Earlier this week, a customer requested a list of aeroplane reads. Here, different staff share what they consider the ‘perfect’ read for a long-haul flight.

Nina Kenwood

I never buy celebrity magazines until I am faced with a plane trip (of any length) and then suddenly, I must have WHO and NW in my hands. This also applies to books – I read a lot of literary fiction in my everyday life, but I can’t stomach it on a plane. I generally want easy, fast-paced or funny during my air travel.

To that end, I recommend taking an addictive psychological thriller (along the lines of The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl), something legal or criminal (I once read The Lincoln Lawyer on an international flight and it was exactly the right combo of pacing, intrigue and light entertainment) or a funny memoir (Tina Fey’s Bossypants was my companion on a long plane ride across the USA).

Finally, I like to watch a lot of movies on long flights, so a book about movies (such as the wonderful and very fun Life Moves Pretty Fast) would be an excellent addition – read a chapter, watch the movie discussed in the chapter, read the next chapter, watch the next movie, and so on.

Fiona Hardy

I’m a great believer in taking as many books as possible in your carry-on luggage, or at least in my case, as many as I can fit around all the Pringles. I never know what mood I’ll be in, so I need to cater for anything Future Fiona might want.

If I was going on a long-haul flight soon, I’d probably pack my so-far-unread copy of Knausgaard’s A Death in the Family. It’s a book that I’ve been wanting to read for a while, but which requires a place of concentration (i.e. not my loud house). I also love magazine on flights and recently came across The Happy Reader series. Each issue of this publication is split into two halves: the first half is an in-depth interview with a book fanatic and the second half gets under the skin of one classic work of literature. Having adored the first issue, I’d definitely pack the second issue (which has been inspired in part by Kakuzo Okakura’s The Book of Tea).

And, for something completely different, I might even pack a bunch of pencils and Emma Farrarons’s The Mindfulness Colouring Book – to pull out when staring at hours of sky and sea starts to get a little mind-emptying.

Emily Gale

It doesn’t feel good to write that I’ve spent 200 hours in the air during the past decade flying backwards and forwards between Australia and the UK, mostly with two small children. Yes, we were the family you tried to repel using unspeakably dark thoughts as we crashed up the aisle with strung-out expressions, nappy bags and – once – a toddler loudly declaring: ‘Mummy, fink I got worms.’

So, for your sake and mine, I suggest purely escapist reads. Liane Moriarty’s funny, sharp stories about family have helped me to go to my happy place on several flights (The Last Anniversary would be a good choice; it’s quite eccentric). I also remember being so absorbed by Maggie O'Farrell’s After You’d Gone that I didn’t even squeeze my eyes shut or grip the armrests during the landing (I’m usually a nervous flyer).

If novels failed I would re-read For Better For Worse, For Richer For Poorer, a memoir about a couple with two small children who decide to switch their comfortable existence on land for six months on a very small boat travelling down the waterways of France. The narrative flips between the husband and wife and it’s a good reminder that it’s alright to absolutely loathe your spouse on long journeys. It doesn’t count.

Alan Vaarwerk

I find it difficult to concentrate on flights, and I also get a bit queasy, so Serious Literature doesn’t work for me in the air. Rather, I tend to favour short-story collections and humour writing, that I can read easily or dip in and out of. I recently devoured Amy Poehler’s Yes Please over a return flight, and I can see myself reaching for Zoe Norton Lodge’s new collection Almost Sincerely as the seatbelt sign switched off. On my next flight I’m going to try taking along a graphic novel – maybe Scott McCloud’s The Sculptor or Jillian Tamaki’s This One Summer.

When I get sick of reading I’ll usually switch to a podcast. My current favourites include Reply All, Kill Your Darlings and Bring A Plate.

Bronte Coates

The mere thought of packing causes me crippling indecision and so, naturally, choosing which books to take on a plane trip is a fraught process. I tend to save this decision until the end and am usually facing a shortlist of eight to ten titles. So begins the culling process during which I consider all aspects of the book’s potential: length vs. weight, suitability of subject matter, diversity of the multiple books.

In the past I’ve often taken Important Dense books that I’ve been intending to read for years but never quite found the time for. Surely, I think to myself, I should use my impending and temporary imprisonment in a cramped space to my advantage by only packing this one book, thus forcing myself to read it. I can now say, unequivocally, that this has always been a mistake. It turns out that there are many, many ways to avoid reading Middlemarch on an aeroplane if you try hard enough.

These days, my general rule of thumb is to pack no more than three books as I just know I’ll end up buying others because, heck, I love buying books. I always try to have one read that sounds fun and fast-paced, and one read that sounds smart and serious. One of the best books I read on a flight recently was The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm which was a combination of fun/fast-paced and smart/serious. I don’t mind packing a tearjerker. I’m one of those strange people who likes books that make me cry and planes are particularly conducive to this kind of read. Also, if the flight is overseas, I try not to pack any book that is too dear to me as I like being able to trade books in at hostels.

Lately, I’ve also been trying out audiobooks on long trips and it’s been tremendously enjoyable. A friend of mine who’s more well-versed in this area than me recently recommended I try Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem, as read by Diane Keaton.