5 Great and Short Books to take on Holiday

I don’t know about you, but whenever I travel, I think it’s worth having a couple of great books to take on holiday. I always think it’s great to have one or two to hand, but since I’m likely to be moving around a lot and exploring a new country, I think that short books are best to take on holiday with me. This way, I can get some great entertainment and keep up my reading, but also get to travel, which is what I’m meant to be doing.

Since travelling alone can be a solitary venture, I find that having a book to take on holiday can be a little bit of company. Even if you’re travelling with people, it can always be good to take one on holiday. Plus, it’s useful to have a book on holiday whilst you’re waiting in airports, or if you’re bored (a nice antidote to holiday boredom if you’re in your last couple of days on a trip is taking a great book to a park and sitting down and reading!). Having taken numerous books on holiday and read widely, I’ve got a little list here of some great short books to take on holiday that will be the perfect holiday companions.

None of the links present are sponsored – I’ve put them in there for you to use if you’re interested in any of these books and want to find a second-hand copy.

The Blue Fox by Sjón

One of my favourite reads of this year, The Blue Fox by Sjón is one of the best short books to take on holiday, especially if you’re travelling to a colder country or during the winter. Written by the Icelandic writer Sjón, it’s a good book to take on holiday to the colder parts of the world. The book follows a priest who is hunting a blue fox and moves back in time to explore his life and why he is hunting the fox. It’s a great and short read that won the Nordic Council Literature Prize. A really impactful, fast-paced book, it is the perfect book to take on holiday if you’re up for something slightly mystical, full of character, and very human.

Click here for used copies!

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

This great and short book is a slow-paced read, but you might want to take it on holiday if you’re wanting to slow down a little. A Single Man is about a very important day in the life of a professor in America, after he’s received some terrible news. It’s a very interior, reflective book, and follows George Falconer during this day in his life, but the slow pace makes it quite a relaxing read, and readers might find themselves becoming invested in the man’s life, especially if it’s a book they take on holiday, like I did. It was also made into a really great film which is definitely worth checking out, but since I cried while watching it, you might want to watch it after reading the book and taking it on holiday.

If you’re interested, check here.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Though this isn’t my favourite entry in the series, I think that this is among the best short books to take on holiday, for several reasons. But before I get into those reasons, the plot: Arthur Dent is taken across the galaxy on a bizarre journey after The Earth is destroyed. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s why it’s a great book to take on holiday:

It’s very funny, and not just funny for sci-fi fans. The book does a great job of capturing the stresses of travel among people, and has a lot of funny observations about human behaviour.

It’s a short book – the entire series is comprised of relatively short books – that can be easily read without demanding too much attention and making you feel like you have to work on holiday.

It’s very fast-paced. Along with being short, the book is quickly-paced, so you can read a handful of chapters a day and get through quite a bit.

These are a few of the reasons that make it a great book to take on holiday.

You can find some used copies here.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

Raymond Carver is one of my favourite writers – and, for my money, the best short story writer out there – and while he’s written several short story collections, I think that this is the best one to take on holiday. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love is packed with some great short stories. While they have various stories and characters, many of them navigate love and explore the hard-to-go places in relationships. Carver’s characters feel human and real, and his managing to do this in a handful of pages is amazing. Read a couple of these stories a day when abroad, and this is a book that you’ll want to take on holiday again and again – you really feel like you’ve taken in so much over the course of two or three of these stories.

Here are some second-hand copies.

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

One of the awesomest crime writers to have lived – although she wasn’t the greatest person – Patricia Highsmith created one of my favourite protagonists in Tom Ripley, and he’s the perfect character to take on holiday with you. One of the reasons is that The Talented Mr. Ripley takes place in scenic Italy. The other is that it is a dark, murky read, and Ripley is definitely not a hero. It’s also a great book you’ll want to take on holiday with you if you like dark stories where the protagonist isn’t a good person.

Second-hand copies can be found here

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So, these are five great and short books to take on holiday. I’ve tried to pick out a range of different books to accommodate for different moods and tastes, but if I had to recommend just one, I’d recommend What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Carver’s work is just so intimate, insightful, and a joy to take on holiday.

Have you chosen any of these books to take on holiday? What do you read on holiday? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time,

Conrad 🙂

p.s. If you’re looking for more reading recommendations, then you might like this post I wrote about some of my favourite authors 🙂