There’s nothing like laying out on the sand and reading a book on the beach. However, I’m much more likely to be the person splashing around in the water (riptides? undertows? who cares!) than reading on the beach. But on my recent vacation, I found myself doing just that.
I brought three books with me, because we have a fourteen hour car ride (both ways), so I figured I’d have a lot of down time to fill. Lucky for me, I stumbled upon Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog the night before I left. I promptly bought it for my iPod, and I ended up watching that in the car (for longer than I’d like to admit) instead of reading.
And so there I was, laying on the beach, with this gorgeous view:
I decided I’d partake in that old pastime: laying on the beach, reading a book. I highly doubt that the book I chose to read was very “beach-worthy”, since I wasn’t by Nicholas Sparks or Danielle Steele. But all in all, the experience wasn’t too bad. I wouldn’t trade in splashing around for reading very often (I can always read at home, I can’t always get crushed by waves), but it was enjoyable.
I think I just needed to change my perspective. I always pictured beach books to involve terribly cliché dialogues and plots, maybe a vampire or two. To me, the symbol of beach reading was always a trashy romance novel, with a cover that might look like one of the shots taken the episode of America’s Next Top Model where the girls pose with Fabio, of all people.
I really just needed to say to myself “it doesn’t matter what book you bring”. I actually think the book I chose had a very aesthetically pleasing cover (you’ll see that later in the week), and while it had some romantic elements, it mostly involved conspiracies and some very eccentric individuals. That’s exactly my cup of tea, and if I so chose to read it on the sand, then so what? Just because I judge what other people read on the beach doesn’t mean they’re doing the same thing to me.
I didn’t tan, though. Tanning just isn’t something I do. I have a faint bathing suit line, and some sunburn on the spot I forgot to apply sunscreen too, but no tan, despite the hour or so I spent just laying there reading.
I finished two of my three books while I was gone, and came home to another book sitting in my doorstep with I’m incredible excited about! When a book is originally banned in the United States for a few decades, it’s probably pretty good.
