What books are you all taking on holiday?

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I've got:

A history of the Tower of London
The Historian (to re-read)
A History Of The World In 100 Objects
Some Poe short stories
A Wilkie Collins
Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (re-read)
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Hopefully one a day will be enough!

just pondering same question. So far:

White Teeth (Zadie Smith)
The Secret Scripture (Sebastian Barry)
King of Torts (Grisham)
Week in December (Sebastian Faulks)

Considering taking Labyrinth by Kate Mosse but have heard mixed reviews - anyone?

Might need another couple.

The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes
the five people you meet in Heaven Mitch Albom
How to be a Women Caitlin Moran
Everything and Nothing Araminta Hall
The Weight of Silence Heather Gudenkauf

and if I get stuck I can read DH's Chavs by Owen Jones and When the Lights Went Out by Andy Becket.
I think I need more fiction - I'm going for 10 days

I must admit that I thought Labyrinth was awful. I liked White Teeth iirc.

I loved "Sense of an Ending" Cromwell44 but it's a quick read so won't keep you occupied for very long.

Dp loved Chavs. And (v unusually for me) I loved 'The Five People You Meet In Heaven.' His 'Tuesdays With Morrie' was good too - both are v simple and easy reads but really sweet and moving (and I say that as somebody who usually dismisses stuff like that as sentimental rubbish).

I suspect you're right Lilolil..I think I need more words! Any recommendations for something long and engrossing? I really want Bring up the Bodies but am making myself wait for the paper back .

I've been already but I read:
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
The Art of Fielding
The Sisters Brothers
Waiting For The Barbarians
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (huge book that I'm still reading).

All good, but Freedom was my favourite.

Oh no! I have too many short books - anyone read any Marilynne Robinson - I'm considering Gilead, Home or Housekeeping?

you've probably read these, but my favourites are:
Shadow of the Wind
Captain Corellis's Mandolin
Alone in Berlin
Winter in Madrid

Brilliant long book

Not great writing by any stretch of the imagination but it's huge and pretty entertaining

Yes to Winter In Madrid.

Thanks for the suggestions - the Ken Follet might be the one for the sheer number of pages - very reassuring to have a long book in the bag so no danger of running out of reading matter. I've never read him before but don't confine myself to literature by any stretch of the imagination
My 15 yo DS could also read it - he's into all things historical and can still be persuaded to read fiction...unlike Dh who is non-fiction only.
I'll look at the others for my Winter reading list.

Labyrinth is terrible. Don't do it.
I am taking (so far)
The Song of Achilles
The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton
The Great Sea: a human history of the Mediterranean
I am the chosen King - Helen Hollick
Three ancient greek historical novels by Steven Pressfield
Lionheart - Sharon Penman
The Captive Queen - Alison Weir
and I might possibly get Hilary Mantel's sequel to Wolf Hall if I don't think I've got enough already.

Lilo - what did you like about the Barnes? I absolutely loved 'Flaubert's Parrot' and 'Arthur And George' but gave up on him after reading 'England, England' which I thought was rubbish and 'A History Of The World' which I thought was contrived. Have been wondering whether this one would be the one to give him another chance on.

I nearly bought The Great Sea but went for the Tower one instead. Would be great if you could come back on here to let me know what you thought of it, Mumsnot.

Will do Remus. I've been eyeing it up for a few weeks, and finally pressed the button on my Amazon order today. DH wants to read it too.
We seem to be taking mostly books on holiday - the DDs are taking eight each, some of which I also want to read. DH is only (!) taking six.

Remus - Miss Pettigrew lives for a day is one of my favourites too.

Somehow, dd and I are massively below our luggage allowance at the moment - so I just keep sticking more books in!

Thanks themumsnot, will leave Labyrinth at home.

Remus - "Sense of an Ending" is the only Barnes I have read - can't explain why I liked it, I just found it captivating.

I'm taking:

Bring up the Bodies (never buy hard-backs but really, really want to read this on holiday)

The Magician's Assistant - Ann Patchett

The Owl Killers - Karen Maitland

The Hanging Shed - Gordon Ferris (OH used to work with him so interested to read this)

Greenbank - Dorothy Whipple

Mapp and Lucia - E F Benson (not so sure about this choice)

Still looking for a couple more .. I really like novels set in the Indian subcontinent but have read most well-known ones - A Fine Balance, God of Small Things, Suitable Boy etc .. any suggestions very welcome :)

How do you all find time to read so many books? I'm very jealous. I've been on holiday 10 days so far and am only half through my second book :(

I thought i was a pretty voracious reader at times but i'd never get through seven!

Maybe 4.

I love Mapp and Lucia!

Nora - my children are 15, 12, 10 - we have rented a villa for the first time and the three of them are planning to spend the entire two weeks in the pool so this holiday I should be able to do a lot of reading. I also read incredibly quickly and worry about running out of books. Saying that, I'll probably bring half of them back unread.

I also read very, very quickly (have read four books in the last five days for eg) and I don't really like the pool, so when the others are in the pool I generally read. I can easily read at least one and a half books on a four hour flight too. I hate having nothing to read and being reduced to searching through whatever crap people have left at the apartments (M&B anyone?).

Highlandcoo - have you read the book that 'Slumdog Millionnaire' is based on? I quite liked it but I can't remember what it's called. Also, 'White Tiger' was pretty good.