Reading the wrong book on a holiday

[PeacockSpringy]

Has anyone else accidentally spoilt a holiday by reading the ‘wrong book’ whist away. I mean like spoiling the mood of a holiday by reading something too sad or intense or dark. I’ve done it a few times now. Worst was last summer on a lovely cruise around Scandinavia and I was reading Miranda July’s All Fours! Completely the wrong vibe for a holiday like that! 🤣 going to be more careful from now on!! Just wondered if this has happened to anyone else. I enjoyed that book but wish I’d read it at another time because it just took over my mood whilst I was away!

I normally take a selection so if something has the wrong vibe I can swap it for a better one. Last minute airport purchases as well means I bring back several unread books!

I generally bring about 6 books with me plus my Kindle so if this does happen I can quickly switch!

I spent an afternoon crying my eyes out in a caravan in France on holiday after reading Me Before You.

@Twirlywirly25 I can sympathise with you there! I did that on a beach once reading A Fault in Our Stars! Hid behind my sunglasses! 😢

I do tend to take something that, at least sounds light and uplifting.

@LeeshaPaper @tourdefrance that’s a good idea. I find it hard pausing a book though once I’ve started

Life's too short and there are too many great books waiting to plod on with one that's not great!!!

I like taking books I've read before for holiday reading

Yeah I once decided a beautiful luxury ski holiday was a good time to get stuck into Crime and Punishment . Thankfully I had my kindle with me as back up so I switched to something light and fluffy!

I took And The Ass Saw The Angel by Nick Cave on a beach holiday in Turkey.

It is not a light holiday read😂

One Day ruined at least three days of a holiday as I was so bloody sad!

Yes! Revolutionary Road, Lanzarote circa 2009. It made me feel quite depressed. I can't remember why I didn't switch to reading something different. I've never been back to Lanzarote since.

Ex boyfriend brought a copy of Albert Pierrepoint’s autobiography (former official UK hangman) to read on our first romantic holiday away together - we broke up soon afterwards.

Yes OP!! I immediately thought of a holiday to Mexico where I read We Need To Talk About Kevin. It was just not the right vibe at all . I couldn’t put it down though

I had been reading a fantastic book, couldn't put it down, and finished it on a flight to Canada.
I sat there weeping, looking a complete wreck, passengers around me giving side eye, flight attendant asks am I OK, can she get me anything. I just held up the book and she instantly understood.

It was The Lovely Bones.

I've never had a holiday ruined by a book, but one Christmas morning when I was quite small my parents came into my bedroom expecting to find me all excited by the stocking at the end of my bed, only to find me sobbing my heart out at the end of Goodnight Mr Tom.

I'd woken up early and put the VHS on when I couldn't get back to sleep. I'd often do this but it was usually Toy Story or something similar.

I also got banned from re-reading Charlotte's Web on long car drives.

Another one for One Day and on another holiday The Swan Thieves massively brought my mood down.

When I was 16 I took The Bell Jar on holiday. Read it by the pool. Fortunately I didn't have the emotional maturity for it to occur to me that it wasn't quite in the holiday spirit 😂

I always save the new releases from my favourite lighter authors for holidays for exactly this reason. Then it’s like an extra little treat to look forward to, as well. As a rule I don’t want to be reading serious literature or getting frustrated with a poor book during my precious holiday time.

I was once sat on a beautiful beach in Thailand next to a very elegant woman who was reading The Satanic Verses. Very odd choice for a holiday read I thought!

Once when I was going to Australia I went to a bookshop in the airport and bought a big chunky Marion Keyes novel to read on the plane.
I was only a couple of pages in when I realised I had already read it 🤦

That book took the shine off a Christmas one year. I can just remember feeling on edge the whole time and vaguely cross with everyone 🤣 loved the book though!

I actively try to read long books that require a lot of concentration on holiday because I have time to get into them! Though maybe not depressing ones.

As a teenager I read The Republic of Trees on holiday and thought it was quite fitting at first. Teenagers escape their lives by running away to a forest in France. Then it turned Lord of the Flies and got very gruesome. Spent a lot of the holiday trying to shake the worst scenes out of my head.

A friend decided to read a book set on Central America while we were travelling round it, mainly by long distance public bus. The central plot arc was buses being stopped by the shining path and people being shot or horribly tortured. Can’t remember who it was by or what it was called but it was a proper author.

she was traumatised by it, not helped by the bus companies frequently taking the photo of all the passenger before boarding…. To identify us…. I didn’t pick it up after she’d finished it.