Vacation Reads 2026
My husband and I spent two weeks in the UK recently, and we spent a lot of time on planes and trains, so I had a lot of time for reading.
…Liberty Street by Heather Marshall
Heather Marshall’s Liberty Street is one of those dual timeline historical fiction novels that I love. It also taught me something about my own country’s dark history in its treatment of women. Not really a win, but it is still interesting.
…Tall Oaks by Chris Whitaker
Tall Oaks is Chris Whitaker’s debut novel. It is interesting to observe his progression as a writer from this novel to We Begin at the End and All the Colors of the Dark, but I don’t find Tall Oaks to be a particularly good novel.
…Foe by Iain Reid
Iain Reid is the author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things, which I have not read, but I did watch the movie adaptation by Charlie Kaufman, which was surreal and confusing, even if I was able to parse together what was going on by the end. I let the movie put me off from reading the book, and I almost did not read Foe either, but I am glad I did because I got a kick out of the ending (Foe has also been made into a movie, as you can see by Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal being on the cover of the book, but I haven’t watched it and I am glad I read the book first).
…The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Beautiful Ones was originally published in 2017 and is the second to last of her novels that I need to read before I am all caught up on her bibliography. Unfortunately, The Beautiful Ones fell short of my expectations.
…The Astral Library by Kate Quinn
Kate Quinn has appeared many times on my blog for her mid-twentieth century historical fiction, but The Astral Library is her first fantasy novel. The Astral Library poses the question, “Have you ever wished you could live inside a book?” What kind of a bibliophile would I be if I haven’t ever imagined living inside one of my favourite stories? I found the first couple of chapters of The Astral Library very difficult to get through, but once I did, this novel ended up being a fun read.
…We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad
In my review for Mona Awad’s Bunny, I had said that I thought the Bunnies (the clique of rich girls that the main character does not like but wants to be part of) are the more interesting characters. I take that back. I was completely wrong. We Love You, Bunny is a slog to read.
SPOILERS AHEAD for Bunny in case you plan on reading it.
…We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker
I have been meaning to read Chris Whitaker’s We Begin at the End since I read All the Colors of the Dark last year. Better late than never. I’ve had a hankering for another slow burn, character driven mystery ever since reading Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods, and this novel was exactly what I needed.
…real ones by katherena vermette
katherena vermette’s most recent novel, real ones, is about a subject that I find intriguing, people who falsely identify as Indigenous (or who falsely identify as any race really). This novel came out about a year after it was revealed that American musician Buffy Sainte-Marie’s fabricated claims of Indigenous ancestry. Where do white people get the audacity to pass themselves off as another race that has been marginalized by white people? (It’s a rhetorical question). As interesting as I found real ones to be, though, I must admit that I do not love how vermette wrote this story.
…Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I must like stories about astronauts and space travel more than I thought, because I ended up enjoying Atmosphere considering my lackluster feelings towards Taylor Jenkins Reid.
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