6 unexpected beach reads you need to add to your weekend bag

It's getting kind of hot outside, don't you think?  I think Summer is finally upon us.  Why not take something chilling to the beach this year to cool you down?  Grab your flip-flops and plenty of SPF, check out a few of these dire beach reads and get out on the sand!

On the Beach

Nevil Shute

What would you do if you knew that all life on earth was gradually being extinguished from nuclear fallout and you would be the last to be reached by the radiation?  Join some happy-go-lucky Australians as they await their inevitable demise...on the beach!

Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami

I have previously plugged this book on this very blog but it is just such a fitting read for when one is heading to the shore to do some serious thinking.  Go ahead, take a break from it all--up to and including reality.

The Woman in the Dunes

Kobo Abe

A day trip to the beach turns into a Sisyphean nightmare for a young man in this suspenseful novel.  Need I say more?

Harbor

John Ajvide Lindquvist

The "Swedish Stephen King", author of Let the Right One In, makes lighthouses even creepier in this terrifying story of a disappearance on an island.

Galapagos

Kurt Vonnegut

Set one million years ago in 1986, a vacation cruise begins an evolutionary journey when a group of travelers stranded on an island inherit the earth. 

The Stranger

Albert Camus

The story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach.  And weighing in at a slim 123 pages it is a very portable book.  Get two copies just in case you run out.

Happy Memorial Day!