Mrs Readalot's Great Holiday Reads

Its a wet wet summer this year, much to the disappointment of Mrs Readalot's house-guests who have come from wintry England in hopes of returning from holiday with a tan.
{Fortunately for them, they'll be going home via Sydney - apparently the sun is shining there}

Luckily Mrs Readalot is a book-worm.
She can just as easily enjoy a good book snuggled on the couch while the wind howls and the rain pours, as she can sprawled under a shade-tree batting away flies.

{Pt Chev beach - the one and only beach day so far this summer}

This month's Book Club theme is "Great Holiday Reads"... and who could have a longer list of reading material than Mrs Readalot?

This summer she is devouring Game of Thrones and all its cousins by George R R Martin.
Mrs Readalot took no chances when it came to Christmas presents... rather than chance her hubby turning up with something by George Clooney, she ordered the series herself online, and when the package arrived by courier she shoved them at him and asked him to wrap them up and put them under the tree.
Mrs Readalot is enjoying the story immensely {she'll review it when she's done}.
In fact it is a sacrifice of immense proportions that she sits here typing on this stormy night while her book beckons so enticingly.

So lets make this quick shall we?

Mrs Readalot Says:


Holiday reads... holiday reads... when I'm going on holiday i like something easy-to-read, enjoyable, entertaining. So I usually grab me some chick-lit.


You can't go past Maeve Binchy for easy holiday reading. Many a good heart-tugging Irish yarn have I devoured during holidays past. Top of my Maeve list would be The Glass Lake and Tara Rd. Great characters woven together with a few rogues thrown in. Nothing too emotionally or mentally taxing, while at the same still very readable. Call it chick-lit if you must, but I think Maeve started writing these tales before the genre was invented, which kind of gives her some credibility.

You can find Maeve Binchy books by the bucketload on Book Depository. Just enter "Maeve Binchy" in the search criteria.

Next to Maeve is Marion Keyes, another Irish girl. I'm sure you've seen her in airport bookstands: Watermelon, Sushi for Beginners, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married...
I have yet to read a Marion Keyes that bored me. Chick lit it may be, but its good chick-lit.
The kind that other less-talented writers try to emulate.
Two of her more recent books are a bit thicker and deeper. The Other Side of the Story and the Brightest Star in the Sky. I enjoyed them both. Tragedy, relationships gone wrong, humour, tension and a twist or two... likable characters and satisfying-though-not-perfectly happy endings mean that Marion is usually my first choice air-travel author.

You can find Marion Keyes books by the truckful on Book Depository. Just enter "Marion Keyes" in the search criteria.

Then there was the book I read while on holiday in the UK: One Day by David Nicholls.
I just saw that they've just made a movie of it, and was reminded what a great read it was.
This is the classic "right person/wrong timing" love affair, but somehow there ends up being nothing predictable about this story.
Girl meets boy the night before college ends. They are an unlikely couple but end up best friends, pen pals, and each other's sounding boards. You think you know how it will all turn out. You are wrong. Its not chick-lit. After all its written by a BLOKE. But its a good holiday read. I read mine in SCOTLAND, on a train, in the Highlands...

{Here's the movie trailer; it'll give you an idea about the book}

So if you want a decent enjoyable love story for your holiday break/fireside reading but have already chewed through too many Maeve Binchy/Marion Keyes books on holidays past, give One Day a try.


{you can get it cheap with free delivery here from Book Depository} 

Mrs Readalot gave One Day 3.5/5
{now back to my book...}



After trying various different online booksellers (and waiting a looong time for the books to arrive), Mrs Readalot now recommends Book Depository as the best place to get books online. They are fast, reliable and offer FREE delivery anywhere in the world... they also have the best prices, especially with the extra 10% discount if you enter the magic code....



Book Club
Welcome to a whole new year of Mrs Readalot's Bloggy Book Club
This month's Book Club Linky is being hosted by Abby over at Abby Gabs.
Abby has just finished devouring the whole of the Hunger Games trilogy on her kindle in a record-breaking 48-hour marathon... her review will make you smile (and also want to rush out and get hold of the Hunger Games books}

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• To find out more about joining in with Book Club, visit my Book Club Page
• To link up your Great Holiday Reads post, visit the linky at Abby Gabs