Normally the week just before I leave for summer vacation, I spend hours on end desperately searching for some interesting books to read. Usually I just collect another huge pile of literature to explore while sunning on the beach or reclining on the balcony of our resort hotel in some faraway exotic country. This time it'll be on the Algarve Coast in Portugal.

However, over the years I've collected so many unread books from these previous bookstore excursions, that I've decided not to look for anything new. There already here surrounding me on the bookshelves aching to be considered. Please pick me, oh I'll be such a good book to you, please.

I'll simply have a look through all of my unopened hardcovers and paperbacks. Hopefully I can come up with a good healthy selection, balancing perhaps a couple fiction titles, one computer tome and a history book also.

I've been keen on reading the new 50th year anniversary English translation of "The Tin Drum" by Gunter Grass, so I'll bring that along. Also the latest hardcover "At Home" by Bill Bryson, looks interesting. And then there's Kafka's "Metamorphosis and Other Stories" as well as "Mortal Combat" by Michael Burleigh. Just in case, I'll also bring along the latest edition of "Effective Perl Programming" just to keep my mind well oiled.

Bringing too many books along for vacation can also be a problem, as it can be hard to decide which book to start. You end up switching endlessly back and forth, getting so stressed out reading multiple lines of thought, that you end up reading nothing. Except those cheap puzzle magazines you happened to pick up at the airport, which involve minimal concentration, and they are fun and relaxing also.

Will also bring along an extra set of pencils, erasers and a good pencil sharpener.