Looking for this summer’s big hit books? Look no further – we have called in top experts from the trade to tell you which titles not to miss in the months to come. Covering various genres from thrillers and romances to the best in comedic fiction and more besides, we’ll be giving tips for the hottest beach reads and coolest tomes to take on a long journey.

Sometimes reading a good book isn’t just about what lies between the pages – the place and circumstance that you are immersed in can add that extra dimension that makes it all the more meaningful. So is there a way to match the two – a kind of bespoke holiday reading service? Well, perhaps we have the answer...

Last year A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini may have brightened your life, or the final Harry Potter tale may have left you enchanted. Participating in this webTV show, brought to you by Foster Grant Reading Glasses, is a novel way to discover what will be the talk of the parks, pools and departure lounges of 2009.

So, feel free to send us your questions whatever your literary tastes, from Cormac McCarthy to Martina Cole or even Jackie Collins... We might be able to send you on another journey to suit the one you’re bound on over the next couple of months, even if you’re staying put over the summer.

Michael Jones, Head of Books for Borders and Travel Writer Rob Crossan join us live to discuss this year’s best summer reads.

H: Jackie Kabler, host
M: Michael Jones, head of books for Borders
R: Rob Crossan, travel writer

H: Hello and welcome to the Travel Show brought to you today by Foster Grant reading glasses, I’m Jackie Kabler. Now we all know that reading a good book isn’t just about what lies between the pages. The place and the circumstance can immerse you into another dimension taking the reading experience to a new level. So if like me you enjoy a good novel then you’ve come to the right place. Because on today’s show we’re going to be looking at what some of this summer’s hottest titles are likely to be. We’re also going to be looking at some of the ideal locations to match your book of choice with. Well joining me to guide us through this is Michael Jones who is Head of Books for Borders and Travel Writer Rob Crossan, a very good afternoon to you both. Thanks for joining us

R: Hello

H: And of course it is live today, this show, so if you’ve got any questions or comments please type them into the box on your screen, click send and we’ll do our best to tackle them. Right, let’s start talking about last year’s big hits first, because that will be what’s fresh in people’s minds, what they were reading on the beach last summer, before we get onto this summer. What were the big ones last year?

M: I think there were a couple of really big titles last year, one of particular note is No Time For Goodbye which was the Linwood Barclay – it’s a debut author that came out with one of the most incredible, gripping plots ,and I think that’s the big thing that made it so accessible to people. It has this opener where a girl wakes up and essentially her whole family has vanished, the whole place is clean, it’s tidy, she’s a young child, she’s had this horrible argument with them, and they never return and there’s no note, there’s no letter, and the story follows when she’s an adult of her trying to find out what happened to her family, because she never knows. So it’s a really good thriller with an absolutely you know set up brilliantly to sort of capture your imagination, and that’s going to be a big name for the future, absolutely, and it sold immensely, it absolutely captured people’s imagination. The other one that I think is brilliant I think is Kate Atkinson, and if you haven’t discovered Kate Atkinson, When Will There Be Good News is the perfect, perfect book to discover her, you know. It’s one of those, you read the first chapter and you get to the end of it, and when you get to the end of the chapter, you have to go back and start reading it again because it takes this turn mid-way through that you’re just not expecting at all, and it’s not an easy read, it’s called When Will There Be Good News for a good reason, but essentially it’s one of the most beautifully written books. She’s just got such a sense of character, you can’t help but be entirely captivated by it. It’s excellent

H: Wow it sounds fantastic, Kate Atkinson, that’s a name to look out for. Rob, this – it’s an interesting concept isn’t it, you know where you read a book, where you are on holiday can sort of enhance your enjoyment of a book can’t it really?

R: Well I think it does for practical reasons more than anything else in the sense that holidays are usually the only time where you really do have hours and hours to spend ripping through a book almost from start to finish in one go, and I think it can add – the aesthetics around can make a big difference as well. It’s so wonderful, I think, to be able to read a book and rather than having the sound of the traffic outside or Coronation Street theme in the background on the telly, you’ve got the rustle of the palm trees and you’ve got the sound of the ocean. I mean even if the book that you’re reading doesn’t really connect with those images, it still creates a really, really beautiful atmosphere in which to absorb each other where you lose yourself in a book I think

H: And the setting – it plays a huge part in books doesn’t it? I mean it’s so important, for example Captain Corellis’s Mandolin wouldn’t have worked if it was set in dreary, rainy London would it? And so on, so the setting is really important, isn’t it in a book?

R: Yes absolutely I mean the setting’s of books are vital. I think it’s – on the whole they don’t have to be particularly romantic, I mean I’m not always necessarily drawn myself to books that are set in Barbados, I mean some of the best books can be set in rather miserable locations I think and that’s the beauty of some of the best writers, they can make rather un-prepossessing locations seem rather endearing, and you always want to visit them yourself

H: Right ok well let’s talk now about the books that people should be, that you recommend people should be reading this summer. Let’s go through a few genres. Let’s talk about romances first of all, we’ve got a couple which are – we’re not talking mushy, slushy sort of Barbara Cartland-esque romance, we’re talking maybe something a little bit different but still romantic. What can you suggest for that?

M: I mean one of my favourite romantic books is Like Water for Chocolate and it’s translated from Spanish and it’s got such a lovely turn of phrase that you know, in that way that translated literature does, that it’s just utterly romantic from the Spanish tongue, and it’s about this love affair that’s kind of ill-fated and in order to be together they have to make all these horrible decisions that essentially drive them further apart, but they are true love, and they have to jump over all these hurdles in order to be together. But it also has this kind of comedy error where she’s a cook and she cooks, and if she’s crying everybody who eats her food cries

H: Oh dear

M: And if she’s – when she’s feeling madly, passionately in love everybody has to go home, you know it’s beautifully done and it’s one of those lovely reads that just stays with you

H: Fantastic. We’re probably answering Sylvia’s question here actually because Sylvia has emailed in to say “I’m going to treat myself to a holiday somewhere in the sun soon. I love romantic stories. What would you suggest?” so that’s one good suggestion for Sylvia. What about you Rob, I know you’re not really a romantic kind of novel guy but –

R: Does it show?

H: A little bit

R: I would recommend a book by a chap called Patrick Lee Furmer whose – a lot of consensus would say he’s the world’s greatest living travel writer, he’s now well into his ‘90s and his first book is called a Time of Gifts, it was published in the late ‘70s but it was set in the 1930s, and it’s the true account of his attempt to walk from the hook of Holland all the way to Constantinople in the 1930s which is an incredible image of Europe that’s completely vanished of Princes and castles and Châteaux and he gets up to all kinds of roguish adventures along the way, shacks up with the daughters of aristocrats in Romanian castles and what have you, and it’s just a really beautiful journey of a rogue and a Trubador and someone whose just able to get whatever they want out of life and the romance and the liaisons he has along the way. It’s not a classic boy meets girl, but it has a hell of a lot of romance for a Europe that’s completely vanished

H: That sounds fantastic, the sort of book you can probably read wherever you are because it covers quite an expanse of countries doesn’t it?

R: Absolutely yes

H: So. Ok what about comedies, people who like, are into having a bit of a giggle?

R: Well I’m going to have to be – this is a little bit biased because I think this is the funniest book of all time and it’s just extraordinary

H: That’s this one

R: It’s called – there it is yes, it’s called Three Men in A Boat by Jerome K Jerome. It was written at the very end of the 19^th century but the most incredible thing about it for me is that it’s still absolutely hilarious. It remains to this day the only book that I had to stop reading in public on the train because it was making me laugh so much, people were starting to stare. And to put it in a modern context, it’s essentially the beginning I think of lad mag culture. It’s three blokes who are ridiculously ill-prepared, they’re just overweight, they’re drunk all the time and they decided to go on a boating holiday down the Thames, and it’s disastrous in every way imaginable, and it just rings so many bells with me and my friends and the attempts we’ve made to go on holiday over the years, when we really, to be honest should have just stayed at home. And it’s a disastrous comedy and it reads so easily and it reads so well, it’s utterly timeless and it’s a work of genius

H: Excellent. And Michael, what about you? Favourite comedy?

M: Nothing that really springs to mind, generally the things that I find absolutely funny are actually teen reads generally, they can be incredibly funny, and I know that they’re supposed to be for teenagers –

R: Is that intentionally –

M: But you know you’ve got people like Louise Wennison for teenagers who is absolutely laugh out loud funny, and you know it’s incredibly light-hearted and there’s the whole jargon that goes with it, and it’s that kind of remembering your childhood almost, and all the kooks that come with it

H: Yes, yes. My favourite comedy book I have to just add is Tony Hawks, Round Island with a Fridge which is my laugh out loud, don’t read on the tube book. It’s utterly hysterical. Olly and Laura from Colchester have emailed in saying we’re about to go on a round-the-world tour, so taking a book for all of our different locations might prove tough. So how about a handful of short stories?” Now that’s an interesting genre isn’t it, because it’s quite hard you know – for – a lot of authors say that it’s the hardest thing to write, so who does it well? Who would you say?

R: Well I’m going to go for non-fiction again on this one, which is slightly beside what they might ideally want but the Sunday Times restaurant critic AA Gill, probably known as Britain’s nastiest columnist I think, and he’s written a book, it’s called Previous Convictions, he’s got a collection of travel books and they’re essentially taken from all over the world, and there’s chapters on Texas, Greenland, Russia, absolutely anywhere you can think of, even all the way down to Glastonbury and places like that, a lot closer to home. And they’re great for really just being able to travel the world, just having one – quite a small book in your hand because none of the chapters are more than 7 or 8 pages long and to just give you a very quick burst, AA Gill always says that what he wants to do when he travels is interview places in the same way that he would interview a person, and that’s extremely effective way of taking a very brief look at a city. It’s highly opinionated, very unpleasant, very cruel, very nasty in places but when he likes somewhere – which is quite rare – but when he does like somewhere he writes like a dream and I think it’s a great book to read if you really want to find out something opinionated but yet – and still valid about. It’s almost like writing a postcard home, you’re not really attempting to be too – you don’t want to set too much of a perfect scene, you want to be honest, so you get the bad as well as the good which I think is always entertaining

H: That sounds like a good one to read wherever you are in the world, so that’s perfect for that round the world tour. Anthony says “I’m off to Egypt this year and while I imagine much of my time will be spent in the hotel complex I will get to see the sights. So what book do you think would work with this location – I’m into thrillers normally.” Now thrillers obviously a huge genre of people on holiday, you see it all round the pool don’t you, on the beach. I find thrillers – I prefer to read in the sun actually because I get a bit scared actually if I’m at home in the dark, you know on a cold winter’s night, so I like to read thrillers in the sun! What about you Michael?

M: I love to be scared actually

H: Do you?

M: Actually I really enjoy scaring myself, but interestingly enough one of the books that I’m currently reading is Keeping the Dead by Tess Gerritsen

H: Tess Gerritsen, fantastic

M: I mean she’s just a fantastic writer,

H: Lover her

M: I mean fairly consistent in her backlist, all of her books hold up really good, standard of writing and you can’t help but be gripped in all of them, but this current one is actually – they find a mummified body that they think is you know 2000 – you know set in the time of Tutenkamun, and it’s mummified but when they actually put it through a CT scan there’s a bullet and there’s fillings

H: Oh classic Tess Gerritsen, fantastic

M: Yes I mean it’s absolutely fantastic, so it’s got the whole Egypt – this person has all the – they’ve had all their insides taken out and replaced, in the same way that you would mummify a typical body, and the whole scene is set with this Egyptian link, I mean it’s absolutely fantastic and you can’t – honestly the moment you start reading it, you’re gripped

H: That’s perfect for being on holiday in Egypt then isn’t it? Rob what about you, favourite thriller for this summer, what do you recommend?

R: Well I think for thrillers, again another, I’m very biased towards my non-fiction, but the most thrilling travel book I’ve read in recent times is a book called Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger, and he basically bedded himself in with Bedouin monks in the 1940s – Bedouin monks? Bedouin tribesmen, I beg your pardon

H: Bedouin tribesmen, yes

R: In Saudi Arabia in the 1940s, and attempted to cross the empty quarter of Saudi Arabia on camel process which I don’t think any westerner had ever done before, and he was constantly in danger of his life really because so many other tribes in the area thought it was really disastrous that a Christian was attempting to go through these forbidden lands, and just the – the thrilling element of the book is how on earth they managed to do it on just no resources and there’s no maps, no nothing, you’re crossing this enormous patch of desert which on maps is just a big white space, nobody knows what’s there. And are the camels going to die, are they going to have enough water, are they going to get shot by opposing tribes? No one quite knows what’s going to happen next and it’s a really thrilling, thrilling travel story

H: Fantastic, that sounds great. Charlene says “I’m going to LA this summer, what do you recommend?” Lot of books set in LA aren’t they, it’s quite a big – it’s got a lot to inspire writers I think, Los Angeles. Any ideas for that one, slightly tricky?

M: I was thinking is Armistead Maupin set in LA?

H: Possibly yes

M: I don’t know that it is actually

H: Somewhere in America

R: A book that flirts around that region if not entirely in LA is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson which is a really fantastic book, it really encaptures the sleazy side of California and Nevada more than anywhere else, and it’s a great book to read if you’re intending to really party when you’re on holiday, if you’re not too concerned with the museums and more concerned with just taking a road trip to oblivion, then it’s a really, really fantastic read

H: We’ve got a few books here as well which you can sort of – which you can fit into any destination but this is a great one if you’re holidaying in Britain maybe – Eleven Minutes Late, this is about trains in Britain which doesn’t sound like the most inspiring subject –

R: No it’s a bit trainspottering – literally

H: Apparently it’s very good

R: But I think it’s great because you know, to get anywhere, to get to the airport there’s a very strong chance that you’re going to have to take a train at some point, and also you’re going to be quite annoyed at some point because it may well probably be late, or just not run at all, and you know what do we say, do we just say good old British Rail, and this book, I think is really fascinating because it gets to the heart of why the Brits are so obsessed with railways, even if we’re not down at the station jotting down locomotive engines, we’re probably talking about trains at some point in the day, whether – because they don’t work very well frankly, and so we do have this obsession with them, and Matthew Engel’s a journalist for the Financial Times, and he basically spans the entire network, all the way from Penzance in Cornwall all the way up to Thurso in the Highlands of Scotland, and it’s a really fantastic book just to get to grips with why we love our railways, the beautiful scenery they pass through, and also what on earth went wrong. And I guess it gives you a bit more knowledge as to why the train system in the UK is in its current state, and it’s also a fantastic travel log of how to get around the UK by train and how even though there’s delays and it doesn’t work very well, it can be worthwhile as the scenery is so beautiful

H: Somebody whose not holidaying in the UK is Barry, he says “I’m off to the Med this summer” lucky him – “what would suit a sunny holiday like this?” Michael?

M: In the Mediterranean – oh you’ve got to – if you like non-fiction you’ve really got to go for something like Driving over Lemons or one of those where it’s you know here’s my adventure when I moved to – to you know Southern Spain, just to kind of give you that sense of country and the countrysides and the sights and the smells, and I think that’s the – people who don’t read non-fiction necessarily, a really, really good non-fiction travel writing book can so conjure up the sense of the place and the smells and the people and the culture, and I think you can’t – you can’t miss that when you’re travelling, it actually adds flavour to your whole journey

H: Fantastic. Course a lot of the books that we’re reading this summer we’ll end up seeing as films as well won’t we? I mean you were talking about one earlier weren’t you, one of these on the table here is going to become a film, which one is that?

M: There’s a couple that are going to become a film, one of them is Shantaram which has actually been in production, and it is – it’s a massive book, it’s a bit of an investment

H: That’s a real one for the beach. You can spend two weeks reading that alone that book

M: But I mean it’s based on a true story of a guy who is essentially on the run and he’s hiding in India and he’s got a fake identity, so he sets himself up in an Indian slum, and it’s all about all the people he meets in this slum, how he becomes a slum doctor, I mean there’s a whole array of wonderful characters that he meets you know other kind of ex-pats I guess, other people living in India for whatever reason they’re living there, all the slum characters, he becomes a slum doctor, he gets involved with the mafia, he saves people. There’s some really kind of interesting things he has to do to kind of survive in this underworld of India, and then he just gets into all these scrapes, and you kind of can’t believe that somebody’s life could be that interesting really

H: I look forward to that film, that sounds good

M: It’s amazing. And the other one was the Road which was really, really apocalyptically bleak, but it’s absolutely fantastic about you know this man and a boy who are on this road and you know the world is pretty much coming to an end, and they’re one of the last remaining people on the earth, and it’s how they’re surviving, there’s no food, there’s – you know it’s a dangerous place to be because it’s a place of survival, but he has this young boy who is kind of redemption, who keeps him humane, and it’s absolutely fantastic and it will be a brilliant film

H: Fantastic

M: It’s good if you’ve broken down in a motorway service station in Dieppe or wherever, it makes it seem that maybe it’s not so bad

H: We must just mention of course, a lot of these are new books that are out this summer, but some of the ones that you’re recommending are classics aren’t they? And I suppose a lot of us haven’t necessarily read the classics and a holiday time is a good time to catch up isn’t it, on all those old books we feel we should have read?

R: Exactly I mean that’s the great thing about holidays aren’t they, and I mean – and also I think it’s a great time because you’re usually with somebody else or with a group of people on holiday, and I don’t think that reading should necessarily be a calm, contemplative activity, I mean I’m rather irritating and when I read books I love to – if I see an amazing sentence or a description I’ll run off and tell everyone around me and call them up, which I’m sure infuriates them no end, but I think that’s the great thing about holidays, is that you can talk to other people about it as you’re reading it, and also you can swap as well because on holiday other people have bought books with you

H: We’re nearly out of time, but I have to just mention, we were talking off-air about the – about books that we didn’t like, we won’t go into too much detail on that, but you told us a very funny story about how you actually threw a book out of a train window, now you must tell us before we go what that book was

R: Ok

H: How bad was the book?

R: I’m more than happy to say – it offended me to be honest, it’s David Baddiel, his very first novel Time For Bed it’s called, and it remains to this day the very worst book I’ve ever read, and I’m not really one for vandalising books but I really felt that the only right and proper thing to do was to chuck it out of a train window. I tried to make sure no one else was there except possibly a passing David Baddiel, but sadly it wasn’t. I’d like him to have been knocked out by that book but –

H: So we’re not recommending that book?

R: No we’re not recommending that one

H: Thank you so much Michael and Rob, that was great, very interesting, and that’s all we’ve got time for. Well this show was brought to you by Foster Grant reading glasses, and for more information about them go to fostergrant.co.uk, see you soon