The reading bug always seems to bite when you’re at the beach. The comfortable breezes and calm sounds of the waves make it the ideal place to dive into a book. Whether you’re lounging by the pool, snuggled up in your accommodation, or relaxing on the shore, here are a great few coastal/beachy books to read while on Alabama’s Beaches.
Fun Fiction Summer Books
Summer Sisters – Judy Blume
After spending every summer at the beach together as teens, two friends reconnect as adults and look back on their long, complex friendship.
Big Summer – Jennifer Weiner
An Instagram influencer returns home to be the maid of honor for her ex-best friend’s waterfront wedding, but the bride is unexpectedly murdered the night before.
Pink Whales – Sara Shuklah
A woman, her distant husband, and young kids move to a coastal town filled with extravagant parties, yacht clubs, and preppy moms.
Contemporary Classic Beach Reads
The Old Man and The Sea – Earnest Hemingway
An aging Cuban angler embarks on an epic journey to catch a massive marlin.
Forrest Gump – Winston Groom
A simple Alabama man lives an extraordinary life filled with love, loss, and lots of shrimp.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe – Fannie Flagg
An elderly woman in a nursing home recounts her life story of living in a small Alabama town and its intriguing community members.
Beachy Romance Novels
Beach Read – Emily Henry
Two differing authors living in neighboring beach homes agree to a bet throughout the summer to help them overcome writer’s block.
The Shark Club - Ann Kidd Taylor
A shark attack survivor turned marine biologist returns home to her picturesque beach town and reconnects with an old flame.
The Wedding People – Alison Espach
A lonely, grieving woman books a trip to an expensive seaside hotel to end her life and ends up becoming the maid of honor for a stranger’s wedding.
Nonfiction Southern Stories
Pirate Looks at 50 – Jimmy Buffet
Beloved singer and Gulf Coast native Jimmy Buffet reflects on his life during a 50th birthday trip to South America.
My Southern Journey: True Stories from the Heart of the South – Rick Bragg
From SEC football to Southern soul food, this collection of clever essays shares tales about growing up in Alabama.
The Gulf: Making of An American Sea – Jack E. Davis
Discover the formation, exploration, and cultural impact of the Gulf through the centuries.
Mysteries at the Beach
Missing on the Gulf Coast – Hilda Mae
After a woman goes missing on the Florida coast, a passionate landscaper joins the search to find her and unravels a series of disappearances.
Bad Summer People – Emma Rosenblum
Two conniving women’s typical summer of tennis, gossip, and beach days is interrupted when a body is found on the island.
Sunset Beach – Mary Kay Andrews
A woman begrudgingly takes a job at her estranged father’s law firm when a suspicious death at an upscale beach resort turns her into an amateur sleuth.
