Hello and welcome to Spectator Books Podcast. Now unfortunately, even books editors have to go on holiday sometimes.

So the usual podcast is going to be taking a hiatus for a couple of weeks.

But so that there's not a gap in your life where the podcast once was, we're bringing out a couple of our old favourites to tide you over these summer months.

Newspapers and radio and television are always wanging on about summer reads

and what books you should take away for your summer.

To that end, I gathered Alex Clark and Damien Barr, two old friends and great critics,

to talk about what you should and shouldn't take to the beach.

Hello and welcome to The Spectator Books podcast. I'm Sam Leith, literary editor to The Spectator,

and this week summer gets underway. We're going to talk about summer reading, that endlessly vexed question of what you should or shouldn't take on your holiday.

And to that end, I'm joined by two friends, Alex Clark, a former editor of Granta and one of our most prolific and brilliant literary critics, star of stage and screen, and somebody who's more across current fiction than anybody else I know pretty much.

And also Damien Barr, the host of London's most glamorous literary salon at the Savoy and a memoirist and novelist in his own right as well.

Damien, Alex, welcome.

Now, Alex, let's start with you.

I mean, I want to just begin by talking about what, you know, we always talk about summer reads. What do you think a summer read constitutes? Is it the opportunity to go and take

the difficult classics that you never got to grips with in your school days or do you just

take trash? Well, you can take the difficult classics who never got to in your school days or any

other time since. I mean, we all do, don't we? We always put something. I mean, there I am with life and fate in my suitcase every single year.

But does it come out?

It does not.

Patricia Highsmith does instead.

I did once take one book when I was interraining.

I mean, the pretension of youth.

...