So, as we do most years (when we can remember to), we thought we'd offer and solicit recommendations for books to take to the beach this Summer.

The parameters are pretty simple and some deviation is permitted.

We'll start off with two, one of which hews to the format and one which just misses.

The latter, David Wesley Hill's At Drake's Command, clocks in at only 400 pages but is exactly the sort of fast-paced swashbuckler that belongs on your blanket.  You can even sample the sequel here.

I wish the former had been around when I was majoring in History, Diane Purkiss's The English Civil War is as readable an account as we're ever going to get on the topic and is characterized throughout by the following even-handed assessment:<br><br>