Book Yourself for the Season

It’s summertime, and the reading is easy--not to mention sizzling hot, gripping and pure escapism.

And the best place to get away is in the pages of a juicy paperback under an umbrella, cool drink at your side, toes dug into the sand at your favorite beach.

But before you go, you should know that our panel of bookworms--Karen Gonzalez of Glendale’s Scribner’s Bookstore, Judith Drury of Arcadia’s Doubleday Bookshop and Kim Hamilton of Canoga Park’s B. Dalton Booksellers--have a few suggestions based on what customers are buying for their summer read in the rays:

Get a Gripper

* Drury: “Sanctuary,” by Nora Roberts (Jove Publications, 1997).

* Gonzalez: “Primal Fear,” by William Diehl (Ballantine, 1994); “Jack & Jill,” by James Patterson (Warner Books, 1997); “Absolute Power,” by David Baldacci (Warner Books, 1996).

* Hamilton: “Night Crew,” by John Sandford (Berkley Books, 1998); “The Tenth Justice,” by Brad Meltzer (Warner Books, 1998); “Remote Control,” by Stephen White (Penguin USA, 1998).

Romancing the Tome

* Drury: “Eat Me,” by Linda Jaivan (Broadway Books, 1998).

* Gonzalez: “Jade’s Gamble,” by Patricia Olney (Bantam Books, 1998).

* Hamilton: “Rough Around the Edges,” an anthology that leads with Susan Johnson (St. Martin’s Press, 1998).

That Warm, Fuzzy Feeling

* Drury: “Cloud Chamber,” by Michael Dorris (Simon & Schuster, 1998); “Personal History,” by Katherine Graham (Random House, 1998).

* Gonzalez: “The Notebook,” by Nicholas Sparks (Warner Books, 1998); “Evening Class,” by Maeve Binchy (Dell Publishing, 1998); “Coming Home,” by Rosamunde Pilcher (St. Martin’s Press, 1996).

* Hamilton: “Out to Canaan,” by Jan Karon (Viking Penguin, 1998); “The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” by Rebecca Wells (HarperCollins, 1997); “Secrecy,” by Belva Plain (Dell, 1998).

It’s a Man’s World

* Drury: “Into Thin Air,” by Jon Krakauer (Doubleday & Co., 1998); “The Winner,” by David Baldacci (Warner Books, 1998).

* Gonzalez: “Kilo Class,” by Patrick Robinson (HarperCollins, 1998); “Another City, Not My Own,” by Dominick Dunne (Crown, 1997); “Without Remorse,” by Tom Clancy (Berkley Books, 1994).

* Hamilton: “McNally’s Gamble,” by Lawrence Sanders (Berkley Books, 1998); “Plum Island,” by Nelson DeMille (Warner Books, 1998); “Fatal Terrain,” by Dale Brown (Berkley Books, 1998).