Lencek and Bosker, "Let There Be Lounge Chairs"

Lencek and Bosker write books about beaches. There is one just of beach stories, by Chekov, Nabokov, Camus, and the like, called Beach Stories, there is one of photographs of beaches, called Beaches, and my favorite, on about beaches, called The Beach:A History of Paradise on Earth. These beach bums are a Slavic Studies professor at Reed College in Portland Oregon (him) and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Yale (her) when they are not hunting for (and enjoying) the perfect beach.

Gideon Bosker did a piece on Public Radio about vacations, and it starts like this: "In the beginning, God created heaven, the earth and...the vacation. And then God said, let there be flight. And there was flight. And He said let there be frequent flyer programs and space-available upgrades. And so they too appeared. And then God separated Heaven from Hell. He called flying to Hawaii in coach Hell, and He called flying there first class Heaven. And then God said let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place and the swimming pool appeared. And let lounge chairs, terrycloth bathrobes, shoeshine sponges, and SPF 30 sunscreen appear and it was so." So,let's hear it for ruffled bathing suits, with polka dots, and beach umbrellas that only last a season but are so pretty, and brightly colored beach toys, dogs digging holes and eating suspect items, and the long days of summer that trickle by until the meteor showers of August console us for the coming of the night just a little earlier...