Page-Turning on the Plage: Six Sizzling Beach Reads

Not planning to pack a spade and bucket for your Paris getaway? It’s time to rethink.  Tuesday marked the opening day of the Paris Plages, a free annual event organized by the city of Paris for tourists and those locals who aren’t fortunate enough to leave the city during the hottest stretch of the year.   For one month, 2 kilometers along the Seine are transformed and become an artificial beach complete with sand (more than 1300 tons), palm trees, hammocks, beach umbrellas, volleyball nets, a boardwalk, and a swimming pool.

Parisian beach bunnies partake in the 9th annual beach on the Seine.

Whether her beach is manmade or oceanside, every girl needs a great read to keep her on the edge of her lounge chair.  Here are some picks that will bring France, fashion, and fascination to your shore, wherever it may be.

Alicia Drake’s The Beautiful Fall and Deborah Ball’s House of Versace offer unprecedented insights into some of fashion’s biggest characters.

Who doesn’t want to know more about some of fashion’s most flamboyant characters? Each of these books is one part Page Six and one part fashion journalism. Alicia Drake’s The Beautiful Fall tracks Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent through Paris in the 1970s with guest appearances from Andy Warhol, Andre Leon Talley, and a cast of French socialites.  Meanwhile, Deborah Ball’s House of Versace is a written soap opera of the Versace empire, gleaned through interviews with the likes of fashion royals Anna Wintour and Naomi Campbell.

Dana Thomas and Imogen Edwards-Jones will change the way you see department stores, luxury handbags, and fashion magazines.

For a peek inside the business of fashion, few books pull back the curtain better than Deluxe and Fashion Babylon.  In the juicy Fashion Babylon, an anonymous A-list designer dishes all the best gossip about celebrities and fashion insiders he learned while trying to launch his line.  Along the way, readers find out how collections are made, the politics of fashion shows, and the extremes of the fashion industry.  In Deluxe, journalist Dana Thomas considers the changing face of the fashion business from globalization and counterfeiting to manufacturing and branding as she brings us the stories behind the luxury items we all covet.

Let Graham Robb and Ernest Hemingway personally introduce you to figures like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Napoleon, and Georges Haussmann.

These looks at the history of fashion’s capital are sure to keep you from dozing off in the heat of the sun but suggest a subject matter sturdy enough to impress even the snobbiest passersby.  In A Moveable Feast, Hemingway writes about his time as a struggling writer in 1920s Paris, essentially offering readers a geography of the city in words.  Along the way, expect cameos from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and James Joyce.  Parisians, a new release from Graham Robb, reads breezily like a novel and offers hidden gems and salacious details about the lives of the most important figures in French history.  From Marie Antoinette to Nicolas Sarkozy, the secrets of the French elite are no longer safe.

Don’t forget the sunscreen—these picks might persuade you to choose the sand over the waves.  This summer, the sun won’t be the only thing that’s sizzling!

For information on the Paris Plages, including maps and schedules for performances, sports, concerts, readings, and cultural walks, click here.

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