It has got much harder to find holiday reading since the second-hand bookshop closed - at least, it is much harder to find
cheap holiday reading. So this year I am taking a careful selection of old and new, to wit:
- Life, by Keith Richards. It's had good reviews, and I don't often read non-fiction, and this will, I hope, remind me of my youth.
- The Radleys, by Matt Haig. This is the light one, the (hopefully) amusing one, for days when I don't feel like anything too taxing.
- Candide, by Voltaire. This is the joker in the pack - I've no idea whether I'll like it or not. I decided to take it after reading a review by Julian Barnes (and I think Julian Barnes is probably God) in the Saturday Guardian, admittedly of a very expensive (£185!) Folio Society edition. The one on my shelf, which I don't remember ever buying, but it must have been there for at least 30 years, unread, is a Penguin paperback, very fragile, dated 1947.
Daughter is taking:
- Moby Dick - my favourite novel ever, so I could always read it again if I don't like, or finish, everything else
- Starter for Ten, by David Nicholls. I've only just read One Day, which was good, but I'm not really tempted to read anything else by him just yet.
- Her fearful symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger. This I might try, especially after our trip to Highgate Cemetery last year.
Husband will be on sci-fi and/or violent crime. Son won't be reading anything at all.
