What books to take on my jols*

It's about the time of year when I have had enough of winter so Mr B and I are off to Kenya in a couple of weeks. We had such a fabulous time on Safari in the south of Tanzania three years ago that we've decided not to try to re-create that experience this time around but we will spend a couple of nights on the outskirts of the nearby Shimba Hills reserve to break up the trip. There are some fabulous looking camps in Kenya but I want to return to Tanzania in the next couple of years so will save myself for that instead! As a result, we will be based by the beach as we're staying in a couple of places to the south of Mombasa but that does mean plenty of time for reading books in between snorkelling and exploring the local area!

I already know that I am definitely going to pack Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle (over 2250 pages with a small font!) and am really looking forward to getting the time to read them back to back. With a meagre five book limit, I am now trying to choose a couple more from between The Quincunx, The White Tiger, The Suspicions ofMr. Whicher, Halting State, When We Were Orphans and Diary of an Ordinary Woman. Any advice very welcome!

I've banned myself from deploying a "perhaps I could buy these for my holiday" mind-set as I suspect once I start down that road we'll be paying an excess baggage charge in both directions. Although I don't think that accidentally purchasing A Guide to the Birds of East Africa should really count as that's set in Kenya so more like essential reading...

If I sound hard done by, I should mention that my husband is also taking five books and he is under strict instructions to ensure that I've not read any of his selection! Additionally, I've added plenty of books to my iPod and I'm hopeful that the places we are staying in will have bookshelves with packed with "easy reads" so I'm relatively sure that I'll make it through two weeks with enough reading material.

Won't I?

*Jols = Jolly Holidays!