Best holiday books revealed in poll
Romantic reads come out on top in survey, followed by mysteries
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Your support makes all the difference.Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You has been named the best holiday read in a new poll – beating the Harry Potter collection and Fifty Shades of Grey.
A survey of 2,000 adults revealed Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird completed the top five.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne, came sixth, followed by The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman and The Diary of Anne Frank.
Other popular reads included My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult, and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games.
The research, commissioned by holiday company Original Cottages, also found travellers expected to get through five books during a typical getaway.
And 60 per cent said they would read more on a week’s holiday than in an average working week.
Nearly six in 10 (58 per cent) preferred to read when away as they could relax and unwind, with 59 per cent believing that buying new books was a key part of holiday preparations.
Romance was considered the top genre to read on a staycation, while other respondents enjoyed mysteries, historical and literary fiction.
But rather than trying something new, 39 per cent stuck to a genre they knew they loved and read all the time at home.
Nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) thought reading was a good way to escape and switch off.
However, 37 per cent said they found it difficult to find the right book to buy when on holiday in the UK.
Sonia Holman, from Original Cottages said: “Holidays are all about escapism and there’s nothing quite like getting lost in a good book to help you disconnect from work and unwind.
“We hope that our summer holiday reading list will help Brits to feel inspired when it comes to packing a book for their next UK trip.”
The urvey also found 60 per cent of adults still preferred to read a physical copy of a book during a holiday, rather than on a tablet.
Summer reading favourites
1. Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
2. Harry Potter collection by JK Rowling
3. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L James
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
6. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
7. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
8. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
9. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
10. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
11. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
12. Better off Dead by Lee Child and Andrew Child
13. The President’s Daughter by Bill Clinton and James Patterson
14. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
15. A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough
16. Murder Before Evensong by Richard Coles
17. Over my Dead Body by Jeffrey Archer
18. The Murder Book by Mark Billingham
19. Normal People by Sally Rooney
20. Becoming Molly-Mae by Molly-Mae Hague
21. Diddly Squat by Jeremy Clarkson
22. Cat and Mouse by MJ Arlidge
23. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
24. Lion by Conn Iggulden
25. Billy Summers by Stephen King
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