I've been to the beach a few times this summer, but there was no reading involved. Heresy you say! (Or that's what Myren, my chauffeur is accusing me of. Ignore him.) Aren't we supposed to always bring a book to the beach to read as we lounge in the sun, you ask?
Well, I don't know about you, but glare is a big problem on my iPad--which is the keeper of all my books these days--so things have changed--a lot. In the past 15 years, the tide has turned to more people reading on ebooks---aka electronic books---than print books.
Good for e-reader companies everywhere, bad for beach reading. I know, I know, this is not big news. Myren is asking me if I think my readers have all been living under a rock, but I tell him that's not the point.
The point is, the diminishing of the grand old summertime passtime of reading on the beach is a consequence of the (not so) new electronic reader revolution. Sure, there are screens that eliminate the glare, such as the Kindle paper white, but those are expensive and not largely adopted alternatives.
So can we still call a book a beach read if no one actually reads it on the beach anymore?
I say YES! Absolutely yes! The beach read is more an idea, a type of book that latches onto the connotation of the ultimate liesure activity, the summer vacation, the escape from the hum-drum daily life, like... well... like going to the beach.
That's my $.02 on the subject of beach reads. What do you think?
Know of any great beach reads I can NOT take to the beach with me? (But I'll read them, rest assured, when I'm relaxing and need an escape from the world.)
A New Release Beach Read you might want to try... if you enjoy romantic comedies featuring bad boy hockey players with that glint of mischief in their eyes.
He Has Charm
a Boston Brawlers Hockey Romance
What readers are saying:
"Loved the characters of Maddox and Harper. They are such a great couple and the chemistry between them is off the charts"
---JeanP, Amazon Reviewer