Top Ten Tuesdays - Books for the Beach

Today's Top Ten Tuesday (hosted, as always, by The Broke and the Bookish) is a list of books that I plan to have in my beach bag this summer. Since I'm not sure I will actually go to the beach all that much this year (if at all), this is probably going to be a purely speculative list. I've decided to choose a mixture of books I've read already and books I'd like to get to that I think would make good summery reads. 

So anyway, let's get on with the list, shall we?

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Or any Jane Austen book really! This is possibly my favourite of her novels I've read so far (which is all of them apart from Mansfield Park), and I think it would make a great beach read. It's really witty and has a light-hearted feel to it, but there is also so much substance and the writing is wonderful. 

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Light, fun, really inventive, hilarious, not to mention completely insane! This is probably one of my favourite books of all time and I think it would be a perfect summer read, though to be honest I could read it any time of year!

3. Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee

This book has such a wonderful atmosphere and the description of the scenery is so vivid. It's just perfect for inspiring you to get outdoors and into the countryside. 

4. A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

I think I mainly associate this book with this time of year because I read it in the summer of my first year at uni, in those glorious days when exams were over but I hadn't yet re-started at my minimum-wage job. But the Italian setting is also very fitting (it's always summer in Italy, right?), and the subtle portrayal of daily human interaction, though not exactly always a barrel of laughs, seems strangely appropriate to this time of year. 

5. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

Apart from being set during the summer and featuring a (sort of) summer holiday, this book is absolutely hilarious. I'm talking side-splitting, laugh-out-loud funny. It'll make you want to annoy your family/friends/significant other by reading bits out while they try and sunbathe in peace. Plus the way it's structured means you can dip in and out whenever the mood takes you. Perfect for beach reading!

6. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (a.k.a. J.K. Rowling)

Now we move onto the portion of this list made up of books I haven't read yet. I've heard mixed things about this book and I'm sure there are better murder mysteries out there. But I do still want to give it a try, and from what I gather the style isn't anything too taxing. 

7. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I think I associate Marquez's books with summer simply because they are set in South America where it's hot... But they are also a mixture of human passions and magical realism, which I think is also fitting. Last year I read One Hundred Years of Solitude on the beach, so maybe this year it's time to give this one a go.

8. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

This book is really short so I feel like it would make a great beach read. Plus I just really really want to read it. It's been sitting on my shelf for ages and I am slightly embarrassed that I haven't read it already. Into the beach bag it goes!

9. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding

I read and really enjoyed the first Bridget Jones book last summer, and I'd like to give the sequel a read this year. It's another one I imagine would be easy to dip in and out of. Besides, Fielding's writing style is so hilarious and sarcastic. Perfect for an easy-going beach read.

10. ?????

My brain is failing me. Any suggestions of great beach reads???