Do you come from a family of readers? I do. And the older I get I realize what a blessing this has been in my life. I’m surrounded by a lot of reading friends, many of whom didn’t grow up reading. Instead, their love of books was discovered independently as adults. But my love of reading was instilled in me at an early age.
As a child, my dad worked close to our home. Consequently, he was able to come home at lunchtime to eat and take a quick nap. By that time of day, my mom must have been going a little crazy with all of us kids. Whichever child was driving her the MOST crazy, was sent in to “nap” with dad. I must have been the troublemaker of the group because I was often sent into those naptimes. My dad always read from a paperback book before he fell asleep. I would cuddle up into the crook of his arm and, as I got older, would silently read along with him in his book while pretending to be asleep. I still remember the feeling of disappointment when his eyes would grow tired, the book would fall, the snoring would begin, and I was left lying on his arm for the rest of naptime without something to read.
When we would travel as a family, we were never without a variety of books to read. On rainy, bad weather trips, books would be read and passed around from family member to family member. As we’ve now grown and started our own families, this tradition hasn’t changed much. Over Christmas, my side of the family all travelled together to the Cayman Islands. What books we were all taking and how many to take, was a frequent point of discussion leading up to the trip. You can never have too many books on a beach vacation! And read, we did. Every time I looked around, reading was happening. I loved it!
What books did we all read that week on the beach; you ask?
Well, here they are – grouped by family member! Enjoy!
MY DAD’S BOOKS
My dad loves books on history so, of course, the two books he brought on the trip were historical. He says he thoroughly enjoyed both of these and would recommend them to any history lovers out there!
MY MOM’S BOOK
My mom really enjoyed, “What the Wind Knows,” by Amy Harmon so she brought this one by the same author. She says she didn’t love it – evidenced by the fact that she left the book at the vacation house in order to save weight in her bags on the trip home. That’s not a very good sign!
MY SISTER’S BOOKS
My sister’s book choices were the perfect beach reads. Not too deep or difficult – easy, fun, keep-you-guessing stories. She says she would recommend both of these books for other vacation goers! (I’ve read “Rock, Paper, Scissors” and really liked it. A review will be coming soon!)
MY SISTER’S DAUGHTER-IN-LAW’S BOOK
Legendary is the second book in the “Caraval” series by Stephanie Garber. I read “Caraval” a few years ago and really enjoyed it. It was long enough ago that I would need to reread it before continuing on with the series. Tess says she’s enjoying this second book just as much as the first – so I’m thinking it might be time for me to jump back into this series!
MY HUSBAND’S BOOKS
My husband has really been into the psychological thrillers lately. A friend of mine recommended Jane Harper’s books, so Jeff thought he would give these a shot on our trip. He very much enjoyed them and actually ended up downloading a third book by this author for the return plane ride. I read “The Survivors” when I got home and had to spend hours in the bathtub due to all the bug bites I incurred on the trip! I didn’t guess the ending and that’s rare for me with this genre!
MY SON-IN-LAW’S BOOK
Jake gets the award for bringing the biggest book on the trip. This Stephen King novel is one of the thickest, heaviest books I’ve ever seen! It’s kind of my fault that he had to lug this one to the Caymans. I did, after all, give it to him for his birthday a month ago! We kept teasing him that he had to finish it by the end of the trip – and he actually did! He says he really liked it, and it was worth the 849 pages. (Hopefully he’s not just saying that because it was a gift from his mother-in-law!)
MY OLDEST DAUGHTER’S BOOK
“Defend the Dawn” is the sequel to Brigid Kemmerer’s “Defy the Night.” I thought “Defy the Night” was just ok. But my daughter, Alex, LOVED it and was super excited to bring this sequel on our trip. Alex says that while she enjoyed this second book, it ended on quite a cliffhanger and the third book doesn’t come out until September. It always stinks having to wait awhile for the finale book in a series.
MY MIDDLE DAUGHTER’S BOOK
Meg gets the award for the second largest book brought on the trip! This 750-page fantasy novel was pretty huge. (And guess who ended up carrying it around in her backpack from beach to beach. Yep. Me, the mom.) But I guess it was worth it because Meg declared this to be one of her top five books of all time! I’m excited because I will be reading this one with my book club later on this year!
MY YOUNGEST DAUGHTER’S BOOKS
Tess is currently my favorite child. Yes, that’s right. My favorite child. Why? Because she chose to read the Skulduggery Pleasant series on our trip. She was “influenced” by a certain “bookstagrammer” who is obsessed with Skulduggery and listens to them while walking her dog. Seriously though, I was so dang happy when Tess told me she was going to read these books. She read four of them while we were vacationing – which means I will soon have someone to discuss that oh-so-sad plot twist in book 5 that I wasn’t happy about!
MY SON’S BOOK
I bought “Amari and the Night Brothers” a couple of weeks before our trip, but I hadn’t had time to read it yet. Ty saw it and decided to bring it as his beach book. He ended up liking it – but not loving it. I was talking with one of my school-teacher friends the other day and she assured me that “Amari” is an amazing book – but geared more for 5th or 6th graders. So, Ty was probably a few years premature with this one. I’m still excited to read it and will report back when I do!
MY BOOKS
“When the Day Comes” was a fun book with an interesting time-travel plotline and a sweet romance. (There were a couple of forced sexual encounters within an arrange marriage that made me super uncomfortable – so be aware of that if choosing to read this one.)
I absolutely LOVED “The Sherlockian” and “Keeper of Enchanted Rooms!” I’m not going to tell you much about them right now but, rest assured, reviews of both of these books will be coming soon!
So, there you have it! A family’s worth of vacation reading! Hopefully this has helped you find your next book to read – or even better, inspired you to take a vacation to a beach somewhere!
This trip with my family reminded me just how grateful I am for the legacy of reading which was passed down to me – and which I’m hopefully passing onto my children and future grandchildren.
“Happy is the family who have learned to make good books their companions.”
Spencer W. Kimball
Our family certainly has been made all the happier by our shared love of reading!
Shannon's Library 
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