The Hardest Decision To Make

Nothing is harder for a book enthusiast than having to decide which books to take on a trip. Do I bring a thriller? A classic? A re-read? Hard cover? Soft cover? A stand alone or a trilogy? See, these are hard questions to ask oneself when they are preparing for a trip. Especially if they are going for a trip that is longer than three days and even then it’s a struggle.

When I bought my vacation flight what I was most excited about was the idea of having to choose which books were going with me on my adventure. Thankfully I am someone who plans ahead and efficiently, so coming up with a selected few wasn’t that big of a deal. Except when it came to the actual idea of picking up the books.

Right off the bat I knew I wanted to take all soft covers—no exception. I was taking a carry on and I didn’t want my books to weigh down my bag. Next, I knew I wanted to take books that I haven’t read before so that eliminated any re-reads. I also knew I didn’t want to continue or start any new series so I didn’t take any "Throne of Glass" books by Sarah J. Maas (I have to read the second book, "Crown of Midnight") or "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", which I haven’t even started yet.

I wanted to take four books:

*Currently reading*

• An ARC
• A historical fiction

And the other two books would come to me as the time approached. Originally the currently reading book wasn’t part of the four because I figured I’d already have a book going but after reading my last book, "Night Film" by Marisha Pessl, which was a chunky book, I needed a break of a few days from reading.

So which books did I end up bringing with me on the trip? I ended up taking these:

• "The Giver" by Lois Lowry: I am not one to watch the movie before I read the book unless I know for a fact that I don’t want to read the book but this one had been on my radar for a while and the movie was already on Netflix. Plus, I love Lois Lowry! One of my favorite childhood books is Number the Stars so I knew I had to pick this book up. I am currently reading this and I am loving it.

• "Stalking Jack the Ripper" by Kerri Maniscalco:This was the arc I snagged from B-Fest Teen Book Festival in June. This is from the publishing company Little Brown and it comes out on September 20^th, 2016. Obviously, I wanted to get a jump start on this book before it came out so I figured I would get to it sometime in my trip. As long as I read it before or while it comes out I am good. For once, I want to be ahead of the (reading) game. She also commented on my image on Instagram.

• "The Storyteller" by Jodi Piccoult:Jodi Piccoult is one of my go-to authors. After reading Nineteen Minutes by her a few years back I’ve had a few of her books on my radar. So when I saw The Storyteller at the Barnes and Noble discount section I knew I couldn’t pass it up. I thought this was a historical fiction and I am not sure if it is but I do know that it’s one of my oldest books on my shelf (not the oldest). I bought it on my last trip to Florida. She has a new book coming out and I can’t wait to read it. She answered my tweet about it.

• "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz:And appropriately the last book has the number on the title so I picked it up. I am joking. This book is one of the smallest book in my shelf at the moment in book size. It’s only 131 pages long. The reason why this book is on my to-be-read shelf at all is because I’m looking for something to help with my anxiety. Maybe this book can help.

So these were the books that were lucky enough to come with me on this trip. The other books that accompanied me where my dairy and my Q&A A Day 5 Year Journal.

If you want to follow along with my reading, follow me on my Goodreads and also my Instagram.