventuresome, for others, it's a leisurely-paced travelogue. Go figure

Or perhaps it's because we haven't spent enough time at the beach or on vacation.

We do, however, know good lists of great reads when we see them. And we denizens of libraryland just adore lists. So here are enough recent jewels to choke a horse:

Tango with Sarah!
from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Books for your beach bag
from USATODAY.com Books - Top Stories
A few beach-worthy suggestions from USA TODAY staffers

Everybody into the Pool! Poolside Reads
from In the Bookroom

No need to add water or sand to enjoy these summer reads
from USATODAY.com Books - Top Stories

Under the Radar: Great Recent Historical Mysteries
from The Reader's Advisor Online Blog by Cindy Orr

RA Run Down
from The Reader's Advisor Online Blog by Cindy Orr

Entertainment Weekly’s The New Classics - Top 100 Reads from 1983 to 2008–(perfect idea for a display)

NPR’s Summer Reading - Political BooksNPR’s Summer Reading - Political Books

Reading for Place: Books for Travelers

Under the Radar: 10 Great Baseball Books
from The Reader's Advisor Online Blog by Cindy Orr

Wyatt’s World: Summer Suggestions—Western Reading
from Library Journal - Collection Development
Whether you're at the beach or on the range, here are five Westerns to take along.