This weekend in the Guardian ,they had a number of writers picking their favourite holiday reads ,so on a damp day here in Derbyshire ,I decide to talk about memorable holiday reads for me and what type of books I like on a holiday .My favourite read was in the late nineties on a glorious british summer when I travelled from Alnwick to Elie home of my late gran for a short break .I took Don Dellio’s underworld .this 900 page book with its history of post war america made a great companion on a long train journey and sitting on the beach or the beachfront pub .A book tied to fond memories of a lovely summer ,that in my opinion what makes a good summer read ,for me it is an epic doorstep book and family ,oh and of course good weather is a plus .This means when thinking back on the book I remember the train Journey a brief stop and wander round Edinburgh on the way there and back ,A cool pint of Deuchars IPA reminds me of the book as well sitting on the beachfront as I followed a famous baseball passing hands trough modern america .
So that is me I like modern classic or classic books of over 400 pages length ,over books I ve read over summers have been Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier in spain , Ulysses during a German summer . That’s me I know other people like Lighter reads over the summer the sort of Richard and Judy books or as I call them supermarket books ,Some people like Novellas like the fine ones published by Peirene ,thus meaning you can notch of a few books over the space of a holiday .Then another group likes books about or set where they are like Moveable feast if your in Paris ,shadow of the wind if your in Barceleona ?
My next holiday read is USA by John Dos Passos ,this epic book has sat for a couple of years on my shelves so is needing a read this summer at some point I ve yet to book a holiday so it may be a staycation book .
So what type of Holiday reader are you ?
Do books remind you of good holidays ?
Jun 21, 2011 @ 21:36:26
Last years holiday book was a staycation read & was 2666 this year no idea yet.
Jun 22, 2011 @ 22:25:39
look forward to se what you choose this year ,all the best stu
Jun 21, 2011 @ 21:37:20
Books definitely remind me of my holidays:) I remember a particular holiday back home in Sri Lanka where I read both A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth and A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. I think I prefer taking big chunky books on holiday so that I can get really stuck in. These days they tend to be a mixture of fantasy books, crime and maybe a stray classic.
Jun 22, 2011 @ 22:27:28
oh suitable boy be ideal I read it at home but be great for hoilday imho ,I like odd crime and have in teens read fantasy but not for many years ,all the best stu
Jun 21, 2011 @ 22:14:42
I like to read something set in my holiday destination.
Last weekend in London I read Muriel Spark’s A Far Cry from Kensington. Last year in Barcelona it was Colm Toibin’s Homage to Barcelona and prior to that in San Francisco I read Glen David Gold’s Carter Beats The Devil.
Jun 22, 2011 @ 22:28:17
sound like good choices I read sagan when I was there but was enough for one night ,all the best stu
Jun 21, 2011 @ 22:55:35
I never thought about a specific book for holiday read. I just bring along whatever I am reading along with me when the weather turns sunny and milder. It’s interesting thought I think I will bring along a book that is relatively easy to read and not hard going like Gabriel Marcia Marquez or Orhan Pamuk…. not chick lit. Maybe a thriller / mystery.
Jun 22, 2011 @ 22:25:09
I like something to last the hoilday and thinking abput it since article at weekend saw they were all fairly similar types of books I d choose ,all the best stu
Jun 22, 2011 @ 03:11:38
I like to rely on serendipity. If I can I holiday in Europe in your winter, and search in old bookshops and charity stores for books, and then read what I find. The memory of reading the books becomes tied up with the memories of the places.
My favourite was last year in Rome when I found an old Penguin copy of The Woman of Rome by Alberto Moravia on the shelf of the apartment in which I was staying, and it was wonderful to be able to both read about Rome and simultaneously observe it, and it was also wonderful to discover Moravia, and to come back home and read some of his other books.
Jun 22, 2011 @ 22:23:50
That is a great book to find for you and being in rome as well ,I can imagine charity shops be great here for old penguins although I do see less myself these days ,all the best stu
Jun 22, 2011 @ 10:39:48
I prefer to take longer books with me when I go on holiay, but I am also a fan of reading books set in the place I am going, so the perfect combination would be a long book set wherever I am.
Jun 22, 2011 @ 22:21:17
I not tried books set before but if we ever go to Paris I thin that may be some where I would read books set in ,all the best stu
Jun 22, 2011 @ 14:33:00
I like to read a complex book over the holidays when I can take the time to look up allusions and jot down my thoughts at leisure. It’s not the length, it’s more the complexity that deserves a less pressured approach i.e. when I don’t have to get up and go to work in the middle of reading it!
Jun 22, 2011 @ 22:20:07
Similar to me I like take a challenging book and as not a huge lover of huge books seems best way ,all the best stu
Jun 23, 2011 @ 12:40:05
900 pages? That was a huge book and you sailed through. I do not really choose specific books for holidays although I may want to.
Jun 23, 2011 @ 22:30:31
Yes it was but worth reading ,all the best stu
Jun 23, 2011 @ 17:05:56
I think holiday read recommendations are usually for people who don’t read otherwise. I have no specific holiday reads. I just read on holidays what I would have read at home also.
Those recommended reads are usually bestsellers or chick lit or thrillers or something like that. I hate them.
Jun 23, 2011 @ 22:27:59
Yes they are the sort I don;t like the guardian had some good ones thou ,all the best stu
Jun 24, 2011 @ 00:49:14
I’m enjoying a long summer vacation this year and am immersed in a German Postwar Literary Challenge, reading works of fiction and memoir from 1245 to the present. I’m also branching out internationally with my crime fiction reading. And eclectic reader that I am, some unusual nonfiction shows up on my shelves as well.
Thanks for visiting, Stu,
Judith
Jun 24, 2011 @ 00:50:16
Stu, I meant my post to read 1945 to the present, not 1245.
thanks,
Judith
Jun 24, 2011 @ 14:54:07
When I’m actually away on holiday, I take me a pile of supermarket books, Stu!🙂
I’m often surrounded by people when on holiday and I get interrupted a lot (e.g., the kids) so I need some light and easy books (but not too light and easy).
I prefer shorter books (around 300 pages or so) so I can easily take the book around with me (beach, woods, or wherever we go)
Jun 28, 2011 @ 20:27:25
I tend to notmally read 300 page books and avoid longer ones during the year ,all the best stu