Deacon King Kong (Oprah's Book Club)

With your toes in the sand, the sun on your face, and the roar of the surf drowning out your worries, reading at the beach is a double dose of escape. But what makes the perfect beach read? Depends on the reader. From frothy rom-coms to twisty thrillers, generational sagas to moving memoirs, our favorite beach reads run the gamut. Here are 29 beach-perfect books.

No matter how long our TBR lists get, we're always finding new titles we want to tack on! Here are 21 exciting August releases available for preorder, along with suggestions for similar reads you can enjoy right away.

Hardback books can be, well, hard on the back when lugging them from place to place. So, for your summer reading lists, we decided to focus on the best new releases in paperback to throw into your beach bags or carry-ons. And—lucky us!—there sure are a lot of great options!