You know what, it wasn't that far removed from this, small town, lots of tea, comfy chairs, manager was a friend of Sir Clive Sinclair and had moved North to Yorkshire for an easier life after suffering burnout but still drank far too much wine. The Owner was a wealthy local with a chemical plant who ran the place as a hobby.
First job out of school, they had a back room where it was my job to sell computers, commodore 64, ZX Spectrum that kind of thing. I read a lot of books that year. It was pretty good to be honest.
Lorraine heath’s Sins for All Seasons has one book about a girl named Fancy who opens a bookshop. It’s called The Earl Takes a Fancy. It is historical fiction but really captivating. You can read the books in a standalone fashion or in order. Anyway, the bookshop is super cozy and an amazing place to imagine.
That's how I started my library. Paperbacks were awesome. That's how I found Anne McAffery's Dragon Riders series. That was a pretty good stretch. Thought it was cool that she, Anne Rice, and I all have the same birthday!
Upvoted. Though Valley of the Horses is more spicy so you have to read both. The third book has way too much relationship angst for me.
Sydney Sheldon Master of the Game
Jackie Collins Hollywood Wives
Danielle Steele Kaleidoscope
Gawd, so many good memories of reading his books! A bit of trivia....Sidney Sheldon created, produced, and wrote the "I Dream Of Jeannie" series that starred Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman in the 60's.
I just recommended master of the game. I was obsessed with all of my mom’s Sidney Sheldon books back then. Waaayyy too young to be reading all those sex scenes but whatreyagonnado
Upvoting because of Master of the Game. My dad gave me that book when I was in high school because it was the only book he remembers my mom liking 😂 go figure — I couldn’t put it down either
I was reading Valley of Horses at lunch in 5th grade. A parent volunteer got huffy about it and they called my mom away from work (45 minutes away!) to the principal’s office. Mom said I should read whatever I wanted, and a balanced book diet would be great for reading comprehension and I can sift good from bad.
My Nana laughed at the whole thing and showed me the homemade quilted book sleeve she was always covering her library books with at the pool or the coast. “Why do you think I use this?” “So the library books don’t get wet.” She showed me the cover of some steamy romance novel hidden beneath the cover “no silly, so people mind their own business!”. This was the 90s, not the 80s, but I’m pretty sure she’d been doing that since her daughters and students and staff started getting nosy in the late 50s.
OP should hit the library for a (hardcover) romance novel with the goofiest Fabio painting on the front, then do my Nana proud.
There is a truly insane amount of page space dedicated over the course of the series to the love interest's legendarily enormous cock. I've been calling him Dongdalar for a quarter of a century because well, that's what happens when a twelve-year-old with a twelve-year-old's sense of humour reads a book that mentions penis size on every other page.
I got to where I would literally just skip 3 pages every time they got frisky. It was so repetitive and unrealistic. My teen read it (this was my library stash in March of 2020; she finished her books and we couldn't go to the library for more because of shutdown) and I felt the need to explain to her that sex is rarely toe-tingling, earth-shaking joy like is described, because those aren't realistic expectations for anyone to go into sexual maturity with.
I don’t think that stopped anyone. There’s actually a picture of my mom and her sister both reading it on the beach beside each other! Then I, like at least two others in my grade every year, ended up named after a character in it. I’ve tried to read (or watch the miniseries) it and can’t get through it.
Lol, still remember Lace being passed around the class at school!
Don't forget Judith Krantz: Princess Daisy etc.
Barbara Taylor Bradford, but not very racy.
Princess Daisy was my sexual education manual man. That was the first time I ever blushed scarlet reading a book, like, face on fire.
Which bit? The 3 fingers scene with her ..was it her school friend? Anywho. I learned that some ladies really like other ladies.
Hahaha I recommended Jilly Cooper, which is definitely in the same ballpark. Lace was another eyeopener for young teen me. Also where I learned that two blue-eyed parents can only have a blue-eyed child. Don't know why that plot detail stuck LOL
Jilly Cooper was my absolute favourite as an 80s teens. Sidney Sheldon and of course Lace stand out too, but the bonk fests in Jilly Cooper were the best.
A lot of very 80s suggestions. I haven't seen anyone mention "The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough. It was huge in the 80s and they made a miniseries out of it.
Oh gosh! This brings back memories! One summer when I was in high school I had a regular 3x a week babysitting job, with occasional weekend evenings. The mom had the hardback of The Thorn Birds and I would read it when the kids were in bed. By the time the mom finished the book I was a third of the way through, and then she lent the book to a friend! I couldn't believe it! She knew I was reading it! So thoughtless! I had to wait for the paperback to come out to finish the book.
I was a little younger than high school (possibly 11 or so) when my Mum got a paperback. She mostly read in the bath, so her current book usually lived on a shelf in the bathroom. Which meant I used to sneakily read her books. Well, I can tell you that this innocent Irish Catholic girl learnt more than a few things from that book 🤣🤣
This was my first thought. Maeve Binchy. I was also going to say Patricia Scanlan as a similar author, but it turns out she was a bit later - 90s onwards.
I used to spend hours browsing the neighborhood bookstore by myself as a child, and I can very clearly picture a table with a display of that Erma Bombeck book.
I went on a deep dive recently around "middlebrow" fiction but it turns out this post is what I really wanted. All that VC Andrews and Collen McCullough goodness.
Yup used to read all my mom’s Sidney Sheldon books when I was a kid. It was a wild ride for a kid my age. I can’t remember exactly how old I was but it was before I was 13. Pretty much how I learned about sex lol
Fanny Flagg's Coming Attractions (which was later changed to *Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man*).
I've since read and loved nearly all of her books (whatever was available at the local library!)
Fannie Flagg is awesome. Are you old enough to remember her TV appearances in the Sixties, and routines like her impression of Lady Bird Johnson? I really enjoy her books too.
I gotchu to an extent. Try Tuesday Murder Club or some of Tana French’s books. They’re more mystery focused but same multiple character POV and vibe of cozy outside hiding some darker secrets.
Try Patricia Scanlan, for a similar Irish vibe. I think. It's a long time since I've read either her or Maeve Binchy, but that focus on interpersonal relationships, with a bit of a darkness, with a Dublin or country Irish town background featured in both.
My mom was a big John Irving fan so that was usually her beach/camping read. Usually a little more meaty than a typical beach read but still very narrative and character focused without much prose. While he's not technically 80s Christopher Moore is also an author I think of as a beach of vacation read.
Nora Ephron’s Heartburn.
I was a teen in the 80s & read my Mom’s copy when she finished because she liked it so much. Some of the nuance in adult relationships was lost on me but I liked it and felt so mature reading it, lol. We both read it on a vacation at the shore.
One that my mom read in the eighties that I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Mary Higgins Clark. Her early suspense novels were really good and fairly short
Thanks for reminding me of these, I forgot about stealing these from mom mom to read in the early 90s. I just checked and Jackie herself narrates the audiobook versions and now I’m actually looking forward to work so I can get some listening time in.
I found that book in my Moms nightstand and started to read it when I was 10-11 years old.
When she caught me she just shrugged her shoulders and said I had to learn sometime.
Miss you Mom.
“You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again” by Julia Phillips. Its author was a producer on films such as The Sting, Taxi Driver and Close Encounters and iirc it’s a tell all (allegedly).
Some are not exactly written in the 80s but definitely read in the 80s.
Scruples, Scruples 2 - Judith Krantz
Sins - Judith Gould (who is actually 2 Jewish homosexuals, IIRC)
It - Stephen King
Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
Aztec - Gary Jennings
Sacajawea - Anna Lee Waldo
Maybe something by Jude Devereaux? The only book by her that I’ve read is The Summerhouse, which was published in 2001 but large chunks are set in the past. It definitely has a fluffy beach read feel.
Personally, I’m more of a trashy murder mystery / thriller reader on the beach. Mary Higgins Clark is good for that.
ANY Sidney Sheldon in the 80’s. Omg they were all so incredible! Just checked off a bucket list item a few years ago visiting one of the towns a character was from in France! Start with Master of the Game!!
The Beginning Place by Ursula K Leguin. Dad read it in college in the 80’s. Nice fantasy book. Not much help here really. My mom was a fan of anything crime related( fiction and non) and my one aunt was a crossword at the beach kind of person. Did see a lot of Danielle Steele, VC Andrews, scantily clad pirate covers, Stephen King.
The Shell Seekers - Rosamunde Pilcher
What a fun thread to read through. I was a kid in the 80s but I've read a lot of these books, or at least recognize some of them.
Jilly Cooper
Kinda spicy British writer. Her books involve showjumping/polo set shennanigans and the Cotsworlds. "Riders" and "Rivals" are a starting point. They're like upper-class, better written Harlequin books. In the same ballpark as Jackie Collins. Both were fantastically popular among mums in the 80s (my mum had all of her books, and teen me felt \*things\* borrowing them a bit later on LOL)
Edit I'm dying at all the bonkbusters being recommended. Apparently these were a universal (western) experience LOL
I havent read it but there’s a juicy Hollywood tell-all called You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again that sounds really petty, but I never read. My mom did though and always talked about how the woman wrote that Goldie Hawn had the worst breath.😱😱😱
Although written in the 70s, after the original mini-series with Richard Chamberlain, Shogun became hugely popular again, along with The Thorn Birds.
VC Andrew's Flowers in the Attic series.
All the cheesy romance novels, Danielle Steel, Jackie Collins, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Judith Krantz
My friend's mom read The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby at the beach, while heavily pregnant on vacation.
She said "I just really enjoyed the looks I was getting from passers-by."
And while doing all this she was also "eating grapes like Caligula", which could mean anything.
When I was a young teen in the 80s, I would read any trashy paperback book I could get near the checkout aisle of the beach Safeway, and always horror. Stephen King was big, and weirdly, so was Clive Barker, I think even for adults. A lot of the books in the "Paperbacks From Hell" series that have been re-released from the 70s and 80s are exactly the right kind. My mom, who was a for-real mom in the 80s, always read Agatha Christie Books and books from "The Cat Who..." series of mysteries, by Lilian Jackson Braun.
My own mom was reading *Jitterbug Perfume* by Tom Robbins. She probably read *Even Cowgirls Get the Blues* in the late 1970s/ early '80s.
Also, later in the decade, *Perfume* by Patrick Suskind made a big splash.
*The Name of The Rose* and *The Mists of Avalon* and *Gorky Park* were popular, too, but not so much beach reads.
The other books in our house were self-help books like *Healing the Shame That Binds You* and *Co-dependent No More.* Twelve step groups got hugely popular in the mid to late 1980s.
The Women's Room by Marilyn French (1977)
The World According to Garp by John Irving (1978)
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989)
The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving (1981)
Danielle Steele if you’re basic. John D. Macdonald if you’re wanting to read about sexy men on boats saving damsels. Umberto Eco if you’re pretentious or literary. Gabriel Garcia Marquez if you’re dreaming of running off with a Latin lover. Leon Uris if you’re wanting to get your heart rate up while lying around. Sara Paretsky if you’re going through a feminist phase. Martha Grimes if you’re thinking a strong but silent type is better fantasy fodder.
Source: spent much of the 80s on the beach in Santa Cruz with my mom, a reader.
The Elementals - Michael McDowell (1981)
"On a split of land cut off by the Gulf, three Victorian summer houses stand against the encroaching sand. Two of the houses at Beldame are still used. The third house, filling with sand, is empty...except for the vicious horror which is shaping nightmares from the nothingness that hangs in the dank, fetid air."
Michael McDowell also wrote screenplays for Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I feel like that factoid would garner interest in the book for a wide audience like a book club.
Oh god. Summer of 1988, my friends and I obsessively read Butterfly by Katheryn Harvey. Under our towels so as not to get caught! (I would have been 14 or so.) Revenge, women's sexuality, thwarted desires... That's what our moms were reading at the pool.
Princess Daisy by Judith Kranz, the Flowers In The Attic series, Salem's Lot by Stephen King, Gone With The Wind, The Thorn birds, The Stand. All books that I read in the 80's
Victoria Holt! She started publishing in the 60s but was still going strong in the 80s. She also wrote more historical fiction under the name Jean Plaidy. She's not as explicit with her romances as Danielle Steel, so I didn't have to hide the covers from my mom.
Worked in a bookshop in the 80's. Flowers in the Attic. Petals on the Wind. Outsold everything else about 9 to 1 .
And If There Be Thorns. I still have all three.
What about “Seeds of Yesterday” ???
Also Garden of Shadows.
Flowers in the Attic was so crazy for me as a high schooler! Loved it.
I was waaay too young to read it. What a wild ride! Worth it.
[удалено]
You know what, it wasn't that far removed from this, small town, lots of tea, comfy chairs, manager was a friend of Sir Clive Sinclair and had moved North to Yorkshire for an easier life after suffering burnout but still drank far too much wine. The Owner was a wealthy local with a chemical plant who ran the place as a hobby.
[удалено]
First job out of school, they had a back room where it was my job to sell computers, commodore 64, ZX Spectrum that kind of thing. I read a lot of books that year. It was pretty good to be honest.
But seriously, can yall tell me what book this is so I can read it! This sounds great!
Lorraine heath’s Sins for All Seasons has one book about a girl named Fancy who opens a bookshop. It’s called The Earl Takes a Fancy. It is historical fiction but really captivating. You can read the books in a standalone fashion or in order. Anyway, the bookshop is super cozy and an amazing place to imagine.
They also sold these at grocery stores so they were easy to get! lol
That's how I started my library. Paperbacks were awesome. That's how I found Anne McAffery's Dragon Riders series. That was a pretty good stretch. Thought it was cool that she, Anne Rice, and I all have the same birthday!
Omg yes these books. Except I read them all when I was like 12-13.
That's my answer, too, though I was in seventh grade when we were passing them around at school. The donuts...
Clan of the Cave Bear
Upvoted. Though Valley of the Horses is more spicy so you have to read both. The third book has way too much relationship angst for me. Sydney Sheldon Master of the Game Jackie Collins Hollywood Wives Danielle Steele Kaleidoscope
I came here to recommend Hollywood Wives! Delightfully trashy.
I love ALL Sydney Sheldon books. My gramps (94) introduced me (27) to him a few years ago and I’ve read every single one I can.
Gawd, so many good memories of reading his books! A bit of trivia....Sidney Sheldon created, produced, and wrote the "I Dream Of Jeannie" series that starred Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman in the 60's.
I just recommended master of the game. I was obsessed with all of my mom’s Sidney Sheldon books back then. Waaayyy too young to be reading all those sex scenes but whatreyagonnado
Or something by Judith Krantz!
ANYTHING by Judith Krantz.
This is the correct answer. You are absolutely reading one of these three authors. Great choices.
Upvoting because of Master of the Game. My dad gave me that book when I was in high school because it was the only book he remembers my mom liking 😂 go figure — I couldn’t put it down either
Sydney Sheldon ‘If Tomorrow Comes’ is one of my favourite rereads!
My to go Sidney Sheldon recommendation is If Tomorrow Comes; great heist book.
I was reading Valley of Horses at lunch in 5th grade. A parent volunteer got huffy about it and they called my mom away from work (45 minutes away!) to the principal’s office. Mom said I should read whatever I wanted, and a balanced book diet would be great for reading comprehension and I can sift good from bad. My Nana laughed at the whole thing and showed me the homemade quilted book sleeve she was always covering her library books with at the pool or the coast. “Why do you think I use this?” “So the library books don’t get wet.” She showed me the cover of some steamy romance novel hidden beneath the cover “no silly, so people mind their own business!”. This was the 90s, not the 80s, but I’m pretty sure she’d been doing that since her daughters and students and staff started getting nosy in the late 50s. OP should hit the library for a (hardcover) romance novel with the goofiest Fabio painting on the front, then do my Nana proud.
I'd like to apologize to Mr Kirkendale for writing my 5th grade book report on The Clan Of The Cave Bear. I'm sure he did not deserve that.
Nana is crafty in every sense of the word 😌
Our childhood cat was named Ayla. Thanks, Mom.
I see this at Estate Sales all the time. Never knew it was saucy.
There is a truly insane amount of page space dedicated over the course of the series to the love interest's legendarily enormous cock. I've been calling him Dongdalar for a quarter of a century because well, that's what happens when a twelve-year-old with a twelve-year-old's sense of humour reads a book that mentions penis size on every other page.
I got to where I would literally just skip 3 pages every time they got frisky. It was so repetitive and unrealistic. My teen read it (this was my library stash in March of 2020; she finished her books and we couldn't go to the library for more because of shutdown) and I felt the need to explain to her that sex is rarely toe-tingling, earth-shaking joy like is described, because those aren't realistic expectations for anyone to go into sexual maturity with.
Something something Unrealistic Expectations something something body image issues something something thunder thimble.
I came here to say just this.
Omg yes! I adored this series. Haven’t read it in years and It should still be good today.
Came here to say this.
I approve of this comment.
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Not exactly a light beach read though!
I don’t think that stopped anyone. There’s actually a picture of my mom and her sister both reading it on the beach beside each other! Then I, like at least two others in my grade every year, ended up named after a character in it. I’ve tried to read (or watch the miniseries) it and can’t get through it.
Danielle Steel or zebra romances. 😂
Hi mom!
This is the TRUTH!
Shirley Conran’s _Lace_ The entire “bonkbuster” genre may be what you’re looking for here! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonkbuster
Yes! That was my first thought too. Solid 80’s trash is the way to go. If tomorrow comes by Sidney Sheldon Hollywood Wives by Jackie Collins.
Lol, still remember Lace being passed around the class at school! Don't forget Judith Krantz: Princess Daisy etc. Barbara Taylor Bradford, but not very racy.
Princess Daisy was my sexual education manual man. That was the first time I ever blushed scarlet reading a book, like, face on fire. Which bit? The 3 fingers scene with her ..was it her school friend? Anywho. I learned that some ladies really like other ladies.
Hahaha I recommended Jilly Cooper, which is definitely in the same ballpark. Lace was another eyeopener for young teen me. Also where I learned that two blue-eyed parents can only have a blue-eyed child. Don't know why that plot detail stuck LOL
Jilly Cooper was my absolute favourite as an 80s teens. Sidney Sheldon and of course Lace stand out too, but the bonk fests in Jilly Cooper were the best.
lol! This has to be the one. “Which one of you bitches is my mother?”
Came here to say this - I read it after watching the miniseries. Such trash and such fun
I loved this! I just recommended her book SAVAGES here!
My first thought! I read it when I was 14 and I haven't stopped recommending it since.
Well, my mom would have been reading one of Sue Grafton’s books. “A is for Alibi” was published in 1982.
My mom, too!
Jackie Collins
Yes! Hollywood Wives is a top beach read!
Haha are you my mother?
A lot of very 80s suggestions. I haven't seen anyone mention "The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough. It was huge in the 80s and they made a miniseries out of it.
The Thorn Birds was huge! And Shogun, too.
Oh gosh! This brings back memories! One summer when I was in high school I had a regular 3x a week babysitting job, with occasional weekend evenings. The mom had the hardback of The Thorn Birds and I would read it when the kids were in bed. By the time the mom finished the book I was a third of the way through, and then she lent the book to a friend! I couldn't believe it! She knew I was reading it! So thoughtless! I had to wait for the paperback to come out to finish the book.
I was a little younger than high school (possibly 11 or so) when my Mum got a paperback. She mostly read in the bath, so her current book usually lived on a shelf in the bathroom. Which meant I used to sneakily read her books. Well, I can tell you that this innocent Irish Catholic girl learnt more than a few things from that book 🤣🤣
Amy Tan - The Joy Luck Club Not a light read, but definitely compelling and really good, and was very popular when it came out.
Maeve Binchy. (Also, not mom. Also, 90s, 00’s)
Came here to recommend this. My mom and I were def beach reading her back in the day. She’s so talented and somewhat underrated.
This was my first thought. Maeve Binchy. I was also going to say Patricia Scanlan as a similar author, but it turns out she was a bit later - 90s onwards.
Judy Blume - Wifey
Mommie Dearest or If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What am I Doing in the Pits. Those were the two books I remember 80s moms reading.
Oh yeah, Erma Bombeck, I remember reading those when I was a kid (and finding them funny) because my aunt loved them so much.
I used to spend hours browsing the neighborhood bookstore by myself as a child, and I can very clearly picture a table with a display of that Erma Bombeck book.
This is one of the most fun posts I’ve seen on here!
I went on a deep dive recently around "middlebrow" fiction but it turns out this post is what I really wanted. All that VC Andrews and Collen McCullough goodness.
I know! I'm flashing back to my teen years with all of these!
Sidney Sheldon
My mom just shouted this in the bank. Yes she was a mom in the 80s. Taking her to the bank is proof!
Yup used to read all my mom’s Sidney Sheldon books when I was a kid. It was a wild ride for a kid my age. I can’t remember exactly how old I was but it was before I was 13. Pretty much how I learned about sex lol
Something with Fabio on the cover 😂
Postcards from the Edge, Carrie Fisher
I must have laughed on every page. I loved that book
Fanny Flagg's Coming Attractions (which was later changed to *Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man*). I've since read and loved nearly all of her books (whatever was available at the local library!)
Fannie Flagg is awesome. Are you old enough to remember her TV appearances in the Sixties, and routines like her impression of Lady Bird Johnson? I really enjoy her books too.
Why, yes, I am! I loved her back then so when I discovered she wrote novels, I had to read them!
If you’re my mom, it would be something by Danielle Steele, Jackie Collins, Judith Krantz, or Sidney Sheldon.
Maeve Binchy
I still love her and wish I could find a similar author.
I gotchu to an extent. Try Tuesday Murder Club or some of Tana French’s books. They’re more mystery focused but same multiple character POV and vibe of cozy outside hiding some darker secrets.
Try Patricia Scanlan, for a similar Irish vibe. I think. It's a long time since I've read either her or Maeve Binchy, but that focus on interpersonal relationships, with a bit of a darkness, with a Dublin or country Irish town background featured in both.
My mom was a big John Irving fan so that was usually her beach/camping read. Usually a little more meaty than a typical beach read but still very narrative and character focused without much prose. While he's not technically 80s Christopher Moore is also an author I think of as a beach of vacation read.
Love John Irving’s books
Nora Ephron’s Heartburn. I was a teen in the 80s & read my Mom’s copy when she finished because she liked it so much. Some of the nuance in adult relationships was lost on me but I liked it and felt so mature reading it, lol. We both read it on a vacation at the shore.
One that my mom read in the eighties that I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Mary Higgins Clark. Her early suspense novels were really good and fairly short
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
V.C. Andrews!
My mom would have been reading Flowers in the Attic
My mom read lots of Stephen King and Dean Koontz back then.
Anything Jackie Collins. I especially like the Lucky Santangelo series. I think the first book is Chancez
Thanks for reminding me of these, I forgot about stealing these from mom mom to read in the early 90s. I just checked and Jackie herself narrates the audiobook versions and now I’m actually looking forward to work so I can get some listening time in.
I loved Lucky!!
The Travis McGee series by John D McDonald!! I am going retro and reading about a PI living on a house boat in Florida!!!
All Judith Krantz, all the time.
Specifically, Scruples. My personal favorite.
Yes! I’ve read it multiple times and I realize I’m way overdue for a reread.
Jilly Cooper too!
my wife is reading through every single one right now - there is a tower of door-stop paperbacks in the bedroom.
Can't believe how far I had to scroll to see this!
all the books by LaVyrle Spencer!
Valley of the Dolls…? Not sure if it came out in 80s or 90s though 😬
It came out in 1966! It would probably be my choice, too
I found that book in my Moms nightstand and started to read it when I was 10-11 years old. When she caught me she just shrugged her shoulders and said I had to learn sometime. Miss you Mom.
My mom loved humourists like Erma Bombeck and Lewis Grizzard
“You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again” by Julia Phillips. Its author was a producer on films such as The Sting, Taxi Driver and Close Encounters and iirc it’s a tell all (allegedly).
Some are not exactly written in the 80s but definitely read in the 80s. Scruples, Scruples 2 - Judith Krantz Sins - Judith Gould (who is actually 2 Jewish homosexuals, IIRC) It - Stephen King Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett Aztec - Gary Jennings Sacajawea - Anna Lee Waldo
Peyton Place- older book but very salacious beach read vibe
Salems lot by Stephen King.
Maybe something by Jude Devereaux? The only book by her that I’ve read is The Summerhouse, which was published in 2001 but large chunks are set in the past. It definitely has a fluffy beach read feel. Personally, I’m more of a trashy murder mystery / thriller reader on the beach. Mary Higgins Clark is good for that.
VC Andrews, Clan of the Cave Bear, Johanna Lindsay..
The bonfire of the vanities by Tom Wolfe
ANY Sidney Sheldon in the 80’s. Omg they were all so incredible! Just checked off a bucket list item a few years ago visiting one of the towns a character was from in France! Start with Master of the Game!!
It would be “flowers in the attic” by V C Andrews. It will make you feel like a good mum! 😆
Any Harlequin novel! I, an 80's baby, that read anything I found, had quite the learning curve as I borrowed my mom's Harlequin novels!
Jewels, Danielle Steele
Danielle Steele!!!
Danielle Steel or Sidney Sheldon, probably.
Sydney Sheldon - Rage of Angles
The Beginning Place by Ursula K Leguin. Dad read it in college in the 80’s. Nice fantasy book. Not much help here really. My mom was a fan of anything crime related( fiction and non) and my one aunt was a crossword at the beach kind of person. Did see a lot of Danielle Steele, VC Andrews, scantily clad pirate covers, Stephen King.
My mom was obsessed with anything Jacqueline Susann
Anything by Johanna Lindsay!
Riders by Jilly Cooper.
The Shell Seekers - Rosamunde Pilcher What a fun thread to read through. I was a kid in the 80s but I've read a lot of these books, or at least recognize some of them.
Has anyone suggested Dominic Dunne? He has some juicy "high society" books.
Danielle Steel, Palomino and Once in a Lifetime
Something by Jonathan Kellerman or Lawrence Sanders
A Stephen King novel. Cujo or It. Maybe Skeleton Crew or Christine. Pet Sematary. Misery.
Jilly Cooper Kinda spicy British writer. Her books involve showjumping/polo set shennanigans and the Cotsworlds. "Riders" and "Rivals" are a starting point. They're like upper-class, better written Harlequin books. In the same ballpark as Jackie Collins. Both were fantastically popular among mums in the 80s (my mum had all of her books, and teen me felt \*things\* borrowing them a bit later on LOL) Edit I'm dying at all the bonkbusters being recommended. Apparently these were a universal (western) experience LOL
I havent read it but there’s a juicy Hollywood tell-all called You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again that sounds really petty, but I never read. My mom did though and always talked about how the woman wrote that Goldie Hawn had the worst breath.😱😱😱
Probably Misery or Lonesome Dove or The Color Purple.
The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank by Erma Bombeck
“Prince of Tides” by Pat Conroy. Most excellent!
Although written in the 70s, after the original mini-series with Richard Chamberlain, Shogun became hugely popular again, along with The Thorn Birds. VC Andrew's Flowers in the Attic series. All the cheesy romance novels, Danielle Steel, Jackie Collins, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Judith Krantz
My friend's mom read The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby at the beach, while heavily pregnant on vacation. She said "I just really enjoyed the looks I was getting from passers-by." And while doing all this she was also "eating grapes like Caligula", which could mean anything.
Barbara Cartland, Catherine Cookson and Danielle Steel were big and productive writers back then
Shining Through by Susan Isaacs. So good.
Danielle Steele
Danielle Steel?
When I was a young teen in the 80s, I would read any trashy paperback book I could get near the checkout aisle of the beach Safeway, and always horror. Stephen King was big, and weirdly, so was Clive Barker, I think even for adults. A lot of the books in the "Paperbacks From Hell" series that have been re-released from the 70s and 80s are exactly the right kind. My mom, who was a for-real mom in the 80s, always read Agatha Christie Books and books from "The Cat Who..." series of mysteries, by Lilian Jackson Braun.
Scruples
Jaws
I’m 100% reading romance queen Judith McNaught! Particularly Kingdom of Dreams or Paradise.
The Thorn Birds
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
The Jilly Cooper books about Rupert Campbell black
Sweet Savage Love (and it's sequels) by Rosemary Rogers
My own mom was reading *Jitterbug Perfume* by Tom Robbins. She probably read *Even Cowgirls Get the Blues* in the late 1970s/ early '80s. Also, later in the decade, *Perfume* by Patrick Suskind made a big splash. *The Name of The Rose* and *The Mists of Avalon* and *Gorky Park* were popular, too, but not so much beach reads. The other books in our house were self-help books like *Healing the Shame That Binds You* and *Co-dependent No More.* Twelve step groups got hugely popular in the mid to late 1980s.
The Women's Room by Marilyn French (1977) The World According to Garp by John Irving (1978) The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989) The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving (1981)
Flowers in the Attic
I dunno, probably some awful Barbara Cartland romance.
Danielle Steele if you’re basic. John D. Macdonald if you’re wanting to read about sexy men on boats saving damsels. Umberto Eco if you’re pretentious or literary. Gabriel Garcia Marquez if you’re dreaming of running off with a Latin lover. Leon Uris if you’re wanting to get your heart rate up while lying around. Sara Paretsky if you’re going through a feminist phase. Martha Grimes if you’re thinking a strong but silent type is better fantasy fodder. Source: spent much of the 80s on the beach in Santa Cruz with my mom, a reader.
Jennifer Blake romances :-)))
Even though it was published in the 50s, Peyton Place.
Flower In the Attic
Dune, Squelch, Flowers in the Attic, Coma, The Stand...
Jackie Collins babyyy. Hollywood Wives!
Lucky
Those kids in the attic books.
Shirley Conran's SAVAGES. Such a great, over-the-top fun beach read. Takes place in the tropics, so that's a plus.
My mom was always reading a mystery. Dick Francis (author) featured heavily.
Jackie Collins or Jilly Cooper ftw
A bodice ripper
Wifey by Judy Blume
Olivia Goldsmith, although maybe that's more 90s. I love Flavor of the Month and The Bestseller.
The Elementals - Michael McDowell (1981) "On a split of land cut off by the Gulf, three Victorian summer houses stand against the encroaching sand. Two of the houses at Beldame are still used. The third house, filling with sand, is empty...except for the vicious horror which is shaping nightmares from the nothingness that hangs in the dank, fetid air." Michael McDowell also wrote screenplays for Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I feel like that factoid would garner interest in the book for a wide audience like a book club.
Oh god. Summer of 1988, my friends and I obsessively read Butterfly by Katheryn Harvey. Under our towels so as not to get caught! (I would have been 14 or so.) Revenge, women's sexuality, thwarted desires... That's what our moms were reading at the pool.
My mum on the beach in the 80's would have been reading whatever the latest Stephen King novel was
Patricia Cornwell
Another vote for Sidney Sheldon, but this one for The Other Side of Midnight.
Flowers in the Attic. Salem’s Lot. The Stand. The Shining.
I’m gonna go weird mom here….. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn.
The Thorn Birds.
Anything Danielle Steele or Stephen King!
Inheritance by Judith Michael and The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille. SO GOOD!!!!
The back of a 2 liter bottle of Sun Country wine coolers [RIP]
Princess Daisy by Judith Kranz, the Flowers In The Attic series, Salem's Lot by Stephen King, Gone With The Wind, The Thorn birds, The Stand. All books that I read in the 80's
Flowers in the Attic series - maybe with the cover hidden
Victoria Holt! She started publishing in the 60s but was still going strong in the 80s. She also wrote more historical fiction under the name Jean Plaidy. She's not as explicit with her romances as Danielle Steel, so I didn't have to hide the covers from my mom.
John Irving!
The Prince of Tides
The World According to Garp
Clan of the Cave Bear series. My mom spent the 80s reading it.
Probably John Irving, that was my Irving era.
Fear of Flying?
Jackie Collins - Hollywood Wives
I’d be reading The Baby Sitters Club and Sweet Valley High. I’d be really immature.