Best Beach Reads
in Gulf Shores & Orange Beach
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.
Best Beach Books
Fun Fiction Summer Books
Fun Fiction Summer Books
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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
Contemporary Classic Beach Reads
4. The Old Man and The Sea – Earnest Hemingway
An aging Cuban angler embarks on an epic journey to catch a massive marlin.
5. Forrest Gump – Winston Groom
A simple Alabama man lives an extraordinary life filled with love, loss, and lots of shrimp.
6. 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
Beachy Romance Novels
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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
Nonfiction Southern Stories
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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
Mysteries at the Beach
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
Trip Planning Resources
Sydnie Lee
A Gulf Coast native and Travel Marketing Professional, Sydnie is Alabama's Beaches Content Specialist (AKA taste tester and destination researcher.) She spends time visiting restaurants, attractions, activities, and events in the area to get the inside scoop on all things happening in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, and Fort Morgan.
