What will you be reading on the sun bed this year then? And anything you’d recommend? I am catching up on a few JG Ballards I’ve missed, the biog of Tubby Hayes, the Glyn John’s biog which I bought and forgot to read and an unspeakable Tom Clancy, whose work I enjoy in a “peeling off a scab is both pleasure and pain” kind of way. If you don’t know the great man’s oeuvre, try “Executive Orders” which eerily predicted 9/11.
You?
Gatz says
I never quite got the idea of holiday reading. If there is one time of year when I’m guaranteed to be too busy to read its when I’m on holiday. Nevertheless, as someone who worked in bookshops for well over a decade I know the concept exists, though how many of those books that get bought in Waterstones multi buys and packed are actually read is anyone’s guess.
I added further to my ‘to read’ file just yesterday with 4 reissues of those Taget Doctor Who books which I loved as a kid (one of them is Doctor Who and the Yetis, which I must have read half a dozen times) and a copy of Alan Moore’s masterwork From Hell. The Doctor Who’s were 25p each and From Hell 50p, all apparently unread. Bless charity shops.
On the go, and recommended for easy holiday reading if that’s you thing, are Sylvia Pattersons pop journo memoir I’m Not With th Band, Richard E Grants film making diary The Wah Wah Diaries, and one of Malcolm Pryces wonderful hard boiled detective meets Aberystwyth novels (I forget which one, but if you enjoyed any of them you’re on a safe bet). For something with more substance, I recently enjoyed Andrew Graham Dixons biography of Carevaggio, which closely times in the evolving style of his still stunning paintings to a turbelent life story.
minibreakfast says
Bought the Sylvia on Friday. Very much looking forward to it.
Gatz says
She’s writes well and fluently, even when describing a fairly troubled upbringing but at two thirds of the way through the book has become a series of rehashed interviews with short connecting passages at the end (‘… but little did I know the next band would be even worse … and so on).
Bartleby says
Finishing off HW Brands’ excellent Reagan biog and – if my luggage allowance will tolerate – trying to gobble up more of the Songwriting Secrets of The Beatles. A half read Crime and Punishment lurks forlornly on my bedside table but hasn’t earnt its passage. Possibly the last ‘should’be book I ever attempt.
Bartleby says
Stray ‘be’ in there thanks to spellchecker being on and user-not-checker being off
Twang says
My “bought in a fit of enthusiasm after the TV adaptation” copy of War and Peace will similarly be remaining next to the bedside cabinet.
Bartleby says
Maybe a thread of books we definitely won’t be taking…
Vulpes Vulpes says
Anything by Kate Atkinson. Much lauded, prize winning, etc. Two tomes bought, both unreadably tedious in a horribly show-offy, make-it-hard-to-keep-track-just-for-the sake-of-it way. Lovely writing patches scattered across a fractured narrative that makes me want to slap the author for being such a waster of their own talents. Like a great album rendered unnecessarily difficult by appalling song sequencing choices. Life’s long enough to tolerate a 45 minute art delivery sequence failure, but too short to waste on a 500 page masturbatory technique demonstration. Both abandoned. Two books, TWO books, abandoned in six months. The first two books I have EVER abandoned unread. And after several faltering weeks each of dogged ploughing. Both coming to a charity shop near you, soonest. Hateful experience, never to be repeated.
Vulpes Vulpes says
PS I lied. not the first. Foucault’s Pendulum got that honour, so long ago I forgot about it. Holy Jesus what a high opinion that guy has of himself. Twat.
And I speak as someone who is no stranger to manful persistence through countless pages of what-the-fuckery. I’ve read a lot of big fat Pynchon, ferChrist’ssake.
Junior Wells says
Big fat Pynchon TMFTL
mikethep says
Dogged ploughing sounds like much more fun than it actually is. Probably.
H.P. Saucecraft says
You may be thinking of ploughed dogging?
Fifer says
Amen to your Kate Atkinson experience. I kept thinking there would be a good story emerging any page now, but it never did. Tedious, frustrating, self-indulgent crap. Of course, OOAA.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Thank God it’s not just me then!
Jeff says
And me.
Junglejim says
Oddly I have to agree, with the very notable exception of the Jackson Brodie books – On Good Turn etc. which I adored.
On the strength of them and her general acclaim I tried Scenes From Inside The Museum & just could not read it. Same thing with a couple of her others.
I concluded I will happily read any further detective stuff, but avoid everything else.
mikethep says
I’m not actually going on holiday any time soon (wrong time of year), but if I were I’d be taking my Kobo, with loads of books on it, some of which might be described as beach reads, some not. Once you’ve got an electronic reader, holiday reading as a thing no longer makes any sense. This means I no longer have to take Middlemarch away on holiday with me – or rather, I do, but it lurks in my little electronic piece of kit with all the other books and doesn’t make me feel guilty.
Of course if it was the Grauniad asking, I could pretend to be taking Duration and Simultaneity: Bergson and the Einsteinian Universe by Henri Bergson. As it’s you asking, I’d recommend The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, anything by Lee Child you haven’t read, Wilko’s autobiography Don’t you Leave Me Here, and Encyclopedia of Myself by Jonathan Meades, which I’m reading and enjoying hugely (warning: it probably helps if you’re roughly the same age as him).
Tiggerlion says
That’s the one for me! Wilko’s autobiography.
Junior Wells says
Hmm Foucault or the Wilko Autobiography
Tough call
Kid Dynamite says
Books I’ve already earmarked for our fortnight away include Luna by Ian MacDonald, Slow Boats To China by Gavin Young, Beauty & Chaos by Michael Pronko and the obligatory worthy literary entry in the shape of The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki.
Freddy Steady says
@twang
We’ve had a massive clear out of all our paperbacks in our spare bedroom and the spookily the only one left which I hadn’t read is Executive Orders. My wife hasn’t read it either and I haven’t read any of his others as far as I know (though have seen some of the films based on his other books) so thought I’d give it a go (and take it on my hols tomorrow )
I’m on page 140 of 1089 so far and finding it really dull and dense, so much so that I might give it up. I did think it would be an easy holiday read thriller but it isn’t.
So, should I persist?
Twang says
I remember when I first read it I got really hooked once I got to know who is who. It is quite dense. I’d probably give it a bit longer but TC isn’t great literature by any standards. Good for whiling away time. See how you get on.
Twang says
PS I originally read it on holiday…
Freddy Steady says
Ta. I think it might have helped if I’d read some of his earlier ones, get the feeling it’s a bit like a sequel.
It’s definitely not great literature but I will pack it for my hols….thanks.
Twang says
It’s no spoiler to say of the previous book 99% of it is irrelevant…Ryan was in the CIA and became National Security Advisor helped avert an escalation in a shooting war with Japan over a trade issue….circumstances lead to him being made interim</em deputy president (“you’re the only one I trust Jack “)…then the thing happens which ends the previous book and starts this one….(no spoilers)…
Twang says
HTML Cockup…
Freddy Steady says
Brill..thanks Twang. . I’d kinda worked some of that out but good to know I can read it as a stand alone.
Vulpes Vulpes says
I’m taking Tom to Ireland. Fabulous. Once that’s been consumed there’s a great little second-hand bookshop I know in Clifden that always yields a few more stuff-in-the-rucksack titles for pennies. Cents, actually.
niscum says
Damn, Clifden looks nice. I must go there!
Mike_H says
I don’t do holidays, but now that I’m retired, life is one big long holiday, innit.
I’ve just finished re-reading the last (The Little Sister) of 6 Raymond Chandler “Philip Marlowe” novels on my Kindle. In between Nos 3 & 4 I took a break and re-read Deke Leonard’s “Maybe I Should’ve Stayed In Bed?” in paperback.
I have John LeCarré’s “The Night Manager”, Danny Baker’s “Going Off Alarming”, James Ellroy’s “Dudley Smith Trio (The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential and White Jazz)”, Geoff Dyer’s “Working The Room”, Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Agent”, Robert Gordon’s “Can’t Be Satisfied: The Life and Times Of Muddy Waters” and Laurence Sterne’s “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman” unread on the Kindle, but I’m very tempted to buy that Tubby Hayes biography and forget the others for a bit.
H.P. Saucecraft says
The Collected Stories Of Raymond Chandler, and a PDF of his screenplay for Double Indemnity, both courtesy A. Valparaiso. I never, ever tire of Chandler. Also Extreme Prey, the last (so far) Lucas Davenport novel by The Author With The Most Forgettable Name Ever … John Sandford (I had to fire up the KIndle to remind myself). I’m a huge fan. Witty, great characters, nice twists and turns, set-piece action, the works.
mikethep says
Trouble is My Business was the first Chandler I ever read – a green Penguin bought at the church jumble sale – so I’ve got a soft spot for the short stories.
There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.
Magic.
Twang says
Good point, a collected Chandler would be fun. Off to the Dodgers.
minibreakfast says
I’m not going anywhere, but was thinking this morning that as summer’s here a Jilly Cooper bonkbuster would be a nice bit of escapism. Sadly the reviews for her last (Jump!) are awful. By coincidence she’s currently on Desert Island Discs as she has a new one out in September. Perhaps it’ll do for next summer, but I’ll be checking the reviews before I download. Yes, download; those bonkbusters are bloody big.
SteveT says
Specifically for my hols I bought the Tim Burgess book about record shopping from Istanbul to San Francisco – apt as I will be San Francisco. Also liked the title – his second book and called Tim book Two – I know, very 6th form but I thought it was funny. Then its a toss up between Viv Albertines autobiography or Mike Scott’s plus I expect I will take the last of the Christopher Isherwood Berlin novels with me.
Sid Williams says
Any aviation fans out there? If so I´d recommend Skyfarer by Mark Vanhoenacker. Superb!
Sid Williams says
sorry, that should be Skyfaring. Enough tech stuff for us geeks but a fair dollop of philosophy for you highbrows.
davebigpicture says
Off the top of my head…..
Two Robertson Davies: Deptford and Cornish trilogies.
Murukami: Dance Dance Dance.
Summer hols are for reading and relaxing. We have a house booked in Fiskardo with a sunny balcony. There’s a beautiful little bay with crystal clear waters 100 yards away and a picturesque harbour with bars and restaurants five minutes in the other direction. Perfect.
Kid Dynamite says
I love Robertson Davies. Are you rereading or going in for the first time?
davebigpicture says
I started the Deptford Trilogy a while ago but will probably start over. It was probably your recommendation that made me seek it out.
Beezer says
It’s a doozy.
davebigpicture says
Nearly finished it. Murakami next.
Locust says
In the last few years I have started to buy every collection of short stories that I can find – and there are usually plenty about in the Charity shops, especially old ones.
I’ll buy everything; old and new, famous authors and unfamiliar ones, high-brow stuff and the genre stuff; sci fi, horror. I have three shelves of them now.
They’re great when you don’t have much time, but still want to read. Perfect for commutes, and for other occasions when you have to wait around a lot.
I brought a de Maupassant collection to the three day festival I’ve just returned home from. It’s a one stage festival, so a thirty minute pause between acts to clear and set up the stage. I don’t eat at the festival (I eat before I leave home for the day around noon or so, and eat when I return home after midnight – skipped the final act today so I got an “early” dinner…) and I always go alone, so I need something to read while I wait. Day one I read Wells’ The Time Machine, which is a very short novel or a very long short story…
I imagine travels are perfect for short stories as well.
Twang says
I did a short story writing course once and they recommended a Chekov collection which was excellent. “The Kiss” is the famous one.
bungliemutt says
I’d recommend Seven Brief Lessons On Physics by Carlo Rovelli. It’s a kind of Brief History Of Time for people with short attention spans. The whole gamut of particle physics and theories about the origins of the universe encapsulated in 80 pages. According to the Penguin blurb it’s ‘the new cult book’, and you can’t say fairer than that.
ger_the_boptist says
Someone on the Massive recently mentioned Justin Cronin.
On the back of that got The Passage – cracking read – Walking Dead friendly – if you know what I mean.
Have the other 2 books of the trilogy lined up.
Also, John Le Carre’s Night Manager.
Have read almost all his books but somehow missed that one.
Got it on the back of the BBC series.
I got it via BookBub – which is a weekly list of free/cheap books on Amazon & Google.
fentonsteve says
I’ve just completed “Rip it up and start again: postpunk 1978-1984” by Simon Reynolds and “Future Days: Krautrock and the building of Modern Germany” by David Stubbs.
Both excellent reads and, like the best music books, my Dodger’s basket is now groaning with new CDs – I didn’t explore the darker corners of either genre in my youth.
They’re not for everybody – I’m about 10 years younger than you and I like both Post-punk and Krautrock.
ivylander says
Just got back from our annual week at the beach – several volumes consumed, but the only one I would recommend is William Finnegan’s superb surfing memoir ‘Barbarian Days’.
Bargepole says
If you enjoy Tom Clancy, Ludlum etc or the other year’s I am Pilgrim, then Nomad by James Swallow is worth checking out – hokum but keeps you turning the pages nonetheless!
Twang says
Ta Bargie, bought for 1p from Dodgers marketplace.
Bargepole says
Now that’s what Bargepole calls a bargain 😉
bricameron says
I’m a third way through ‘The Forger’s Spell’. A true story of Vermeer, Nazis and the greatest art hoax of the twentieth century. I’m pretty sure the creators of Futurama based the character of the lounging hedonistic “Bot” on Herman Goering. The similarities are uncanny!