And to help you make the most of it, here are some beachy beach books to go with your Banana Daiquiri:

Barefoot by Elin Hildebrand
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
Life’s a Beach by Claire Cook
Catch of the Day by Kristan Higgins

Now admittedly all of these beachy books which I have judged by their beachy covers maybe a bit on the girly side.  If you’re looking for a manly man beach read, try one of these!

Hothouse Orchid by Stuart Woods
Honeymoon by James Patterson
Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman
Just After Sunset by Stephen King

Admittedly these are not the top 8 of all time, but they are in fact all books with beaches (or something like that) on the cover that you can get used in our fabulous Dog Days Sale!

I was a bit nervous for the call, knowing that in addition to being a New York Times bestselling author, Stephen (I think we’re on a first name basis now) is also this uber famous and connected TV producer but truth be told, he couldn’t have been nicer or more gracious.

We talked about Stephen’s backround, and about the character of Shane Scully, his origins and where he may be headed next.   And though I know you don’t always think of action packed detective stories as being about some of the today’s most pressing issues, this one certainly is.

Both police corruption and immigration issues are focused on in the book and in the interview, Stephen talks about why he highlights these issues and what he wants the reader to take away.

A couple of days after the phone interview, I went to meet Stephen in person at his appearance at The Margaret Mitchell House.  In person, he was just as gracious as on the phone and he is a truly inspiring speaker.  If you ever have the opportunity, I urge you to go and hear him speak.

Oh – and if you’re into TV, Stephen appeared with James Patterson on the pilot episode of Castle on ABC!

Enjoy the interview, and click here to check out the rest of the great authors talking about their books on our podcast page!

As the article points out:

Just two weeks before announcing staff cuts and a substantial corporate restructuring in December, the publishing giant Macmillan gathered its sales and marketing staff at the historic Hotel del Coronado in San Diego —where Billy Wilder filmed Tony Curtis wooing , HarMarilyn Monroe in “Some Like It Hot” — to talk about titles on the spring lists. Between marathon meetings to discuss plans for new books, the sales reps were invited to take part in wine tastings and spa treatments.This year the meetings will be held via Webcam. In a memo to staff members announcing the layoffs on Dec. 15, John Sargent, chief executive of Macmillan, said the company would hold only one of its three annual sales conferences in person, and the other two would be conducted on the Web and by telephone.

It goes on:

Venerable houses including HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Penguin Group, Random House and Simon & Schuster have all announced salary freezes or layoffs, or both.

Nielsen has identified a 7 percent drop in sales compared with the same period the previous year, and signs that it’s only going to get worse.  But for all of the major or subtle changes in the industry, it appears some things will never change, such as the arrogance of agents: ”It’s not like you have books that can be Manolo Blahniks and books that can be Cole Haan. Books are books. A book by James Patterson costs the same as a book by some poet.”

Ah, to own the wonderful works of “some poet.”  Isn’t it delightful that the same personalities who once were some of the strongest personalities and names in the industry are now, en masse, clumped together with a mass-market paperback sales maven?  But hey, sales dictate attitudes, so put down that company card, crack open that secondhand newspaper and read on to see what changes come next.  My guess is that curtailing cash advances for Mr. Patterson will do more to cut costs than cognizance of the effect of supply and demand on a now identified product niche market, but I’m not the one getting paid to lounge at a resort and talk shop.