Holidays are a time when most people pick up a book or an e-reader. Those of us here at Cyclebodia who read English language fiction have created a list of our holiday reading recommendations. Whether you like to read on the beach, by the pool or at a table with plenty of coffee and cake to hand, we hope we’ve suggested a novel that will really add to your holiday experience.
The Complexity Of Motherhood
Time travel
Hilarious take on ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
Poignant Booker Prize winner
Uplifting comedy romance.
Witty, deadpan comedy
Thriller set in Provence
Corruption in a reform school
Translation of extraordinary fiction
Humorous British fiction
The Holiday by T.M. Logan: Three families rent a villa in Provence for seven days. What was supposed to be a perfect holiday spirals into deceit, ugly secrets, rage and death.
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart: It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Poignant and brutal. Not a feelgood novel.
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer: Amy shares stories about her family, her relationships, her career, good – and bad – sex, recounting the experiences that have shaped who she is today. Witty, deadpan honesty.
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead: Elwood Curtis is sent to the Nickel Academy, a chamber of horrors, where abuse is rife, where corrupt officials and tradesmen do a brisk trade in supplies intended for the school, and where any boy who resists is likely to disappear ‘out back’.
Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughan: A deep dive into the complexity of motherhood. Women’s literary fiction.
Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore: Shakespeare meets Dashiell Hammett in this wildly entertaining murder mystery. An uproarious, hardboiled take on the Bard’s most performed play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary: A wonderfully uplifting debut is a joyous confection of comic misunderstanding and endearing romance between two residents of the same flat who have never met.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi: In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin: A.J. Fikry, bookstore owner, is going through a hard time. But one day A.J. finds two-year-old Maya, with a note attached to her asking the owner to look after her. His life – and Maya’s – is changed forever.
A Faulty Eviction by Daniel Adam Garwood -The eccentric tenants of Pendrick Court refuse to accept eviction notices from their tyrannical landlord. They band together and form a war cabinet. Will they hold on to their apartments? Will all of them make it through the battle alive? Fresh, fast-paced, clever and incredibly funny.