How To Live At The Beach [Hardcover]

Sandy Gingras (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2001

With delightful illustrations and simple prose, Sandy Gingras strips away the complicated, structured way of life we cling to and helps us find perspective and appreciation in simple things - like the beach. How to Live at the Beach is a gift book that is at home anywhere, on any coast, or far from it. For the beach is only a metaphor, and with every reading we are awakened: How we might live, how we can pace ourselves, how we can appreciate our world, how we can love.

Editorial Reviews

Review

''Captures the pure simplicity of seaside living. This gift book couples lively illustrations with thoughtful musings for readers who understand the beach is more than just a place for sun and sand. Like the ocean itself, this book nourishes the mind, heart, and soul.'' --Coastal Living magazine

''Her book, like the beach, offers us a chance for renewal.'' --The Beachcomber

From the Back Cover

For those of us so busy living that we forget how to live‹a little manual of beachiness to nudge us back toward simplicity.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Down The Shore Publishing (June 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945582730
• ISBN-13: 978-0945582731
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #435,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sandy Gingras is an artist and writer. She also owns her own design company called How to Live. She and her son and two cats and a dog live on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a cute book!, January 2, 2002

By 

BeachReader (Delaware) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How To Live At The Beach (Hardcover)

Although this is a darling book with charming illustrations, it is much more than that. It also contains the most wonderful and on-target thoughts about beach living.

For example: "We want to elongate the days, distill the memories, make them last. At the same time we know that the beauty is in the evanesence....Every wave comes in, then retreats. Every day promises, then turns its back and slips away. Every joy has a little tease in it, a give and take, and leaves a wake of longing."

"Simplicity is a process. It's a kind of surrender. It's a forgetting of the rules we never liked much anyway, of the values that have no real value, of the goals that never made much sense anyway."

The last page says it all: "And that slow, crooked, seeminly aimless path of our lives at the beach may just be getting us closer and closer to our best selves."

I got this as a Christmas gift and have read it over and over. It is a lovely gift for anyone you know who loves the beach. I plan to buy several copies for just this purpose.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real life experience in a book, November 2, 2006

By 

J. H. "JH" - See all my reviews

This review is from: How To Live At The Beach (Hardcover)

If you have never been to the beach the experiences are captures in this book - It will also bring back the memories of the your last trip to the beach and make you want to go again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Gift Book For Many, March 6, 2008

By 

nh mom "nhonlinemom" (Portsmouth, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How To Live At The Beach (Hardcover)

I loved this book & bought it for my aunt who has a beach house. It's a feel good book about placing value in the simple things like snow cones and seagulls. It is perfect for anyone who enjoys freeing themselves of life's business with an escape to the beach. More for adults but ok for all ages. Lovely simple water color sketches. Loved it! I will definatley buy from this author again and look at calendars next year.