Vacation Book Packing

As I get ready for my last vacation before retiring I am setting aside books to pack. Fora three week vacation I''ll usually take 10-15 books. Criteria #1 is paperback --since I can't see lugging around hardbacks. I also tend to take thicker books that will last longer rather than slight things that won't hold me longer than a few hours.

Usually I take things that have been languishing unread on my shelves, since while on vacation I'll read anything with print. This time, however, I'm sticking to the tried and true.

Making the cut so far: Two by Bill Bryson, who I have only just begun to read A Short History of Nearly Everything and in honor of the portion of the trip in England notes from a small island.

Sticking with the English theme I am also bring Mrs. Tim of the Regiment and Henrietta's War.

I will take the next installation of A Song of Fire and Ice by George R.R. Martin -- one my rare forays into Fantasy, where I am up to A Storm of Swords. When I started the things I assumed the series was complete and I could work through it as I felt moved, so I was disgruntled to discover that the Author appears to have gotten stuck midway through!

No vacation would be complete without a little horror and I have chosen Usher's Passing by Robert McCammon.

A few more to go. What are your criteria for vacation packing?

After dragging a bunch of heavy books on a transcontinental train trip and reading only two of them, my husband and I now pack only two paperbacks that we both want to read. If we need more, we buy them where we are.

More often than not I pack anticipating that there will be more books to bring back than I took - holidays tend to take in places with interesting bookshops, book fairs, or similar temptations. Usually I take the Ereader with lots of nice long Victorian novels off Project Gutenberg, plus a couple of paperback detective stories for use in case of equipment failure or (if I'm travelling by air) during take-off and landing.

If I'm heading into a book-desert (i.e. a country where the language or economy makes holiday book-buying pointless for me) then I tend to take something "difficult" that's been sitting on my shelves for too long. Preferably in German or French, because that gives me more hours of reading per kilo of paper than English...

Eraeders! That's the way to go. Ideal for vacations. Two week battery life, carry hundreds of books at about 200g (half pound) weight.

Choice of several models, each with their own pros and cons. Of course it's one more expense but they're good for normal reading too. Depending on what you want to read the books can be free!

I'll normally ensure I've a selection of different fiction genres with me, generally continuations of series I'm reading, or else I'll treat myself to the latest offerings from favourite authors. Sometimes I'll have a non-fiction too, but a sufficiency of museums et al normally surfices.

ETA - group link What's in your suitcase? bricks? for those heavy moments.

My otherwise excellent BeBook has a bad habit of freezing up occasionally. When it does this you need either a screwdriver to open the battery compartment or a sharp object to poke into the little hole to perform a hard reset. Airlines tend to frown on you taking either of these on board, so if the BeBook crashes during a long flight, you get an Out of Book Error. :-(
Sometime I'll remember to ream out the little hole so that I can use a pencil...

I tend to bring books that are relevant to the place where I'm going. I read The Odyssey on a sailing trip, Dante in Florence. Weight is, of course, a consideration, so I lean towards paperbacks, though I did forego a smaller edition of The Inferno in favor of a bilingual one.

Often, I will choose books in the expectation that I will leave them at my destination for other people to pick up and read. A hotel drawer should have better material than the Gideon Bible!

>6 lilithcat:
Many years ago I went sailing in the Ionian isles for a week. One of those "one small kitbag" holidays. I was laughed at for bringing Little Dorrit, but my friend's choice of Moby-Dick was only marginally more appropriate... Homer would have been much more to the point!

6: Leaving the book behind is a wonderful idea. We'll try it next time.

I tend to bring books that are relevant to the place where I'm going.

I try to do that too. When we went to Dorset I read The Remains of the Day (which I left at the guesthouse where we stayed in Rome), in Tuscany I read Enchanted April and a pile of other books set in Italy.

It's harder when we go to Maui--not so many books set in Hawaii. I have to pack a lot of reading material for that trip because I have a lot of reading time. And I've never seen a bookshop there, so bringing my own is a must.

I don't like anything too dense or philosophical when I'm on holidays. I leave that part of my brain at home.

I usually take at least a dozen books for a one to two week vacation because I never know what I'll be in the mood for. I know the obviously solution seems to be an e-reader; however, on my trip to Europe my iPod just stopped working and I didn't have any music for the last 2 weeks of my trip. So I don't want to risk my reading to technical glitches.

> 9

I think John Michener wrote one of his huge long sagas about Hawai'i, didn't he?

Yep.

#10 - He did indeed. Covered that one on a Hawaii trip years ago. Also did a biography of Captain Cook on a previous trip. The pickings are slim.

> 9 There may not be bookstores in Maui, but there's a great one in Kauai. Of course, the name escapes me, but since it's probably the only one on the island, it shouldn't be hard to find. I seem to recall there was a shaved ice stand nearby. Mmmm

9: I know they have a bad rep, but I've enjoyed the Earl Dare Biggers Charlie Chan series. Chan is stereotyped, but not for humor the way he is in the later movies. He lives on the main island in Hawai'i. Try The Black Camel and The House Without a Key

Also, there's an old Perry Mason that takes place on Hawai'i or the boat between San Francisco and Hawai'i, but I don't remember the title.

> 9 RE: Hawai'i

Oh, my god, how could I have forgotten it?

Fluke, by Christopher Moore! It's really funny.

9: And now that lilthcat mentioned fun, I remembered David Lodge's Paradise News. It takes place at an academic conference, so I'm not sure there's much about actual Hawaiians.

My Old Sweetheart a family drama by Susanna Moore is set in Hawaii.