Over the next 3 weeks Changing Pages will be focusing on all things travel. So instead of my (almost) weekly book reviews I shall be making some holiday book suggestions which I hope you will find helpful, starting this week with books to read on a beach holiday.
Holidays, with the exception of my most recent one, which was very busy, are usually prime reading time for me. Like most people I am more relaxed on holiday and so reading becomes a pleasingly easy and all consuming affair. Free of those nagging feelings which at home would be reminding me I should be doing the ironing or the washing or whatever else, are gone and I can sink into my carefully chosen books with abandon. I have often said that I probably give as much thought to my holiday reading material as I do to the clothes I take. It is an essential part of my holiday preparation. If the journey to my destination involves either a train or a plane, then even better, hours of largely uninterrupted reading time.
Beach holidays lend them selves to a particular kind of reading. On a beach holiday you are at liberty to read, often for hours on end. The perfect opportunity to lose yourself in a family saga or a gripping mystery when you just can’t bear to not read another page. All the books below have kept me throughly entertained and engrossed either pool or beach side.
Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier
I can never decide whether Frenchman’s Creek or Jamaica Inn is my favourite du Maurier. Both provide the best kind of beach holiday reading, especially if that beach happens to be somewhere in Cornwall. Frenchman’s creek has adventure, romance and intrigue aplenty as the strong willed and fearless Lady Donna St Columb becomes involved in piracy all along the beautiful Cornish coast line. This is a page turner of the best kind.
The Future Homemakers of America by Laurie Graham
Although I haven’t read this for many years I have a definite soft spot for this book. It is set in Norfolk which is where I’m from and where I have had many happy holidays and days at the beach. It is set during the post war years and is about women and friendship and the life and strong bonds they forge during that time, whilst their men patrol the skies. This is a lovely family saga and perfect for some long, uninterrupted reading time.
The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall
The title of the book alone lends it self to summer reading. I really enjoy Emyila Hall’s writing she has the ability to creates a tremendous sense of place. A coming of age story set in the beauty of Hungarian countryside at the height of the scorching summer temperatures. This is a lovely book to lose yourself in. I would also recommend The Thousand Lights Hotel by Emylia Hall which I read on holiday last year.
I would love to hear your beach reading recommendations, do let me know in the comments below.
