Kick Your Vacation Reading Up a Notch
Your best vacation reading nudges dreams, tickles curiosity, and gets your imagination wandering wonderful possibilities.
Beyond Beaches finds books to read and places to go for curious readers...because plot twists and novel settings help you sense the character and flavors of a vacation.
Whether your vacation is a trek across the globe, weekend getaway, or an adventure enjoyed snuggled in a comfy chair, reading lets you escape wherever you are…and gets you to where you want to be.
Because you and every Literary Cat know...
Once you open a book's cover, the story inside whisks you away quicker than an airplane takes flight.
Beyond Beaches invites you to kick your vacation reading up a notch – reading books that create memories and shape the world you see.
We won't review books or tell you what to read...because the joy of reading the stories you choose is just for you.
Hi, I’m Susan – a reader and traveler who has learned that some of the most lasting journeys begin in books. I share Beyond Beaches with two Literary Cats who connect books to places for fun vacations.
There is no wrong way to travel with a book in hand.
Spill the Beach Vacation Beans
Crystal-white sandy beaches welcome good books and vacation readers.
Gosh! With beaches this beautiful, where else would you read?It's no secret, fortune places Literary Cats on Alabama beaches, smack dab in the middle of a vacation paradise, with Gulf Coast stories reaching from Hemingway's Key West to Harry's South Padre mysteries.
That's a lot of space for beach vacatons and reading stories exposing tall tales, local lore, and cultural charm.
Find how far you can travel on a beach vacation.
Explore Gulf Coast beach reading→
The obvious big beach secret...
Neither you nor your vacation (or book) needs to stay only on the beach. One step beyond any Alabama beach lands you in the Heart of Dixie, where nearly every story told about the South is only a short trip away.
Poke Your Nose into Southern Settings
Southern stories don’t live only on the page — many unfold in real places.
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is but a day trip away.From courthouse squares to small towns shaped by history and hospitality, these settings weave texture into the stories you love, and they beckon you to experience the South beyond our soft, sandy shores.
Some settings you will recognize from well-known books, and others may not be so familiar, from authors lesser-known but who write tales just as meaningful.
Enjoy discovering places through the stories that brought them to life.
Leap from Page to Place
Ever closed a book and thought, Wow — I want to go there!
Some stories jump from pages, sparking curiosity and tickling imaginations…then quietly grow into vacation journeys.
Such trips to places you first meet in a story, we call Inspired Vacations. And we've taken a few. You could read about our book-inspired adventures here.
Or, better yet, if a book’s setting has ever called your name to visit an irresistible destination, tell us. (You too could be a Literary Cat.)
Tell us about your Inspired Vacations→
Cherry-Pick Books for Vacation Reading Trips
If choosing books for your getaway feels overwhelming, let
Literary Cats seek out stories to match a vacation mood — breezy novels for sandy toes, atmospheric mysteries for rainy afternoons, or Southern-set sagas of history, romance, gothic, or humor.
Whether you need one perfect book or a suitcase-size stack, Beyond Beaches bookshelves help you grow your most memorable vacation yet.
Match a genre to your vacation mood→
New Here? Start with Southern Settings
Some of the South’s most memorable stories unfold just beyond the beach — in small towns, courthouse squares, and places rich with history and heart.
If you love discovering real locations through the books that brought them to life, Southern Settings is the perfect place to begin.
Happens to us wherever we read, on vacation or not.