Read It and Keep： Is It Time to Reassess the“Beach Read”？ 重識“海灘讀物”

毛川

“海灘讀物”，顧名思義，就是在海灘度假時的讀物。這一概念最初見于圖書交易出版物上，而如今已被廣泛使用。對于“海灘讀物”的定義眾說紛紜。有人認為所有的驚悚小說都是“海灘讀物”，有人以為言情小說才是，而有人則說只有暢銷的平裝書才算得上“海灘讀物”。然而對于閱讀者來說，“海灘讀物”只是輕松假期的一個消遣，所以只要能夠做到帶人逃離日常瑣事，是哪一種類型又有什么關系呢？

The “beach read” has become such a ubiquitous concept in contemporary literature that we assume it has always been around.2 In fact， the term only emerged in the 1990s， usually in book trade publications such as Booklist and Publishers Weekly.3 It was only around the middle of the decade that it migrated into the general lexicon and became something literary journalists began using.4

Its hard to pinpoint the first usage， but the summer of 1990 is when many writers began， which leads me to believe that somewhere out there is a canny book publicist sitting on the fact that he or she coined the term for a release that summer.5

Vacation reading is not a new concept. Ever since the 19th century， when novels were considered relatively sinful indulgences，6 leisure and fiction-reading have been closely associated. But it was not until the wide popularization of paperbacks in America in the middle of the last century that you began to see the beach so closely entwined with a page-turning thriller.7

Now the term is so ubiquitous that its definitions are a point of contention8. Many people， Ive noticed by informally polling friends， are prone to distinguishing a beach read by genre.9 Some people thought all thrillers are beach reads； others thought all romances10 are. Some people thought only mass market paperbacks are eligible11 for beach read standards.

Some thought a beach read must somehow incorporate summer or a vacation into the plot.12 Others thought it should be more escapist13 than that. Still others thought that the beach read was a way to designate14 the one summer bestseller that everyone was going to read. Gone Girl came up a lot.15 And still others thought the concept is gendered16， that books marketed to women are more prone to being called beach reads. This is perhaps true， but in a survey of the literature， as it were， I found it applied to plenty of male books， and in particular those written by James Patterson17.

Still， the essence of the beach read， most could agree， was more of a mood than anything else： attached to vacation， the book shouldnt have any really weighty themes or social significance.18 It should be enjoyable and easy， with brisk pace and simple diction.19 An element of fantasy is generally involved.

Above all， the reader shouldnt feel theyre doing intellectual work. Its all right if the beach read is a tearjerker， a bone-chiller or an adrenaline pumper： what it must never， ever be is something that gets the old neurons firing.20

“Seriousness” tends to be in the eye of the beholder.21 It takes skill to write appealing， enjoyable， accessible fiction，22 too， as most commercial novelists will insist to their dying day.

But perhaps there is room for more definition creep23. More than a few highly regarded things have been called beach reads over the years. Literary novelists who have a strong handle on plot are often characterized as good vacation reads， because they manage to transport you elsewhere， away from the petty facts of ordinary life.24

Thats what people want in a vacation， after all， and while reading a book about Brooklyn might not quite hold the bragging rights of， say， spending a week in Bora Bora， there is an equal element of escape here.25 So dont judge those beach reads on first impressions—or then again， maybe you should.

1. reassess： 重新評價。

2. ubiquitous： 普遍存在的，無處不在的；contemporary： 當代的，現代的。

3. emerge： 出現；publication： 出版物。

4. migrate： 遷移，遷徙；lexicon： （某一語言、領域等的）詞匯；literary： 書面的。

5. pinpoint： 確切地解釋（或找出）； canny： 精明的；publicist： 廣告人員，宣傳人員；coin： 編造，杜撰（新詞語）；release： 發行，發布。

6. sinful： 有罪的，可恥的；indulgence： 沉迷，嗜好。

7. paperback： 簡裝書，平裝書；entwine： 使緊密相連；thriller： 驚悚小說。

8. contention： 爭論。

9. poll： 對……進行民意測驗；be prone to： 有……傾向的；genre： 類型，體裁。

10. romance： 言情作品。

11. eligible： 符合條件的，合格的。

12. incorporate： 納入，并入；plot： 情節。

13. escapist： 逃避現實的。

14. designate： 表示，代表。

15. Gone Girl：《消失的愛人》，美國作家吉莉安·弗琳（Gillian Flynn）的作品，出版于2012年，連續八周位居《紐約時報》暢銷書榜首，并于2014年被改編成電影，由大衛·芬奇執導，大獲好評；come up： 出現。

16. gendered： 依照性別而分類的。

17. James Patterson： 詹姆斯·帕特森（1947年— ），美國驚悚推理小說作家，被譽為美國驚悚推理小說天王，代表作《亞歷克斯·克洛斯》系列（the Alex Cross series）。

18. 多數人仍然認為，海灘閱讀的本質在于心情，這點勝于一切：與度假相關的書本就不該承載特別嚴肅的主題或是社會意義。essence： 實質，本質；attach to： 與……相關聯；weighty： 重要的，嚴肅的。

19. brisk： 輕快的，活潑的；diction： 措辭，用字。

20. tearjerker： 催人淚下的故事；bone-chiller： 令人毛骨悚然的（書）；adrenaline pumper： 激發腎上腺素的（書）；neuron： 神經元，神經細胞。

21. 對于“嚴肅”作品的定義，實則仁者見仁智者見智。 beholder： 此處指讀書的人。

22. appealing： 吸引人的，有感染力的；accessible：（藝術、音樂、文學等）易懂的。

23. creep： n. 漸變。

24. 對故事情節駕馭自如的文學小說家通常會寫出好的度假讀物，因為他們能夠帶你走進另一個地方，遠離日常生活的瑣事和煩擾。petty： 瑣碎的，微不足道的。

25. 畢竟，這才是人們在度假時所需要的，盡管閱讀一本關于布魯克林的書并沒有比去波拉波拉島度假一周更具有炫耀的資本，但是這也起到了同樣的逃離作用。brag： 炫耀；Bora Bora： 波拉波拉島，位于南太平洋，是社會群島最美的島嶼之一。