With summer upon us – at least in the Northern Hemisphere – it’s time to plan my holiday reading.
This is one task I look forward every year. It appeals to my list-loving personality. I usually start thinking about what books to take with me a couple of months in advance, eventually narrowing it down to just a few contenders.
It’s double the fun this year as we had a staycation last summer, and the holiday before that was in Ireland. (No offense to my family and friends, but a holiday in Dublin is NOT the same as going somewhere I’ve never been before. Irish holidays invariably entail juggling visits so that I get to see everyone that I want to see, and no one feels left out.)
Moreover, this will be my first holiday with my BeBook. I’ll be able to bring more books than ever before! As I enjoy the anticipation of looking forward to particular books, there will still be a few I’ll save specifically for my holiday.
When choosing books to read on holiday, I try to have a mix of genres, books by favourite authors, and also ones by new-to-me writers who look interesting.
Here are the contenders so far for Sarah’s Holiday Reads 2010:
STONE’S FALL
BY
IAIN PEARS
Blurb: In his most dazzling and brilliant novel since An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears tells the story of John Stone, financier and armaments manufacturer, a man so wealthy that in the years before World War One he was able to manipulate markets, industries and indeed whole countries and continents. A panoramic novel with a riveting mystery at its heart, Stone’s Fall is a quest to discover how and why John Stone dies, falling out of a window at his London home.Chronologically, it goes backwards – London in 1909, then Paris in 1890, and finally Venice in 1867 – and Stone’s character and motivation deepen as the book progresses; in the first part he is almost an abstraction, existing only in the memory of those who knew him; in the second he is a character, but only a secondary one; in the third he is the narrator of the story. A quest, then, but also a love story and a murder mystery, set against the backdrop of the evolution of high-stakes international finance, Europe’s first great age of espionage and the start of the twentieth century’s arms race. Like Fingerpost, Stone’s Fall is an intricate and richly satisfying puzzle, completely engaging on many levels, a triumphant return for one of the world’s great storytellers.
Why Is It On My List? An Instance of the Fingerpost is one of my absolute favourite historical mysteries. I was disappointed in a couple of Pears’ other books, but Stone’s Fall has gotten excellent reviews.
BROKEN
BY
KARIN SLAUGHTER
Blurb: When the body of a young woman is discovered deep beneath the icy waters of Lake Grant, a note left under a rock by the shore points to suicide. But within minutes, it becomes clear that this is no suicide. It’s a brutal, cold-blooded murder. All too soon former Grant County medical examiner Sara Linton – home for Thanksgiving after a long absence – finds herself unwittingly drawn into the case. The chief suspect is desperate to see her but when she arrives at the local police station she is met with a horrifying sight – he lies dead in his cell, the words ‘Not me’ scrawled across the walls. Something about his confession doesn’t add up and deeply suspicious of Lena Adams, the detective in charge, Sara immediately calls in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Shortly afterwards, Special Agent Will Trent is brought in from his vacation to investigate. But he is immediately confronted with a wall of silence. Grant County is a close-knit community with loyalties and ties that run deep. And the only person who can tell the truth about what really happened is dead.
Why Is It On My List? Although her books are extremely violent, there’s no denying that Slaughter knows how to write compelling thrillers.
BUTTERFLY SWORDS
BY
JEANNIE LIN
Blurb: During China’s infamous Tang Dynasty, a time awash with luxury, yet littered with deadly intrigues and fallen royalty, betrayed Princess Ai Li flees before her wedding.
Miles from home, with only her delicate butterfly swords for a defense, she enlists the reluctant protection of a blue-eyed warrior…
Battle-scarred, embittered Ryam has always held his own life at cheap value. Ai Li’s innocent trust in him and honorable, stubborn nature make him desperate to protect her – which means not seducing the first woman he has ever truly wanted….
Why Is It On My List? The setting, the setting, the setting! I first heard this book mentioned on Twitter a few months ago, and I’ve been waiting for it ever since. Although it’s an October release from Harlequin Historicals, I’m hoping it will be available for order as an ebook in September.
HEARTSTONE
BY
C.J. SANSOM
Blurb: Summer, 1545. England is at war. Henry VIII’s invasion of France has gone badly wrong, and a massive French fleet is preparing to sail across the Channel. As the English fleet gathers at Portsmouth, the country raises the largest militia army it has ever seen. The King has debased the currency to pay for the war, and England is in the grip of soaring inflation and economic crisis. Meanwhile Matthew Shardlake is given an intriguing legal case by an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr. Asked to investigate claims of ‘monstrous wrongs’ committed against a young ward of the court, which have already involved one mysterious death, Shardlake and his assistant Barak journey to Portsmouth. Once arrived, Shardlake and Barak find themselves in a city preparing to become a war zone; and Shardlake takes the opportunity to also investigate the mysterious past of Ellen Fettipace, a young woman incarcerated in the Bedlam. The emerging mysteries around the young ward, and the events that destroyed Ellen’s family nineteen years before, involve Shardlake in reunions both with an old friend and an old enemy close to the throne. Events will converge on board one of the King’s great warships, primed for battle in Portsmouth harbour: the Mary Rose…
Why Is It On My List? This is the fifth book in C.J. Sansom’s wonderful Tudor mystery series featuring Matthew Shardlake. I’ve been waiting for this book for almost two years. Whether or not I read it on holiday depends on its ebook release date. The hardback will be out at the beginning of September, but I’d really rather not lug that with me.
Do you like to plan your holiday/vacation reading in advance? What’s makes a perfect holiday read?
{ 3 comments }
I tend to choose in advance if I’m going away somewhere. Often, it’s books by authors whom I know are reliable, and that I’ve been saving for just such an occasion.
I always pick way more books for holiday reading than could ever be read on one holiday. Then I narrow the list down to a reasonable number. I go for authors I have enjoyed in the past or new books that have been recommended. I can’t wait to read the new CJ Sansom – September, you say? Right now I’m loving the first Johan Theorin thriller, ‘Echoes from the Dead’ (thanks to Keishon for the intro) and may save his second book (‘The Darkest Room’) for my travels in August. Generally, holiday reading should be engaging, enjoyable and not too serious or intellectually demanding.
I am going on vacation the end of July and I will be out in the country where AT&T shows no coverage and for two whole weeks. It’s a toss up as to what will be my holiday read (and it’s rapidly arriving soon) but I know for sure I will be reading The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta that I special ordered from Australia. I would like to read during my holiday: Henning Mankell, Karin Fossum and the last Stieg Larsson book. I have Ian Pears Stone’s Wall in my stacks too and I must read C.J. Samson. I am tickled and delighted that both you and Trish are going to be/are reading Johan Theorin.