Believe it or not, your honeymoon is not the time to bust out tearjerker books such as Never Let Me Go, The Road, or Little Bee. It’s also not necessarily the best time to tackle notoriously challenging books like Infinite Jest or Gravity’s Rainbow. In her recent Tahitian honeymoon blog post, my very wise friend Alix made an excellent point that I also want to emphasize: you’ve got to keep the reading selection during your honeymoon light.
The library at the Hon Tam Resort in Nha Trang, Vietnam
I recently polled a small group of friends to ask them what they read during their honeymoons, and the feedback was almost entirely unanimous:
1) Everyone likes funny books, especially comedic memoirs:
– Bossypants by Tina Fey (the audiobook, too, is truly amazing)
– Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
– Anything by Chelsea Handler
2) Book series are so hot right now:
– The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins (although one friend mentioned that she would get so caught up in the books that wouldn’t want to put them down, which brings up a smart point that if you don’t want to turn your honeymoon into a reading marathon, you should bring along books that are good, but not THAT good.)
– The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling (these books are pretty clunky, so it’s probably best to load them on an e-reader)
– The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy by Stieg Larsson (a good story, yes, but definitely not the lightest/happiest subject matter)
3) “Romance novels” can help put you in the mood:
– The 50 Shades of Grey Trilogy by E L James (Oh my! Barf. I couldn’t even get through book two, but it sounds like all of my friends were equally curious about these books)
And I can’t personally vouch for any of the following, but the following books were highly recommended by a self-proclaimed trashy romance connoisseur:
– Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
– Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
– The Mighty Storm by Samantha Towle
– On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves
4) Books? During a honeymoon? No thank you:
One friend told me she had no patience for books during her honeymoon so she stuck to magazines, and another friend told me to quote her:
“Reading on a honeymoon? As if! My hub and I watched countless episodes–fine, seasons–of such classics as Gossip Girl and Mad Men on the iPad. On the beach, in bed, at the pool… a great iPad case, portable speakers & a headphone splitter were all we needed.”
More on non-literary honeymoon entertainment later, but I’ll leave you with a short list of other honeymoon-friendly books that my friends suggested:
– The Help by Kathryn Stockett
– The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
– The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
– Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster
– Life As I Blow It: Tales of Love, Life & Sex . . . Not Necessarily in That Order by Sarah Colonna
– Anything by David Sedaris
One last tip on honeymoon reading material: either bring real books with you from home, or plan on using an e-reader – just don’t wait to buy real books at your destination. The selection of English books in non-English speaking countries will be very limited, and always overpriced.
Peonies to Palm Trees 
Great post!
Thanks for this! I’m looking for the right book or two to read on our honeymoon in June. Great, light-hearted books are hard to come by!