Summertime and the reading is easy. Yes, it is that time of the year to pull out the chaise lounge and get busy. I recently sat through a 400 class of graduates at Georgetown with book in hand. Did not get to read it, but I was ready just in case.
If you are traveling this summer, I ran into some great advice through a listserv on reading. Linda Johns, a librarian at the Seattle Public Library and author of the Hannah West mysteries for children, shared her secret to traveling with books learned from a bookseller.
Carry three books with the thought of bringing only one home. Her secret: One book for the plane ride. Make it a quick plot-driven read you can leave in the seat pocket as you depart the plane. One book you have been meaning to read whether a beach sizzler or a smarty-pants classic and plan to leave it in the hotel lobby, or at a library where you can swap the book for another. Lastly, bring one book for the flight home. This book is the keeper. The one book you want lingering in your head if you happen to nap.
Following Johns’ vacation reads, I suggest new plot driven reads such as James Patterson’s Private, James Rollins’ The Devil Colony, and Dead in the Family, by Charlaine Harris.
Books to read on the beach might consist of the latest Janet Evanovich laugh-out-loud, Sizzling Sixteen, Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Danielle Steel’s Family Ties, and The Search by Nora Roberts.
I realize keeper books are a matter of taste. One man’s keeper is another man’s hurler but some of these titles might appeal such as new books by Daniel Silva’s The Rembrandt Affair, Jennifer Weiner’s Fly Away Home, Nelson DeMille’s Lion, and Justin Cronin’s The Passage.
These are all hardbacks. Statistics show the majority of travelers prefer paperbacks which brings me to a new trend in publishing. Remember all those chick-lit books of past summers. “The new trend is away from ‘fashionista’ fiction and towards ‘recessionista’ fiction,” states Lexi Henshel on the same listserv. She suggests The Penny Pincher's Club by Sarah Strohmeyer, Small Change by Sheila Roberts and The Ex-Mrs. Hedgefund by Jill Kargman.
Happy summer reading!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Travel Reading (copy)
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4 comments:
Love the concept of taking three books with the intent of only bringing one home. With all the reading I do, my bookcases are overloaded. It's a great way to share the pleasure of reading as well. Thanks for timely suggestion.
I seem to sort of follow the same concept of travel books. I do bring 3 books, but it seems to be 3for each day...I have audiobooks for the drive, books to read at the pool and at bedtime. That's for this trip to Kansas. I can only hope to get in some quality reading time.
Maggie how about "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac ?
I still have a few books without covers from my early bookstore days (please don't turn me in!) and I save them for travel so I can throw them away when I'm done :)
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