Top Books to Read at the Beach

Serial mysteries are great beach reading for a number of reasons: 1) they are fast paced, 2) they can often be found inexpensively in mass market paperback, and 3) if you like the first novel, there are usually several others in the same formula that you can read.

Here is a list of eight popular mystery series. These will appeal to you if you like authors like Janet Evanovich and James Patterson. My favorite on the list: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris.

Books like Bridget Jones' Diary and Confessions of a Shopaholic are light, comic choices that provide romance and relief for modern women. If you enjoy these kinds of novels, check out this list of seven great chick lit books. (My favorite is Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews).

Some young adult books--books that have interesting stories and compelling characters--are not only good reads for teens, they can also be very enjoyable for adults. If you want to remember what it was like to be young and let your imagination soar, try these young adult books. My favorite is Stardust by Neil Gaiman.

Beach reading, by definition, is not very heavy. It is difficult to contemplate weighty content with sand between your toes and a frisbee flying over your head. But just because you need a fun book for the beach, doesn't mean you have to read something completely fluffy. These eight books were some of the best from the past few years, but they are also light enough to throw in your beach bag. My pick from the list: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

There is a fine line between romance novels that make you sigh and those that cross the line into an area that is too cheesy or sexual. If you like reading romance, my suggestion is to stick to the masters of the genre: Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel and Nicholas Sparks. They each release one or more books per year, and they have many older books that you can find in the libary or mass market paperback for next to nothing. Look at these lists to find titles you haven't tried:

• Complete list of Nora Roberts Books
• Complete list of Danielle Steel Books
• Complete list of Nicholas Sparks Books

Admit it: You like to watch Lifetime movies, you listen to sappy love songs, and you tear up at greeting card commercials. Every now and then, we all need a good cry. There are two sure ways to achieve this with page turning books that will go well in your beach bag: 1) Read a Jodi Picoult Book or 2)Try these Books that are Like Jodi Picoult Books. My pick: The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

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Check out this 2012 New Releases Calendar if you want to be the trendiest reader on the beach.