Brilliant Beach Bag Companions: A Summer Reading List for 2013

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By Rachel Derry
Staff Writer LIFamilies

It’s that time of the year again. Time to pull out the beach bags and bathing suits and to fill your E-Reader to the brim with an infinite possibility of literary choices to keep your summer mind primed. After all, what goes better with a cold drink and a beach chair than a seriously good novel to drive into head first? Here are a couple of the favorites that we're looking forward to this sizzling summer season.

Our first pick will be perfect for all of those “Girls with dragon tattoos” searching for a new read with a similar feel but an all new storyline, or just for another thrilling trilogy to sink their teeth into. Alexander Söderberg’s new novel, The Andalucian Friend is said to not disappoint. The beginning of a new monumental crime thriller trilogy, Söderberg takes us to Stockholm and into the quiet life of single mother who just happens to fall for the wrong man. As her uneventful life is thrown into a cyclone of international crime rings at war, this is one action packed summer read that you will not be able to put down.

Looking for a little bit of chill to go with your thrill? We'll move over then to the highly anticipated novel by Joe Hill, NOS4A2. There is nothing more terrifying for a parent than knowing that there is a murderer on the loose making children disappear. Dozens has disappeared, with only 1 ever resurfacing to tell her story; a little girl with a special gift that likely saved her life. One turn of events may be more terrifying though…when the murderer’s body mysteriously disappears years later from the prison morgue, post autopsy; leaving him on the road once again. In this summer fear fest, can this once child victim now chase down her captor to save her own child?

Many may know that Joe Hill is the son of the acclaimed Stephen King, who also has a new thriller to offer up as your next frightful summer read. Follow Mr. King as he brings us into his newest nightmare, Joyland. Joyland is a vintage mystery thriller mixing vicious murder, creepy carnival rides and carneys with a killer cover line, “Who dares enter the funhouse of fear.” King-enthusiasts and new Kingers alike are sure to love the latest thrill ride from this master of horror.

The Shining Girls, a gripping novel by Lauren Beukes, takes you for a totally different ride of crime and mystery, with a heroine who needs to use all of her ability, including exceptional gifts, to stop a predator that no one else can. No one else has a chance because this predator not only has exceptional cunning and wit, but the ability to walk back and forth through time, mixing together clues from his crimes past and present. Singling out exceptionally brave and talented women, our heroine must catch the culprit before our villain sets his sights on the next victim.

Looking for a little less suspense in your summertime reads? Beatriz Williams paints a portrait of what went wrong, rather than who did it, in her romantic period piece, A Hundred Summers. Live in the summers of gone and the summers of today (well of 1938) as Lily Dane returns to her family home in Seaview, Rhode Island and encounters the ex-love of her life, recently married to her ex-best friend. Read what went wrong and how a love that could defeat all odds could come to an end in this novel of love, yearning, and learning.

Our last summer read, which may already be on your reading list, is an unusual novel that took the Spring book season by storm this year. Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson, is a story of the life and death of a young girl named Ursula Todd, and how she lived and died again, over and over. As Ursula grows, and dies, she lives in a time when the world is on the verge of its second world war. It’s her decision to make; should she use her seemingly infinite lives to help save the world and change the turn of events, or should she let all turn out as is must? This dark comedy is an absolute must of a page turner this season.