It's Tough Work, But Somebody Has To Do It: Choosing vacation books

Which ones will make the cut?

I'm not a particularly big planner when it comes to most things in life, but there are two things that I plan very seriously: my vacations and my vacation readings.  For the former, I spend hours and hours each week on online, scouring travel forums and villa/hotel websites to select the perfect island vacation.

Sidebar: I'm not lying; I could probably plan a better Caribbean vacation than most travel agents.

Second only to planning the vacation is what I plan to read on said vacation.  I get more reading done during those weeks when my toughest decision is whether to snorkel or kick back in a hammock than practically the rest of the year put together. Okay, so that's a slight exaggeration, but you take my point.

Snorkeling self-portrait from Virgin Gorda

VERSUS

The incomparable hammocks at Gwen's on Anguilla

Seriously, it's a tough call, you know? But I digress...when it comes to packing books, and I'm still talking physical books and not an e-reader, I need to make sure that they've earned their space in my suitcase. That's why I test-drive every book by reading the first 2-3 chapters. It used to be that I only read the first chapter in each book, but then I got stuck with a few duds because, as a friend in publishing mentioned, the first chapter is often the best edited. 

Backtrack up to the topmost photo in this post is a stack of books I'm tentatively taking with me on my fall vacation, but I need probably 1-3 more books, depending on how long they are.  I'll be gone seven days, and it's nice to have a book for each day, plus a buffer book or two in case I do end up with a dud. I also try to have mostly novels, with at least one YA and one work of non-fiction to round it all out.

Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: Love the name, loved the first two chapters.  Got this ARC from my FSG sales rep, Bob. 

Safekeeping: This is a YA novel that my coworker Marika recommended. 

The Aviator's Wife: Loved the author's previous book about the imagined inner life of Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's classic books, so I feel good about this one, too.  Plus it might piggyback as a book my husband will read. I think I got this one from my sales rep, Michael.

Princess Elizabeth's Spy: Really enjoyed the first book in this series. This one promises to be as light & frothy and it might piggyback as a book my mom will want to read.  This one also came from Michael.

Attachments: I was pretty excited to see that I had an ARC of this one lying around my house during my fall cleaning. This one I'm taking because Alice and her followers love this one and I want to be just like them. I have no idea where this copy came from, but I'm happy I found it.

Home is a Roof Over a Pig: The token non-fic on my list, and I'm only lukewarm about it.  The idea is good: a retired military family moves to China with their three young children (including their youngest, adopted from China) to live and teach and so their children can have exposure to a new culture and speak another language, etc. The writing is only mezzo-mezzo. 

Also under consideration is The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, of which I read the first few chapters a couple of nights ago, and it's fun.  The catch being that it's already published, and I'd prefer not to take with me more than one book that's already published, and that honor must needs go to Attachments. 

Who has suggestions for me?  Make your voices heard and make it now, peoples.