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Friday, July 18, 2008

beach appropriate reading 

I'm never sure what books to bring on a beach trip. It's easy to think, "Bring what you're already reading," but I'm reading several books at once. And they rarely seem conducive to the beach. I like to stay with nautical books, but the nautical books I have in my "to read" pile are all old, and I'd feel guilty bringing them into bright sunlight for a long time. Plus I don't know what effect salt has on paper. So the old books are out. I don't think I have any recently published histories of the age of sail. (I've probably read them all. I'm a bit pathetic).

I don't do throw-away beach reading books. I don't have the patience. I can write sometimes, but my mind tends to wander.

Poetry is good. It's short enough for my limited beach attention span. I get skittish on the beach. I feel too exposed, either literally if I'm dressing to fit in, or figuratively, if I'm dressing comfortably in jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and sneakers, in the sand.

Magazines? The Atlantic or the Economist? Maybe I can find a copy of either before I leave.

--brief interlude while I check my library--

Okay, I'm good.

  • A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel, for fun
  • Micromotives and Macrobehavior, by Thomas C. Schelling, as fodder for discussion of economics with my father-in-law
  • Poems of the Sea, edited by J. D. McClatchy, for when I need something beautiful despite a short attention span

    I'm good to go.

    Oh. Swimsuit and clothes... toothbrush, too, probably...

    // posted by bookmoth 9:41 AM
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