Best books to read during summer vacation
Growing up, summer meant vacation, and vacation meant the mountains: each year we packed our snacks and bags, borrowed a camera, and hit the road. Driving away from the heatwave, driving towards the mountain shaped like white elephants. The AC in the car never worked. That never bothered me; my mind was already wandering in and out of arcades and cafes, thinking on the flavours to be savoured and the shopping to be done. And when you visit a foreign place, it is a good idea to buy a souvenir. Something to remember the days of rest and relaxation. The quest for such trinkets often led me to bookstores. And as I read them over the summer, the stories felt like an extension of the adventure.
Those were the days of summer. I still have those books, the stories that have become synonymous with summer. I’d like to share some of my favourite summer reads.
Tom sawyer by Mark Twain
When it comes to American literature, Huckleberry is often placed above Tom Sawyer. The former is the great American odyssey through Jim Crow’s America, while Sawyer is about the adventures of a naughty and clever kid with an overactive imagination. When I read Tom Sawyer, I felt like I had grown up with a kid like him and was in some ways myself. The type of kid who goes looking for treasure and believes that heroes should are just and brave. And Tom show bravery when he gets into a dangerous situation later in the novel. All of this endeared me to the character and his adventures.
Related: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Anne of green Gables, Peter Pan, Don Quixote
Prisoner of Zenda
What are the odds that you go on vacation, run into the king of the place, find out that you look exactly like the guy, and then the king gets kidnapped and you have to take his place?
Out of all the books I read as a child, this one is my favourite.
What captured me was more than the adventure and the action; it was the grace with which Rudolf takes on the role and the honesty with which he follows through with the mission, knowing full well that someday he would have to give up all the power, even when love complicates matters. All of which culminates in a bittersweet ending.
Related: The three Musketeers, Count of Monte Cristo, Man in the iron mask
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Kidnapped follows the story of an orphan who finds out that his uncle is trying to steal his inheritance and is kidnapped on a pirate ship. There he befriends a Scottish rebel and survives a shipwreck and then political turmoil.
Any book by Robert Louis Stevenson could be a good summer read. But I always find myself coming back to this one. Maybe because it was the first of his that I read. There is a barely palpable melancholy to this story that starts from the very first page when David is orphaned; the house of Shaws, his family home that he visits, situated in a barren landscape; and the uncle who refuses to recognise him even though they are both left alone in the world. Then the kidnapping and the ending like that of Zenda, bittersweet.
Related: Treasure Island, count of Monte Cristo, call of the wild
Journey to the centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
Journey to the Centre of the Earth is an adventure novel by Jules Verne. The story follows Professor Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans as they discover an old secret message that leads them to a volcanic path into the Earth.
This was the first novel that I read. When the cryptic message fell out of the book and into the hands of Ralph, I was there with him, feeling that the world had more to offer; that there were secrets to be discovered.
Related: Lost world, around the world in eighty days, coral island
