Travel & Hotspots

books for the summer

When you go abroad, what do you bring… books of course, because you’ve finally got the time to schedule in plenty of reading hours. Deciding what to pack is never easy. There’s so much new literature released each year, but sometimes all you’re in the mood for are classics. A book that you know you’l love, and one that won’t leave you indifferent.

I’m more a fan of tangible reading. Letters on a screen don’t do it for me, I prefer to have pages to turn. I love the scent of some old books – the ones that are still in tact, not the ones covered in a layer of mold in your basement. The noise the pages make as you turn them sooth me.

Alright, for everyone who still doesn’t know which books to pack into their suitcase, here are a couple of favorites of mine for the holidays. Because sharing is caring.

Richard Yates – Revolutionary Road (1961)

America, end of the fifties. Frank and April Wheeler are an attractive couple who live in an American suburb with their two kids. All looks happy and well on the outside, but on the inside boredom and dissatisfaction are eating away at their colorful façade of a life. A constricting story about civil life and the inability to escape it, however big their dreams might be. Beautifully written, gut wrenching and although it’s an older book, it’s still very current.

Reif Larsen – The selected works of T.S. Spivet (2009)

A moving book about Tecumseh Spreeuw Spivet, a twelve year old boy who is a gifted artist and can make the most detailed cards, graphics and natural history drawing – the Smithsonian Institute in Washington as an example. When he gets awarded with a prize (the museum has no idea that he’s only twelve years old), he decides to travel straight through the United States all the way to DC to take it home. The compelling story is illustrated with Tecumseh’s own drawings. Exciting, funny and sweet.

Nicholson Baker – House of Holes (2011)

A petite pornette for sultry summer evenings. Baker tells the story of a hidden garden of lust: a penis paradise with a wall full with holes where anonymous rods stick out their heads hoping for a bit of attention, diligent trees to make love to and laundromats that’ll even turn the coldest of the bunch a couple of degrees hotter. A virtuously written sex novel, along the lines of the hallucinogenic Naked Lunch by Burroughs. This one’s definitely a hit if you want to crank up your dirty words vocabulary.

Roald Dahl – My Uncle Oswald (1979)

I’ve read this one about one hundred times, and I still love it. Dahl is evidently a master in storytelling, someone who can easily guide you to some sort of fairytale world. Uncle Oswald is a bon vivant who creates love pills using grounded beetles and sex peppers which makes the users think of nothing more than sex. Once he meets someone who knows how to freeze sperm, he foresees a lucrative trade. Oswald finds a way of freeze celebrity sperm through the use of his pills and a woman. A hilarious book that you’ll read front to back in no time.

Written by Kalinka Hählen