Check Out These Bookish Beach Towels to Keep Your Beach Reads Dry

I might be landlocked in the middle of Iowa but that doesn’t mean I don’t need a good bookish beach towel. Why, just a few weeks ago I went to a family get-together at a state park with a body of water in it. And as my brother-in-law said at the time, that body of water had what “could loosely be described as a beach.” Guess what we all had? Beach towels!

Unfortunately, my beach towel was a blue and white striped bore of a beach towel. Which got me to thinking: Surely there are bookish beach towels out there? So before I head on my next international vacation to lovely Iceland and its geothermal baths, I’m going to have to grab myself and my partner a couple of bookish beach towels.

Luckily, my fellow Book Riot contributors have written great articles about how to further perfect my bookish beachy day. I can follow this quiz to find out what brilliant beach read I should read this summer. I can get tips on how to achieve the ideal beach reading day. And if I want to just slap my new beach towel down on my front porch, I can even read one of these books that will transport me to the beach.

Right out of the gate, I’m going to bow to our Netherlands readers with this vintage Jip and Janneke beach towel. $36.

This bookish octopus beach towel is making me pretty jealous of octopuses. I’d love to walk around holding multiple books, a tea cup, and a teapot — and still have tentacles to spare! $35.

It doesn’t get much simpler or more bookish than this beach towel with books on it. $35.

Now this looks relaxing! A beach towel with a cozy chair, a stack of books, and a not-too-annoying bookish refrain. $35.

These bookmark beach towels can be personalized with your initials. $30.

I love that this beach towel has a living room scene on it. It’s not the most beachy theme, but it does depict a relaxing scene of a comfy person on a cozy couch. $38.

Another personalized beach towel for a bookworm, this one allows you to put a full name. The background is perfect for folks who want to keep it simple with books and cool glasses. $28.

Hubba hubba, this vintage beach towel has books, eyeglasses, tunes, and, of course, this curvaceous hottie I’d like to make pals with. $48.

Taking a cool beach towel to paradise is always fun, especially when it’s a bookish beach towel that itself defines what paradise is! $38.

You can also showcase your love for comic books with this comics beach towel. Boom! Pow! indeed! $53.99.

I have my work cut out for me, trying to figure out which of these bookish beach towels is the right companion for my next trip to a sort-of beach. In the meantime, I’ll be chewing over what makes a book a beach read in the first place.

- Tracy Shapley Towley