The Book Club: Summer Special

ABC’s Book Club wraps the year this week with a summer special asking, “What is Australia’s favourite classic beach book?”

Jennifer Byrne counts down the Top 10 viewer-voted classic beach books of all time, along with Marieke Hardy and Jason Steger.

They are joined by best-selling author Graeme Simsion, who recently published a sequel to his best-selling novel The Rosie Project called The Rosie Effect, and comedian and actress Kitty Flanagan.

With the holiday season almost upon us, it’s time to cast your mind back to those idle days spent basking in the sun and reading classic beach books that befit the languid mood of summer. You see them everywhere, in caravan parks, holiday houses, milk bars, by the pool and on the beach. Those dog-eared favourites, encrusted with sand, salt and sunscreen, begging to be read time and time again that you associate with good times – even if they weren’t, technically, good books.

This month The Book Club brings you a one-hour special on the top ‘10 Classic Beach Books’ as voted by you, the audience.

We provided you with a starting point with our list of suggestions on our website and over the past month you also added your own – reminding us of many books we hadn’t thought of since we were young wee things skipping class and heading to the beach on a sweltering hot day.

So the time has come to find out what will top the pops: Will it be crime or passion? Fantasy or sci-fi? Trash or treasure?

9:30pm Tuesday ABC.