12 September 2012

Picking a vacation reading list

It may sound strange to some, but I like to spend my vacation doing more of what I like to do at home. When I am on a cruise, I am disconnected from television and the internet. Without those temptations, I get much more reading done. Typically the older ladies like to shop, the teens run around with other teens, and my husband and his pals do something physical like snorkeling or parasailing. That leaves me alone in a deck chair with a book, a cup of coffee, and my knitting.  Paradise!

I tend to take two books with me, one fiction and one nonfiction, and finish them both before I get home. On a couple cruises I actually had to borrow a book from the ship's library because I finished my own books early. Now that I have a Galaxy Tab and an iPhone, I can carry many more books with me.

So what am I taking with me? My original plan was to restrict myself to e-books to reduce the weight of my bag. However, I have a paperback copy of The Winter of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (and a Mother Who Slept with Her iPhone)Pulled the Plug on Their Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale and I think it would be a perfect book for me to read on vacation. It is not lost on me that I am going to read a book about being disconnected from technology while I am away from my own tech.

Reading the first few pages of that book reminded me that there are a few classics I haven't read. Well, there are a lot of classics that I haven't read, but there are a few that seem to be haunting me. These days I can't go a week without hearing a mention of Thoreau's Walden and Fitgerald's The Great Gatsby. My library has an unlimited check-out time for e-book editions of classics, so I may see if I can put copies of those books on my tablet.

I'm also planning to pack a few audio books. I didn't get a chance to finish Naughty in Nice so I am going to listen to that on the drive down to FL. I will be disappointed if the reader doesn't have a British accent. I'm also giving in to the new hotness and taking Gone Girl with me. A few podcasters have suggested that experiencing this story via audio book is the best way to go since there are two points of view.

That is five books, not counting what I've got sitting on my tablet from free promotions and whatnot. Of course, I know I won't finish all these books but I want to have plenty of choice in case one or two of them turn out to be a yawn.

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