I am going on vacation next week with a very good friend. Stephanie is a great reader. We actually became friends through the bookstore and her weekly Saturday trips to the store. Steph will be gone two weeks; the first week she’s traveling with her friend Kris and then I join them on the beach the second week. Steph actually sent out an email about a month ago seeking book coordination so no one would bring the same book. This is a level of reading organization I do not possess. I’m leaving in a week and don’t even know where my shorts and bathing suit are, but these two women are on top of the books. Knowing that I own a bookstore and have access to galleys, I’ve been told what everyone likes and there’s a range. Steph likes “good time travel.” Does anyone like bad time travel books? And Kris likes biting legal thrillers. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not, but I’m not not a fan of either genre, so no risk of overlap with me, but that also means there’s no sharing of books and that’s a bad thing.
I know I should bring children’s ARCs but they’re often too short and over far too quickly to haul around in my luggage. I can hear people with devices screaming, “Just download something to read!” I know I could, but I don’t have a device and even if I did, I love the feel of a book in the sun with its warm pages and book smell that might have just a bit of sun block on it. A book, especially a galley, can look read and well loved with sand in it and maybe a cocktail umbrella for a bookmark. I just can’t not bring some books for younger folks.
I have packed up two books for younger readers. Allie Condie’s middle grade novel, Summerlost, looks sad, but I’m very curious to see what she does with realistic fiction. The author of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Jesse Andrews, has a new book about a band, a road trip and all things music, The Haters, which looks very promising and fun.
My friend reminded me there is absolutely nothing to do on this island but read, eat conch fritters, and have cocktails. So, I scanned my galley bookcase with days and days of reading ahead of me and found some treasures to take with me. I was thrilled to see there is a new Annie Proulx, Barkskins, that is now at the top of the stack. A new mystery writer to me with a book that looks fabulous is Ausma Zehanat Khan’s The Language of Secrets, and is one that I can share, as does Holly Seddon’s Try Not to Breathe.
So, these will all be packed away in my suitcase come next week. Readers, what are you bringing on your vacation to read, or what did you read that you just loved? When I get back, I’ll post a recap of my reading fun.