Summer at the lake. This is Lake Butler in west Orange County, where my family lived after I left high school for college in 1971.
Last year I read Stewart O'Nan's
Wish You Were Here, about a final family gathering at a summer lake cottage that the family matriarch and grandmother, now widowed, wants to sell. I am surprised that the reviews at Amazon are so mixed. The book stayed with me, and became the seed of this bibliography for a display I am putting up next week.
A family, a couple, some friends, come together for a summer vacation on the water, and go through changes. That's what the books at the heart of this list are about. I added a little list of hurricane stories for spice.
I have to laugh at myself. "Beach Reads" are not typically stories about summer vacations. How many people will want to read about a summer vacation on their summer vacation?
Allio, Kirstin.
Garner.
2005
Amick, Steve. The Lake, The River & The Other Lake.
2005
Baggott, Julianna. The
Miss America Family. 2002
Binchy, Maeve. Tara Road. 1998
Blake, Sarah. Grange House. 2000
Chamberlin, Holly. The Family
Beach House. 2010
Chamberlin, Holly.
Summer Friends. 2011
Craig, Amanda. Love In Idleness. 2003
Cronin, Justin. The Summer Guest. 2004
D'Alessandro,
Jacquie. Summer at Seaside Cove.
2011 (PB)
Donohue, Meg. All The Summer Girls. 2013 (new)
Everson, Eva Marie. Chasing Sunsets
: a Cedar Key novel. 2011
Everson, Eva Marie.
Waiting For Sunrise : a Cedar Key
novel. 2012
Foster, Lori, et al.
Bad Boys Of Summer. 2006
Gamble, Terry. Good Family. 2005
Gamble, Terry. The Water Dancers. 2003
Goodman, Allegra. Kaaterskill Falls. 1998
Greeley, Andrew M.
Summer At The Lake. 1997
Greenwood, Kerry. Dead Man's Chest. 2010
Grimes, Martha. Belle Ruin. 2005
Grimes, Martha. Cold Flat Junction. 2001
Grimes, Martha. Hotel Paradise. 1996
Gunn, Robin Jones. Canary
Island Song. 2011
Gutcheon, Beth Richardson. Good-bye
And Amen. 2008
Gutcheon, Beth Richardson. Leeway Cottage.
2005
Gutcheon, Beth Richardson. More
Than You Know. 2000
Hart, Carolyn G. Dead, White, and Blue. 2013 (new)
Hilderbrand, Elin. The
Beach Club. 2000
Hilderbrand, Elin.
Summer people. 2004 (PB)
Jackson, Lisa, et al.
Beach Season. 2012
Jewett, Sarah Orne. The Country
Of The Pointed Firs. 2005
Jio, Sarah. The Bungalow. 2012
Kallentoft, Mons. Summer Death. 2013 (new)
Keillor, Garrison. Lake
Wobegon Summer. 2001
Laymon, Richard. The Lake. 2004
Leon, Donna. A Question Of Belief. 2010
Miller, Linda Lael, et al. Beach
Blanket Bad Boys. 2005
Monroe, Mary Alice. Beach House
Memories. 2012 (new)
Nagy, Gloria. A House
In The Hamptons. 1990
Nissen, Thisbe. Osprey Island. 2004
Noble, Kate. The Summer Of You. 2011 (PB)
O'Nan, Stewart. Wish You Were Here. 2002
Perkins-Valdez, Dolen. Wench.
2010
Rice, Luanne. Last Kiss. 2009
Rifkin, Sherri. LoveHampton. 2008
Roberts, Gillian. How I Spent My Summer Vacation. 1994
Rockcastle, Mary François. Rainy
Lake. 1994
Siddons, Anne Rivers. Burnt
Mountain. 2011
Sims, Janice. That Summer at American Beach. 2006 (Kimani PB)
Smith, Ali. The Accidental. 2006
Smith, Haywood. Ladies Of The Lake. 2009
Stone, Juliana. The Summer He Came Home. 2013 (PB)
Sullivan, J. Courtney. Maine.
2011
Thayer, Nancy. Summer Breeze. 2012
Wiggs, Susan. Lakeside Cottage. 2005 (PB)
Wiggs, Susan. Summer At Willow Lake. 2006 (PB)
Wiggs, Susan. Summer By The Sea. 2004 (PB)
Wilson, Susan. Summer Harbor. 2003
Woolf, Virginia. To The Lighthouse. 1981
Hurricanes - Fiction
Alam, Glynn Marsh. High Water
Hellion. 2006
Andrews, Donna. Murder With Puffins. 2000
Copeland, Lori. Stranded In Paradise. 2002
Hiaasen, Carl. Stormy Weather. 2001
Hildreth, Denise. Hurricanes In Paradise. 2010
Kincaid, Nanci. As Hot As It Was You Ought To Thank Me. 2005
King, Jonathon. Acts Of Nature. 2007
Manuel, David. A Matter Of Time. 2002
Maron, Margaret. Storm Track. 2000
McDonald, Craig. Toros & Torsos. 2008
Mountford, B J. Sea-born Women. 2002
Riordan, Rick. Rebel Island . 2007
Shepard, Lucius. Valentine. 2002
Tripp, Dawn Clifton. Moon
tide. 2003
