The Beach Read by Bask Vol. 35

FROM AROUND THE WEB

This summer's swim report: maximalism wins. The nine summer shoes worth the closet space. Nicolas Cage found a superhero weird enough to play straight. Copenhagen is the world's most liveable city again. The world’s cutest crab just went viral. New species alert! (to me at least), and it’s giving disco: meet the glitter worm. The first people to see Nolan's Odyssey walked out staggered. A Jeremy Renner fan app, taken down by an army of Jeremy Renners. Python blood may hold the key to a side-effect-free Ozempic. Boho chic has grown up (and into a summer trend). People are embarrassingly dressing each other for the airport, on purpose (and I’ve witnessed this trend). A non-billionaire's guide to the Hamptons — where middle-aged millennials are summering with their parents (coaster necklaces is too good). How Lizzo became one of pop's great flops. The rise of the panic pouch. Teen boys are injecting peptides in search of perfection. The bartender's catchall a cluttered person swears by. Brides are reworking their wedding dresses into something wearable. Sardine Girl Summer: tinned fish is somehow the season's chicest accessory. The makeup trend faking a just-left-the-beach glow. The World Cup has everyone dressing like a soccer star. Shake Shack's cult Dubai-chocolate shake is back. The anime trend that summons dinner from thin air. And a New Yorker mystery: did a climber leave his girlfriend to die on the mountain? Missed one? Every past Beach Read lives here.

AN ACTUAL BEACH READ

This is literally the newsletter's name, so let's earn it. Three short stories, free to read in full, sized for however much beach day you've got, and optimized for one sitting:

• The Ten Minute Read: "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry: a young couple, dead broke, each secretly sell their most prized possession to buy the other a gift. The perfect little gut-punch.

• A Good Long Lunch: "Books and Roses" by Helen Oyeyemi: a foundling with a mysterious key, a Barcelona laundress, and two con-woman lovers braid into a modern fairy tale (~22 min).

• The Whole Day (for beach or pool rotting): "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving: Ichabod Crane, Brom Bones, and a galloping headless horseman. Long, atmospheric, classic…worth every page.

AS SEEN ON IG

This month, the Baskmobile rolled through the Chatham 4th of July Parade, handing out sunscreen and celebrating one of the Cape's great summer traditions. We also partnered with @butlikemaybe on another way-too-relatable carousel of summertime memes.

SUMMER READING LIST FROM NICOLE PEARCE

• Betty by Tiffany McDaniel​— This is my favorite book I've read this year. It's going to stay with me for a long time. It's incredibly heavy and definitely won't be for everyone, but I thought it was so beautifully written. It follows a large family living in poverty in rural Ohio, and while there is so much tragedy and some truly difficult chapters to get through, there's also so much beauty in the relationship between the father, his children, and the natural world. Heartbreaking, unforgettable, and one I'll be thinking about for a long time.

• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton — I was thoroughly entertained from beginning to end. I loved how the story follows different groups of people across different parts of the park, with everything unfolding at once and eventually coming together. It's fast-paced, suspenseful, and just such a fun reading experience.

• Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin — This follows an American living in Paris in the 1950s as he grapples with identity, and it's a story that will really stay with me. What makes it such a standout, though, is James Baldwin's writing. The prose is absolutely incredible. There are scenes that completely pull you in, and then you'll hit a sentence that's so beautiful it stops you in your tracks. It's one of those books I know I'll come back to just for the writing alone.

FOUNDER FAVES

• I’m trying out this new supplement brand called Biologica that is the first one built around a woman’s different needs based on life stage, so the formula changes with you. I love that it's one drinkable thing instead of a shelf of bottles.

• If your summer wardrobe could use more joy, Never Fully Dressed is all print, color, and feel-good dressing. And a lot of it is forgiving enough for the postpartum in-between or after too many 4th of July burgers.

• Making room in a closet with a husband who won’t throw out a single t-shirt dating back to his high school days is its own project, so I'm testing one of those space-saving smart hangers that promise to free up most of your rod. Early verdict: my closet can suddenly breathe.

• This leave-in hair repair mask is so nice. Summer (and Miami in general) wrecks hair: sun, salt water, chlorine, and heat-styling all fry it. If you spend the summer in the ocean and the pool like me, this is a 4-minute reset that actually works. Bonus points for support in postpartum shedding.

  Mikey

• Why don’t more tennis shorts have a built-in liner? I've basically lived in these Wilson tournament shorts this summer. The built-in liner is the whole thing, and it means they're the only pair I grab when I play.

• Beef is back, and Season 2 is every bit as unhinged as the first. Clear a weekend. Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan (they’re both so underrated IMO) are incredible. I loved Season 1, and Season 2 was right there with it.

• I'm not even a rosé person, but my brother brought a case of Domaine Tempier Bandol rosé over the 4th and everyone loved it. Bone-dry, a little herbaceous. Everyone kept going back to the fridge for it.

• I finally watched​Untold: Jail Blazers, and man. I grew up on those early-2000s teams, and it's still shocking how deep those rosters were. Rasheed, Damon Stoudamire, Bonzi Wells. A bench most teams would've killed to start. Equal parts electric and a little heartbreaking. Worth every minute.

CLASSIFIEDS

• Talk to us. Hit reply and tell us what you're reading this summer — we read every response.

• Want Bask at your store? Reply with the retailer you'd love to see us in and we'll add it to the wishlist.

• Easter Egg🐣: If you made it this far, use code SUMMERREADING for 15% off your next purchase