Packing for Vacation
Ah, summer reading! Who doesn’t love it? And of course, vacation reading is an important part of the joy of summer.
With my Kindle, it should be easy to pack for the trip. Simply slide the Kindle into suitcase and go. But after considerable thought I decided that that would not be the route I’d be taking this year. Yes, the Kindle will be going but a mid-size bag of books will be going too.
The reason is pretty simple. I am sick of my TBR. It has long since ceased to be a pile, has expanded beyond a shelf, then shelves, and is looming into a room. I don’t have a room to devote to it. So several books from my “pile” will be joining me on this trip.
Looking over the shelves determining which of these books will be coming with me has not all been easy. I knew two right off the bat. Bound to Love Her by Esri Rose has been sitting on the shelf since 2008. As part of my Unofficial AAR Forums Reading Challenge (11 in 2011) it has to come with me. I’ve made several false starts with this one and it will be good to finally finish it and drop it in a bag to head to the UBS.
Another book for the challenge will be Prince Charming Doesn’t Live Here by Christine Warren. I rarely receive books as gifts (people give me gift cards knowing that they will be spent within hours of being put in my hot little hands) so this is the only book I have that meets the criteria 1 book that was a gift.
For the remainder of the books, my choices were a bit tougher. I want to take books I will actually read – not just pick up and not get into. And yet I want to take books that will be a bit different from what I pick up at home. Since doing the 9 in ’09 Challenge and discovering that I liked inspirationals waaayyy too many have made it on to the TBR shelves. So I should take at least one of these – I am pretty sure it will be Deanne Gist’s Maid to Match. So far I’ve liked all her books and a light hearted book makes for perfect summer reading.
The unfortunate closing of Borders resulted in me going a bit crazy during the “all books three dollars or less” sale so at least one of those impulse buys has to come with me. I’ve decided on Dark Road Home by Karen Harper. I’m pretty excited about this one. I love romantic suspense and Harper will be a new to me author. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
This will be it. My unreasonable family expects me to spend time with them :-) so getting four books read in that one week tends to be a challenge.
What about you? How do you pack for vacation? Will they all be on your e-reader or are you taking a few paperbacks/hard backs as well? Do you tend to pick new to you authors or do you take favorites?
– Maggie Boyd
I’m planning to take only print books on my vacation. Partially it’s because this vacation is always about being away from electronic devices — no computer, cell phones barely work — partially it’s because I also have a deplorable print TBR that really needs work. We travel by car, so space isn’t such an issue, and then I leave the books there for other people — it always pleases me in an odd way to go with less than I came with.
I’m not really planning a summer vacation so I will be reading on weekends but do plan to at least tackle a few books in my tbr which has progressed a mountain …lol….
I leave on Saturday for the beach. I spend the entire week on the beach reading. I downloaded 2 or 3 books on my Kindle. I have 6 or 8 audio books on my I-Touch and I went to the used book store and got 8 or 10 short Harlequin books for some variety. My family knows to let me read all day on the beach. I do not want to go shopping etc. Let me read.
This is actually a topic I’ve been a little worried about this year. We decided to go tent camping in the Appalachians this year, which is going to be a completely new experience for me. I wouldn’t worry but my Kindle battery doesn’t hold a charge for very long anymore (couple of days) and we won’t really be near anywhere I can recharge. So I’m using it for as long as it lasts as well as two print books just in case.
We used to spend 2-3 weeks at the lake cabin and I would go to the local library with the kids. I loved going into a different library to check out books and it meant a lot fewer books to pack.
I always over pack when it comes to books. I seem to have a fanatical fear of being left without something to read. Part to that fear comes from the fact that I never know what type of book I’ll be in the mood for next. At home that’s not a problem, because I can pick from my print TBR, my kindle, or the local library. On vacation, I take a little of “”everything”” to avoid being caught craving a humorous contemporary instead of the romantic suspense I packed. I take my kindle and paper books. I don’t take my kindle to the beach, and probably not to the pool unless I’m not swimming. (I don’t want to leave it poolside while I swim.) So paper books are a must for our beach vacations.
I usually take between 4-6 books with me but I did splurge this year and bought an e-reader so will try to upload some books and stick to the reader.
Once more out of the loop, but I don’t pack books anymore when I go on vacation. I find I usually don’t have the time to read. We go to different locations and I’m all into the new stuff. When I used to bring the books, they would go back home with me unread. Since then, I’ve learned my lesson. No books while I’m away enjoying the new sights.
I envy you there, xina. Yes, if I had someplace like that to be able to go to occasionally, books would definitely be part of the baggage. But then that’s an entirely different get-away than one where you are on the go most of the time. On trips, I found my focus to be too vulnerable for reading, so I began taking books that didn’t require much of a one—more of a quickie read. And then I thought, I wouldn’t read those at home, why bother with them on the road. They were so forgettable and usually “”dumb.”” So I quit bothering and began to enjoy the time away differently than when I’m home. I can always read when I return.
I take an ereader and ipod touch but usually bring a few print books just in case. Because I use the free web browser on the Kindle a lot while on the road, I deplete the batteries pretty quickly, and have to recharge often. If I’m going to be sitting on the beach or by the pool I often prefer a print book to the Kindle, just because I’m less worried about damage or theft. Though a ziploc bag makes a good water- and sand- resistant case for the Kindle.
Lauren – I hope you get to take your weekend. No vacation since your honeymoon?!!! Wow!
Victoria – I envy your lack of a TBR. I really, really hope I reach that status in the next few years.
We are going on a short vacation in July, and I plan on taking my Kindle, since I don’t have a TBR pile. I am glad Rike has had success pooside with her e-reader, as this will be my first vacation wit the Kindle. Looking forward to not having to pack books, and since I will be able to dowload whatever strikes me on vacation, I won’t be witout something new to read. Somethig must be wrong with my Kidle, cause mine does not hold a vharge for weeks like Tinablle’s, so I’m going to pack my charger, and charge it at overnight if needed.
I take my Opus – problem solved of what books to choose. Beyond that, however, I take one or two books from my TBR shelves for the flight and the beach. I don’t mind taking the Opus to the pool, but I draw the line at the beach, even if I can put it inside a plastic bag.
All this applies to trips during which I stay in hotels with a safe in each room. During a recent trip to England, this wasn’t the case, and accordingly I felt I had to drag around the Opus everywhere because I didn’t want to leave it in the room unsupervised. In July, I plan to go on a short camping holiday, and this will be a big comeback for paper books.
I recently took my first kindle-assisted flight and was excited about the awesomeness of not having to cart multiple books with me onto the plane. I’m a terrible flyer and the only thing that helps is having another world to focus on so I cope by reading. I almost had a panic attack when I realized that, because it’s an electronic device, I would be required to turn the kindle off during take off and landing (the most dangerous moments of flying). I’m going to admit that I kept it turned off until the flight attendant sat down, made sure my wireless was off, and read anyway. I’ll have to cart at least one back up “”paper”” book with me on future flights. Also, as if I needed any other reasons to fear flying, the idea that me reading my kindle could somehow bring the plane down hasn’t done much to reassure me.
Although I don’t travel a lot anymore, when I do it is Kindle all the way. Since I have owned a Kindle for over 3 years, my paper TBR pile has been finished off. Yippee! After a recent move to smaller quarters, I seriously weeded my book collection out of necessity. These days, the only books I buy in paper are art books, craft books, or other non-fiction with a lot of graphics. W/the Whispernet off, my Kindle holds a charge for weeks, an advantage over color readers and tablets that only hold a charge for hours.
I like to read something different now and then when it comes to cabin reading. I get taken in with the beauty of it and the quiet lake noises, so most times I pack something different. I do read from an e-reader, but I also pack books. I figure it I have it in paper, I don’t need to download it. Up on the the paperback list this year is…Passage by Connie Willis, The Wives of Bowie Stone by Maggie Osborne(have had this book for at least 5 years) Blue Willow by Deborah Smith, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, Heartstrings by Rebecca Paisley. Digitally, I plan to read Tracy Grant’s new book.
I am currently enjoying a week at the beach with my Nook, but this morning, when in the middle of my 2nd cup of coffee my Nook flashed “time to recharge your battery”, I panicked. What was I going to read??? It felt really good not to have to choose between another paperback and that extra pair of cute sandals when packing since all of my reading material was in my Nook. I’ll know next time to bring a backup! My friends are a little disappointed also this year because they usually rummage through my book bag for their summer reading. :)
I love light hearted stories on vacation. I’m reading Kandy Shepherd’s Love is a Four Legged Word and so far, it is perfect for beach reading. As soon as I’m done with her 2nd book, Home is Where the Bark Is, I plan of downloading Julia Quinn’s latest.
I recently purchased a Kindle, after years of hemming and hawing over it because my TBR pile is so massive. Now that I have it, I love it, and plan to purchase most, if not all, future books electronically. However, I still need to go through that massive TBR. I’ve been trying to make myself read from that pile while at home – whittling away at it a few books a month. But for trips I’m sticking to my Kindle now. So much easier to pack, and it makes for much lighter luggage. :)
I usually take a variety of books from different genres. I hate to be away from all my books and wanting to read a Paranormal when I’ve packed only Regencies. Of course, the Kindle has now solved this problem for me.
Hopefully DH and I will be able to take the weekend we have planned in July…our daughter is due to deliver her first baby around the 4th so it may interfere with our plans…I hope not since this will be the first vacation (loose term since its only a weekend…the adjustments one makes when you own a business) our honeymoon 30 years ago…but I do plan an packing books for the trip…a few weeks back I loaded up at my local resale shop with about 75 books…so I think I will take about 6 books…most likely a few stand alones and maybe a series. I don’t own an e-reader and I plan on resisting that temptation for as long as I can…