Good Morning Lowcountry

Beach books

Pluffmudders have plenty of excuses to read.

They join book clubs ... both virtual and living room. They swap books, borrow books, buy books and join chat rooms to see what friends are reading. At Lowcountry libraries this month, adult book groups are reading and discussing "Paint It Black" by Janet Fitch ... "The Other Woman" by Jane Green ... "Gal: A True Life" by Ruthie Bolton ... and "The Land of Mango Sunsets" by Dorothea Benton Frank.

But, really, who needs an excuse to read in the summer? A beach, a porch, a hammock or a sofa all work for GMLc. Every June, we round up titles that colleagues at the P&C are reading. "Beach books" implies frothy trash paperbacks that you don't mind dropping in the foam when the tide comes in. This group tends to maintain a rigorous brain schedule even while tilted toward the sun.

Here's Da List for 2008:

Wade Spees
The Post and Courier

Put on your sunglasses for the 2008 GMLc Beach Books Summer Reading List.

-- "Jazz and Blues Musicians of South Carolina" by Ben Franklin

-- "The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means" by George Soros

-- "Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about the Art of Persuasion" by Jay Heinrichs

-- "World Without End" by Ken Follett

-- "The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire" by Matt Taibbi

-- "Arts, Inc. — How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights" by Bill Ivey

-- "Rollback" by Robert J. Sawyer

-- "Omega Sol" by Scott MacKay

-- "Riffing on Strings: Creative Writing Inspired by String Theory" edited by Sean Miller and Shveta Verm

-- "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations" by Clay Shirky

-- "Rainbows End: A Novel With One Foot in the Future" by Vernor Vinge

-- "Homicide — A Year on the Killing Streets" by David Simon

-- "Drowning in Gruel" by George Singleton

-- "Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life" by Sari Nusseibeh

-- "Everyman" by Philip Roth

-- "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle

-- "Bridge of Sighs" by Richard Russo

-- "Magical Thinking: True Stories" by Augusten Burroughs

-- "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" by David Sedaris

-- "Her Husband: Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath — A Marriage" by Diane Middlebrook

-- "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

-- "The Last Oracle: A Novel" by James Rollins

-- "The Stranger" by Albert Camus

-- "A Natural History of the Senses" by Diane Ackerman

-- "The Only Kayak: A Journey into the Heart of Alaska" by Kim Heacox

-- "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood

-- "The Quiet Girl" by Peter Hoeg

-- "A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting," by Hara Estroff Marano

-- "Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are" by Rob Walker

-- "The Book of Love: In Search of the Kamasutra" by James McConnachie

-- "The Monster of Florence" by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi

-- "Merde Happens" by Stephen Clarke

-- "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow

-- "Only Revolutions: A Novel" by Mark Z. Danielewski

-- "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

-- "Lovehampton" by Sherri Rifkin

-- "Baby Proof" by Emily Giffin

-- "Tourist Season" by Carl Hiaasen

-- Anything by Louis L'Amour or Tim Dorsey

-- Photo coffee table books. Who likes to read? (submitted by a photographer)

GMLc
What are you reading this summer? Call 937-5564. Write gmlc@postandcourier.com. Comment at charleston.net/news/gmlc.