Beach Reads

A funny time, perhaps, to write about them. But I just returned from Belize and the unusually cool, windy weather wiped out plans for snorkeling, so I read a lot,walked the beach, read, checked the clouds, read some more. I read Bob Mayer & Jennifer Cruisie's Agnes and the Hit Man which was a couple of steps off the chicklit beaten path. It was hilarious, laugh and read out loud funny. The place we stayed, Maya Dream in Placencia, is right on the beach north of the village, with a bookcase stocked with light reads, so next I read two of Karl Hiaasen's-more laughter. I've read all of his, but I have no problem rereading them. Then I found an early Sara Peretsky which got into grimmer stuff, and Elizabeth Peters' Seeing a Large Cat. (Her Amelia Peabody mysteries are favorites of mine, especially the early ones.)
Anyway, home again, where the sun sets early & rises late, I just finished reading an exceptional first novel, miss harper can do it by Jane Berentson. A third grade teacher in Tacoma Washington deals with a new class and a lover who is in the army in Iraq, as well as a best friend named Gus, a 93 year old woman and a pet chicken named Helen. Funny and poignant, though I do hate to use that word.
I have eight requests in at the library, including the new books by Ian Rankin and Dana Stabenow, one on crows and one on vikings. I am also number 201 on the waiting list for Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna. Jeez-I'll probably be able to get the paperback sooner.