The Big Book Decision

Did you know your butt can totally fall asleep after 20 minutes on the stationary bike? True story.

My butt, however, is not what I want to discuss today. Instead, I’m trying to figure out what reading materials to bring with me on vacation. This is always a struggle — I normally end up (a) bringing too much to read and weighing down my bag or (b) not bringing enough to read and twiddling my thumbs in my spare time. I’ve decided to bring two books on vacation, but need to narrow it down from a larger selection. I’d love your input on this!

Books have been narrowed down to the following:

• The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon. I got this book from a GREAT friend (you know who you are!), but still haven’t gotten around to reading it … you know, several years later. The description on the back cover seems really interesting so I’m thinking this one might make it on the trip.  
• Cross Country. This book made it on the list for obvious reasons. I own it and have read a few pages, but the reviews are very mixed and I’m not sure I want to read 416 pages of a mediocre book.
• Like Water for Chocolate. I’ve read this book numerous times, usually on vacation. I don’t think I’ve read it since I got into cooking and baking so much several years ago — it might be nice to revisit it. On the flip side, should I be spending my time reading something new? I’m not sure.
• Honeymoon with My Brother. I got about halfway through this book, got sidetracked with other things and put it down. It’s a pretty good book about a guy who’s wedding gets cancelled at the last minute. Instead of getting hitched, he decides to travel the world with his brother. Could be a good read for the kind of trip Brian and I are taking.
• Certain Girls. I bought this book on sale at Target a few weeks back. I’m about 50 pages in and kind of bored. I really liked Good in Bed so I’m wondering, does Certain Girls get better? Inquiring minds want to know.
• A Homemade Life. Here’s another book I’ve half-read (should that be hyphenated?). Each chapter is a food-related vignette followed by a recipe. It’s a book that’s fun and touching to read, plus you can read it for 5 or 50 minutes at a time.   
• The Angel’s Game. I ADORED The Shadow of the Wind, Zafon’s previous release. I’ve heard The Angel’s Game is quite different — some like it a lot, some are not impressed. I really, really, really want to buy this book, but I’m having an internal battle — do I read the books I already own (all the ones I’ve listed thus far) or do I shell out for this book in hardcover?

To add to all these decisions, this morning I got an e-mail from Amazon regarding the best books of 2009 so far. Have you read any of them? What are your thoughts?

P.S. A friend of mine recently became a pop culture writer. She’s wondering where people go to get their pop culture fixes — Web sites, magazines, TV shows and the like. It would be great if you could leave me a comment about your pop culture sources and I’ll send them to her. Thanks!