Yet no one dismisses film and novels in general just because popcorn movies or beach books outweigh true art.

Here is a beach book that can be read conscience-free, in true beach spirit.

"My publisher thinks of it as more than a beach book," he said.

Why sneak off to the beach to read beach books?

Although the title of her new collection of stories contains the word "summer," this isn't a beach book.

On the evidence of this all-wet beach book, the former bride has little left to do but shop.

Light the candle and stretch out with a good beach book.

And the first chapter of Nora Roberts's current best seller, a beach book if ever there was one, still has five pages to go.

Is there a better beach book than country singer George Jones' autobiography?

Don't read crummy beach books on the beach or in the mountains.