by Dawn Braasch, Bunch of Grapes Bookstore

1...must above all be entertaining / engrossing
It must be engaging enough to take one's mind off the fact that they are hot and sweaty lying on their beach chair.  Emily St. John Mandel's book "The Singer's Gun"  is a suspense novel about people who aren't what they seem to be, involved in international crime, making desperate choices that end up having deadly consequences.  I didn't want to put it down, as I tried to figure out the cast of characters relationship to each other, and what the outcome was going to be.

2... is literary fiction, not trashy novels. 
It's good nutrition for the mind!  Kathryn Stockett's novel "The Help" is a story of women on opposite sides of the racial divide in Jackson, MS in 1962, just as the civil rights movement is gathering steam.  They join together to tell their story, forever altering their lives and the town they live in.  Your mind will be feeding on this book long after you've finished reading it...even as you are dozing on your towel.

3...can be a book that one wouldn't normally have time to invest in. 
Karl Marlantes book "Matterhorn,"  at a whopping 600 pages, is just such a book.  It is set in the mountain jungle of Vietnam in 1969 and tells the story of what it is like being a soldier in the front lines of war.  Written by a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, it is agonizing, brutal and powerful. My must read pick of the year.

4...depends on a person's favorite genre
For suspense there is Mary Higgins Clark's "The Shadow of Your Smile" about the juxtaposition of medicine and religious faith, or Stieg Larsson's "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," about murder and sex trafficking;  historical fiction: Sally Gunning's "The Rebellion of Jane Clark," dealing with a young woman on the eve of the Revolutionary War caught between tradition and independence; sci-fi: Justin Cronin's "The Passage," a literary post-apocalyptic vampire saga; and I could go on and on.

5...doesn't have to be fiction at all. 
Some of the greatest beach reads are non-fiction. Coming in August is Gail Caldwell's "Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship."  It is a story about the mid-life friendship between Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former Boston Globe book critic Caldwell and fellow writer Caroline Knapp.  While at times terribly sad and moving, it is foremost a testiment to the value of friendship enhancing our lives.

All of the titles mentioned in this article are available both at the Bunch of Grapes bookstore on Main Street, Vineyard Haven or on line at www.bunchofgrapes.com.