Books to Pack for your Summer Holiday

A selection of books that will feat neatly in your suitcase and provide superb company for your week with the girls in Marrakech.

Sometimes, choosing a book for your hand luggage can be quite the stressful experience. What’s worse is getting to the Waterstones at Gatwick Airport, frantically trying to find something remotely interesting, and eventually giving up and grabbing a copy of the latest Dan Brown novel *yawn*. So as the summer swings around again, we’ve come up with some tip-top suggestions of books that will fit neatly in your suitcase and provide superb company for your week with the girls in Marrakech.

Ordinary People by Diana Evans

The book to remind you of London and the relationships built around the city.

Diana Evans must curse Sally Rooney on a daily basis for creating such a similar book title and entering the public consciousness in such a significant way, leaving everyone asking ‘Oh, isn’t your book called Normal People?’. No, no it isn’t. It’s a real shame it’s been left in the shadows of Rooney’s bestselling novel, because it’s got so much to offer.

Ordinary People follows the lives of two couples, both of whom are in the wake of having had children and are struggling to navigate the landscape of married life in London and its suburbs. Evans deals with grief, sex, love and friendships in the most relatable way, but all the while being entirely unpredictable. Apart from having one of the most realistic sexual encounters I have ever read in the pages of a book, it explores with astute perception the barren wasteland that a relationship can become during this time.

Evans cleverly weaves a soundtrack throughout the narrative, with references to music that are so skilfully incorporated that they create colours and landscape without feeling forced. It’s a family saga with a difference — perfect for a holiday read. It’s one of those books that benefits from being read in a whirlwind, rather than dipping in and out over time. If that doesn’t sound like the perfect poolside binge, I don’t know what does.

Duped: Compulsive Liars and the Con Man I Almost Married by Abby Ellin

The book to fulfil your desire for salacious gossip and gripping drama.

Sometimes on holiday we all bizarrely find ourselves reaching for the nearest thriller or murder mystery. I’m never sure what it is about that combination of heat and time off work that leaves us lusting for drama, but it seems to be a well-established fact. Rather than suggest another Agatha Christie or anonymous Skandi thriller, I’ve got something a little more based in reality. But don’t worry, we won’t be sweeping into 24 Hours in Police Custody territory.

New York Times journalist Abby Ellin touches on her personal experience of being ‘duped’. She writes here about the pathological liar she was engaged to and how he successfully manipulated her. With the world full of stories of tricksters and scam artists — step forward Elizabeth Holmes and Anna Delvey — it’s obvious that we have an appetite to know more about these fascinating figures and the people they lied to. Ellin zooms out to look at deception on a global scale, as well as giving all the juicy details every reader is ultimately there for. It’s a book to get your brain whirring along, but also with a thrilling plot at its core. Perfect holiday fare.

Enigma Variations by André Aciman

The book to make you hotter than a summer in the south of France.

You thought Call Me By Your Name was the perfect summer film/book? You’ll be pleased to know that its author, André Aciman, has penned another seasonal treat for us. Written in a similar style to Call Me By Your Name, we are thrust into suffocating summer heat matched by the protagonist’s intense adolescent lust. It’s not quite the linear narrative we would expect from Aciman: split into five loosely linked sections, it reads more like a collection of short stories and slightly longer novellas. His writing style varies hugely across the sections, so we are constantly kept on our toes.

Aciman can really write about lust, relationships and unattainable love. This is a sensual summer read to get you feeling all hot under the collar.

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing

The book for the lone traveller in an unknown city.

Olivia Laing is a standout writer from this generation, and this book is the perfect addition to the backpack of any solo traveller exploring a new city, or even someone just wanting a renewed perspective of their own. In a blend of personal narrative and investigation into figures from history, we explore New York City — a place that has been utterly overused as a motif in literature and popular culture, but is brought to life here in a totally new way.

The Lonely City is something of an antidote to the hyperconnected world we live in, introducing us to a new city through its art and the artists that have travelled through it. Headed for a new place? This one’s got your name on it.

You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

The book to dip in and out of between glasses of wine and dips in the pool.

Short stories are the perfect injection of fiction in our slightly manic world, and Curtis Sittenfeld — being the genius she is — has delivered a thought-provoking and relevant debut collection. Released last year, the stories are timestamped with references to the political and social upheaval we experienced at the time of writing. Clinton and Trump are hot topics, as is consent and the male/female dynamic.

Sittenfeld has a brilliant skill for painting fully-formed, multidimensional female characters, and this collection brings us vignettes of the messy, imperfect lives of women. If you’ve got a busy holiday of limited reading opportunities, or even if you’ve just got the attention span of a flea, grab a copy of this.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The book you literally won’t be able to get your nose out of.

This book should be required reading for every human. Bold claim, but I’ve made it. Set in New England, Donna Tartt’s debut novel follows the movements of six classics students. Within the first couple of pages, we know the story ends in a murder of one of the students. The next few hundred pages unravel the tale of how this happened.

The characters are so fleshed out they feel real. It’s one of the most compulsive books I’ve ever read, and when I bought it, the bookseller said to me, ‘I wish I could unread this book so I could read it for the first time. I’m so jealous of what you have to come.’ How right he was. The complex themes subtly wrapped up in a simple narrative will have you constantly wanting more. Plus, if you’re a former classics graduate, this book will give you the chance to stretch your Ancient Greek muscle and relive those university glory days. The Secret History should be saved for a holiday when you have time to hunker down with it nonstop, or else you’ll be in serious danger of getting absolutely nothing else done.