A friend of mine recently asked for some recommendations of holiday reads. I love choosing holiday reads. I generally like to go for a balance of something serious, something light, something I’ve been meaning to read for ages, something quirky, a good history and so on. However, when I started this foolhardy challenge to read all the unread books on my bookshelf in a year, I not only hadn’t considered quite how many there but, more than that, I now realise I hadn’t considered quite how, well, large some of them are.
I’m supposedly reading 4.7 books per week (yes, stop laughing at the back) but some of these are so big that it would take me at least a week to read just one of them, and so, when E asked where I would like to go on holiday this year, my answer was essentially “I don’t care as long as it has a comfy chair, a nice view and plenty to keep you occupied while I read.” Luckily, E is endlessly tolerant (and was in the mood for a chilled out holiday) and so we have found ourselves just such an idyll.
So now, with a few weeks to go before our holiday, I find myself choosing my holiday reads not based on having a diverse mix of books to enjoy, but rather based on which of the TBR books are so fat that the only way I can read them is on holiday. Here are the fattest six, the sumo reads, ones whose editors perhaps should have tried harder (E and I were trying to think of something we could find close at hand that would demonstrate thickness…):
Wine bottle for scale
I’m not sure how many of them I can take with me before I exceed the weight limit on our airline, but I suspect only a couple. And I’m can’t decide which ones to take. Have you read any of them? Which would you take? And what will you be reading on your holidays this year (make me jealous!)?
bloggingaroundmybookcase.com 
I quite often pick holiday reads based on size – I read on my commute a lot and just can’t lug back-breaking books around! I’m hoping my next holiday might see me finally get round to reading The Luminaries, which has been on my bedside table forever. Happy holiday reading to you!
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Oh I haven’t read the Luminaries but I’ve heard it is great. I look forward to reading your review of it!
There is definitely a size of book for commuting, isn’t there. Although on the tube I find the more substantial ones make handy weapons for prodding people out of the way!
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Wine bottle for scale – love it! I’ve not read any of those, but the Raj Quartet and the Neal Stephenson look like traditional ‘light’ holiday reading, and Dangerous Women sounds fun. Other than that, maybe the Andrew Marr as I can imagine a holiday being the only way to get through that? Have a great holiday!
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Thanks! Yes, I’ve started Dangerous Women – it is a collection of short stories and really good as far as I got. Raj Quartet, New York and the Stephenson are my top three at the moment.
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Oh, not the Andrew Marr! I abandoned it on the grounds that life’s too short, so a holiday is definitely too short!
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Yes, I have previously abandoned it too. I may relegate it to being a ‘December read’ if I have read everything else by then!
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You could have used a shoe to show scale, or a brick, but no…
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Don’t take 2666 on holiday – it’s a trap and I wrote this about it:
http://sharonandjames.co.uk/blog/100713-26662.shtml
Not a bad book though:
http://sharonandjames.co.uk/blog/100111-2666.shtml
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