One of my all-time favorite things to do is park myself in a comfy (or not) beach chair on the beach, in front of the ocean waves and lose myself in a really good novel.

For about 15 years (from the time my oldest was born until my youngest became a strong swimmer), this delicious past-time was broken up into 15 second increments as I constantly scanned the beach for my children. These days, they are old enough and strong enough swimmers that I can get about 45 seconds at a time before my 'mom radar' turns on and I am forced to do a quick scan of the beach.  They don't necessarily need me to do this, but I think I am stuck doing it for life.

The biggest problem with my passion for beach reading has been making sure I have enough books with me on my trips. I am the kind of reader that gives an author 50-100 pages to capture me; if I still don't care about the book after reading that much of it, I put it down and move on to the next one.  This requires that I always have a good supply of books with me for any vacation (in a pinch, I will make myself go back to a book I previously rejected).

A girlfriend of mine received a Kindle for Christmas.This has solved the problem of not having enough to read (download something if you need a new book), reduced her packing loads and saved her from those wet bathing suit marks at the bottom of her book.  I keep thinking that  a Kindle might work for me, but I love the process of picking out a new book and I love having a book with me.

I think for now, I will stick with the more traditional mode of flipping pages, shaking out sand, and toting that extra bag of books with me on the trip!