Holiday read?

[Ole]

I am going to my parents for 3 weeks and they are really great with my toddler which means I will have time to read (yipee!!) but I haven't got time to browse the library or bookshops so I need some suggestions please! I am a medical journalist and editor and I read lots of heavy going technical stuff for work, so I want to give my brain a rest and avoid anything dense, but I get bored with over-the-top chic lit. Any ideas for favourite books?

[jollybaby]

I've just got back from holiday and quite enjoyed The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas

[Vickster]

One Day by David Nicholls

Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Secret History by Donna Tart

The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (preferred the latter personally)

[alieh]

I was going to suggest One Day too. Just read it on holiday myself and loved it.

[amyw]

also 'room' is good

and i quite liked 'my last duchess' although i cant decide if its a bit chick lit or not

[curlykaren]

I also thought The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns were excellent, The Slap, was however, just very annoying.

[Vickster]

I have my eye on Caitlin Moran's How to be a Woman. I think she is very funny

[womanofdulwich]

i would specifically not read the slap- it is a depressing book, with no characters to like.

[mrs.lotte]

American Wife - totally absorbing, brilliant read

Diplomatic baggage - well written, really interesting and laugh out loud/continuously quoting to bored husband funny.

Sister - annoying characters but good story

Winter in Madrid - bit more highbrow than the above but a proper gripping yarn

The Help - expect to do some crying

Enjoy.

[Pickle]

The Road - Cormac McCarthy - one of the best books I have read for a long long time, highly recommended.

[Maki]

Very recently i have read both 'Sister' and 'The Wood Cutter' and found them both un-put-down-able!

Reading 'The Slap' at the moment, haven't got into it yet but think that's because I've just discovered Angry Birds on my new swanky phone and am a little bit addicted!

Other easy reading books I love are 'The Road' Jack Keroac, 'On the Road' Cormac McCarthy, 'Charlotte Grey' Seb faulks, 'The Book Theif'.

Pls excuse spelling and grammar - I'm sleepy now - about to take Ovaltine and Angry Birds to bed :)

[ladyruskin]

I second The Help. It was well written and an easy read - I actually miss the characters.

[BellendenBear]

I also love Kite Runner and Thousand Splendid Suns.

The Help is a great holiday read, looks really big but a real page turner.

I hated The Slap. So did the rest of my book club. Awful. All of the characters deserved a slap. Really hated it!

If you really will have lots of time then Wild Swans is worth a read.

[ClaireClaire]

Hi,

I recommend:

A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif - a Sydenham author who was shortlisted for the Booker 2008

Also, some older ones in case you missed them when they came out - all easy reads but still engaging

We Need to talk about Kevin, Lionel Shriver

What was Lost, Catherine O'Flynn

The Tenderness of Wolves, Stef Penney

Notes from a Scandal, Zoe Heller

If you like Harry Potter type fantasy, don't forget the Bartimaeus books by Jonathon Stroud

Quite a girly book but by no means chick-lit is

I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith

Enjoy your holiday!

Claire

[Polly D]

Maggot O'Farrell's The Hand That First Held Mine.

[Yak]

David Mitchell's books are great for holiday reading- Cloud Atlas and One Thousand Days of Jacob de Zoot are all very readable but a nice good length. I thought The Help and One Day were good, too.

I love reading Kazuro Isiguro on holiday too - his prose is beautifully sparse and it's lovely to savour when you have the time.

A bit different but The Suspicions of Mr Whitcher (about a real life murder mystery in 19th century middle class provincial England) gets you thinking.

Slightly trashy but real page turners are the millennium series (the girl who kicked the hornet's nest) by Stig Larsson.

[jollybaby]

Ole you're welcome to borrow my copy of the slap if you want!!

[catjo13]

Would agree wholeheartedly with:

The Help

One Day

The Hand that First Held Mine

American Wife

One Thousand Days of Jacob de Zoet

On my last holiday I read and loved

The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen. As well as being a wonderful character study it is quite chunky and took me about a week.

Also recently read and liked:

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

and the latest Kate Atkinson book Started Early, Took my Dog.

[HollieES]

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

My Friend Leonard (follows the above) by James Frey

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Best books I've read in a long time.

[Lochie]

The Life of Pi - Yann Martell - great holiday read, think won booker prize

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami - excellent and easy to read

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguru

Another vote for A Thousand Splendid Suns

oh how i wish to be able to sit down and read a book!!

ENJOY!!!

[claire101]

How to be a Woman - Caitlin Moran

I've just read it on holiday (bliss, not to be reading baby food books or textbooks...) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'd also vote for the Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns and I've enjoyed all the Maggie O'Farrells

[alieh]

Oh yes, definitely Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.

[Ruffler]

Another big thumbs down for The Slap - don't waste your precious reading time!

I also loved The Kite Runner and Thousand Splendid Suns and enjoyed The Help and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I've recently joined Audible.com and loved the audio version of We Need to Talk about Kevin.

I'm now going to add One Day to my list of holiday reads!

[Belle]

American Wife is one of my favourite books, think it is beautifully written and absorbing.

I've been getting into Scandi crime lit recently - just read a good one called 'Hypothermia' by Arnaldur Indridson. Think 'the hand that first held mine' is Maggie O F's best novel yet, absolutely wept reading that one on holiday last year. Also read Sarah Waters 'The little stranger' - bit of a thriller/ghost story - recently, pretty good. Not as good as the one she wrote before that, 'the nightwatch'. Think all of these wd be good holiday reading.

[Dodo1]

I would hurry up and read One day as the film comes out in Aug!

I would recommend Alone in Berlin.