There are certain literary indulgences that we all like to keep for the holidays. Treats best enjoyed on the beach, in the bath, or under a parasol with a long, cool drink. This is the perfect time to renew old friendships, and this year I will be searching my bookshelves to ensure that my packing includes some of my all-time favourite summer reads.

First, I will be taking P.G.Wodehouse, that master of the literary lounge-chair novel. I don't think this author has yet written a book that wasn't funny, deceptively clever and downright delicious, but I am packing my dog-eared paperback copy of The Inimitable Jeeves (Arrow, £7.99/offer £7.59), with its cast of loveable eccentrics, its good-humoured descriptions of village life, its apparently effortless wit and its eternally sunny horizons. the appeal of Wodehouse's characters is beyond time and place, and these stories still represent a part of a long-vanished England that we may not have known, but that we still love.

From the Times Archive: The 1981 review of 'The Inimitable Jeeves'

I will also include, for the darker days, a book of Saki's short stories. Elegant (Penguin, £10.99/£9.89), timeless and haunting, these are stories to savour at leisure - or better still, to read aloud - each one unique and perfectly crafted, barbed with the author's delicate wit.

From the Times Archive: The 1982 review of the author Saki

To satisfy my craving for adventure and travel (on the page, if nowhere else), I will be taking Arturo Pérez-Reverte's contemporary swashbuckler The Queen of the South (available second-hand from abebooks.co.uk), not least for its exotic depictions of the Spanish drug-trafficking scene - and for its fabulous heroine, Teresa, one of the most beguiling and fantastically amoral adventuresses in fiction, whose escapades take her from submissive narco's morra to ruthless queen of the underworld.

My next travel treat is a new novel, Nicholas Drayson's A Guide to the Birds of East Africa (Viking, £12.99/£11.69). Set in Kenya, it's a funny, ingenious and touching love story, packed with vibrant local colour. But it's the depiction of the protagonist, Mr Malik - ageing, balding, hiding his secret passion beneath his quiet exterior - that really won my heart. It's a modern-day Hare and Tortoise tale, that takes you from Shakespeare to Alexander McCall Smith without missing a beat.

Also new, and astonishingly fresh on the palate, is Sulaiman Addonia's bittersweet and compelling novel, The Consequences of Love (Chatto, £12.99/£11.69). Set in Saudi Arabia, it's an intense and moving glimpse into a world where love is an impossible dream, where women and men are kept strictly apart, and where a romantic young man can fall in love with a veiled and nameless girl whom he can only recognise by her pink shoes...

Finally, as dessert, I will be taking another treasured old favourite. Jane Gardam's The Queen of the Tambourine (Abacus, £7.99/£7.59). This author rarely travels far afield; instead she has the ability to convey the intimate details of our lives and those around us with wonderful sensitivity and humour. In this novel she deals with the themes of loneliness, friendship, fear and old age with perfect wisdom and clarity, all expressed so beautifully that we often fall into the trap of thinking her prose is effortless.

From the Times Archive: The 1978 announcement of Jane Gardam having been shortlisted for the Booker Prize

But it takes genius to make writing look so easy, and if, by some chance, I don't manage to get away at all this summer, then I know I can always rely on this book to take me exactly where I want to be.

Joanne Harris grew up in her grandparents' sweet shop. She is the author of 14 novels, including Chocolat and The Lollipop Shoes.

Explore Books

• Book Extracts

• Book Reviews

• Books Group

• Audio Books

Times Recommends

• The 100 Best Books of the Decade
• The Times picks the 50 best paperbacks of 2009
• The conversation: James Ellroy