However, we are ill-equipped to make the right choice.
Firstly, it is wrong to assume, if you are not a regular reader, that two weeks baking in 30 degrees on a beach will ignite a passion for literature. It will not. Buy an iPod and listen to music instead.
Secondly, if you are a reader and believe the luxury of your holiday is the time to catch up on those “classics” you have saved for a “better time” – don’t. Because you will only rediscover why you never read them in the first place.
Thirdly, avoid the assumption that you will use the time to educate yourself. You will not. The “History of the World War II” still leaves far too many bodies on the beaches, brains blown by a mixture of sangria, sun stroke and academic polemic.
Fourthly, avoid the advice of newspapers. Their agendas vary from satisfying publishing companies through - and combined with – the need to demonstrate the supposed erudition of their correspondents.
That said, there is a small value to be gained in seeing which books will be on display this year at the airport bookshop. These articles form a free catalogue.
And now the fifth – and MY FORMULA. I have been using this for over 20 years now. It works every time.
You have to cast you mind back to your late adolescence. When you were moving from what is now called “Young person’s literature” into the adult world. What was the first “grown-up” book that really captured you? The book you couldn’t put down; you read on the toilet; all night; maybe in one long read.
When you have that title, use what tools you may have to find something similar, hopefully recommended by someone you trust.
That (or those, if you are lucky) is the book you should read on your holiday.
My adolescent/adult book was “The Thirty-Nine Steps” by John Buchan.
Using this as a starting point I have discovered the American author Greg Iles. I read three of his books on my last holiday.
Thankfully there are many more.
