Surf's Up, Dudes!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Combining both a passion for all things bookish with an obsessive love of list-making, this rad meme was born. This week's post is Top Ten Beach/Poolside Reads.

This is an interesting topic this week because I’ve never really pondered what classifies a book as “beach-readable” to me. What I’ve noticed is that my beach reads don’t typically conform to one specific genre or subject matter. I guess it boils down to me preferring something on the lighter side, something that will make me laugh. Also, books heavy on the action are usually a safe bet because they’re likely to be paired with a deliciously summery cocktail (or two)!

Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen – I read this book on my Costa Rican honeymoon and it was super funny and loaded with zombified action (which I can never get enough of). I think I read the entire thing in one pool-side, piña colada fueled marathon and loved every minute of it.

Jaws by Peter Benchley – Worst beach read ever? How about BEST beach read ever!?

The Second Assistant: A Tale from the Bottom of the Hollywood Ladder by Clare Naylor & Mimi Hare – This fun, lighthearted book was one of the first contemporary reads I’d ever picked up. Plus I can never resist stories about Tinseltown!

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks – Because you can never be TOO prepared. I mean, who’s to say the zombie apocalypse won’t begin at the beach?! Have you ever played the game Dead Island? Beaches and pools, people! HELLOOOO!

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown – Predictable maybe? But full of action, mystery and history. This is one book that’s easy to read and hard to put down!

You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News: Shocking but Utterly True Facts by Cracked.com – I’m a HUGE fan of the humour sites articles and this compendium is chalk full of them.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner – Though I didn’t love this book, I certainly liked it enough to recommend it given a few reservations. I guess most of my warm fuzzies come from the fact that I read it at an outdoor café during the summer with a latte in hand. It was a good experience that I think would translate well for dystopian beginners who are on the beach.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris – This is the first book in Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series and still one of my favourites to date.

The Ex-Factor by Andrea Semple – I had to add at least one girly book to my list. This one is heavy on the drama but doesn’t make you think too much which isn’t to say all girlie books are this way, but I like that in a beach read. Plus it’s deceptively British which is always a good thing!

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater – Welp, it takes place on the beach. And has killer horses, so why not?

What do you look for in a beach read? Do you tend to pull books by genre or is your list more varied, like mine? Have you read any of these books? If so, do you think you’d enjoy them pool-side as well?