Beach Reads
By Cindy Bilbao
Bring these books along the next time you're headed to the beach, or when you want to spend a little time at the beach in your imagination.
The Parrot Talks In Chocolate
by Everett Peacock
Open this book and take a seat at the bar in Tiwaka’s Tiki Bar and Grill, which is remotely located deep in the lush jungle some where in Hawaii, where it’s only a ten minute walk to perfect, pounding surf that few surfers even know about. There’s a talking parrot, hula dancing waitresses, regular customers and a few strangers who now and then find their way in out of the heat of the sun. The bartender and owner of Tiwaka’s is telling us the story from his perspective, giving us a glimpse of what life is like for someone living and working in paradise. As he’s making his signature Coco Loco Moco drinks with real coconuts, we meet some of the more interesting patrons he waits on: Gregorio Keith, the cowboy cattle farmer from Upcountry; Vic, the pineapple picker who has a most interesting view on life; Douglas Michael, the Tiki inspector; and Shiloh, the philosopher who could teach us a thing or two about perspective.
Even bartenders get a day off and this one goes surfing! Author Everett Peacock’s writing is so vivid and lush that even though I’ve never surfed before I feel I know EXACTLY what it’s like! The surfing portions of the book are perhaps my favorite parts! I also know what VOG is now! You’ll just have to read the story yourself to find out!
This book is my idea of the perfect beach read—which translates to ‘something I could complete before my vacation was up’. In my quest for get-away-from-it-all, such a book would take me even further than my car could drive, and it’d take me someplace beautiful and tropical and let me experience something very different than my norm. The Parrot Talks In Chocolate does all this!
If you’re interested in a fun and quick read to pack into your bag this summer, then you may just have to plan on picking up this one. It’s one you could reread again the following summer and still enjoy every bit as much as the first go round— I did!
by Kristin Hannah
Annie’s husband is leaving her for a younger woman and her daughter is leaving for the summer so she goes back to her childhood hometown where she meets up with an old boyfriend. But things don’t get easier for her like they should be and she is forced to make some tough decisions.
by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
Four siblings have been living their lives in a somewhat dysfunctional manner because of a growing trust-fund that is now in peril of disappearing. Will everyone have to reimagine the future they’ve been counting on having? Money can make adults behave badly!
by Liane Moriarty
Alice can’t remember the last ten years of her life after a concussion. She wakes up thinking she’s 29, happily married and pregnant with her first child. When she finds out that’s not the case she learns much about herself and the relationships with those around her while trying to piece together her life.
This article appeared in the Glassing Magazine May/June 2018 issue.
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