Beach reading for intellectuals

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

The wife and I are looking forward to a beach vacation out of range of electronic communications/devices (which I already do a pretty good job of keeping a lid on in my life), and filled with good food, wine/booze, music, relaxation, beachcombing, reading, and lots of peace and quiet.

I am bringing along my usual non-fiction fare. I usually read books on science/nature, philosophy, art, music, history, and other assorted interests. However, I'm in the mood for something lighter, but still intellectually stimulating--Fiction or non-fiction. I am particularly interested in getting into some good 20th/21st century fiction. I am thinking of taking a stab at the beat generation authors (Kerouac, Bukowski). I am looking for some shorter works--nothing too long.

Maybe some
poetry?
Something
Irreverent
and
not
plain vanilla

Any suggestions? What is your summer reading?

Thanks

[kishnevi]

For poetry,  did you ever try Wallace Stevens?

[Karl Henning]

William Carlos Williams, Paterson (poetry)
Richard Brautigan, In Watermelon Sugar (let's say, poetic novella)

[Ken B]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Thompson. Screamingly funny.

Mr Norris Changes Trains Isherwood. Older but fits what you want. Coolly ironic.

Gothic Tales Dinesen. Quite unlike what you say you want. 

Tales from Ovid Ted Hughes. Poetry, Hughes's very very very loose translation of some stories from Metamorphoses. Probably my favourite book I have read in the past 15 years. Both passionate and irreverent.
Update. Aaaaaaand there it goes onto my reread it again pile.

Thread. My summer reading plans includes a third time thru De Rerum Natura, and maybe an nth reading of Odyssey. I am currently reading several novels set in the late Roman Empire, and French grammar. Hopefully some actual French too. 
Plus several books on information and computation in biology, in cells and in evolution.

[Wakefield]

Your project sounds, well, simply wonderful.

Here some recommendations, principally based on the idea that good things if short, are twice good. 

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http://www.amazon.com/What-Talk-About-When-Love/dp/0679723056/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404495571&sr=8-1&keywords=carver+raymond


http://www.amazon.com/Will-You-Please-Be-Quiet/dp/0679735690/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1XCWMRMHFNYH1ZJVB8ME


http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-Air-Ethan-Canin/dp/0618004149/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404495997&sr=1-1&keywords=canin

[jochanaan]

You might also try Plainsong by Kent Haruf.  A beautiful fictional evocation of the plains of eastern Colorado.

And in this year of Maya Angelou's death, you might reread some of her poetry.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Thanks for the replies--interesting so far!

Any thoughts on Umberto Eco or Henry Miller?

What about Confederacy of Dunces? (which an acquaintance always raves about)

[Ken B]

Thanks for the replies--interesting so far!

Any thoughts on Umberto Eco or Henry Miller?

What about Confederacy of Dunces? (which an acquaintance always raves about)

Dunces is funny and worth reading. Eco is over rated and dullish. Never read Miller.

[torut]

I love Bukowski, both stories and poetry. Later works may be easier to read and less disgusting.

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This includes a lot of nice photos. (Kindle Edition is $0.99! I have only a large size paperback edition, which I think is better.)
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Any thoughts on Umberto Eco or Henry Miller?

It was really exciting to read these books: a non-fiction about searching perfect languages (in vain) and a fiction about Knights Templars. They are not short, though.

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[Florestan]

Eco is over rated and dullish.

Say what?

Foucault's Pendulum, The Island of Yesterday and Baudolino are real page turners.

[Karl Henning]

What about Confederacy of Dunces? (which an acquaintance always raves about)

I'm a reasonably big fan of that 'un.  And I first read it in summertime, myself.

[Karl Henning]

Foucault's Pendulum, The Island of Yesterday and Baudolino are real page turners.

Thanks for the recs!  No good reason why I've not yet read any Eco.

[mn dave]

You're already drowning in books, so I recommend only this:

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[Ken B]

Thanks for the recs!  No good reason why I've not yet read any Eco.

You say that now. Patience.

[Florestan]

You say that now. Patience.

What Eco have you read, or attempted to?

Of course, de gustibus non disputandum est, but I find it really strange to call him dullish. I literally devoured all his novels. 

[Karl Henning]

I literally devoured all his novels. 

Mmm, fiber!

[not edward]

Eco-wise, I really liked The Prague Cemetery. All the usual Eco elements, but much funnier (and much angrier) than usual.

For me, intellectual beach reading sounds like Calvino: Cosmicomics perhaps, or Invisible Cities. Or one of his Oulipian comrades-in-arms--Queneau's Exercises in Style, or anything by Georges Perec.

[Florestan]

Maybe some
poetry?
Something
Irreverent
and
not
plain vanilla

Fernando Pessoa.

[Florestan]

And speaking of non-fiction, one of the most intellectually stimulating books in my list is a good world atlas.

[Ken B]

What Eco have you read, or attempted to?

Of course, de gustibus non disputandum est, but I find it really strange to call him dullish. I literally devoured all his novels. 

Rose and attempts at Foucault, Baudolino.