Beach Reads
Each year I get through about 100 books. Some years there are more, such as 2020 when there wasn’t much else to do, and some years there are less as you would expect from a working mom with three kids. There are books that I can read in a day or two because they are so good, I just can’t put them down. And there are books that take me much, much longer because I can’t get into them as much as I’d like to. Every now and then, I find a book that is so engrossing I can’t stop thinking about it. These are the books that stay with me forever, but I’m not the only one. Here are a few that made the best-seller lists of all time and will remain classics to read for generations to come.
“Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens
Kya Clark never had it easy. Her mother and brother left when she was young, leaving her alone with her abusive, alcoholic father who treats her like an afterthought. She lives in Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the coast in North Carolina. She doesn’t go to school and spends her days exploring the marshes around her home, earning the title “Marsh Girl.” Kya is smart and sensitive and survives alone in the marsh for years until she starts to crave having someone in her life. She befriends one boy who lives close by. He is her first love and everything she dreamed he’d be. When he leaves for college without a word, she’s devastated and finds herself in the arms of the handsome and popular Chase Andrews. Kya soon learns that Chase isn’t the wonderful person everyone thinks he is, and when he is found dead, Kya becomes a suspect. Sad and eye-opening, “Where the Crawdads Sing” is the heartbreaking tale of an amazing girl who constantly finds herself a victim of circumstance, yet ultimately finds a way to make something of herself.
“The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the middle of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum and his body is covered in symbols. With the help of French cryptologist Sophie Neveu, Langdon works to sort through the bizarre riddles and discovers a trail of clues hidden in Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings that seem to have been disguised by the painter. It turns out that the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members included famous names such as Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci. For years, he was guarding a shocking historical secret. Langdon and Neveu need to decipher the labyrinthine puzzle before the truth is lost forever.
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling
If you haven’t read the Harry Potter series, you are missing out on something special. These seven books captivated the reading world for the entire series, with each one being better than the last. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” is the first book. Here we meet Harry, who knows little but his miserable life with the Dursleys: his aunt, uncle, and nightmare of a cousin, Dudley. Harry sleeps in a tiny room at the bottom of the stairs, has never had a birthday party and wants nothing more than to escape. Then, Harry receives a letter that arrives by an owl messenger. It’s an invitation to a place that is about to change Harry’s life forever. Harry is pulled into a world of wizards and magic, friends and Quidditch, a sport played while riding a broom! But things aren’t always wonderful at Hogwarts. Harry needs to learn who his friends are, who he can trust, and how to survive the destiny that has been waiting for him.
“The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins
Katniss Everdeen volunteers herself as a tribute in the 74th Hunger Games so she can take the place of her little sister. The Hunger Games are a competition like you’ve never known. If you win, you get the fame and fortune that comes with it. If you lose, well, you die. The games take place in the Capital of Panem, located in what was once known as North America. Panem is surrounded by 12 districts and in order to keep them in line, the Capital forces them to send one girl and one boy, ages 12 to 18, to participate in the annual Hunger Games, which are broadcast live on TV. Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place, knowing that it is probably a death sentence, but she feels she has a better chance of making it out alive than her sister would. In order to win, Katniss will need to start choosing who to fight, who will die, who her allies are and who her enemies are. The rules of the game go against everything she has been taught, but she’s been close to death before and is a survivor.
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
“The Kite Runner” is set in Afghanistan at the height of change and destruction. Two boys from very different families, different classes, and wealth are growing up together at a time when their world is falling apart. Amir grew up in a nice home in Kabul with his father, their servant Ali, and Ali’s son Hassan. Ali and Hassan are Hazaras, an ethnic minority. One day, Amir and Hassan are playing when they run into three boys who threaten to beat up Amir for hanging around with a Hazara, but Hassan uses his slingshot to stop them. They gain enemies to last a lifetime but also form a friendship that will pass the test of time. This is a powerful and heartbreaking story about friendship, betrayal, and the power that fathers have over their sons.
“The Help” by Kathryn Stockett
Small towns can be tough. They are even tougher when you are working as a black maid for a white family in 1962. Aibileen is a maid in Jackson, Miss. She has always done what she has been told with her mouth shut, but lately she’s having a hard time keeping that same mouth closed. Her friend Minny is the opposite. Minny has no problem telling it like it is. Lately though, Minny has been staying quiet. She has secrets about her employer that even she doesn’t want to share. Skeeter is a white socialite who just graduated from college. Although she’s ready to take on the world, everyone sees her as a failure because she isn’t married yet. Together, these three women work together to write a book that is a tell-all about working as a black maid in the South. This book is something that had to be written, but something no one was prepared for, and their little town will never be the same!
