Holiday reading

It's mid-August, the kids are on their school holidays, the sun is shining (even in Britain) and, happily for me, I'm on holiday. In Greece, no less. So it's a healthy amount of Greek salad, a liberal dose of retsina and a daily attempt to avoid severe sunburn. 

What it also is, though, is a chance for me to do a lot of reading by the pool (in the shade, of course). So, as there's no author interview on this newsletter, I thought I'd share with you the books I'm planning to read while I'm away. 

Above: An egregious and unnecessary image, I'm aware. Surprised the image came out, to be honest, what with the glare from the paleness of my sun-deprived skin.

All reading is very personal; what you might love I might not, and vice versa, but holiday reading, for me, seems to have its own rules. Generally, I think all books need to tick one or more of the following boxes: 

• Entertaining

• Exciting

• Interesting 

• Immersive

• Informative

But reading while on holiday, I believe, requires extra emphasis on the first thing on that list and, for me, a little less significance on the last. I remember, a few years ago, I brought a fairly weighty book called Woke Inc, by Vivek Ramaswamy, on holiday. It was good, and certainly interesting - if contentious in places - but was quite hard going as a holiday read when my brain was doing its best to decompress.

So, this year I've chosen some books that I believe will allow me to be engaged, immersed but, most importantly, entertained. 

1. The Sequel, Jean Haniff Korelitz

This is a sequel to The Plot, from 2021, which was a mystery/thriller about a struggling writer stealing another author's idea for a book (it's along the lines of the also good, but not quite as good in my opinion, Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang). The Plot was very good and was a taut, pacey story, so I'm hoping for more of the same from the follow up.

2. Hit, Flops and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood, Ed Zwick

I'm a big film fan (favourite film; It's a Wonderful Life, in case you're interested) and recently read Oscar Wars, by Michael Shulman, and Box Office Poison, by Tim Robey, both of which I raced through, so I'm hoping for more of the same from this more personal account of life in La La Land from the director who brought us films including, among others, Glory, Legend of the Falls, Courage Under Fire, The Last Samurai and Jack Reacher; Never Go Back.

3. Some of Us Are Liars, Fiona Cummins

I've read a lot of Fiona Cummins' books, starting with her debut, Rattle, which is a chilling, heart-pounding thriller with a central villain who is brilliantly evil, and it's follow-up, The Collector. Some of Us Are Liars is another dark thriller which has been described as 'Lisa Jewell meets Jodi Picoult', so I'm excited to get stuck in. I'm also excited at the possibility of having Fiona take part in my Bookmarked Q&A in the near future, so I suppose you could also say this is research... but the best type of research.

4. The Good Boy, Stella Hayward

Stella Hayward, who also writes under the names Bella Ellis and, her real name, Rowan Coleman, is actually the next Bookmarked Q&A interviewee. Stella/Bella/Rowan is an award-wining, Sunday Times best-selling author of multiple books, including Never Tear Us Apart, The Day We Met and The Girl at the Window and, under her Bella Ellis pseudonym, four books in the Bronte Mysteries series, which imagine the Bronte sisters, before becoming famous authors, as amateur detectives. Rowan in a hugely successful and much loved author and I'm really looking forward to talking to her and, before that, getting acquainted with her work. This is an advanced reader copy she very kindly sent me ahead of the book's release next month, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in.

5. The Ghost of Ivy Barn, Mark Stay

   
   

Ok, I don't only read books by people who have either been a Bookmarked interviewee, or who are going to be one in the future, but Mark is not only the editor of my books, he's also a very nice man and the author of this brilliant series [and, in case you've not seen it already, Mark's very interesting Q&A is here].

I've said previously that fantasy isn't usually my bag, but the Witches of Woodville series melds a real historical time period [WWII] with magical happenings, great characters and gripping plots. I finished Babes in the Wood, the second in the series, only last week and am already looking forward to finding out what trouble the inhabitants of Woodville find themselves in next.

6. Don't Swipe Right, LM Chilton

Another upcoming Bookmarked interviewee (alright, alright, this is the last one, honest) is LM Chilton, whose debut novel, Don't Swipe Right, came out in 2023. I have to be honest and say that I don't know too much about it at the moment but as it's described as 'a comedic serial killer-thriller', it sounds like an absolute nailed-on summer holiday read.