TV3 presenter Andrea Hayes

My secret summer guilty pleasure will definitely be Love Me or Leave Me by one of my favorite Irish authors, Claudia Carroll. Her latest novel is another romantic story, so I have no doubt that it will tug on my heartstrings.

I love the idea that the drama is centered around a hotel called the Hope Street Hotel, where you check in married and check out single. I always like to discover a new author and I am looking forward to reading Sarah Maria Griffin’s debut memoir called Not Lost – A Story about Leaving Home. She is getting high praise in the literary world for her honest and gutsy personal story about her first year in San Francisco. I am all too aware of the high numbers of young, talented Irish citizens leaving our shores every day. During the 1980s, all of my own siblings left to find work across the water and none of them have since returned home. So this story, highlighting the challenges facing the new emerging emigration generation, will resonate not only with me, but with many other Irish readers.

Andrea presents Ireland’s Animal A&E and Dublin Airport Life Stories on TV3. She also hosts Saturday Live on Dublin’s Sunshine 106.8fm.

Good Food Ireland founder Margaret Jeffares

Because life is always busy with Good Food Ireland, holidays are generally rare, but a quiet week away with a good book is my idea of bliss. I love biographies and autobiographies. Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom is a great holiday read. You can’t help but be moved by how humble this inspirational man was.

The book starts with his early life and covers him growing up and the 27 years he spent in prison. It’s a book you can really get into on holiday. When you’ve read it, you will feel as if you’ve learned something whilst doing nothing.

If I manage to get away this year I’m taking Would You Marry a Farmer? by Lorna Sixsmith.Lorna is an Irish farmer’s wife and I am an Irish farmer’s wife, so I’m sure we’ll have a lot in common. I’m dying to read it, it’s meant to be hilarious.

Good Food Ireland gift cards for the best local food experience in Ireland’s top hotels, country houses and restaurants can be purchased at www.goodfoodireland.ie

2FM DJ Ruth Scott

Usually a few days before my holidays I grab a handful of books with brightly-pictured covers. Hi. My name is Ruth and I love chick lit. I often read one a day when I’m relaxing on the beach, sometimes even dipping into a second one as the sun is setting.

I avoid uplifting and inspirational books as a rule, because I don’t want to be using the work side of my brain while I’m away. I made a slight exception to the chick lit rule last week when I was in the Vale Do Lobo in Portugal. Late one evening, I randomly plucked The Farm by Tom Rob Smith from my gracious hosts’ shelf for a last-minute flick through. Four hours later, the dawn chorus was chirruping and I was submerged in the world of Scandi scandal. No cheating husbands or champagne lunches, like my usual choice of books. This was a talk of trust. Daniel, a 29-year-old, is confronted by his mother returning to England from her native Sweden with a satchel full of chilling evidence against those around her, including her husband, Daniel’s father. It’s creepy as hell and it sucked me in. I was pale and tired, but happy when I finished it.

Ruth hosts Weekenders with Ruth Scott & Paddy McKenna on Saturday and Sunday at 2-5pm on 2FM.

3e presenter Caroline Twohig

This summer, I’m heading to Croatia and would really like to finish a book I’ve already started. It’s The Child Thief by Gerald Brom and it’s a different and much darker version of the Peter Pan story. It has fabulous artwork on the cover and a few sketches throughout. I recently read John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things and loved it. The Child Thief was recommended in the same section online so I’d really like to get it finished, even if it gives me nightmares. If that proves too dark, I also have a copy of Ron Burgundy’s Let Me Off At The Top, which should be much lighter considering it’s written by Will Ferrell’s fictional character from the Anchorman movies. I think I’m set for summer reads either way.

Caroline Twohig presents FYI on 3e.

Director of Line Up Sports agency Maeve Buckley

The favourite holiday read for me is a gift from a friend or acquaintance, usually one I feel sceptical about at first and then end up not being able to put down. I recently read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and didn’t like the idea of it, but loved the book itself. My read for this summer, chosen by myself, is Fear and Loathing in La Liga, a history of the greatest rivalry in sport – Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona – by London Independent journalist Sid Lowe. It ties in nation versus state, freedom versus facism and the best individual and team footballers in the world. It was rated the best sports book of last year and has lots within it for me – I have had the pleasure of working with both clubs, lived in Spain for a number of years, speak Spanish and have a lot of professional and personal connections with the country.

Visit www.lineupsme.com

Travel writer Muriel Bolger

My favourite summer read is one that I can get lost in, a good biography or a saga like Penny Vincenzi’s latest A Perfect Heritage. It’s a 753-page doorstop book, enough to warrant a kilo in excess-baggage charges.

To compensate, I’ve just downloaded two other books onto my Kindle. I saw the movie Grace of Monaco at the weekend and realised how little of the Grimaldi story I actually know, even though Monte Carlo features in my latest novel.

So I bought Grace Kelly: The Secret Lives of a Princess by James Spada and am looking forward to going behind the toy-town sentry boxes at the palace.

The second is not a light read, but it’s bound to be compelling. It’s A Garden of Eden in Hell - The Life of Alice Herz-Sommer. Alice died this year at the age of 110.

She survived Theresienstadt concentration camp, where her husband and mother were gassed, simply because she was an accomplished musician.

Gustav Mahler was a playmate of her mother’s and Franz Kafka was a frequent guest for Sunday lunch.

This inspirational and exceptional woman forgave her persecutors, lived alone and played the piano for hours every day right up to the end.

The Pink Pepper Tree by Muriel Bolger is published by Hachette Ireland.

Food writer Valerie O’Connor

The novel in everybody’s hands, and mine too, is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Tartt is a novelist gifted in the attention to detail when describing a person, from their character to their appearance, every little thing, lovable and deplorable.

The story follows the life of young Theo, who loses his mother in a bomb explosion and finds himself in possession of a world-famous artifact, which takes over him and his entire life in the way that The Ring consumed Gollum and everyone who holds it in Lord of the Rings.

The weight and volume of the book, literally and physically, means you have an escape for a week or two on any trip and the characters will do that great thing that great writing does to you – call you in and get you thinking about an early night when you can find out the best thing in any book: “What happens next?”

Bread On The Table: Baking Traditions For Today by Valerie O’Connor is out now.

Chef Dan Mullane

Having worked in the hospitality industry for the past 40 years, the personal demand within our industry doesn’t allow a lot of free time, so having the time to read a book is indeed a blissful luxury.

I have loved poetry since childhood, and my diverse book collection includes works from Heaney, Fitzmaurice and Galvin. We were indeed honoured to have Mr Heaney stay over on numerous occasions and his signed copies are treasured.

Summer time in the Irish countryside is stunning and for those visiting Blue Book country house hotels, I would highly recommend Gabriel Fitzmaurice’s The Lonesome Road’ Collected and New poems 1984 – 2014. Holiday reading for me is nurturing the body, the soul and the mind and I look forward to an impromptu short break in beautiful west Cork. There, I will find a quiet space, pick up the collection, read a few poems and linger thoughtfully over the words.

Many book markers are required for this collection, as having read many of his poems for the first time, you know deep down you will have certain favourites for life. A few of my favourites are An Irishman Salutes the Queen, When I Pray, The Mortuary Card, and Ode to a Bluebottle.

It’s happy poetry with simple, but rich words. Simply stunning.

Dan’s restaurant, The Mustard Seed, is in the Echo Lodge at the heart of Limerick.

National Macra na Feirme president Kieran O’Dowd

Due to the unseasonably-good Irish summer we are having, I have not really given much thought to reading material for the summer as I plan to spend as much time out and about as possible. However, I am drawn back to the seminal work on Irish politics and history Ireland 1912-1985 – Politics and Society written by historian J.J. Lee.

This book gave me a fantastic grounding in the history and politics of Ireland, from the foundation of the Labour Party up until the economic uncertainty of the 1980s.

It covers our tentative steps towards self-government and the entrenchment of partition since 1920.

In the current political climate, whereby no party has any chance of governing Ireland on its own and the strength of independents, it would appear that there will be a rapprochement between old enemies Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and they may be forced to coalesce together.

This is happening already in some local authorities across the state. However, we should note that when Eamon De Valera and Fianna Fáil lost the 1948 election, the first inter-party Government lead by John A. Costello was established containing no fewer than five political parties and some independents.

So when journalists and political commentators throw up various scenarios, they would do well to read J.J. Lee’s book to have a context for their predictions.

www.macra.ie