Probably the best and most entertaining book I've read this year is The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Fantasy. He's got it set up as a series, but this book at least is written as a single title. There is a little language, so it's probably not for the Mini Mavens. But good. Really good. I also really rather liked Duma Key (King, of course). But that is a long read and not light, perhaps not best for vacation reading.

I read the women's fiction by Mary Alice Monroe titled TIME IS A RIVER on my flight from San Francisco to Virginia. I almost missed the drink cart I was so into it. I hope you enjoy it too. If you don't, not much lost because it's one of the prettiest covers to adorn my bookshelf. I have it face out it's so darn pretty! Nancy

We seem to be into food here in South Dakota...and a favorite is Joanne Fluke with all her Key Lime Pie, Chocolate Chip, Stawberry Shortcake, Blueberry Cupcake, Carrot Cake....heh ...cozy mysteries. Definitely a vacation from serious literature! (And recipes are included!) Read and Relax!

We seem to be into food here in South Dakota...and a favorite is Joanne Fluke with all her Key Lime Pie, Chocolate Chip, Stawberry Shortcake, Blueberry Cupcake, Carrot Cake....heh ...cozy mysteries. Definitely a vacation from serious literature! (And recipes are included!) Read and Relax!

City of Thieves by David Benioff

I vote for "Everything Matters, Nothing Matters: For Women Who Dare to Live With Exquisite Calm, Euphoric Creativity and Divine Clarity" by Gina Mazza Hillier

For the Thriller genre, Angel's Tip by Alafair Burke which is brand new. Also Body Surfing by Anita Shreve in paperback is a wonderful vacation book. And last but not least I just read Zoli by Colum McCann for my book group and it was fascinating -- its about the Romany culture.

My favorite beach read is Summer Sisters by Judy Blume. It never gets old. And if you want to read a memoir, Jen Lancaster's Such a Pretty Fat is hilarious.

The title is oh-so-twee, but I'm hearing lots of great reports on "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." And Roxana Robinson's "Cost" is completely absorbing, devastating (maybe not what you want on vacation! -- but it's so good.

Grab a galley of "Goldengrove" by Francine Prose. Also "Home" by Marilynne Robinson. "Body Surfing" is predictable and somehow slightly tawdry but if you didn't read Shreve's "Fortune's Rocks," take this opportunity to do it. Guilty pleasures department: "Brass Verdict" by Michael Connelly. Have fun!

The Wonder Singer by George Rabasa has it all: romance, intrigue, history, and a cross-dressing Diva impersonator. Escapism at its best!

Frank Wilderson's Incognegro, just out from South End Press, in the memoir category. Intense and absorbing, and also hilarious.

I second the recommendation for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Also, I am enjoying Tana French's two literary thrillers, In the Woods and The Likeness. In nonfiction, I was hooked on In a Time of War, about West Point's class of 2002 (or a handful of its members, to be more accurate). Enjoy your vacation!

Mystery/adventure series Seeds Of Civilization (beginning with TRACTRIX by R.J. Archer): A twist of fate changes everything for widower Frank Morton, a Seattle aerospace engineer. An unexpected windfall lifts him from the depths of despair and a friend’s surprise call sets him on a path he hadn’t considered since his bachelor years. He revisits boxes that hold years of abandoned research about “unexplained” archeological mysteries and then sets off to follow the trail of a mysterious artifact handed him by his friend. His path of discovery leads Frank to believe that many civilizations—much earlier than Mesopotamia—once existed on Earth and that each met a cataclysmic fate. Did alien visitors arrive to “jumpstart” human civilization again and again? lite reading page-turner Mystery/adventure with a SciFi twist

Check out Peter Malae's short story collection Teach the Free Man (a finalist for this year's Young Lions Fiction Award). It will take your head to a veeery different place.

"The Last Queen" by C.W. Gortner, a marvelous and completely entrancing historical novel set in 16th century Spain.

"The Last Queen" by C.W. Gortner, a marvelous and completely entrancing historical novel set in 16th century Spain.

Just to be different, I'm going to recommend a YA author to you: Sarah Dessen, whose books I've recently fallen in love with. I've actually read three in the last few weeks - can't remember the last time I did that with an author.

Try Miss New York Has Everything by Lori Jakiela. It's a funny/sad memoir (like David Sedaris but a little darker) about a woman who loses her father and makes her way back home. The author, an ex-pat New Yorker, was a flight attendant, too (means good plane/beach reading).

Gardens of Water by Alan Drew; one of the best books ever. Also Beach Music by Pat Conroy which may just be the best book ever.

Any of Daniel Reveles' short story collections, set in a border town famous for beer, Tecate, Baja California. You'll laugh and cry, I kid you not! "Tequila, Lemon and Salt"; "Enchiladas, Rice and Beans"; and "Guacamole Dip" make these a 3-course meal.

You might try "Mother's Journals: parts 1, 2 and 3". If you want something light and heartwarming, "Wooffer, stories you can read to your dog (and other children)" is wonderful!

You might try "Mother's Journals: parts 1, 2 and 3". If you want something light and heartwarming, "Wooffer, stories you can read to your dog (and other children)" is wonderful!

A very good question.. I think when going on vacation take the lightest book possible (not by weight)..It is a time to let go and have fun. Why be serious...I always take a good mystery so I can get lost in it..Of course that is my favorite genre...Carol author of For Kids 59.99 and Over"

I agree that Judy Blume's SUMMER SISTERS is a good beach read that never grows old. If you don't mind fluff with stock characters, done-to-death predictable situations, and a tell-instead-of-show way of writing, there's the beach read TAN LINES. I really wanted to like that book since I live in a summer resort and love books set in resorts. While the author clearly knew how to construct fiction that didn't hopelessly head-hop as much as most, and the editing was above par, I felt as if I were reading an outline instead of a completed novel. Even big climatic scenes took place off stage. But it's summer and I wanted light reading and that was what I got, so the failure is with me in wanting it to be more than light beach reading usually is.