I'm thinking about Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell -- books about magic seem to fit vacations pretty well. Can anyone tell me if they think I'd like it?

Have you read Life of Pi? or something funnier/trashier: "The overactive imagination of Olivia Joules?"

Yeah, JS & Mr. N is great for vacay. Let me add Adventures of Cavalier and Klay to that list. More dense than those but still digestible for dark comedy: The Corrections.

yes, Life of Pi is awesome. I like the Ladies No. 1 Detective series by Alexander McCall Smith(I think).

I second Jonathan Strange. I took a day off from work just to finish it. In a completely different vein, I also suggest How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young. Great airplane reading. And for all of its piss-poor copy editing, Best Food Writing 2004 is grand.

How I Paid for College is a great book -- funny and smart. I think it would make a good vacation read. Colors Insulting to Nature is also a good one. Not a fan of The Overactive Imagination of Olivia Joules.

I took Kavalier and Clay on my last trip and had to ration it out, I was enjoying it so much and reading it so fast.

JS & MN is waaaayy too long for a vacation read, and it gets off to a slow start (I'm just sayin'...). If you haven't read the Tuesday Next series by Jasper Fforde, I highly recommend them. Or pretty much any Neil Gaiman book (Neverwhere, Good Omens, American Gods are all books I enjoyed on vacation).

By the way, Catherine, great mix CD. I couldn't make myself wait until BTD Greg came home to listen to it. Good stuff.

thanks! i'm glad you're enjoying it. i just got mine today from a forum member named chi, i think. it'll be listened to soon.

i have to second toby young's book. it's not often that a book makes me laugh out loud. also, anything by augusten burroughs. the film version of his first book, "running with scissors," is in production right now. creepy, but very funny. not suggested if you're squeamish about creepy things, like people eating dog food and man-boy love. it'll be interesting to see how they get that on the big screen.

A MASSIVE SWELLING: Celebrity Re-examined as a Grotesque Crippling Disease, by Cintra Wilson

JS & MN is waaaayy too long for a vacation read, and it gets off to a slow start (I'm just sayin'...)

Vacations are the only place I can read quickly (no distractions) and I don't mind not finishing it before I come home -- so that's not a huge concern. If I got through Cryptonomicon on a diff. Italy trip, I feel like I can attack JS & MN.

But! I am intrigued by the Neil Gaiman suggestion, since I really enjoyed American Gods. Which of his books would you recommend most (excluding that one)? The Augusten Burroughs suggestion is also one I've been kicking around.

And for anyone similarly book-shopping: here are some Border's coupons.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Break, Blow, Burn by Camille Paglia (since this is a series of essays, it can be easily read at intervals)

Loser Goes First by Dan Kennedy

Life of Pi was an awesome book, and Catch-22 I think would be a good vacation read (Na has it out from the library right now actually). Personally, I like to reread my favorite books on vacation. That way you can put down the book at any time and do vacationy things. If any of you out there are interested in SciFi, Iain Banks is a popular British writer and I haven't seen too much of his stuff on this side of "the Pond" but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. His stuff is not too amazing but I found it the perfect vacation reading material.

Julie and I went to B&N last night and found the perfect book for you, Nerd Gone Wild.

Tom, if you've already read American Gods, I'd read Neverwhere, or maybe pick up his Sandman series of graphic novels, if you're into that sort of thing. Also, if you've read Cryptonomicon, you could always read the Baroque Cycle, which come to think of it, I also read on vacation.