Oh, OK. You got me. Maybe this list is a bit too heavy and serious for some light summer beach reading. So if you want an enjoyable read that will pick you up during the summer doldrums, then why not peruse a copy of this classic from that master of light Victorian comedy, Thomas Hardy? Always one to put a smile on his reader's face, Hardy turns the adventures of Michael Henchard—who bumbles his way through a series of wacky events to become the mayor of Casterbridge in Hardy's fictional "Wessex"—into a light-hearted tale that will surely leave you buzzing with delight. What could make for a better beachside companion than this feel-good tome? (I sincerely apologize to anyone who takes this paragraph at face value. Now you'll excuse me while I go cackle ominously at the thought of someone picking this book up in the hopes of reading a breezy summer comedy.) ~ James Corbett
In Thomas Hardy's classic novel, an ambitious man discovers that the blind energies and defiant acts that brought him to power can also destroy him.
