About "Beach Reads"

Every spring the publishing industry goes on a binge, marketing all the "beach reads" for the summer book market. Now tell me, how many Americans actually spend time at a beach in the summer, let alone read there?

I've had summers where I've spent time reading on beaches. I'll acknowledge that and I loved doing it. I spent my three high-school summers babysitting for a family who owned a beach house on Nantucket Sound, on Cape Cod, and boy, did I ever read my way through those summers!

These days, the closest I come to beach reading is while floating in my Hornbeck boat on an Adirondack lake.

I must confess I like to read at least one Elin Hilderbrand novel in the summertime. Light as her books may be, I enjoy strolling on the Nantucket Island beaches with her characters.

I've stashed a copy of Barefoot on my summer reading shelf.