Monday, June 10, 2013

[Top Ten Tuesday: Beach Reads]

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup hosted by The Broke And The Bookish!

I love Beach Reads!  I tend to read different books during the summer than the rest of the year.  For awhile I would tackle one large classic every summer, one summer I read music related biographies and one summer I read a few series that I had been wanting to get through.  So, I'm gonna give you a few of my favorites in each of those categories.  It looks like this summer will be a bit different as I want to get through a lot of fun girly summer books.  So here are my favorites in the three categories that I already mentioned.

Favorite Classic Beach Reads:

"Gone With The Wind" by Margaret Mitchell:  This one actually took me a whole summer to get through back in my teens, but it was so worth it!  I mean the book is almost 1,000 pages long and not contemporary language.  I fell in love with this book so much that I now have three old school hardback editions of it!

"Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte:  I love me some Gothic lit and this is one of my favorites!  It's got so much mystery and some really screwed up and yet lovable characters.  Honestly, if you haven't read this one yet, you should get on that!   

"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald:  I read this one summer on the beach and I know that I didn't get everything about it, but I've revisited it and also watched the resent movie (which I LOVED!)  It's so much darker than I was expecting and I think that one of the things that I liked most about this story.  Plus it's set in the 1920s!

Biographies For Music Nerds Who Also Like The Beach:
(I'm obsessed with classic rock and musical theater)

"Love, Janis" by Laura Joplin:  I love Janis Joplin and her solo music as well as her years with Big Brother and the Holding Company.  I have their album on vinyl and it's one of my favorite things!  This book was awesome and told Janis's story in her sister's words as well as her own.  It was so cool to read about her life through the letters that she wrote to family and friends.

"A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love and Faith in Stages" by Kristin Chenoweth:  This book made me laugh and laugh and laugh.  I'm such a huge fan of Kristin's work and this book.  She talks about everything.  Beauty Pageants, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Pushing Daisies and Wicked!  And that's not all.  Her wit shines through in this book too!  

"Wilderness" by Jim Morrison:  Jim was the lead singer of The Doors.  The man died at the age of 27, same as Janis.  This book of poetry is wack, but genius as well.  Sometimes I want to read something that's really wack and this is what I go to.  

Series To Beach About:
(I'll link you guys to the first book in the series)

"The Gemma Doyle Trilogy" by Libba Bray:  It's Victorian.  It takes place at a boarding school.  It has sexy gypsies.  It's got loads of humor (which we all expect from Libba).  It's epic and full of some of the craziest plot twists that made me want to scream and cry and also give out high fives to Libba for having the guts to write them.

"The Darkest Power Trilogy" by Kelley Armstrong:  These books are spooky and have a slew of known paranormal creators and yet it's an odd mixture which adds some new elements to the story.  These are super fast and fun reads.  The perfect kind for sitting on the beach or by a pool.  

"The Wicked Lovely Series" by Melissa Marr:  There are 5 books in this series and they're all out.  So you don't even have to wait for the next books like I did.  I happen to love these books a whole lot, even though that third one almost didn't get read all the way through.  The rest of the books are awesome!

"The Flappers Trilogy" by Jillian Larkin:  In all honesty I have only read the first book in this series so far, but I have the other two and loved the first one so much!  I'm really excited to get to the other ones and I think they will happen this summer!

Well there's my list!  What's on yours?  I wanna know.  Leave your link below or tell me in the comments!

14 comments:

Emily Anne said...

Great list! I love the Wicked Lovely Series...

New Follower :) Emily @ Counting in Bookcases

Tanja - Tanychy said...

Oh I totally forgot about The Darkest Power trilogy. I have heard only about the classic from your list and when I think about it I think The Great Gatsby is a nice beach read. Great list!

Tanja @ Ja čitam, a ti?

lillylilac said...

Great list, I love The Darkest Powers series as well.

Lori said...

I still need to get to the Gemma Doyle books. I know that I'll love them!

Emma said...

Great list! I try to read one classic during the summer. It doesn't always work out, but there's something about the warmer weather than makes me feel like I can tackle big books! Also anything by Kelley Armstrong is generally a great read :)

Unknown said...

Great list! Love Jane Eyre:)

My TTT:
http://evelinesbooks.blogspot.nl/2013/06/top-ten-tuesday-3.html

Amy said...

What a fantastic list!! I love contemporaries when I'm on the beach, but there are other books I would want to get lost in while laying in the sun too. That would be a hard list for me to make.

Ula said...

Niice list, I'm retrying The Great Gatsby this summer. Couldn't finish the first time.

My TTT

Rachel said...

I still need to read Gone with the Wind, but you've got some awesome series on here! I still need to read the last book in the Flappers trilogy, I really like Wicked Lovely, and I want to reread The Darkest Powers this summer! Great list, and thanks for stopping by!

Rachel @ Beauty and the Bookshelf

Giselle said...

Ooh Loved the Darkest Powers trilogy (and anything else by Armstrong). I really want to read The Great Gatsby I watched the new movie and I really liked it.

The Princess of Everything said...

Your list is fantastic! I love Jane Eyre and read it like every year. I'm a huge fan of retellings of it too! And the Flappers series by Jillian Larkin is amazing!!! I say I love the entire series, even though liek you, I've only read the first one. haha I have them all though and I plan to marathon read them all soon! hehe

Lori @ Writing My Own Fairy Tale said...

Great list! I've read almost none of them! I need to add a few of these to my list. :-)

Jasprit said...

I have not read a single book from your list! I must make sure I rectify that immediately! Brilliant list Christianna! :)

@MelissaJoLynn_ said...

Someone was just suggesting the Gemma Doyle series to me. Maybe I'll have to try it this summer lol. Great picks!