I've been back from vacation almost as long as I was actually on vacation, and boy do I wish I were still at the beach.



Living is just a little bit (or a lot) better there.

I'm always amazed how at the beach I can wake up every day at 5:30 or 6 a.m. without an alarm, but once back at home, I struggle to drag my butt out of bed by 7 a.m. I'm going to bed at literally the exact same time, if not earlier, back in DC, and still find waking up to be a challenge.

Such is life I suppose.

Anyway, while I was on vacation I had really big plans to do nothing but relax and catch up on a ton of reading, and that's exactly what I did.



Here's a quick look at some of the things I read (in the order I read them):

Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee



I've been wanting to read this book since I heard it was coming out. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all-time favorite books, and I felt like I had to see how the story progressed, even though this book was probably never supposed to be published. And I'm glad I read it, even though I didn't love it. The book tackled a complicated subject, but I felt like the ending was just too neat and basically a cop-out.

The Rocks - Peter Nichols

This was one of my book club books and spoiler alert, I hated it. The first 50 pages and the last 50 pages were kind of interesting. I thought the 300 pages in the middle were way too long and drawn out, focusing on stories and details that I felt didn't really add anything to the book.

Summer Secrets - Jane Green

This was another book that I really enjoyed. It's the story of a young alcoholic woman, who struggles time and again to get sober and in the meantime learns some secrets about her family and her past.

Saving Grace - Jane Green

I love Jane Green and her books. This told the story of Grace, a woman who is married to a famous author and seems to have the picture perfect life. But in fact she doesn't. Her husband is emotionally abusive, and when his assistant leaves and they have to replace her, all sorts of problems arise. Spoiler alert: The new assistant is a con artist who basically tries to steal all the family's money and steal Grace's husband too.

Grey - E. L. James

Feel free to judge away friends. I definitely picked up the trashiest book I could find at the library because it's not a beach trip without one trashy book. This book had slightly more plot than 50 Shades of Grey, but I mean, it's still a 50 Shades of Grey book, so yea.

China Dolls - Lisa See

Out of all the books I read on vacation, this one might have been my favorite. The book is told from the perspective of three different Asian women living in San Fransisco before and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The women are all trying to make careers as performers, while dealing with the negative perceptions and attitudes toward Japanese people (one of the girls is Japanese, two are Chinese). One of the girls is sent to an internment camp and the relationships that were built between the three begin to crack and crumble.

Nantucket Sisters - Nancy Thayer

This was the last book I read on vacation, and I'm actually glad I saved it for the end. It was a pretty easy read. The story follows the lives of two girls from opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum who met on Nantucket when they were five years old and were inseparable as children. Throughout the book you get glimpses of their lives as they grow up, move away, marry, have kids, face deaths in the family, and become their own people.

So that's all the reading I did at the beach. I also hit up the bookstore at the beach and grabbed a copy of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, which came highly recommended from a coworker.



And just so you don't think I keep my nose buried in fluffy fiction all the time, I'm currently reading Ghettoside and it's fantastic. (Though I'm only 130 or so pages in. My reading rate plummets when I have work and stuff to deal with).