Long haul flight and holiday read recommendations needed!

[NameChangedForThis2025]

Going on a very long haul flight and 3 week holiday so need some easy reads that don’t take too much brainpower.

Here are some of the kinds of books I’m looking for with examples I’ve read and enjoyed…

• Crime / murder mystery - enjoy Strike series, Thursday Murder Club, Lisa Jewell, Ruth Galloway
• Fantasy - eg Game of Thrones, Robin Hobb, Terry Pratchett
• Easy modern fiction like Marian Keyes or David Nichols.

Thanks!

Or anything that’s properly gripping!

The Year of the Locust!

Mhairi McFarlane?

Losers club series books. Easy reading and very funny!

No recommendations but a couple of years ago going through airport security my carry on cabin bag was pulled for a search - in it I had 3/4 books
The security explained that books show up as 'dodgy' on the x-ray machine and also not many people take a number of books on holiday with them

American Dirt and All the Colours of the Dark are page turning thrillers.

In crime, Ann Cleeves' Vera series and her Shetland series are good, also Val McDermid's Karen Pirie books.

If you haven't yet read The Running Grave, it is by far the best book in the Strike series.

Susan Hill Simon Serrailler series.

Those are all good suggestions! I’ve read and enjoyed a lot of them - Dresden Files, Evelyn Hugo, all the Strikes (LOVED Running Grave), All The Colours of the Dark. So I will definitely check out the other recommendations I haven’t read, thank you.

@MumofSpud 😆 Pre kindle I was definitely take a stack of books on holiday kind of person! Now I’ve got a 3 year old and my holiday reading ambitions always outstrip the reality of the time I have available to read sadly.

Oh also I really loved the Shardlake series, so if anyone has got anything recommendations on that vein 👍🏻

Mick Herron Slow Horses?
I got the first 3 for 99p on Amazon the other day.

I'm currently reading CJ Box Cassie Dewell series. I've already read most of the Joe Pickett ones. Easy to read but enough plot to keep the pages turning!

Not sure about any new releases, but I have a few I usually recommend.

Have you read Pillars of The Earth if you liked Shardlake ? Different time period but an amazing book - all set around the building of a cathedral.

Also, try Project Hail Mary (which is not my usual type of book but I thought it was fab - quite a bit of humour in it although its not a comedy), Where The Crawdads Sing (which was great), I Am Pilgrim (total page turner), and Shogun was a fab book.

I read Deborah Hawks all Sols Trilogy (Discovery of witches,...) on holiday.

My go to recommendations at the moment are S.A Chakraborty, Divabad Trilogy
Ocarina Butler Kindered
... and an easy & interesting read: Jane Ann McLachlan The Girl that would be Queen.

Sorry, last title is THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE QUEEN.

Thank God for my Kindle then (always stands around 120 books left to read!) because in the pre-Kindle days half my suitcase was books. In fact I only got a Kindle originnally on account of the fact that the small boat around the Galapagos strictly limited luggage to the point where it would have been books or clothes but not both.

Crime / murder - Mari Hannah, Andrea Mara
Fantasy - if you like Terry Pratchett, have you read Tom Holt? I particulalrly recommend Expecting Someone Taller and How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It.

If you liked All the Colours of the Dark, you might like Demon Copperhead. The 2 main characters really remind me of each other.

Have you read the Rivers of London series?

If you like Terry Pratchett you may also enjoy Brandon Sanderson. I would recommend
The frugal wizard's handbook to survival in medieval England
Tess of the emerald seas

All of hers are great

Rivers of London modern London crime with a twist. Light and page turning.
Martina Cole if you don't mind a lot swearing and violence and nastiness.
Jackie Collins Hollywood Wives absolute classic.
Jack Reacher Lee Child start with the first one. Also lots of violence but not too gory and by god those baddies deserve it!
Patrick O'Brian seafaring series starts with Master and Commander. I literally can't stop at one.
The Parker novels by Richard Stark omit the first one it's not as good as the others. These are a bit niche you will know straight away if they are for you.
Sorry you did ask. I take a ton of books with me on holiday and nowadays I can access my library account and download ebooks and audio from my pool in Greece. I love the 21st century.

Alt reality
Stephen Donaldson - The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant (or, lighter read, Mordant's Need).

Tudor
P F Chisolm's Robert Carey novels. RC was a real person, grandson of Mary Boleyn. First books are set on the English/Scottish Borders which makes a nice change. Cracking adventures with lots of historic detail.