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Original poster

What is this year's 'Captain Corelli' s mandolin'?

49 replies

Moredarkchocolateplease · 04/05/2023 11:13

By which I mean the one book that will be spotted on sun loungers across the hot spots of Europe, covered in suncream and remembered as 'the holiday where I read < insert book name here>

I'm going away at half term and I like to follow the crowd and read a big page turner on my hols 😁😚

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Original poster
Moredarkchocolateplease · 04/05/2023 11:13

I have no idea why the kissing emoji is on here too...

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sparklefresh · 04/05/2023 11:28

Hmm, maybe Lessons in Chemistry? I feel as though it's everywhere and that everyone has read or is about to read it. It's very good and an easy read!

XBealtaine · 04/05/2023 11:31

No it's Barbara Kingsolver's new book. Demon Copperhead.
Last year's was Susanna Clark's Piranesi I think.

mynameiscalypso · 04/05/2023 11:31

I was going to say Lessons in Chemistry too. It's rare that I get on the tube and don't see at least three people reading it.

ChicoryDip · 04/05/2023 11:31

Yes, Lessons in Chemistry is a good shout.

The move to Kindles for lots of people has meant that I really miss seeing the bestseller for the year on sunbeds. DH and I will still talk about 'The Captain Corelli holiday' or the 'Life of Pi trip' or 'Wasn't that the Di Vinci code year?'.

Original poster
Moredarkchocolateplease · 04/05/2023 11:41

@ChicoryDip yes that's exactly what u mean! I was also going to use Da Vinci Code!

Agreed re kindles but I still think there is a big sale of paperbacks at the airport especially to disorganised men I suspect!

Will look into all those titles. I've picked up a copy of the Harry Quuebert affair which feels like a nice sunlounger book, but sometimes I want to be sheep like!

Last year I read the Lincoln Highway in paperback on the plane and loved it.

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JaneyGee · 04/05/2023 18:55

It always amazes me how people rush to buy the latest ‘big thing’. I hardly ever read popular books. It’s not that I think they’re no good. And it isn’t snobbery (I love Bill Bryson, for example). It’s just that I have literally piles of unread books in my room. There are SO many classics I want to read and haven’t got round to (Wuthering Heights, Bleak House, Middlemarch). I haven’t even read everything by my favourite authors (Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Woolf, P G Wodehouse, Oscar Wilde, etc). I also have countless unread non-fiction works piled up. I’ve had Sagan’s Cosmos and Dawkins’ Selfish Gene sat on my shelves for nearly a decade!! Somebody bought me Harold Bloom’s final work for Christmas, and I haven’t even opened the damn thing, let alone read it.

Original poster
Moredarkchocolateplease · 04/05/2023 20:16

Well I don't think I am 'rushing' more I just quite like the idea of reading some popular easy reading fiction on my holiday!

And given that I've been plodding through two Jonathan Franzen books for the last 6 months whilst working, being ill and supporting my family, my attention span is probably a bit short for Bronte or Elliot and the chances are they'd just send me to sleep on the sun lounger I'm so knackere😁

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user4750 · 04/05/2023 20:21

I also came on ti say lessons in chemistry. It’s good

sparklefresh · 04/05/2023 20:53

Absolutely nothing wrong with popular easy fiction!

Whyjustwhy123 · 04/05/2023 22:22

Oscar Wilde? Nah I’ll stick with Lessons in chemistry etc.

Original poster
Moredarkchocolateplease · 05/05/2023 07:53

I will try and get a copy of lessons in chemistry too. So I can say I've read it, along with everyone else 😉😄

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FoFanta · 05/05/2023 07:57

Lessons in Chemistry is pretty good. I also recently enjoyed Maggie O'Farrell's new book The Marriage Portrait. It's set in Italy so would be a good shout if you were heading to actual Italy on your holidays.

OnMyWayToSenility · 05/05/2023 07:59

I'm currently away and it's lessons in chemistry

RampantIvy · 05/05/2023 07:59

I thought Lessons in Chemistry was OK, not great, just OK.

Sagittariusrising · 05/05/2023 15:58

I would agree with everyone that Lessons in Chemistry would be really popular, especially as it's now in paperback. I also see a lot of people reading the Slough House series books by Mick Herron on public transport.

Cakemonger · 05/05/2023 16:05

I might be wrong and out of the loop but I don't feel there's been a summer hit as big as Captain Corelli for quite a while?

The last 'summer hit' I read was Fleishman is in Trouble and I was quite disappointed with that so wrote off the whole thing as pure marketing and vowed not to be taken in again!

Original poster
Moredarkchocolateplease · 05/05/2023 16:22

Ah I agreed. Gave up on fleischmann too.

Mad that we all remember the summer of Captain Corelli!

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Tiddlywinkly · 05/05/2023 20:16

Not literary, but I've heard a lot about Pineapple Street.

I've bought that and Demon Copperhead. Looking forward to reading them 😀

ChicoryDip · 05/05/2023 20:24

Tiddlywinkly · 05/05/2023 20:16

Not literary, but I've heard a lot about Pineapple Street.

I've bought that and Demon Copperhead. Looking forward to reading them 😀

I've downloaded Pineapple Street to my Kindle. Hoping it's good.

ArcticBells · 05/05/2023 20:37

FoFanta · 05/05/2023 07:57

Lessons in Chemistry is pretty good. I also recently enjoyed Maggie O'Farrell's new book The Marriage Portrait. It's set in Italy so would be a good shout if you were heading to actual Italy on your holidays.

Just read Lessons in Chemistry and now reading Maggie O'Farrells's Hamnett 😀

ElizabethinherGermanGarden · 05/05/2023 20:49

If you haven't read Still Life by Sarah Winman, that's lovely. Set in Italy and London through and after WWII - it's got that emotional, sunshiny vibe.

Upanddownthemerrygoround · 05/05/2023 21:01

@ArcticBells you’re going to cry. But it’s an amazing book.

Last year’s but Cloud Cuckoo Land or Great Circle would be my holiday choice.

ElderflowerPress33 · 06/05/2023 23:05

Lessons in Chemistry is so over rated and pretty dull. Couldn’t wait to finish it.

RampantIvy · 07/05/2023 07:00

You and I are in a minority @ElderflowerPress33.
I also couldn't wait to finish it.