NPR's 100 Best Beach Books Ever: The 200 Finalists.

War and Peace?  Really?  Huh.  NPR listeners clearly have a very broad definition of "beach read".

Comments

[Ms Avery]

I think they have just picked good books, rather than beach reads... Affinity is wonderful, but too depressing for a holiday read IMO.

[Elizabeth]

I would have nominated all those splash-proof editions Razorbill released a few years back.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lulu-Dark-Summer-Fox-Splashproof/dp/1595141545/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248181625&sr=1-7

[Brian F.]

Maybe the dulcet tones of the NPR personnel clouded the listeners' minds and they thought that were supposed to name books that were "a bitch to read."

[TomAngleberger]

It's really only for those people who spend two and a half months at the beach. with an extra week for each appendix.

[MotherReader]

Those NPR people are right. I know I can't head to the shore without my copy of Anna Karenina.

I glanced through the list and saw Hunger Games - not terribly surprising - but I wouldn't have pegged Peace, Love and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle as a crossover book among all YA.

[Sharry]

Wow reading War and Peace at the beach is hardcore! Hmm... they have a whole bunch of really serious read-by-yourself-with-lots-of-concentration books there too (Harry Potter, Lord of the Flies...)

[Hannah]

I read "Crime and Punishment" on a beach, it was hot and a bit uncomfortable, which fit the feverish atmosphere in the book perfectly. I don't think I'd have liked that book as much if I had read it at home. I did read "War and Peace" at home and I didn't like big parts of it at all. Maybe this is why? :-)

[Lexi]

Haha, my husband said, "War and Peace? How long do they want you to be at the freakin' beach?!"