Holiday reads.....what would you say was this year's 'must read'?

[Earthymama]

I'm taking loads as usual, some by C J Sansom, Lionel Shriver's latest, Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer, Andrew Taylor. I've got a couple by Iain Banks, Owen Sheers, Jodie Picoult.

One holiday I read David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, another time, Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now...and really loved them.

So what should I take this year that would have the unputdownable factor?

PS does anyone else read loads if they get the chance? I read really quickly and DO talk to DP, but feel really guilty as everyone says, disapprovingly, ' Don't you do anything but read?'. I love the chance to just lie on the beach for a few hours and read without interuption. Of course there's the coach to the airport, the wait to board, the flight, journey to resort......so there's at least one book under my belt. So I NEED to take lots......

Yiddish Policeman's Union is good.

Oh and if SF/Fantasy is to your taste, the Night Watch series by Sergei Lutyanenko is very good.

Have just read the thriller No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay in one sitting - everyone in my house had to fend for themselves for their dinner! It wasn't the most literary of reads, but it had a really gripping plot, about the mystery of what happened to a teenaged girl's family who disappeared from the house one night with no clue why. 25 years later, it is stirred up again, but not in a good way...

Another tip for later in the year: The Other Hand, by Chris Cleave, due out in August. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of this as I work in a bookshop, and it blew me away: if you enjoy books like The Kiterunner,i.e. moving, at times funny, and intelligent) I heartily recommend this book. I read alot, and this one really stood out for me...

Hope this helps you find something you like over the next few months, and tell us what you ended up taking!

I too get accused of reading too much. Just been away and read 9 books in 2 weeks. Didn't take enough of my own and ended up reading trash but some of the good ones:
The Kite Runner (although I suspect I'm horribly behind on that)
"Can any mother help me" - fantastic. Historical, sociological and an easy, but intelligent read
"The Widower" - Ray Klun - I couldn't put that down