Like a few other Wenches, I have a book due VERY SOON. Last year, in a similar situation, I skipped my summer vacation. I am not sure what happened or how many people I attempted to maim or disable at that time (I did not break the refrigerator! It broke itself!) but my husband must remember events vividly because this year he insisted I take the vacation. He offered to pack my bags. He did not offer to come along.
Thus, in a couple of weeks, I’ll be on Cape Cod. I’m not the best beach person, what with the tendency to break out in a rash when a sunbeam touches my skin. But I slather on 180 SPF sunscreen, put on a sun hat the size of Manitoba, and tuck under one or two or three contiguous umbrellas.
With a large thermos of iced tea and my books.
Some authors have organized their writing life very well. It allows them to sit back and read--just for the sheer pleasure of it--several books a week. As has been mentioned before, I am not one of these people. My reading-for-fun gets squeezed into a half hour here and there. Most of my reading is for work. At present, for instance, books about Venice cover all horizontal and several vertical spaces in my office. The deadline crunch has become serious enough to change all read-for-fun time to read-for-work. While research is fun, too, it’s the fun of my job, which, all in all, is a fine one. 
But it isn’t the magnificent escape of reading on the beach, with no responsibilities beyond slathering on sunscreen every few hours and, depending on water temperatures, running in and out of the ocean, and, late in the day, running away screaming from the EVIL FANGED FLIES. Yes, they bite. Hard.
During this annual beach vacation, I usually read one or two books a day. I could probably squeeze in a few more were it not necessary to slather on sunscreen, run in and out of the ocean, escape flies, etc. Fortunately, the Cape is in New England. This means it will probably rain at least once. We’ll stay indoors. All the time usually spent slathering and running can be devoted to reading.
My rule is, this vacation must be a total escape. Nothing remotely to do with the WIP is allowed to tag along. As noted above, even the spouse stays home. The books going with me will, therefore, be well out of my genre: murder mysteries, mainly, some alternate reality, and some books that seem not to fit in any particular category. 
For instance, how would you classify P.G. Wodehouse? And what’s a week at the beach without him? And does it matter at all whether I’ve already read the book?
Laughter and murder get about equal time, and sometimes in the same book. There will be at least one of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books (I save them for the beach, so I’m now a couple of books behind). An Anne Perry, from the Inspector Monk series. And I’ll be trying some new authors, including Donna Leon, who writes mysteries set in...Venice. OK, perhaps something remotely to do with the WIP will find its way into my luggage.
In the alternate reality realm, I just read my first Connie Willis, TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG--and if I’d known how much fun it was going to be, I would have saved it for the beach. However, she did remind me of a book I’ve always meant to read, Jerome K. Jerome’s THREE MEN IN A BOAT, so that’s coming instead. A Flashman may accompany me. And I’m still not through Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series, although, being Regency-set, Captain Jack & the Doctor may not be escape enough.
What about you? How do you choose your vacation reading? What’s your idea of the perfect beach read? If you were packing up for a weeklong getaway (and didn’t have to worry about weight allowances), what books would you take along?