NPR Audience Picks 100 Best Beach Books Ever

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H/T for this idea to Bonnie Jacobs

I spent the last week focusing on getting done with as many library books as I could to make room on my card for the ones I had ordered. I went to the library today and now want to hang out with the newest bag of books. So I'm leaving you with this list of 100 Best Beach Books ever as voted on by NPR's audience.

I've bolded the ones I've read. 60 something. I keep loosing count in the high fifties and I'm done trying. My eyes got better things to do.

Anyways, most of the ones I've not yet read are on my TBR list. Many I've even had checked out of the library multiple times. I'm always checking out waaaaaaaaaay more than I can finish before they come due.


1. The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling (I did read all of them)
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
3. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
4. Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding
5. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
6. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells
7. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (this has been recommended to me too many times to count and Robert J. Ray uses it as example in his The Weekend Novelist which I'm currently reading. So I really need to read this.)
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (Ed has been begging me to try this for years; decades)
9. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg
10. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver
11. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger (On my wishlist for ordering from the library)
12. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
13. The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan
14. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
15. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
16. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
17. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett (On wishlist as is every book by her I've not yet read.)
18. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
19. Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides (on wishlist; have had checked out at least once but didn't start)
20. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen (on wishlist: have had checked out twice but didn't start)
21. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
22. The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver
23. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith
24. The World According to Garp, by John Irving
25. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
26. The Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy
27. Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel
28. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman (saw the movie and usually the book is better so its on my wishlist)
29. The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler (Robert J. Ray is dissecting this book scene by scene to teach his Weekend Novelest method and its making me want to reread it)
30. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer (my niece is insisting I read this and the rest of them and is going to loan her copies to me)
31. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole (had this checked out at least once and still want to read it)
32. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck (had this checked out several times and even started it once but it had to go back before I could finish. It's been so long now I'll have to start it over.)
33. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant (ditto as 32)
34. Beach Music, by Pat Conroy (ditto as above)
35. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
36. Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier
37. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
38. Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
39. The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough
40. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon
41. Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett (ditto as 32; have bad habit of misjudging how long its going to take me to read a book these last few years. I keep guesstimating based on the way it was before my eyes go so bad)
42. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
43. Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice
44. Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier (I own a copy of this but haven't read it yet. Poor thing doesn't stand a chance against forty-some due dates. sigh.)
45. Empire Falls, by Richard Russo (on wishlist; read other novels by Russo)
46. Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes (saw movie and really want to read this even had it checked out once)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
48. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, by Tom Robbins (on wishlist)
49. I Know This Much Is True, by Wally Lamb
50. Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie (on wishlist)
51. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
52. The Stand, by Stephen King
53. She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb
54. Dune, by Frank Herbert
55. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (on wishlist)
56. Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
57. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
58. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
59. The Godfather, by Mario Puzo
60. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
61. Animal Dreams, by Barbara Kingsolver
62. Jaws, by Peter Benchley
63. Good in Bed, by Jennifer Weiner
64. Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner
65. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson (had it checked out in past but now own a copy; poor thing had a better chance as a library book)
66. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
67. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
68. Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut
69. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
70. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
71. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway (Robert J. Ray has referred to this one several times too so I suppose I need to put it on my list)
72. The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy
73. Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns (thought I had read this but guess I haven't; just saw the movie)
74. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
74. Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe [tie]
76. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
77. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon (had this checked out once)
78. The Shell Seekers, by Rosamunde Pilcher
79. Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver
80. Eye of the Needle, by Ken Follett
81. Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck
82. The Pilot's Wife, by Anita Shreve [tie] (own this; poor thing)
83. All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy
84. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
85. The Little Prince, by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
86. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (ah and I even own it!)
87. One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich
88. Shogun, by James Clavell
89. Dracula, by Bram Stoker
90. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera
91. Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow
92. Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
93. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt (on wishlist)
94. Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris
95. Summer Sisters, by Judy Blume
96. The Shining, by Stephen King
97. How Stella Got Her Groove Back, by Terry McMillan
98. Lamb, by Christopher Moore (Ed is begging me to read this)
99. Sick Puppy, by Carl Hiaasen (and this; he read whole paragraphs of these two aloud to me but I couldn't understand a word through his sputtering guffaws)
100. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson