Vacations

I always have a hard time deciding what to pack on vacations. No, not clothes or shoes (although that is difficult too), but reading material. I have a deep-seated fear of running out of something to read and being unable to access anything new. This means I tend to overpack on books, but I’d rather bring too many than not enough! Although it does lead to a heavy bag at times.

I also find that my selection of reading material on a holiday is quite random. Here is a selection of recent books I took with me on holiday.

A Man Lay Dead, Ngaio Marsh
The Darcy Connection, Elizabeth Aston
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
All The Weyrs of Pern, Anne McCaffrey

A pretty broad selection, don’t you think? Mystery, Georgian/Regency, Current and Sci-fi/Fantasy. Enough to keep one occupied for the longest of car trips.

Now, what did I actually read on holiday?

All The Weyrs of Pern, Anne McCaffrey (still working on it)
Julie & Julia, Julie Powell
People Style Watch, June/July 2010
The Hockey News Genius Issue June 7, 2010, Vol.63, No. 26
Ghost Towns of Alberta, Harold Fryer

As you can see, even though I packed enough books for a week I managed to keep myself occupied with other reading material anyway. And still didn’t start my book club book!

Two of the selections are magazines. I have quite the glossy paper addiction, which I have managed to calm somewhat by buying subscriptions. However, when the subscribed magazines are late, this leads to random impulse purchases at the 7-11, therefore leading to both People Style Watch and The Hockey News. Not generally periodicals for the same audience, one would think.

The other two new books on the list are borrowed. We spent some time with relatives on this trip, and I’m always browsing other bookshelves to see what I might want to read. I recently saw the movie Julie & Julia, and wanted to read the book. My sister-in-law had it, so I borrowed it right away. Ghost Towns of Alberta is due to the fact that my travels took me near some ghost towns in Alberta, so I borrowed the reference book from my parents to read a little more about the history of the area.

So, this is what I read on holidays. Not really that different from what I read on any given week, actually. I am interested in a broad range of subjects, so I read about a broad range of subjects. However, it is past time to get started on my book club book, so that should keep me occupied for the rest of the week. Then I can finish All The Weyrs of Pern and any other gems that didn’t get read on my trip.