You knew this was coming didn’t you?? I can’t go on holiday and not tell you what I’ve spotted in the airport bookshops – especially since earlier in the summer I was speculating on what would be getting airport special editions! So happy Saturday everyone, here’s which books you should be able to get at the last minute before you step on a plane!
I’m starting with the fiction because I think that’s where most people start, and this is the airport exclusive section – aka the stuff you can only get in hardback elsewhere. And it had all the usual suspects I was expecting/hoping for. By which I mean I snagged the last copy of A Death in the Parish and got the new Richard Osman as well. Of the others Yellowface is the current buzzy book of the moment, obviously the Emily Henry Happy Place was the romance I was waiting for at the start of the summer and then it’s all the other big names you might expect – Jojo Moyes, Stephen King, Karin Slaughter, Jo Nesbo. Really Good Actually has come out in paperback this week, so I wouldn’t have bought that one in that format – even if I didn’t already have a hardback copy I haven’t got around to reading yet…
In general I would say that it felt like the store needed a bit of a restock/shelf replenishment, but the paperback selection was pretty much what I would have expected. I don’t know what happened to my photo of the top 12 books, but I can’t find it – but you can take it from me that it was the usual suspects that you would expect – you can see some of them on the edges – Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Lessons in Chemistry, some Coleen Hoover, Lee Child, the middle two Richard Osmans etc. This is actually the more interesting shelf – as well as Evelyn Hugo and more Colleen Hoover and some David Baldacci – there are a few things that you might not have read if you’re not a massive reader but that are outside some of the usual suspects. So there’s the Dan Jones Essex Boys historical fiction, Elena Armas who I’ve heard good things about, Rosie Walsh who writes women’s fiction thriller mysteries (and who used to write women’s fiction at the romance end of the scale as Lucy Robinson), Anthony Horowitz, Maggie O’Farrell and Jessie Burton.
And finally the airport non-fiction, where I’ve often found hardbacks that I couldn’t have justified buying otherwise (Traitor King I’m looking at you!), but this time was a bit disappointing – although if I hadn’t read Reach for the Stars I probably would have bought it – because it didn’t have enough history to tempt me, and much as I love F1, Drive to Survive and Guenter Steiner, I’m not interested in his book!
Have a great Saturday everyone!