# I need some vacation reading **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082 "2006-07-26T13:25:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082/1 "2006-07-26T13:25:14Z")
I’m leaving for my annual week reading on the beach Saturday morning, but don’t have the usual stockpile of books I’ve been saving for the occasion. I’ve got a few books in the to-be-read queue (oh, hell, who am I kidding, I’ve got a houseful of books, all too many of them unread), and am planning to grab some of them, but those are mostly nonfiction – mm hm, nothing says “lazy days of summer” like a little Richard Dawkins, eh? I need some novels. I like _good_ novels, nothing wrong with long ones. I read virtually no genre fiction anymore. Things I’ve read, liked, and recommended here: _The Crimson Petal and the White, The English Passengers, The Road to Paradise_ (Vargas-Llosa’s take on Gauguin and his grandmother). Wasn’t wowed by _The Shadow of the Wind_. Liked _The Curious Adventure of the Dog in the Night_ (I’m paraphrasing the title here, I think), but didn’t love it. I’ve got a copy of _Madame Bovary_, which I read 30 years ago, and a copy of _100 Years of Solitude_, which I’ve never read. Maybe _Moby-Dick_? **pseudotriton ruber ruber** keeps pushing Robertson Davies, which seems like a possibility, but I need to check the library on that. Help! My future happiness depends on you! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082/2 "2006-07-26T14:15:35Z")
I’ve recommended this before somewhere around here. \*City of God \* by E.L. Doctorow. It’s one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082/3 "2006-07-26T15:10:30Z")
I’m reading a big, thick novel called “A Suitable Boy” by Vikram Seth. It’s about 1950s India and the struggle of maintaining notions of tradition, social class and family obligations in a changing world. Thus far, it’s been pretty interesting. I just finished Robert McCammon’s “Swan Song.” It’s one of those end-of-the-world novels (brought on by nuclear war). It was written in the 80s, so there are some Cold War assumptions which wouldn’t be applicable today, and it has some supernatural aspects. (Much like Stephen King’s “The Stand”.) Over all, though, it was an entertaining “brain candy” read. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082/4 "2006-07-26T15:14:18Z")
I’ve actually read _A Suitable Boy_. That’s definitely a long freakin’ book. **Kalhoun** – I like Doctorow – I’ll look for that. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082/5 "2006-07-26T15:15:03Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] **pseudotriton ruber ruber** keeps pushing Robertson Davies, which seems like a possibility, but I need to check the library on that. [/QUOTE] _push_ ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082/6 "2006-07-26T15:21:42Z")
I’m currently re-reading _The Grapes of Wrath_. I’d only read it previously in High School, and while I remember liking it. . .well, it’s really blowing me away right now. The language, the dialogue, the characterization, the humor. I’d forgotten what it’s like to read really good writing. The kind of writing that makes you want to write. I know the plot lines don’t cry out “light summer reading” but it’s not what I’d call a heavyweight either. So, if you’re looking for a classic that maybe you haven’t picked up in a while (if ever), there ya go. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082/7 "2006-07-27T00:33:31Z")
Okay, went by the remainder warehouse on my way home, and picked up a few random things – then went and paid full price for a copy of _The Deptford Trilogy_ at Barnes and Nobel. Also got _City of God_ out of the library. More suggestions still welcome… ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082/8 "2006-07-27T09:55:32Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Okay, went by the remainder warehouse on my way home, and picked up a few random things – then went and paid full price for a copy of _The Deptford Trilogy_ at Barnes and Nobel. Also got _ **City of God** _ out of the library. More suggestions still welcome… [/QUOTE] Ooooooh…I think you’ll love it. I hope you have a review when you return from the beach!!! ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082/9 "2006-07-27T11:07:52Z")
Try _The Man Without Qualities_ by Robert Musil, and (but only of you have a very _long_ vacation, there’s always Proust! ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082/10 "2006-07-27T12:20:42Z")
The last book I was really sucked into was _Baudolino_ by Umberto Eco. I laughed, I cried, etc etc. In the mystery vein, but not a typical genre mystery, there were a lot of good things about _The Emperer of Ocean Park_ by Stephen Carter (the legal scholar). The mystery itself was kind of bland, but it was an intriguing look at … I guess I would call it the hidden upper middle class of African-Americans. Last year, I really enjoyed _Any Human Heart_ by William Boyd, it’s a novel told in diary form starting with the narrator’s time at school at Oxford in the 1930s and following his entire life. So like English life for people of a certain class throughout the 20th century. If you like short stories, I liked _Adaptations_ which is an anthology of short stories that were made into films. It’s the kind of thing where you’ve heard of just about every film, some of them I hadn’t even realized were based on short stories. A very wide variety of styles and genres are represented. I love the Deptford Trilogy so you should have fun with that! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-some-vacation-reading/366082/11 "2006-08-20T02:14:02Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Ooooooh…I think you’ll love it. I hope you have a review when you return from the beach!!! [/QUOTE] Well, I got back from the beach two weeks ago – but didn’t read it there. Just finished it today, in fact. Liked it a lot, though I’m hard-pressed to describe it. (I had it on my desk at work the other day, because I needed to call the library to renew it. A coworker said, “Oh, Doctorow – what’s it about?” “Um,” I said, “uh…” “God?” he asked helpfully. “Yeah, kind of. And the city, in a way. Basically, uh, it’s about, um… Well, it’s about the 20th century.”)