This is my holiday reading list - please add/suggest/destroy as necessary!

[HarderToKidnap]

I like postapoc/dystopian, Stephen King (but NOT gory horror), historical, or just generally good books. I'm going away for TWO WEEKS so will need 16 books. No, I don't know how I'm going to get them there.

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
The Innocents, Francesca Segal
The new Sophie Hannah (I've read the rest so I might as well)
The new Barbara Vine (see above)
Zombie Fallout by Mark Tufo
How To be a Good Wife, Emma Chapman

Most of them cos I've seen people mention them on here and I like a bit of populist fiction!

I need 10 more books please!

You get through at least a book a day? Wow! I'm a fast reader, but I'd never get through a whole book every single day of a holiday. Do you do anything but read?

P.S. This Thing of Darkness is brilliant, but I'd be extremely impressed if you read that in a day. It's 700 pages long!

The sort of holidays we have (with young children), I find the number of books I read drops whilst we are away. At best, I manage a book a week. On holiday I'm lucky if I manage that. We're out more, during the day and in the evenings. And I'm more tired after a day at the beach.

I'm in awe of your reading speed, Kidnap :)

I tend to read at least a book a day on holiday, even with sightseeing etc. I tend to wake up earlier and stay up later and read stupidly quickly anyway. I can easily get through two short/medium novels on a 4 hour plane trip.

C.J Sansom's Matthew Shardlake series
Nicci French (crime)
Some Minette Walters - particularly recommend Acid Row, The Dark Room and The Chameleon's Shadow
Tim Powers - Dinner at Deviant's Palace (dystopian fic, but may be hard to get)
Reginald Hill - The Woodcutter (this is his best, it's an amazing psychological thriller)

And I'm also the sort of person who needs 16 books on a two week trip.

Wow! I thought I'd pop on here and have a look to see what people are recommending so that I can plan future reads and I am at those who can read 16 books in 2 weeks!

I think I must use a book as something to 'people watch' from behind when I'm on the beach or by the pool as I get very little reading done .

As I'm here anyway though...I'm currently reading the Girl Who played with Fire (second in the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy and really enjoying it!)

Ooh yes to Sansom.

Who is the Pillars Of the Earth guy too? They are not great literature by any stretch of the imagination but they might last a day or two.

Remus that would be Ken Follett. Great holiday reading.
There are times when I think you must be related to me - bar a few differences over Stephen King we are sisters under the skin .

The Woman who Went to Bed for a year has really tickled me. Easy reading for holidays.

I did enjoy the Barbara Vine, but it isn't her usual doomy gloomy mystery, it's in a different vein. If you are expecting something similar to Asta's Book, you'll be disappointed but approach it with no preconceptions and you may enjoy it.

In a similar style to Vine/Rendell is Erin Kelly's The Poison Tree, and The Sick Rose (not quite as good as TPT but still a good read). I've just finished her latest The Burning Air, which I thought nowhere near as good.

I think you should get a Kindle, then you can put all 16 books on it and still have plenty of space in your suitcase!

Pointy :) Hi sis!

Did you used to be PointyDog btw?

Hi Remus - no, I've been pointy lots of things but PointyDog is someone else.
I still luffs you, though.

:)

I haven't seen PointyDog for ages.

Which King books have we disagreed about? I bet it was Needful Things!

I think Needful Things was one of them (I don't think it's one of his best but I don't hate it). Could it have been Duma Key? (Which I think is one of his best, but not everyone agrees). I also like Lisey's Story, which isn't everyone's cup of tea, and hate From a Buick 8, The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher.

I think we have a few other book likes in common as well.

It might well have been DK. I didn't hate it but the sisters bored the hell out of me and I thought the doll thing was silly. I liked the dude on the beach and the old woman and the recovering from an accident stuff.

Lisey's Story I like except for the monster, which I think is poorly described/executed. The tin opener thing still fills me with horror whenever I think of it.

Remus-yesssss, pillars of the earth, Ken Follett, also his 'world without end'.
I loved those books, took me a while to read them as they were quite big. And I read them on my Kindle. So took a bit longer

There's a WW1 (iirc) one too, set partly in Russia. Something to do with giants. Again, it's a huge book - the writing is a bit stilted but it's well researched, I think and certainly diverting enough for a holiday read.

Sally vickers 'miss garnets angel'
Really good.

I do tend to go for volume for holiday reads. And OP, have you ever read an author called James McGee? He writes a series set around the time of the Napoleonic wars, featuring a Bow Street Runner called Matthew Hawkwood. Series in sequence is

• Ratcatcher
• Resurrectionists
• Rapscallion
• Rebellion

All well worth a read.

Oh yes - I've read those too, Pointy. He is quite sexy! Again, not great writing but good fun - sort of Famous Five for grown ups.

Thank you everyone for you recommendations!! I'm really chuffed to get so many BUT this thread is only serving to confirm my secret belief that I might have read everything worth reading. I've read and enjoyed in various degrees pretty much everything mentioned above apart from some of the more obscure zombie novels!! But I will look into Sally Vickers, and some of the dystopian stuff. Reluctantly I will strike off Hannah and Vine, and get them from the library eventually. I've remebered I haven't read Restoration yet, and I love Rose Tremain so will put that on. Have also added the new Marian Keyes, new Maggie O'Farrell, The Snow Child, and NW by Zadie Smith. Might add Capital too.

I must admit this is my first holiday with a mobile DS so might not get as much reading done as I thought, but best to be prepared!!

Ok i bet you havn't read an obscure novel called "jim giraffe". It's a black comedy with lots of references to 80's computers but i thought it was brilliantly entertaining and fun. Look it up on good reads and read the reviews.