Many people, I’ve noticed by informally polling friends, are prone to distinguishing a beach read by genre. Some people thought all thrillers are beach reads; others thought all romances are. Some people thought only mass market paperbacks are eligible for beach read standards. Michelle Dean Read Quote
The ‘beach read’ has become such a ubiquitous concept in contemporary literature that we assume it has always been around. In fact, the term only emerged in the 1990s, usually in book trade publications such as ‘Booklist’ and ‘Publisher’s Weekly.’ Michelle Dean Read Quote
I’ve come, even as a feminist, to dread the phrase ‘female friendship,’ because it tends to signal overdetermined relationships. Michelle Dean Read Quote
Summer is always a tricky time to recommend new literary fiction. The big releases do not hit until fall. Michelle Dean Read Quote
Mass market paperback thrillers are a dime a dozen. The trick is to find something that actually sticks to the ribs. Michelle Dean Read Quote
The first thing I remember feeling about the 2016 U.S. election was a kind of speechlessness. Michelle Dean Read Quote
The diversity of perspective, the unwillingness to generalise – those are good traits in countries as they are in art. Michelle Dean Read Quote
The podcast revolution has taught us that women’s voices aren’t just pleasurable to listen to, they are essential. Michelle Dean Read Quote
Few reporters get to do what Kelly McEvers does in every episode of ‘Embedded’: go deep into a story and tease out what is really happening. Michelle Dean Read Quote
When Paul Beatty’s ‘The Sellout’ was first published in America in 2015, it was a small release. It got a rave review in the daily ‘New York Times’ and one in the weekly ‘New York Times Book Review,’ too, for good measure. But by and large, it was not a conversation-generating book. Michelle Dean Read Quote
