Groucho Marx once said this about reading: "I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” While we're not about to claim to be as erudite, or, frankly, as snobbish as ol' Marx, we do miss reading – an awful lot in fact.
It is so rare to find the chance to sit and read a book. It's something that's so important, and so often falls down the list of our priorities. To give anything an hour of our undivided attention seems nothing short of a luxury. And it's something we can redress on our equally rare holidays.
As we give ourselves time to slow down and unwind, reminding us of the joys of a finely crafted book is a pleasure so enjoyable and unique to each reader, that it's hard to explain.
So what do you prefer to indulge in by the pool? Everyone has their own tastes when it comes to holiday reading. Some use it as a chance to brush up on the classics, while others prefer a page-turner. There's hardly a one-size-fits-all approach to the holiday read.
But why would you listen to us? All we can say is between us we've read some utter tripe and we've also read some books that are as dear to us as friends. In short, we've read a fair lot between us, so we've got some nice suggestions for by-the-pool reading if you fancy it.
From true-murder stories to cult titles and deep-dug treasures, here are our beach books hot-list perfect for a hot trip. Happy reading!
Tom Wolfe's Bonfire Of The Vanities
Nellie Eden, Staff Writer
I've picked Bonfire Of The Vanities for a few reasons. One, it's a helter-skelter of a ride that really needs a whole seven days of your attention span. It opens with a breakneck speed car ride through a reptilian downtown New York and continues just as relentlessly for 690 pages. Two, it's about a spineless but complex bond trader (so pretty far from my own line of work) whose life gets torn asunder. Three, it's a captivatingly hellish and wry look at the Baby Boomers scene of '80s NYC of which I'm obsessed. Wolfe's caricatures become tools by which he examines the animal motivations that are required to accumulate great personal wealth and influence. Think American Psycho with, well, just more to it.
It's a fable of money, status, immorality, greed, power and injustice. The protagonist, Sherman McCoy, like the markets he dictates, rises, falls, bloats and shrinks before burning out in the most spectacular of fashions. Plus, the whole sweaty, fleshy thing is claustrophobically contained in the lift shafts, apartments, office blocks and lobbies of New York in the summertime – that might as well be Sodom and Gomorrah. In short, it packs a lot of heat.
Amelia Abraham, Associate Editor
Nothing wiles away time on the beach like blitzing through the account of a brutal murder case, does it? In Cold Blood is Truman Capote's investigation into a quadruple homicide that took place in Kansas during the late 1950s. If you're squeamish, look away now: a family, including parents and their two children, were slaughtered in their own home. Capote travelled to the scene of the crime to get the scoop, and what ensues is a detailed panorama of the town, its inhabitants, and the suspects of the murder. Often considered the first ever non-fiction novel, it's an American classic to tick off your list and, as far as crime goes, infinitely more classy than flicking through an Ian Rankin paperback.
Sarah Raphael, Editor
I like to read heavy-going classics on beach holidays, not page-turners. Because when else do you have the time to savour every word and let it sink in and re-read a sentence four times if you want to? Certainly not during rush hour on the Tube in the morning. So I recommend books that you can really pour over, that demand your full attention, and one of the best examples of this is Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.
One of the most controversial books ever written, it is also considered one of the best. It’s about pedophilia, written from the perspective of the pedophile, which is more than enough to put most people off reading it, and was more than enough to put most publishers off publishing it in the 1950s. Now it's a Penguin Classic. 100% perverse, but also incredibly well written, it's the kind of book you should have an opinion on.
Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
Rose Lander, PA to R29's International VP
I'm not a Gone Girl kind of beach reader, I prefer to spend my holidays crying tears of laughter into my Factor 50 rather than wondering where the next body will appear from. I will admit that Where'd You Go, Bernadette? does involve a disappearing woman, but also an incredibly overachieving schoolgirl, a glimpse into Silicon Valley in-fighting, an Antarctic cruise, a revolutionary female architect, and the best take down of a pushy private school mum anyone could imagine. If a book was going to be my only friend on a desert island, I would want it to be as witty, emotional and hilarious as this one.
Françoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse
Gillian Orr, Features Editor
It might seem a bit prescriptive to recommend a holiday read about someone’s actual vacation, but Bonjour Tristesse is way juicier than your average Mediterranean getaway. Published in 1954, the short novel immediately scandalised French society on account of its steamy subject matter and the author Françoise Sagan being just 18.
The book follows 17-year-old Cécile as she holidays on the glamorous and self-indulgent Côte d'Azur with her widowed father one summer. Amid discovering about sex and pleasure, she also decides to meddle with her father’s latest relationship. OK, so it’s not quite as shocking as it once was, but at least read it for Sagan’s vivacious evocation of the French Riviera in high season.
Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary
Zanny Ali, Content Manager
At first it seemed like an inappropriate beach read, but it soon made perfect sense. It's about escaping the mundaneness of life through art, sex, shopping. Basically living beyond your means and eschewing the tedium of everyday living – more or less how people behave on holiday?
Alice Casely-Hayford, Fashion and Beauty Editor
When you're reclining on a sun-drenched beach somewhere exotic you might not want to be transported back to London with your holiday read but White Teeth is exceptional and you won't regret it. You'll lose yourself in the sometimes tragic, often comical lives of the complex but wholly convincing characters and in doing so discover more about yourself... Or at least I certainly did with this life-changing novel about identity, displacement and home. I can't wait for Zadie's new book out in Autumn!
Natasha Slee, Social Media Editor
For those with short attention spans (like me, thanks social media), try a couple of fairly thin novels, short stories or essays on holiday. The Bell Jar is the only novel by writer and poet Sylvia Plath, and sees the young female protagonist spiral into depression – like being trapped beneath a bell jar. If you prefer facts to fiction, pick up a collection of George Orwell’s essays. In "Decline of the English Murder", written in the '40s, Orwell analyses different types of murder as reported in newspapers, and why people like to read them. Summery stuff! Another plus: these books won’t hurt if you drop them on your head while sunbathing.
Gregory David Roberts' Shantaram
Tamar Riley, Marketing Manager
When I'm on holiday I love reading books which are based in exotic countries and being totally transported twice over. I think it's the ultimate escapism! Shantaram is incredibly based on a true story of a convicted bank robber who escapes prison and flees to India to try to build a life in Bombay. It's a doorstep of a book and should last you a full seven day break.
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