Book Bout - Books as Travel Companions

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Reading is a great way to while away a long journey. I know for myself that picking my reading for a trip is almost as important as actually packing my bags.

Do you read while you travel? Are there any genres or authors that you go for in particular when you’re going on holiday/vacation? Do you have any strong memories of reading on journeys?

Let us know in 80 words or more and earn 5 team points.

[Prof. Maxim Trevelyan]

I like to take books on vacation, though I do not read them while I am actively traveling (so, as a passenger in the car, train, plane or other). I get nauseous easily while reading.

But, when I am tanning on the beach, listening to the waves crash against the coast, or sitting under a shade in the mountains or by the fire, I love to read for a few hours and take in the calm. I usually read easy, brain-numbing books, like trashy romance or my favorites, such as Sherlock Holmes mystery novels. Depends also on how many days the trip will take, but that is mostly on the quantity and not the content of the books themselves.

[Prof. Scarlet Leslie-Lewis]

I almost always ensure that I have a book with me when I travel. It doesn't matter if it is a train ride to New York City, a six hour drive to Vermont, or a three hour flight to Texas. I usually grab whatever I am reading at the moment. Though for day trips to NYC, I do try to choose a paperback book so my bag doesn't get too heavy.

When I was a frequent flier to Texas, I'd try to pick books that would last the entire roundtrip. Unfortunately, more often than not, I'd finish the book during the flight there. The most notable ones were Cinder by Marissa Meyer and Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. Then, I'd have to borrow one of Cody's books for the flight back, like The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and a random Stars Wars book, or re-read!

[Carrie Warts]

I love taking adventure and thriller books with me while I travel. Sometimes I finish the books I read during the trip and don't have a book for the way back so I go to a bookstore close by or even buy a book at the airport to keep me reading non-stop. I always prefer to have an actual paper-made book than use a kindl or any electronic reading device just because my eyes get sore, I get headaches and the battery might run out whilst having an actual book in hand I don't get such problems.

[Prof. Kendra Givens]

I haven't been on any trips in quite a while, but I do have good memories of reading while traveling. I can't read in the car without getting a massive headache (I think from the motion sickness of things constantly passing by) BUT I used to love reading on the plane when traveling to far away places. Especially when I was little, my dad worked for an airline company and his family lived several states away, so we traveled fairly frequently. I remember I always had to pack at least two books in my carry on bag, just in case I couldn't decide which to read. I would spend a lot of time reading in hotel rooms as well. When I traveled to Mexico and Costa Rica, I didn't bring any books because I didn't want them to get lost and not be able to get them back easily. If audio books had been prevalent back then, I might have done that instead.

[Charlie Spencer]

I always bring books with me on trips! Usually, those trips are in the form of summer vacations, and for that reason I usually bring my summer assignment reading. While that may sound boring, my school is good at giving us a choice in what we read, within certain guidelines. Last summer when I went to Ireland, I brought The Aeneid by Vergil (for Latin class) and 1984 by George Orwell (for English). It was certainly an interesting combination. I'm assigned to read How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster for my advanced English class this summer, and I plan on bringing it with me on an upcoming trip.

[Mia Fountain]

I usually bring a couple of books to read when travelling. I read while in the car or on the plane, and in the hotel room. I will usually pack a couple of paperback books and download a book or two from the Library's E-Book collection. So, I don't get bored and I have a nice selection. The genres and the authors of the books doesn't matter that much to me, so I usually find something that looks interesting. Although, on my last trip I didn't read on the plane, I found that I wasn't comfortable reading a book, while being that close to other people, I suppose I could've tried listening to an audiobook. But, since I would have to listen to it on bluetooth (connected to my hearing aids, not regular earbuds), and I'm not even sure if it was allowed, I didn't. I even watched the in-flight movies in silence (thank goodness for captions).

[Louis Walles]

It really depends on a lot of things. If I travel by plane or train - I always read or do puzzles such as Wordsearch or sudoku. When I was 13, I used to take flights to Poland every summer. From the UK to Poland it's usually a 2-hour flight, therefore I was watching a movie or listening to music for 1h and then read. The same thing is when I travel by train or tube. I love to read when I have more than 10 minutes of free time. When it comes to me reading books in bus or car its a big no-no. I really can't look down or read when I travel by those because I quickly start to feel unwell. I prefer to listen to music while I take a bus or a car.

[Emerald Wolvenhowl]

Whenever I travel away, I usually take the book I am currently reading. If it is a large/ heavy book then I try and finish it before I go away. Then I choose another one- which ever genre takes my fancy at that time- as I prefer to take a lighter book with me. Also, I don't really like leaving a book part way through and picking up a couple of weeks or more later.

I usually take just the one book with me and make it my aim to get to a bookshop wherever I am staying. If I can find a second- hand bookshop then I'm like a kid in a toy shop, and spend a lot of time browsing. I often leave with at least two fiction novels, one of which I start to read while returning home and the last of which was Brideshead Revisted by Evelyn Waugh.

[February Fortescue]

I've been doing lots of traveling and camping lately, and two of my favorite genres to read are horror or thriller books, The scarier and more heart pounding the better! There's nothing like being out in the woods, wondering if you're in danger from some stray dog. Other times when I'm traveling, I like to select books which will turn my mind off and allow me to relax. I enjoy fantasy and science fiction novels, because they take me to a whole new world. I enjoy falling asleep imagining what it would be like to be surrounded by such an environment.

[Amy Smith]

I do read books when I travel cause I need books to read. I don't read books when I go for long drives as I don't think that people are supposed to read books while in a car as it may damage our eyes. But I do read books when I go somewhere from a train or a airplane.I don't have any particular genre or author's which I read while travelling.Whichever book I haven't completed reading or a series which I have started I continue reading those.