Narrowing down my summer holiday reading

It’s hard to choose…

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

For the first time in six years, I am taking a two-week holiday. This summer, I will be joining my family in Portugal where we are renting a villa in Vilamoura. The destination was Dad’s idea. He likes boats, and Vilamoura has a nice marina, so he refused to go anywhere else. Never mind that this holiday is costing a small fortune, Dad wanted his nautical fix.

‘Are you going to pay, then?’ I asked when we were pricing it up.

‘No,’ he said. ‘You’d better save up.’

It’s been over 10 years since we all went away together. Due to our menagerie of geriatric pets, someone usually has to stay behind. So far, I’ve missed a trip to Boston to see family in the US, a New Year’s New York extravaganza, a couple of half-term beach holidays, and a family holiday of a lifetime to Florida. While my sister and niece sent daily updates posing for photos with Mickey and Minnie, I looked after my sick dog (who then died) and battled the Barnsley cornfield fire of 2022.

Sadly, pet numbers are dwindling (we’re down to one horse and one rabbit), but the silver lining is that it’s been easier to arrange care. I’ve found a qualified groom for the horse, and the rabbit is going to bunny boarding. For what it’s costing, I’d be better loading them up and flying them with me, but I’m not sure they’d be up for it.

I’m justifying all the costs of this holiday by telling myself it’s about the precious memories with my family. We will laugh a lot and in years to come we’ll look back and say, ‘Do you remember that summer in Portugal when Dad dragged us to see the million-dollar yachts and then we couldn’t afford to eat for the rest of the year?’

We do it now. ‘Do you remember that summer in Majorca when Olivia was a toddler, and we stayed in that shit hotel that only served drinks in plastic glasses and played the same song on repeat? Or the time we were in Cape Cod and Olivia almost got swept out to sea and eaten by a Great White Shark? Do you remember? Happy days.’

There’s nothing like a family holiday, but going away with them does cause added pressure for me to be organised and on time. Neither of these come naturally, and it doesn’t help when my mum, sister and niece are super organised. They’re probably already packed and ready even though we don’t go for ages.

I’m more of a last-minute packer. Chris will be at the front door, shouting, ‘We need to leave NOW!’ And I’ll be throwing books and bikinis into my suitcase, having a meltdown, and then we’ll have the added stress of almost missing the flight. I can’t help my chaotic nature and that I’m easily distracted.

Anyway, so as not to cause any family fall outs before we’ve even arrived in Portugal, I’m trying to be prepared. I’ve made a list of the things I need to pack and, more importantly, I’ve started thinking about the books I’ll be reading—narrowing it down to a longlist.

I know I can’t take all these titles, especially as my brother-in-law has yet to confirm the luggage allowance. I could have hundreds of kilograms, or I could have 7kg like my recent trip to Belfast. I will at some point between now and leaving for the airport (probably five minutes before), select a shortlist and take those.

I will not, under any circumstances, try to take them all with me. I will definitely not do this. No, no, no…

So, here is my longlist. Let me know if you’ve read any or if you have any recommendations. I’m sure I can always squeeze some books into my hand luggage.

Grown Ups by Marian Keyes

I definitely wanted to take a Marian Keyes. I’ve enjoyed many of her books while on my hols, so I’m looking forward to reading Grown Ups. I know that in true Marian style it will be funny, warm-hearted and entertaining.

It tells the story of the Caseys, a glamourous family, who seem very happy in life. Under the surface, though, conditions are murkier. Some people clash, others like each other far too much. When one member of the family gets concussion and can’t keep her thoughts to herself, all the secrets start to come out.

Confessions of a Forty-Something F*** Up by Alexandra Potter

This was a last-minute entry into the longlist. I spotted it on my shelf having bought it a while ago and not got round to reading it yet. It sounds like a really fun read, perfect for when I’m reclining by the pool.

Also, I thought I could relate. Apparently, ‘it’s a novel for any woman who wonders how the hell she got here, and why life isn’t quite how she imagined it was going to be. And who is desperately trying to figure it all out when everyone around them is making gluten-free brownies.’

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

When this came out a few years ago, there was a lot of hype about it. I’d pick it up in Waterstones, read the blurb, then put it back. It sounded good until they mentioned gaming. I’ve not played video games since Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Mega Drive circa 1992. I’m not really interested in gaming.

But then, during a book chat with a friend, I voiced my concerns, and she said it was amazing and not really about gaming and I should definitely read it because it had become one of her best reads recently.

So, I bought it and I’m definitely taking it with me. If it’s all about gaming, I will not be impressed, but I do like that it’s set in the nineties. I’m all for a bit of nostalgia.

Here is the blurb.

This is the story of Sam and Sadie. It's not a romance, but it is about love.

When Sam catches sight of Sadie at a crowded train station one morning he is catapulted straight back to childhood, and the hours they spent immersed in playing games.

Their spark is instantly reignited and sets off a creative collaboration that will make them superstars. It is the 90s, and anything is possible.

What comes next is a decades-long tale of friendship and rivalry, fame and art, betrayal and tragedy, perfect worlds and imperfect ones. And, above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

With a two-week holiday planned, I wanted to take a meaty read that I could lose myself in. This novel spans nearly 100 years of history and is, according to the blurb and also Barack Obama, ‘an unforgettable story of love, sacrifice, ambition and loyalty told through four generations of one family’.

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

I loved Normal People by Sally Rooney and hear that her latest book, Intermezzo, is an emotional and intimate read.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties - successful, competent and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father's death, he's medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women - his enduring first love Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude - a period of desire, despair and possibility - a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.

There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

This book is calling to me. It’s described as ‘a rich, sweeping novel set between the 19th century and modern times, about love and loss, memory and erasure, hurt and healing, centred around three enchanting characters living on the banks of the River Thames and the River Tigris – their lives all curiously touched by the epic of Gilgamesh.’

It's had some rave reviews and sounds like a brilliant and engaging read. The only problem is that I have it in trade paperback, so it’s quite a tome to fit into my suitcase. I could always buy the smaller paperback, though.

So, there’s my list. Decisions, decisions…

About me: I’m Liz Champion, a writer from Yorkshire, who always struggles to pack a suitcase and really should invest in a kindle to make travelling easier.