Holiday Beach Reads
It’s the holiday season and that means searching and searching to find the perfect gifts for everyone on your list. If you are struggling to find something, a book is always a good choice! Whether it’s sci-fi or historical fiction, biographies or love stories, there is something out there for everyone, even those who aren’t avid readers. Here are some top picks from each genre that will make great gifts!
Biography
“Greenlights” by Matthew McConaughey
Alright, alright, alright … If you are looking for a good book for just about any adult in your life, this one is it! While most of us know Matthew McConaughey as the good-looking actor in many romance movies, “Greenlights” opens us up to who he really is as a person. He’s emotional, funny, incredibly smart, talented, and, of course, quirky. For the last 35 years, he has kept diaries in which he has written down his thoughts on life. He put them all together and along the way developed an approach he calls “catching greenlights.” It’s all about learning when and how to deal with the challenges life throws at you. If there is one lesson he has learned and wants to pass along, it’s to seize the day and just keep moving forward. “Greenlights” is 50 years of life lessons McConaughey is ready to share with the world.
Historical Fiction
“Flying Angels” by Danielle Steel
Audrey Parker had just finished nursing school when Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. That day changed her life forever. Her brother was a Navy pilot stationed there, determined to walk in his late father’s footsteps. Audrey and her friend Lizzie enlist in the Army on a mission to do whatever they can to help their country. The girls join the elite Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron, which flies into enemy territory to rescue wounded soldiers. Along with several other nurses they befriend, the girls make enormous sacrifices in their own lives to help others. The “Flying Angels” fight bravely, rescuing men on the front line, all while knowing they will never achieve a military rank. These women are bound forever by their loyalty to one another and the soldiers they save along the way.
History
“Madhouse at the End of the Earth” by Julian Sancton
“Madhouse at the End of the Earth” is the story of an expedition crew at the South Pole. In August 1897, Belgian Royal Navy officer Adrien de Gerlache set sail for a three-year expedition to Antarctica. After a series of unfortunate events, de Gerlache is faced with two options: They can turn back and admit defeat or continue to chase fame by sailing deeper into the Antarctic waters. They sailed on and found themselves stuck. At times dark and incredibly terrifying, readers will not be able to put down this gripping story. Deeply researched and just as engrossing, this is a survival story of an expedition on which everything went wrong. Now their ship is stuck with no way to communicate and no way to get out. How will this crew ever survive an entirely sunless Antarctic winter?
Mystery & Crime
“We Are All the Same in the Dark” by Julia Heaberlin
Trumanell Branson disappeared more than a decade ago without a trace, except for a bloody handprint left behind. Her face is still plastered all over town on posters with a message promising she will be found. Tru’s brother, Wyatt, is still living in the family house. Although he was cleared by the police of having anything to do with Trumanell’s disappearance, the public has a different opinion. Wyatt finds a lost, one-eyed, mute girl dumped in a filed. Odette Tucker, a cop in town, is haunted by Tru’s disappearance. She’s desperate to solve both cases: the mystery girl they can’t figure out and the disappearance of her friend so many years ago.
Romance
“Nick and Noel’s Christmas Playlist” by Codi Hall
Nick Winter is home from the military looking forward to spending the Christmas holiday with his longtime girlfriend. But the reunion didn’t go as he had planned. He finds out she cheated on him while he was away. Now Nick is relying on his best friend, Noel Carter, to lift his spirits with her endless supply of Christmas cheer. The night turns romantic when they kiss, and everything suddenly changes. Maybe Noel is just what Nick needs to mend his broken heart and find the Christmas spirit.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
“The House in the Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune
Linus Baker is living a quiet life in a tiny house with his cat. He works as a case worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he spends his day looking out for the children in government-sanctioned orphanages. Linus is summoned by the Extremely Upper Management and given an assignment to travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six children live – a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist – and Linus needs to determine if they are likely to destroy the world. Arthur Parnassus, the children’s caretaker, will do anything to keep them safe. As Arthur and Linus get closer, Linus has to make the tough decision: tear a home apart or watch the world burn.
