I’m packing for a week of vacation on Lake Huron. What books will end up in my suitcase? I lose sleep over this decision because one of the greatest joys of vacation – especially beach – is reading.

Ending up in the vacation spot with the wrong books will ruin everything. I’ve done this before. Packing Barry Lopez nature writing on the Arctic for a two week summer stay in Albania (same climate as Greece – hot, dry) was a complete whiff. I read no more than two pages before my interest rolled over and died. Fortunately, someone saved me with a loaned copy of Stephen King’s THE GREEN MILE, which I devoured during a few long days sitting in the American Embassy in Tirana, waiting with my friend for her student visa to come through. It eventually did – and my brain was in rural Georgia, USA the whole time. Stephen King makes excellent vacation reading.

So does John Steinbeck, for what it’s worth. I had a very happy flight to and from California once with a beat up copy of EAST OF EDEN to keep me company. I still feel like that book is a friend.

Another total win was Min Jin Lee’s FREE FOOD FOR MILLIONAIRES, her pre-PACHINKO book. It’s long, I had an infant to care for in a cabin stuffed to capacity with family…and still the pages just sailed by, giving me refuge from a vacation that wasn’t all that relaxing.

The right book can really MAKE the vacation. But it also makes packing a logic problem.

There are rules

No library books.

ONE really good, long book I’ll not want to put down is far better than three short ones I’ll waste time deciding between.

Paperbacks over hardcover – preferably copies that stay open on their own and don’t mind getting wet, sandy or swiped with food.

Fiction over nonfiction, although there have been some exceptions.

And that book that’s been on my shelf and I just haven’t gotten around to reading? It won’t magically become more interesting because I’m in a plane with it for six hours. (The problem with ARCTIC DREAMS by Barry Lopez.)

My options

…for this week include:

THE LIVING GREAT LAKES by Jerry Dennis. Topical – but heed the nonfiction warning.

I MEANT IT ONCE by Kate Doyle. Short stories by a friend of a friend.

THE MORNINGSIDE by Téa Obreht. A gift from a friend.

FORGOTTEN COUNTRY + FINDING JUNIE KIM, two books with ties to Korea. I like the double-feature idea.

THEIR LAND. An anthology of Ukrainian short stories.

ONCE A RUNNER. Novel about running, which my husband has read 12 times, and I need to catch up.

THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD, a novel I read two weeks ago but enjoyed so much I could see myself reading it again – will the beach make it better?

The clock is ticking on my decision. We start driving in about 12 hours and I still have no idea which of the books above will be the lucky vacation travelers. I might not sleep tonight.

But you know, if I totally bomb my book selection, the cabin rental place has a laundry room with a shelf of old paperbacks – and I bet there’s a Stephen King among them.