Conventional wisdom says that a beach read ought to be light and fun—a book with a pastel cover. But the beach read can be anything you want it to be. Vacation might feel like the perfect moment to escape into frivolity, or to dive into something dense that you finally have the mental space for. (If you’re me, that latter category may have once included the historian Timothy Snyder’s Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, which I acknowledge is a very odd choice due both to its physical and metaphorical weight.)
Whether you’re taking a big trip or just finding a few moments of quiet this August, the list of recommendations below will give you a place to start.
