The Top 15 Books for Beach Reading This Summer

As summer gets rolling, people start heading to the beach. If you are like I, summertime and time spent on the beach means time during which you can read without any sort of real time constraint or guilt. So, since books are my passion and obsession, here are my 15 recommended books for beach reading that'll make your time on the beach that much more enjoyable:

1. Coldheart Canyon: A Hollywood Ghost Story by Clive Barker. (New York: HarperTorch, 2001). This is only my second foray into the written world of Clive Barker (I read Cabalyears ago, and have seen two or three of the Hellraiser movies), but I must say that I was quite impressed. Coldheart Canyon is a ferocious indictment of (and backhanded tribute to) Hollywood Babylon, depicted through Barker's glorious imagination as a nexus of human and inhuman evil where fleshly pursuits corrupt the spirit. It's also one ripping ghost story, spooky and suspenseful, as well as (I understand) a departure for Barker in that here, as never before, the fantastic mingles with the real, kind of. The book takes a long time to get started, the first 150 to 200 pages are dreadfully slow, but once the book finds its pace, it doesn't let up. Barker entices his readers to leap into a fantastical world populated by ghostly beasts that roam the hills of a modern-day Tinseltown. His masterful descriptions of this world and the pathological behavior that occurs within it provide an eerie realism, compelling the reader to venture further. This is, in essence, a 686-page supermarket tabloid, the kind of story that would result if Billy Wilder had made Sunset Boulevard as a German Expressionist silent film, with a healthy dash of Edgar Allan Poe and Nikolai Gogol thrown in for good measure.

2. Big Trouble by Dave Barry. (New York: Berkley Books, 1999). "I laughed so hard I fell out of a chair. This is the funniest book I've read in almost forty years," Stephen King. "Warning: Don't read Big Trouble in the company of others. They will think you've gone completely daft when you begin to laugh uncontrollably. Uproarious... devastatingly funny," The Associated Press. "Big Trouble is the funniest book I've read in fifty years," Elmore Leonard. With endorsements like these, I almost don't need to write a review, but I will anyway... A drifter who sleeps in a tree, two arms-dealing Russian bartenders, a pair of two-bit hoods who hustle tourists, a pretty illegal alien, a boozy embezzler who thinks the family dog is Elizabeth Dole come to suck out his soul, two klutzy New Jersey hit men, a failing ad exec, a psychedelic South American toad, and a missing nuclear bomb... I don't think I could even begin to explain the plot to Dave Barry's Big Trouble. It's the Marx Brothers meet Elmore Leonard with a healthy dose of laughing gas. I completely agree with Stephen King, this is one of the funniest books I've read in almost twenty years! Dave Barry has scored a major hit with Trouble, and the biggest trouble any reader is going to have will be trying to keep their laughter under control! It is one of the most fast-paced and frantic stories that I have ever read, and what a great ride it is. Barry never lets up once as he plunges head-long into one of the most fantastical and insane plots I have ever read. I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a good laugh.

3. Where is Joe Merchant? by Jimmy Buffett. (New York: Avon Books, 1992). I have one thing to say about this book and one thing only: this is one of the strangest books I have ever read. Jimmy Buffett's Where Is Joe Merchant? is Elmore Leonard cross-bred with Robert Crais, raised by Dave Barry and with a healthy dose of your favorite psychotic drug thrown in for good measure. Its got a little bit of everything: psychics, talking dolphins, a space-ship building psychic, a magic wand, green mambas, four-eyed assassins (and I don't mean glasses), Fidel Castro, a dictator with a Napoleon complex, pirates, sunken treasure, a fortune in gold doubloons, a bartender named Root Boy, a sleazy tabloid reporter, the Jet Ski Killer, and even an honest-to-goodness one-armed man! I completely agree with the Long Beach Press-Telegram that it is "a tale so tall even Mark Twain himself couldn't see over it!" Where Is Joe Merchant? is a wild adventure tale in which Jimmy Buffett serves up a first-class Caribbean buffet!

4. Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916 by Michael Capuzzo. (New York: Broadway Books, 2001). Masterfully written and suffused with fascinating period detail and insights into the science and behavior of sharks, Close to Shore recounts a breathtaking, pivotal moment in American history with startling immediacy. Close to Shore provides a fascinating look at not only the first documented shark attacks in the history of the United States. It also provides a look at the culture of the Eastern Seaboard at the turn-of-the-century. In what is an engrossing and well-written account, Michael Capuzzo, recaps the beliefs of the day about open-sea swimming and sharks. He discusses the almost maniacal craze that possessed some to swim with sharks in order to prove that sharks were harmless and their own bizarre machismo. I sat reading incredulous at the pure stubbornness of the American scientific community in the face of such overwhelming evidence and eyewitnesses. In spite of numerous witness accounts and the evidence, scientists and ichthyologists continued to insist that sharks are not man-eaters, they do not have the jaw power to bite through human bone, and that there were far more likely candidates for the attacks on the Jersey Shore, such as marlins, swordfish, sailfish, and even giant sea turtles. They also said that the attacks in the Matawan Creek were definitely not shark-related, but most likely a killer whale. Now, I don't know about you, but I certainly know the difference between an Orca and a Great White shark, and so did most of the people living along the Matawan. As a matter of fact, it seemed that everyone but the scientists seemed to know the difference between the two. Capuzzo adds further flavor and perspective by discussing the norms of the day regarding swimming attire, the culture of New Jersey's nouveau riche, other news stories of the period and the limitations of the physicians of the day in the face of brutal wounds inflicted by the shark. Far more riveting than Peter Benchley's Jaws (only because Close to Shore is fiction rather than fact) Capuzzo's book brings this historical account of July 1916 along the Jersey Shore where three adults and a young boy were attacked and killed as helpless witnesses looked on in disbelief. Even more interesting (and reminiscent of Benchley's novel) Capuzzo tells the tale from not just the human perspective, but also uses information and facts from modern shark experts, from the perspective of the shark and its instincts to put forth a theory of what the shark may have been doing during the twelve days of its attacks. The book switches back and forth from human to shark in a way that wonderfully builds the account and the real-life suspense of the events involved. In fact, Close to Shore is a wonderful resource regarding sharks generally. Capuzzo's research seemed so complete, that at times one feels as if one is reading a biology primer on sharks. In short, Close to Shore proves to be a compelling page-turner that can't be missed.

5. L.A. Requiem by Robert Crais. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1999). When I first saw Crais' novel in the bookstore, it was the title that intrigued me, but it took me a while before I finally picked it up, but it always came back to the title. I think it is one of the best titles I've ever seen for a crime-thriller/hardboiled detective story, and what a story! L.A. Requiem is a fast-paced and well-written murder mystery, which honestly had me fooled right up until the revelation of the killer's identity. Crais' certainly knows his craft, and has written for such TV shows as L.A. Law and Hill Street Blues. His characters are fully-fleshed (even if they are somewhat clichéd, the ex-Army P.I., the hard-shelled/soft-interior female detective, the ladder-climbing lead detective, who is more concerned about making an arrest, than making sure that it is the right arrest, etc., etc.) though Crais still manages to throw in a few surprises here and there. I think what hit me most about this book is the fact that it actually made me nostalgic for California... and not just any part of California, but Southern California. Those who know me know that that isn't the easiest thing for me to admit. I want to repeat what I said above; it was the book's title that most caught my attention. I can't explain it, but there is just something about that title, L.A. Requiem, that gives the story that indefinable "something." I can't explain it, but that's what it is. Crais' novel is a well-crafted mystery that keeps the reader guessing until the very end. I found myself engrossed in the story and playing the "home version" of L.A. Requiem trying to beat Elvis Cole to the punch, and uncover the killer and solve the case myself. I am a big fan of the crime-thriller genre, and Crais' story is among the best of the best. He takes pains to not only show us the sordid underbelly of the LAPD, but also the heart and strength of character of his creations. These are more than two-dimensional figures, they are fallen angels fighting for their redemption in a harden city. The biggest surprise is that the Los Angeles that Crais describes is not just a backdrop for the action and drama, but a living, breathing and essential character! Crais' portrait of L.A. is also to be admired. There is a line in a bad David Duchovney film where he says, "Some people say it's better to rule in Hell, than be a slave in Heaven... problem is, on a good day, L.A. looks a lot like Hell." This is the same attitude that Cole (Crais' main character) takes in his narrative (most of the story is told from his first-person point of view), and it is very effective. For some reason this book struck a chord with me, and I fell in love with it. It is a great book, an intelligent story, and one that made me - of all people - homesick for California. If it can do that, it's gotta be good! To anyone who is looking for a good murder mystery, I would recommend L.A. Requiem without any qualms or hesitation.

6. Hunger by William R. Dantz. (New York: TOR Books, 1992). William R. Dantz's Hunger is the quintessential summer reading book. Now... I won't go as far as to say that it's a beach read. You don't necessarily want to be reading this book while sitting on the sand a couple of yards from the water's edge. No ma'am. This is summer reading. The kind of book you sit on your porch and read while sipping an iced tea... safely away from any water source other than the bath tub. Much like Peter Hernon's 8.4 (see below), Hunger is ripe for being turned into a "Made-for-TV" movie, and not the kind like Fatherland, but the cheesy, USA Network kind of "Made-for-TV" movie starring Judd Nelson, one or two of the blond Baywatch babes, and guest starring Alan Alda as the drunk and conscious-stricken Dr. Chester "Chesty" Higgs. Anyway ... its all of these elements that make Hunger the perfect summer read ... and, in spite of itself, taking us on a pretty exciting ride along the way.

7. The Testament by John Grisham. (New York: Island Books, 1999). John Grisham's The Testament is not the usual "lawyer-in-peril" novel that made him famous and created a genre. Rather, it is - underneath the legal proceedings of a will contest - a story of loss and discovery, rediscovery even, in the Pantanal of Brasil's southwest. This is, perhaps, my favorite Grisham novel because of his loving and vivid portrayal of Brasil. As some of you may or may not know, I spent a little under two years (somewhere in the neighborhood of 21-22 months) in southern Brasil, in the state Rio Grande do Sul, basically a Brasilian version of Texas, as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint. Elder Terry. That was my name for the time I was there. I was reluctant to go at first... I'll admit that freely, but by the time my mission was over, I had grown a deep and abiding love for the country and the people - and all things Brasilian. The Testament is one of the books that gets me back in touch with those feelings I have for Brasil. While I was no where near Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Corumbá or the Pantanal, I was in towns that were very similar, and met, knew and made friends with people not that different from Valdir, Jevy and Welly. I absorbed this book when it first came out in 1999 (I had been back from Brasil for two years by that time) and remember quite vividly sitting in a Mission Street pizzeria just a block south of Market in San Francisco - it was called Mr. Pizza Man, if I remember correctly (run by two Costa Ricans, but all the drivers were Brasilian) eating a slice of greasy pizza and reading The Testament as it rained outside and the windows steamed up because of the cold. Great book memories. This book is able to bring that all back to me and I will treasure the experience (both that of reading the book, and that of living in Brasil for an extended time) that The Testament brings each time I read it. I highly recommend this book - great summer reading - and when you're done, maybe I'll tell you a hundred-dozen stories of my adventures in the South of Brasil.

8. 8.4 by Peter Hernon. (New York: Jove Books, 1999). Although it is fascinating and intriguing, 8.4 suffers from one major flaw: it has the feel of a made-for-TV-movie. Seriously. This book has made-for-TV-movie written all over it. As you read it, you can almost picture such TV-movie stalwarts as Gary Sinese, Robert Loggia, Rob Lowe and Anne Archer. The main characters are extremely formulaic, when it comes to the disaster genre. There is the haunted expert (depending on the disaster, be it an earthquake, volcano, tornado, etc.) who has lost a loved one to the disaster; the plucky and devil-may-care female expert (who falls in love with the haunted expert, and vice versa); the computer expert who is a minority of some kind (in this case Cherokee); the leader of the group that nobody likes, and is not as knowledgeable on the disaster as the haunted expert; the President who's action in the face of the disaster will make or break his career, and the hard-bitten character (most likely played by Robert Loggia) who comes in at almost the end and helps to save the day. (Though, I will say, that even though I had all of the characters and their fates pegged within ten pages of their introduction, there was one character which had me fooled, and whom Hernon surprised me with.) However, in spite of all this, the explanations of seismology and earthquakes are the one redeeming quality of this book. The concept of a major earthquake in the NMSZ is a frightening thought. Such cities as Memphis, Frankfurt, Hannibal, St. Louis, Nashville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Springfield and Chicago would all be drastically affected. It would be felt as far west as the Rocky Mountains, as far east as Washington D.C., and into New England and Canada to the north. The Eastern Seaboard would be crippled, as the gas and oil pipelines that supply the East would snap like matchsticks. Grain shipments would be paralyzed as all major highways and airports would be destroyed. Dams would burst, causing widespread and devastating flooding of the Mississippi Valley. Rioting, looting and lawlessness would rum rampant through the major cities in the Midwest, and martial law would have to be declared to bring order. However, what makes 8.4 the most terrifying, is that this is not necessarily completely fictional. The events in 8.4 are, in fact, entirely plausible, and, as Hernon puts forth in his Author's Note, "[w]ill a catastrophic earthquake strike someday on the New Madrid Seismic Zone? Without a doubt. The only question is when. Experts don't expect another big one for at least a hundred years, but no one knows for sure and that's what makes seismologists and emergency planners nervous when they talk about the NMSZ. The ground is still shaking. The fault averages about two hundred measurable earthquakes a year, twenty a month. Every year and a half, it produces a shock of magnitude 4 or greater on the Richter scale. Next to California, the New Madrid Fault in America's heartland is the most dangerous earthquake zone in the United States." This is a fast-paced and engaging (if somewhat predictable) story, which makes for great summer beach reading!

9. Icebound by Dean R. Koontz. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1995). Originally entitled Prison of Ice and under the pseudonym "David Axton," Icebound was written by Koontz as an homage to the works of Alistair MacLean (author of such books as Ice Station Zebra, Where Eagles Dare and The Guns of Navarone). Perhaps the best part of this book is its pacing. This is one of the fastest paced books that I have ever read. It takes about three or four chapters to set up, and then takes off and a dead sprint which it keeps up until the very last page. Just reading this book makes your pulse rise and heart race. You can't help it! Koontz has done such a wonderful job creating the atmosphere of this book that it simply draws the reader in, and you find yourself involuntarily shivering in perceived sub-zero, polar cold as you read. You simply can't help it! In his afterward, Koontz has this to say about the book: "In adventure-suspense of this type, the elements that count above all others are tension, pace, and plot - preferably a plot with a series of surprises and escalating physical challenges for the characters. The characters themselves generally have to be straightforward and certainly less complex than those who appear in most of my books" (407), and tension, pace and plot are exactly what Icebound! A tidal wave of storms, freezing cold, a psychopathic killer, sixty ticking bombs, a Russian submarine, and a midnight deadline. Icebound is the consummate adventure-thriller. And although it is easy to picture this story in film version (possibly starring an ensemble cast of Gary Sinese (or George Clooney) and Helen Hunt as the Carpenters, Michael Clarke Duncan as Pete Johnson, Stellan Skarsgård as Nikita Gorov, and maybe Jean Reno, David Morse, and maybe even Mark Wahlberg) that in no way detracts from the overall experience of reading the book. And that is exactly what this particular reading is: an experience!

10. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. (New York: HarperCollins, 2001). Dennis Lehane's Mystic River is a novel with rich and real characters, a compulsive story, and some of the most burning, incisive prose between two covers. Lehane delivers the whole package here: humanly drawn characters, tragic encounters, a plot that never stops developing, and lots of sorrow to be shared. Mystic River is the novel that most writers (myself included) can only dream of writing. It is the sort of novel that haunts you for days after you finish it; its moodiness - and especially the ending - not quite letting go. Mystic River is the kind of novel that begs to be read by anyone who has been under the spell of a good book. Mystic River is the book that I'm still thinking of. It hasn't left me yet, and that, friends and neighbors, is the mark of a great novel. You still think of it long after it's done, and Mystic River is no exception. Lehane has been able to combine all the tension of a thriller with the dramatic inevitability of a Greek tragedy, and that is the real power that River holds; you - as the reader - know that nothing good is going to come of all of this, but there's nothing you can do about it. There were moments when reading Mystic River that I wanted to shout out to Jimmy Marcus, or Dave Boyle, or Sean Devine and scream "NO - DON'T DO IT!" just like screaming "Don't go in there!" to the screen of a slasher flick, but for all my (and our - as readers and viewers of this Boston tragedy) screaming and misgiving, Jimmy... Dave... Sean... they ignore our shouts of help and continue to do what we feared they were going to do. Also, Lehane's characterizations are incredible. These persons in his story are all but alive. When reading Mystic River you just know that these characters live and breathe and work somewhere in the Point and Flat, and at the end of the book, you just know that when you close the covers of this novel, Jimmy, Sean and the rest are going to go on doing what they're doing, and that the story is continuing to unfold behind the wings. Mystic River is a powerful, wrenching tale of murder, revenge, the meaning of friendship, and the vagaries of fate. In closing I just want to echo Elmore Leonard's sentiment: "Get Dennis Lehane's Mystic River. Boy, does he know how to write!" Boy, does he.

11. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. (New York: Bantam Books, 1980).The Bourne Identity is the book that proves that Robert Ludlum is the master of the spy genre. Ludlum takes the concept of throwing unsuspecting characters into the path of intrigue and danger to new heights with this novel. Not only does the main character not know what is going on, but he doesn't even know who he is! What he does know is that he will be a dead man unless he figures it out, and soon. The first paragraph of this novel may be one of the most exciting opening lines of any story, and Ludlum's pacing and style were never better. With a few exceptions (Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan comes to mind) very few characters in the genre of spy books are as intriguing as Ludlum's Jason Bourne. For example, I did not care for John le Carré's "Smiley" in The Tailor of Panama, I found him obsequious, obnoxious, and downright unlikable, but, I guess that's how you're supposed to feel about him, but I find it hard to root for that kind of antihero. What I did like about The Bourne Identity was the ingenious plot, complete with all the twists and turns and red herrings that Ludlum could possibly think to put in; everything Ludlum could devise is thrown into the way of Jason Bourne; and what's more amazing is that all of this is done without sacrificing the novel's pace - The Bourne Identity is one of the fastest-paced spy novels that I have read. (I love Clancy's books, but some of them take their own sweet time getting anywhere), and Identity is an honest-to-goodness page-turner. Quite literally, I could not put this book down. I was in the same boat - so to speak - as Jason Bourne, trying to discover who he is and why he woke up without any memory in a doctor's office on an island off the southern coast of France. This Quest of Discovery makes for an amazing story, and one of the best techno-/spy-thrillers that I have read in a very long time. What is even more amazing is that Ludlum is able to accomplish all of this with a minimum of gratuitous violence, gratuitous sex, and little to no obscene language - a rarity in this day and age, and especially in a novel such as this. Again, le Carré's Tailor comes to mind. In short, this is a book that I feel that any serious Reader would thoroughly enjoy, and one that I would recommend to any and everyone who wants a good, exciting book.

12. Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore. (New York: HarperCollins, 2003). It must be said: Christopher Moore's Fluke is a whale of a novel. There is nothing like an absent-minded professor, a hot assistant in sexy shorts and a boat off the coast of Maui to solve the mystery of the song of the humpback whale. Why do they sing? No, really. This charming story takes a wicked left turn toward the severely improbable around the second third of the book, but if you just suspend your disbelief, you should have no problem accepting the impossibilities that Moore provides. One cannot resist the humorous voice that never quits and hilarious secondary characters like Kona, the white New Jersey native surfer with a Jamaican accent and dreadlocks "enveloping his face like a furry octopus attacking a crab." Although Christopher Moore did some serious research (as attested by the Author's Notes at the end of the book), the story will make the scientific community cringe, unless they have an acidic sense of humor (let's hope they do). Still, this tale, reminiscent of Jonah or Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, presents an intriguing concept of the creation, and an interesting theory of why, exactly, the winged whale sings. Fluke still delivers a whale of a time. Pun intended. Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn, said it rightly when he called Christopher Moore "Lord of the Weirdos." Fluke is one of the weirdest, quirkiest, and down right strangest novels that I have ever read. I had not heard of Christopher Moore before Fluke, and it was only the synopsis of the novel that caught my attention. I mean, how often do you hear of a novel that has a whale with the words Bite Me on its flukes? So, I picked it up, and - boy oh boy - what a novel it is! Moore certainly lives up to his Beagle-given title with this outing. I think what I loved most about Fluke is its unabashed, and unapologetic, absurdity. From page one, Moore takes his premise, runs with it, and doesn't let up until the very last page ... taking the Reader on the strangest literary journey of their life. This is a book that is worthy of someone like Dave Barry, and, I have to say that I recommend this book - without reservations or caveats - across the board. This is the perfect beach novel. Not too smart to overburden the sun-fired brain, but just smart, and smart-alecky, enough to keep things interesting. Moore is, without a doubt, "Lord of the Weirdos" and we, as Readers, are that much luckier for the fact. All this, and the pure enjoyment that I felt while reading Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings, makes it a perfect pick for the beach.

13. The Totem by David Morrell. (New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1979). For me, The Totem is illustrative of everything that is right about the horror genre. It is one of those books, like Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot and The Shining, Peter Straub's Ghost Story and William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist that just sums up what a horror novel should be. Sure, The Totem has a few cardboard characters. Potter's Field's Mayor Parsons comes to mind readily as the kind of mayor in every story of this kind from Jaws to Needful Things to Jurassic Park (though in Park it's not a mayor but billionaire entrepreneur John Hammond). But, the story rises above these flat characters and becomes of the most frightening and truly scary stories that I have read. Morrell does an excellent job of creating the right mood, atmosphere and tone in The Totem which makes everyone involved - from police chief Nathan Slaughter (who is among the best in the tradition of horror police chiefs, up there with 'Salem's Lot's Parkins Gillespe and Jaws's Police Chief Brody) to us the Reader - look over their shoulder every so often to make sure that the things with the shining, moon-kissed eyes are not sneaking up in them. Perhaps one of the more amusing aspects of The Totem is that there are very few proper names, a handful of the main characters are given them, but for the most part, characters are referred to by titles: the medical examiner, the rancher, the hippie, the patrolman, the father, the mother, the husband, the wife, the boy, the pilot. Very few proper names at all. The bottom line, however, is that The Totem is one of the best and most frightening horror novels currently on bookstore, library and home shelves. In fact, now I come to think about it I hate David Morrell: with The Totem, he's written a book which set a standard few authors could ever come close to in the horror/thriller genre. Yeah, I hate him. He's a genius. Buy it, borrow it, steal it, I don't care how you get your hot little hands on it, but if you consider yourself a serious student of the horror genre, or just like to be scared, then Sweet Fancy Moses, you need to read this novel! The Totem isn't a rollercoaster ride; it's a high-speed journey on a Harley, straight towards a brick wall. Living dangerously? Damn right. Only problem is ... the brakes don't work.

14. The Godfather by Mario Puzo. (New York: Signet, 1969). There are only a few modern novels that can truly be called "epic," and Mario Puzo's The Godfather is one of them. This is an amazing novel that is truly grandiose in its scope. Spanning literally decades, The Godfather manages to tell the story of the Corleone family in such a way that it has the feel of a "true crime" story, and not a fictional tale. I don't know much about the Mafia, other than what I have gleaned from books and the movies, but The Godfather has a deep ring of truth about it. What I found to be most fascinating about Puzo's novel is that although the Corleone's are the main characters of the story, Michael more so than any of the others (with, perhaps, the exception of Don Vito), and yet they are not sympathetic characters. They are as much the villains of the story as is Sollozzo, or the Tattaglia family, or any of the others, and yet, in spite of this lack of sympathetic characters, it is all very engaging and manages to keep the Reader turning the pages to the very end. And, speaking of the end, I was also surprised at how faithfully Coppola stuck to Puzo's novel, taken as a whole, though I will say that I enjoy Coppola's ending - where the door is slowly closed on Diane Keaton - much better than Puzo's, but perhaps that's a form of blasphemy to true fans of the novel, but all I can say is "to each his own." All things considered, Mario Puzo's The Godfather is a classic and truly epic novel that is filled with the requisite valor, love, and rancor of a great epic; The Godfather is the definitive gangster novel.

15. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. (New York: Bantam Books, 1979). When the future began, the Men had it. Heroes, all of them. The first Americans in space, battling the Russians for control of the heavens, putting their lives on the line. The Women had it. While "Mr. Wonderful" was aloft, it tore your heart out that the Hero's Wife, down on the ground, had to perform with the whole world watching. The TV Press Conference: "What is in your heart? Do you feel with him while he's in orbit?" The Right Stuff. It's the quality beyond bravery, beyond courage. Its men like Chuck Yeager, fastest man on earth; Pete Conrad who laughed himself out of the running; Gus Grissom who almost lost it when his capsule sank, and John Glenn, the only space traveler whose apple-pie image wasn't a lie. Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff is an incredible book chronicling the beginnings of America's space program, beginning with the X series of jets tested out at Edwards Air Force Base by men like Chuck Yeager to the humble beginnings of the Mercury Program all set against the backdrop of the 50s and 60s, with Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin, Kennedy and Johnson. It's a fascinating and honest look at the men and wives who put everything on the line to push the frontiers of mankind. It is an inspiring book. As I was reading it I remember being in Washington, D.C. on a week-long school trip, and going to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and seeing Yeager's X-1 that broke the sound barrier, and the various items associated with the Space Race - the one I remember the most, for some reason, is Buzz Aldren's space suit. That's not associated with the Mercury Project, but it's what I remember. I also have seen one of the Apollo Boilerplates that is located in Apollo County Park on Barnes Avenue in Lancaster, California, where I was born, and where my Dad grew up. Lancaster is just down the road from Edwards Air Force Base where The Right Stuff begins. Anyway, Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff is an inspiring and patriotic book that I think everyone should read at least once.

So, there you have it. Fifteen books that should make their way onto your summer reading list and that should make your time on the beach reading all the more enjoyable.