Cathy Salustri suggests books to read this summer, including some cool local authors

Did you happen to see the amazing and talented Cathy Salustri's list of great books to add to your summer reading list? Cathy, of course, in addition to teaching classes on Florida and local history at Eckerd College's OLLI program, is also the arts and entertainment editor of Creative Loafing, author of BackRoads to Paradise: A Journey to Rediscover Old Florida, and a Gulfport resident. But this isn't about Cathy. It's about her recommended reading list.

She had some pretty good ideas, including Unreliable, Eckerd prof turned novelist Lee Irby, new book, (we featured him on April 22), and Jack Davis's The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, a non-fiction endeavor that's as riveting as they come. (By the way, Jack is speaking at the Gulfport Historical Society tomorrow (Friday) night from 6:30 to 9 p.m.)

But what caught our eye was a mention way down at the bottom of the list about the superb Wendy Wax and her fifth novel in the Ten Beach Road series. The latest one is One Good Thing, and it came out in April, perfect timing for a beach read. The series started with three accomplished women, strangers who end up co-owning a ramshackle cottage at Ten Beach Road in Pass-a-Grille. The series has found a cadre of dedicated fans and is a USA Today bestseller. Wendy is a native of St. Petersburg and a devotee of Pass-a-Grille. If you haven't had the pleasure, you really ought to treat yourself to this series. And read it down on Pass-a-Grille beach. Why not?