Beach Chair Diaries    by Janet E. Spurr Order:  USA  Can Falmouth Heights, 2008 (2008) Softcover Read an Excerpt      Reviewed by Lori Waddington I have never been much of a beach goer. I don't like getting sand in my suit, and you never know what icky creatures are lurking in the water. But after reading Janet Spurr's Beach Chair Diaries, a collection of essays that is designed to 'quench your thirst with memories of a warmer time,' I think I may be missing something. In Surfer Girl, the reader takes a trip to Maui, where the author takes surfing lessons from a 25-year-old surfer boy named Mikela. Beach Chair Therapy takes the reader to a Cape Cod rental cottage where Spurr's brother and his family 'hit the beach every summer like Normandy soldiers.' And as Spurr goes In Search Of The Perfect Beach Chair, she finally finds the one that reclines to any position, including her favorite one, which she calls 'George Clooney Take Me!' Several more essays address the author's love of ice cream, lobster, and convertibles, along with Summertime Aggravations, which includes a hysterical essay titled Do Tourists Leave Their Brains At Home? And no vacation is complete unless you have the perfect pair of flip-flops, which Spurr compares to gliding her foot 'into nirvana.' At the end of each essay, there is a page titled Low Tide Times, which allows the reader to 'step into some memories of your own,' asking questions such as 'have you stopped recently to watch the sunset?' and 'where was the last place you went on vacation?' I have my own Low Tide Time thought, which is to pick up a copy of Beach Chair Diaries and settle in for a wonderful summer read. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Travel books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews