By Diana Tixier Herald
Ah, I love vacations on beaches. Lazy days reading in the sun. What could be better? As is my habit, I brought lots of books along, but Sunday when we went down to the pool I left the book I was reading on my lounger when I swam my mile. When I returned after finishing, my book had been commandeered.
Yes, dear reader, my reluctant reader husband was deeply immersed in the story of a lonely teenage werewolf. Instead of demanding my book back I decided to take my camera and walk around the pool taking photos of books. It was so much fun. I got to talk with a couple dozen people about what they were reading and most of them wanted their photos taken with their books. So many people said that they just don’t have much time to read in everyday life and that they look forward to reading during vacation. Several of the folks also mentioned that they were reading books for book groups they belong to. I spotted several books with library barcodes and property stamps. Hmmm. Seems many books are well traveled.
This trip was to a time share in Puerto Vallarta. Our last Mexican beach vacation was to an all-inclusive resort on the Mayan Riviera where it seemed 50% of the people were reading books by Dan Brown. I wonder if a difference in beach resorts makes a difference in books being read.
Here is the list of what was being read.
McMurtry, Larry Folly and Glory
Iovine, Vicki The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy
Picoult, Jodi Nineteen Minutes
Woodsmall, Cindy When the Heart Cries
Lewis, Beverly The Postcard
Iles, Greg Turning Angel
Gilbert,Elizabeth. Eat, Pray, Love
Elliot, Elisabeth Twelve Baskets of Crumbs
Clancy Tom Debt of Honor
Sheldon, Sidney The Other Side of Midnight
Kellerman, Jonathan & Faye Capital Crimes
Sheldon, Sidney If Tomorrow Comes
Grisham, John Bleachers
Patterson, James Black Friday
Hosseini, Khalid A Thousand Splendid Suns
Sebold, Alice The Lovely Bones
Sparks, Nicholas Dear John
Grisham, John The Testament
Gardner, Lisa The Third Victim
Cornwell, Patricia The Last Precinct
Johansen, Iris Stalemate
Eugenides, Jeffrey Middlesex
Grisham, John The Innocent Man
Millar, Martin Lonely Werewolf Girl
Oh, a winter vacation. How great does that sound right now? Does going to Minneapolis in March for PLA count as a winter vacation? Because I bet we’ll see lots of great books there too. I personally am going to pack some nonfiction to try and beef up vacation NF sightings–although I see Elizabeth Gilbert and John Grisham (with The Innocent Man) made the list! Fun article–thanks.