I’ll start with an apology. I apologize beforehand because I am so stressed out and jittery that my every breath is a rant right now so I’ll try to organize the ranting chaos in my head but I can guarantee nothing. *takes deep breaths… mumbles Zen mantras*
Ok, I’m back. 🙂
So what has me worked up? My vacation. Well to be exact my leaving for vacation. Or if you want me to be even more specific it is packing for my vacation.
First of all work has been crazy this week. Somehow we have 3 major projects (which we have been working on for the past 3-4 weeks!) all ending this week, which means that instead of me taking care of last minute details and cleaning my desk everyone is hysteric at work and we jump around like caffeinated bugs. *deep breaths*
Ok, I’m Zen 🙂 Besides work there is of course the small matter that I have tons of e-mails to reply to and leave my blog in some passable state. No problem, I’ll manage.
But the part which makes me stress out the most is packing! I’m leaving for a week for the beach and it is not the idea of which sundresses and bathing suits to take which has me work up a sweat but which books to pack for a week-long read-a-thon vacation!
I hope some of you can understand my dilemma and feel for me. But if you don’t see what got me worked up I’ll tell you: as we are going to spend our days on the beach I won’t be able to read on my Kindle as I fear getting any water on it (and don’t even get me started on the dangers of grains of sand!). So I have to choose enough paperbacks to last for a week.
But that is not the end of it. You may not know this about me, but I am very indecisive. I can never plan or decide anything ahead, and the same goes for my reading choices. Who can predict what I’ll be in the mood for in 4 days? And what if I don’t have any books near that I’m dying to read? So I’m swamped.
I can already tell you what will happen: I’ll take 3 times as many books as I can possibly read in a week and still won’t be satisfied with my choices. Thank God I’ll have my Kindle on hand, who knows, maybe I’ll just go far away from the sea to read it in a safe distance from the waves and the sand 😉
So tell me, is it easy for you to pack your books for vacation?
Can you narrow it down to 3-4 novels and stick to them or do you feel frustrated because you don’t want to read either of the ones you have packed?
Let me know your vacation dilemma (if you have any)! 🙂
ETA: when leaving work tonight, a bit before 9pm my favourite colleague asked me what books I’ll take with me. I just looked at her and almost burst out laughing, since this took place after I wrote this post… I spared her all the details of my dilemma and just told her a lot. And she got me ;-p
About Stella
Stella is a proud bookaholic and a self-taught multilinguist in training. Besides reading, her other great passions are travelling and baking. When she is not globetrotting she lives in sunny Budapest, where she loves to spend her free time preparing (and feasting on) delicious cookies or devouring equally yummy books. Her favourite genres are urban fantasy and romance and she couldn't live without her daily dose of sunshine. Besides being the Latin Lover on BLI Stella also blogs about books and a bookish life on Ex Libris.
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*grin* Ziplock bag!!
It's how I read in the bathtub with my Kindle!
Either way, I don't envy you having to choose!
oh hon, I SO understand LOL. I can't get myself to choose and stick to the books I'll have chosen.
This is why i have such a huge TBR pile LOL
I hope the books you chose will satisfy you for this week of sunny bliss =)
My strategy is bring lots of short books, so I have lots of options AND I can feel like I got a lot accomplished. But I always end up buying more.
Luckily, I typically vacation within driving distance. And I can pack a lot of books in an suv, so no choice is necessary. Plus, with the addition of my Xoom and the different reading apps, I have hundreds of books at my finger tips.
I took 3 books with me on my week long holiday in Prague, as I would have two 12 hour journeys to get there and back.
I ended up reading two of them and buying two extra books in Prague.
This will be a shocker to everyone, but … wait for it … I usually don't take any books with me on vacation *gasp*. It's true, due to the fact that I usually will be out and about all day and have no time to read anyway, I've long since stopped packing books. Even on longdistance flights I will only take a magazine with me to kill the time. I hope this revelation doesn't make you question my sanity *lol*.
Vacation is the only place where I am not particular about book-packing. A few years ago I took a huge bag on a week long vacation, thinking I would be knocking out one book a day. I read two because I discovered how much I like to roam on vacation.
Now I pack a paperback for the plane and my ereader for the vacation in case the mood hits me. If I am in need of a second paperback for the trip home I just grab something at the airport.
Before eReader (BeR) I'd pack a few books but I wouldn't stress about it. Now, After eReader (AeR) packing books is a non-issue.
http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
I normally stress for about an hour then just pick out a few books and take my e-reader with me. Most of my vacations are on cruises so I can stay far enough away from the pool with my e-reader so it doesn't get wet.
I'm actually going on vacation in one month so I will soon start to worry about what to take 🙂
Wonderful! Inspirational!
I use my vacation reading as a time to FINALLY read those books that have been languishing in the 2nd or 3rd spot on my TBR pile for too long. You know, those books that keep getting demoted because you're just not feeling the genre right at this moment, or the latest Kate Daniel just came out…..Never mind that you REALLY REALLY want to read them. The time just hasn't been right.
This is how I finally got into The Hunger Games and China Mieville.