The ultimate summer holiday reading list

Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You has been named the best holiday read – beating the Harry Potter collection and Fifty Shades of Grey.

2,000 adults were recently polled on their reading habits and the findings revealed Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird completed the top five of their favs.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne, came sixth, followed by The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman and The Diary of Anne Frank. Other popular reads included My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult, and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games.

The research, commissioned by national holiday cottage company Original Cottages, also found travellers will get through five books during a typical getaway. And 60 per cent will read more on a week’s holiday than in an average working week.

Nearly six in 10 (58 per cent) prefer to read when away as they can relax and unwind, with 59 per cent believing that buying new books is a key part of the travel prep. It also emerged romance was considered the top genre to read on a staycation, while others enjoy mystery, historical and literary fiction.

The ultimate summer holiday reading list top ten

1. Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
2. Harry Potter collection by JK Rowling
3. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L James
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
6. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
7. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
8. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
9. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
10. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins