I need some book recommendations

I've got to get some books for honeymoon reading. I have been told I can't waste money on a nintendo DS Lite, so will just be taking my ipod and books for amusement. I could, I suppose, get a crossword magazine, or a sudoku magazine, but have not ever done that before. I think the lovely tall, slender, red-head gets books of sudoku, or her mother does, so I might ask her opinion. I'm not very good at sudoku though. Lucille is, and she showed me how to do it, but I haven't done any in months now, and yesterday I tried the Metro one at lunch - and couldn't get it even half-way done.

Someone I know has just got a Sony Reader thing, which I've been salivating over for the past month or so, but I probably don't have the time (or the cash right now!) to buy one of those. And even if I did get one, I'd have the same problem with what to put on it. I guess the books are cheaper that way though? Should find out before trying to buy one...

Anyway.

I've just finished a Jodi Picoult book. I read My Sister's Keeperin the Maldives last spring and the tears were flowing down my cheeks towards the end of the book. I bought Perfect Match on a recent stop in Waterloo, and it was just too depressing. I think Jodi writes well enough, but as I'm going to be in a happy place I don't want to voluntarily depress myself. I think I'll be sticking to purely hedonistic books, on happy subjects rather than ethical issues on raising a child as an organ donor, or child abuse.

I mean, I'll be on holiday with Mr W for two weeks (which is always fantastic because I will see him all the time unlike when we're working); we're off to some stunning places and might get some diving in (Mr W is currently salivating over a dive site near the hotel, called Shark's Nest); but it'll be a huge break after months of persistent higher-than-average stress; and we'll be married! Why take a book that might make me depressed? I'll leave reading more Picoult until I'm back to commuting.

Another book I've read in the past year or so, completely loved, and found totally engrossing was The Time Traveler's Wife. This book was also incredibly sad, and I thought the ending (the kid being a traveller too) was a bit strange and slightly weak. I'll probably take a careful look at the precis of the plot before buying any other books by for honeymoon reading. I do *not* want to be bawling my eyes out - this one was a bit of a tear-jerker at the end, too. I've had a bit of a root around on Amazon and she's only written three books, including the Time Traveler one. One of the others looks promising (The Three Incestuous Sisters) but turns out to be some kind of graphic novel (with beautiful pictures and a non-incestuous storyline, I've read). Don't want to be taking a picture book on holiday when every kilo counts. The other hasn't been reviewed on amazon yet. I will take myself off to my local bookshop, find The Adventuress, and read it for a few minutes. If I like it I'll buy it, but I have no idea if my local will sell it.

Blink was fantastic. I see the author has written another (The Tipping Point) and I intend to get that. It's even more highly rated than Blink. I still need another few books though.

I finished a book by Antonia Fraser about women in 17th century England (the Weaker Vessel) but am probably not looking for something that dry. It's all historical, obviously, but the amount of women that died in childbirth! the appalling child mortality! the almost permanent state of pregancy! the complete lack of legal rights! I'll probably read more by her at some point, because I'm interested in women in history, but not on honeymoon.

So. After a good few hours of thinking, I could only come up with a couple of titles (Tipping Point, The Adventuress), and a Sudoku book. So obviously I panicked. And decided to see what I've bought recently and not read. Turns out - a fair few books. So I have decided to take some books I've not yet read; whether they're mine or Mr Ws.

Which means the reading list for November will consist of:

Matt Ridley - Genome/ The Red Queen;
Philip K Dick - We Can Remember It For You Wholesale;
Robert Winter - Bloody Foreigners;
Peter Hoeg - Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow;
Philip Roth - Americal Pastoral; and
Max I. Dimont - Jews, Gods and Monsters.

Unless anyone has some cast iron guaranteed fantastic reads, or if Christopher Brookmyre or Janathan Coe have recently published something I might have missed, I've got my reading list sorted. That is, until I arrive at the airport and hit WHSmiths like someone whose been on a diet too long tearing into a dairy milk...