I have 2 requirements for vacation: peace and quiet. The frantic pace of life makes taking time off to run around sightseeing or outlet shopping seem more stressful than it really ought to be.

No. My idea of vacation is setting my feet in the surf, a large umbrella overhead, a flamboyant cocktail in one hand and a great book in the other. Here are my must-reads for Summer '09:

Chicklit
The very best beach fare is light, fun and slightly ridiculous. My top nod simply must go to Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series, with her first Confessions of a Shopaholic easily the best of the bunch.

Emily Giffin is another must-read. I particularly recommend her duo Something Borrowed and Something Blue, which she recently spilled to us may soon be coming to the big screen!

I devoured Starter Wife scribe Gigi Levangie Grazer's latest, Queen Takes King, which pokes at the soft underbelly of the rich & famous Divorce Wars.



Thrillers
Edge-of-your-seat writer Ken Follett writes of war, family intrigue, history and Frankensteinist medicine. Oprah's Book Club chose the medieval-set Pillars of the Earth; I also recommend the WWII-era spy novel Eye of the Needle.



James Patterson's Swimsuit and Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich may be newish additions to the New York Times' bestseller list, but the authors certainly are not. A friend recently recommended the latest in the Bourne saga, The Bourne Deception, as "a book for people who hate, well, books."

Post-Book Depression Candidates
We've been talking about that state of over-involvedness in the ChickAdvisor forum. Pick up Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns or The Kite Runner (but skip the movie) at your own risk!



I also heartily recommend The Time Traveler's Wife by newbie Audrey Niffenegger, a recent ChickAdvisor Book Club pick. Be sure to stop at Costco first for a value-pack of Kleenex.

Nonfiction
Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers tops my list of must-soon-read, sharing space with Randy Pausch's Last Lecture.



ChickAdvisor members also recommended Skinny Bitch as a humorous look at food safety and your health.

What's on your reading list this year?

by Claire Rahn