Holiday Reads for Word-Nerds
It’s officially holiday time! No matter where you’re going, it’s likely that as a wordy sort of person, you’ll want to get a bit of reading in.
Reading is something of a decadence for me (two small children see to that). But when I get the chance, I love to sit comfortably, big shades on, large glass of something chilled and pages ready to turn (I’m not a Kindle kinda girl).
As with so many other creative types, every page of reading can be treated as fodder for your profession. We’re all products of our influences, so this year plan to let your holiday escapism feed your mind and grow your capacity for incredible work.
Here’s my list of summer reads (clearly a wishlist – if I get through two of these a miracle will have occurred).
Some Poetry. Easy to pick up and put down when the moment necessitates, so perfect for holidaying with kids or high maintenance adults. I’m keen on the sound of this anthology Soul Food: Nourishing Poems for Starved Minds.
A Few Classics. Some Daphne de Maurier always does it for me. I love the brooding mystery of Rebecca and find the Cornish coastal settings perfect for a British seaside holiday read. I’m also a huge fan of the chill atmosphere that comes with Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. I could almost imagine myself in the mist-soaks wilds of Yorkshire, even if on a beach in sunny France.
A bit of an education. My husband gave me The Etymologicon for Christmas and I fully intend to re-read this whilst en vacances. The humourous and enlightening style of the author Mark Forsyth and the intelligent way in which the book is constructed makes this a real page-turner for me.
Something Incongruous. I have a thing for books where snow is a dominant feature and have two such books in mind. Both were started on previous holidays, and not completed; a very unsatisfying sensation I can tell you. The Snow Tourist and Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow whetted my appetite sufficiently for a rerun. Just the thing for sunlounger reading.
New Releases. I love a crime thriller and short stories, so I was a little bit excited to see Continental Crimes – a compilation of vintage crime stories from the Golden Age of crime stories (think Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie). And for a bit of fun, I’m quite drawn into Rich People Problems. Set in Singapore, this satirical family drama sounds like pure escapism to me. Love it.
A Moleskine. Holidays are the perfect time to capture whimsical musings in pencil on a good old fashioned paper. A beautiful sunset, witty observations of the couple in the next room or blow by blow accounts of the deckchair disaster that has all the makings of familial legend. Scribble them down and savour when back at home; sitting at your desk or considering the ironing on a dull November evening
What are your essentials for holiday reading? Mind expanding or pure escapism? Let me know!
