The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Magazines and on­line book clubs and book sellers are al­ready touting their summer reading lists, but I’m not very inspired by reviews that use words like “riveting”, “shattering”, “challenging” or “heart-wrenching”. Sum­mer reading should be fun and colorful like one of those fruity cocktail drinks with a little umbrella on top.

Beachy cocktails have silly, often sexy names and deliver hundreds of sweet empty calories to your body. But they sure taste good! My favorite “fun and fruity” books offer the same silly, empty calories for you brain, making them perfect sum­mertime reading fare. Enjoy!

A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett (yes, that Jim­my Buffett) is as cheery and tropical as his music. This book is full of fun, bordering on wacky, characters living and working together on an island in the Caribbean.

Wyoming cowboy Tully Mars is on the run from his crazy ex-employer. He and his horse wind up on a small Caribbean island where Tully takes a job as a fishing guide at the newly opened Lost Boys Fishing Lodge. The name of the lodge gives you a clue to the lifestyle of the folks who own it and work there.

Fishing tends to bring out the philosopher in all of us, and Buffet is no exception. But there is nothing heavy or intellectual in this book. Es­cape to the Ca­ribbean this summer – Mr. Mar­gari­taville knows the way.

I’ve been a fan of Dave Barry’s writing for many years. His columns are al­ways witty, wry and often laugh-out-loud funny. In 1999, Barry published his first book of fiction, Big Trouble, and since then has written at least 30 books.

I picked Big Trouble up at the library several years ago. (Obviously I don’t follow the current bestsellers list very closely.)

An outrageous cast of characters, including a hal­lucinogenic toad, two aging Jersey hit men, an embez­zler, two teenage gamers and a super-strong homeless man get all tangled up in each other’s lives in Coconut Grove, Florida. The storyline is too crazy to relate here, but trust me, you’ll enjoy it if you just relax go with it. Barry weaves in an element of thriller-suspense that kept me page turning and laughing out loud for several days.

Writing the recommenda­tion for A Salty Piece of Land whetted my appetite for more Caribbean-based, laid-back fiction for my 2013 summer reading list. A quick Ama­zon.com search identified a well-reviewed three-book series written by Anthony Bjorklund, a self-professed Parrothead (Jimmy Buffet fan).

I’m looking forward to reading I’m Gonna Live My Life Like a Jimmy Buffett Song, Jack and Di Rum Song, and Let Di Song of Change Blow Over My Head. Maybe I’ll dig out my blender, stock up on rum and pineapple juice and order some cute little paper umbrellas too!