What is your favorite book?

Andrewsgal

I am looking to load my kindle up before out trip to Jamiaca in two weeks, give me the best books you have read, or the best beach reads.

femmegem

I don't know if they're beach reads per se, but my all-time favorite books are:

The Great Gatsby
A Prayer for Owen Meany
A Handmaid's Tale

There are more, but I'm blanking out and it's time for breakfast. Have a great time in Jamaica!

BubblyToes

Pat Conroy, South of Broad

Audrey Niffenneger, The Time Travelers Wife

 Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed (actually any Wally Lamb)

 

Sunflower777

The Art of Racing in the Rain

Water for Elephants

They're not necessarily "light" reads, but they are good beach reads in my opinion because they go fast and you can't put them down.  

Temp374386125003286

We leave for Jamaica in 3 weeks! Where are you staying?

Pillars of the Earth

The Other Boleyn Girl

I have loaded my Kindle with: The Help and Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult.  I want to add one more, I will check this post again!

 Have a great trip!

Temp374386125003286

Sunflower777:

The Art of Racing in the Rain

Water for Elephants

They're not necessarily "light" reads, but they are good beach reads in my opinion because they go fast and you can't put them down.  

Loved The Art of Racing in the Rain!

Jamaica_Bride

Have a GREAT time in Jamaica, you slore!

capemom

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I also love the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty (Sloppy Firsts, etc.) and they are very easy reads.?

Yodajo

BubblyToes:

Pat Conroy, South of Broad

Audrey Niffenneger, The Time Travelers Wife

 Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed (actually any Wally Lamb)

 

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb is a great read!

Loved A Prayer For Owen Meany too.

Also, The Glass Castle and A Girl named Zippy, which are both autobiographies, the second being a very light read.

Also, Barbara Kingsolver books, like Pigs in Heaven and The Bean Trees

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Emily Giffin books if you want a really light read. 

 

melissa816

Don't know if they're beach reads or not, but I love love love The Time Traveler's Wife, and almost anything by Jodi Picoult & Nicholas Sparks.  I also just got done with Firefly Lane, don't remember the author, and that was really good too.

shopgirl_07

A lot of my favorite books are probably heavy for beach reads.

I love all of Elin Hilderbrand's books though. They are all set in Nantucket so they feel very beachy to me, good stories too.

DevonPow

My all time favorites are Les Miserables and East of Eden

Other great books, and good vacation reads (IMO):

Wally Lamb (although I didn't like his latest - The Hour I First Believed - as much)

The Help

The Little Stranger

Interpreter of Maladies

Any of Curtis Sittenfeld's books

Any of Barbara Kingdolver's books (Poisonwood Bible is my fav. Haven't read her latest - The Lacuna - yet)

Any of Tom Perotta's books

 

Mominator

I'm a huge Stephen King fan, so anything by him. I also really enjoyed the Left Behind series and also anything by Jennifer Weiner.

AggieCouple

I also like The Handmaid's Tale, but the author writes some lighthearted (but yet still pretty deep) stuff too, including The Edible Woman, The Robber Bride and Lady Oracle.  Her heavier stuff is super super good, including The Handmaid's Tale, my personal favorite The Blind Assassin, and Alias Grace.  Margaret Atwood is just an aaaaaaa-mazing writer, and I can't go on enough about her.  I think almost all her works have been nominated or won the Booker Prize.

I recently finished A Fraction of the Whole, which is friggin' hilarious and probably one of the best books I've ever read.  You can't go wrong with any thing from the Booker Prize list, which I am making my way through (backwards).  In between those, I am reading Hemingway, someone whom my high school teachers neglected for some reason.  Recently read The Sun Also Rises, and it is... WOW.  Pretty quick read, too.

eclaires

Gone with the Wind is my all time favorite!

I've also heard good things about Outlander (which is a series of books, the first is titled Outlander) - I have it but haven't started it yet.

If you're into politics, I think Game Change is supposed to be awesome.  I also recently bought it.

I also like trashy romance novels by Judith McNaught, Julie Garwood, Nora Roberts and Jude Devereaux.  I'm also into books by Tom Clancy (Jack Ryan series) and I enjoyed Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series, Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series, and Brad Thor's series.  Those are all kind of political thrillers (I guess?)  They're often suspenseful somewhat and have a lot of international intrigue.  Usually involving the CIA, heads of state, etc.  I think they're all pretty easy reads.