What Should You Read on Vacation?

The book-related question I get asked most often by my friends has to be "what should I read on my vacation?"

Obviously, everyone has different criteria for what kind of books they like to read on vacation, but if I don't know anything about the reader's preferences, if it's a woman, I usually start with suggesting the authors Liane Moriarty and Jojo Moyes, because I think they strike the right vacation balance of an engaging book which is light in writing style but with plenty of emotional depth.  For guys (and women too), Jonathan Tropper and Nick Hornby can fill a similar slot.  For mystery readers, I generally recommend Tana French, and for historical fiction, Kate Morton.  For people not afraid of a little genre fiction, "The Martian" by Andy Weir and "The Passage" by Justin Cronin are two can't-put-down books great for vacation.  And of course, depending on what I've read that year and specific requests/preferences of the person asking, lots and lots of other books may pop into my mind.

For me personally, I don't mind reading a long book on vacation, but I don't want to read anything too heavy or depressing.  If I have time for a few books, I like to hit a few different genres -maybe a sci-fi or fantasy (either adult or young adult), a mystery, a light historical fiction, a contemporary women's fiction book...

The idea of running out of things to read on vacation is pretty much my worst nightmare, and is the whole reason my husband Dan originally bought me a kindle - because even if we were getting on an airplane, I still needed to pack 10 books just in case.  This past summer, I thought I had forgotten my kindle on our way to Cape Cod and I had to calm myself down by reminding myself that I could read on my iPhone (though not ideal for reading in the sun) and that there would also be bookstores there.  Luckily I had just packed it in a different spot than I thought.  

Here are a few books that are particularly memorable for me specifically for the fact that I read them on vacation - not just books I liked, but books that when I think about them, I can vividly remember exactly where I was when I was reading them.  

• "Making History" by Stephen Fry and "A Widow for One Year" by John Irving - read both of these on my post-bar exam trip through Spain and Portugal

• "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larssen - probably everyone has read this crazy thriller, but I remember sitting on the terrace of our hotel room in Mexico while 1 year old Jonah took endless naps

• "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein - sitting on the deck by the plunge pool in Mexico on our 10 year anniversary trip, sobbing my eyes out

• "The Martian" by Andy Weir - I read this on vacation with Dan in Bermuda.  This was before Kindles had a family share option, and since Dan and I each had our own Kindles with our own accounts, I insisted we swap kindles just so he could read it right after I did

Interestingly, four out of the five were 5 star books which made it onto my top 10 books of the year list for the year I read them.  Maybe reading a book on vacation can make you like it even more, since you are in a good mood and have more time to read.