Choosing Your Trip Book
While I always carry 100+ books on me via the reading app on my phone, choosing a paper book or two for a trip is a very. serious. matter.
Like agonize-over-the-decision-for-days kind of serious matter.
I have a history of making poor book decisions, as recently as France when I was stuck reading a romance book that was good for the first 10 pages and terrible for the remaining 300+. It put me in a bad mood every time I had to read it.
This time, I decided not to take chances. I spent the first few days finishing a book I started at home. So I knew I liked it. Then I brought an Anthony Horowitz book I had saved for this very occasion. I knew I would like it because I like all of his books. But I also ended up buying and starting books that I got on the trip, including the first Ian Moore, Murder and Croissants. Safe reading choices that made me happy.
How do you choose what you read on a trip? Do you leave it to chance or plan it out carefully?
3 comments
This is so hard. I also agonize over this because I try to not buy books and exclusively use the library. This is for budget reasons but bringing a library book camping and then worrying about it getting wet or lost is too stressful so this trip I bought 3 paperbacks, one by an author I know I like, one by an author I keep hearing about and one book that sounded good. I planned to take 2 but only had room for one – the one that just sounded good. Luckily it turned out to be a book that immediately sucked me in and I was more than satisfied with my choice. But I’m already nervous about our next weekend away. What if I choose the wrong one?
Ps – the book I read is The Last Flight and I recommend if you’re looking for a mystery/thriller. Really enjoyed it!
I don’t usually take books with me on vacation, because I usually plan to be doing something all the time and so I won’t have time to read. Even if I’m traveling, I’m looking out the window (or maybe trying to nap). Now that I have library apps on my phone, I can take books with me, but I haven’t been on a real vacation in a long time.
Good question! It’s become less complicated since the advent of e-readers — I always have hundreds of books at my fingertips now, and they take up next to no space or weight allowance, lol. But I do still tend to bring along at least one or two paper books as well. Generally they are books that I’ve had in the TBR pile for a while, often a book club read that’s coming up, or one that I’ve been meaning to get to for a while but haven’t. Generally something not too weighty.