Travel the world with these top 5 airport reads

Read time: 3 mins

Hands up if you love a good travel book? Keeping you occupied and enthralled on layovers, relaxed by the pool or entertained in cozy city cafes, books have the power of transportation.

Whether you’re flying to distant lands of dragons, medieval cobblestone streets or quaint romantic villages, a good book is an essential holiday companion.

No need to lug a novel from home in your hand luggage, let the guiding shelves of Brisbane Airport's bookshops entice you with stories waiting to be read.

After all, “a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one” – George R.R. Martin.

What exactly is an airport read?

Unlike the books sitting on your bedside table, airport reads are those defined by their pacey-genre. They’re guaranteed to have you turning from page-to-page in anticipation, and most importantly distract you from take-off to landing, and all the bits in between.

We recommend gravitating to an unfamiliar genre, you never know what great books you could be missing and it also fosters critical thinking and creativity. Go ahead and pick up that intriguing mystery or science fiction adventure and see where it takes you – who knows where you’ll end up.

However, what’s a book without getting to discuss it with those who have read it? To pique your interest and keep you in the loop of reading trends, we gathered our BNE book retailers and Goodreads’ top recommendations that can be found in the top read sections of many bookstores.

According to the retailers within the terminal, the following books are the current best-sellers:

1. Boy Swallows Universe (Trent Dalton)
2. The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman)
3. House of Flame and Shadow (Sarah J. Mass)
4. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Gabrielle Zevin)
5. Iron Flame (Rebecca Yarros)

With 2.2 million new titles released every year, Good Reads crunched the data on the top books of 2023:

1. Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros)
2. Happy Place (Emily Henry)
3. Yellowface (R. F. Kuang)
4. Love, Theoretically (Ali Hazelwood)
5. Divine Rivals (Rebecca Ross)

Where to buy a book in the Domestic Terminal

Now that we have your book reading attention, it would be remiss not to guide you to where you can pick up your next airport read.

Regardless of if you’re flying Qantas, Jetstar or Virgin, there are three bookstores at all ends of the terminal. Two of these are news@bne, where you can pick yourself a new page-turner and snacks to enjoy it with. Don’t worry, each news@bne stocks the same books, so no need to go shop-hopping. Alternatively, stop for a coffee and cake and browse the range at Bound.

Where to buy a book in the International Terminal?

Before being transported to a new country, pick up the prequel to your travel adventures at News Travels.

Although we may judge a book by its cover, sometimes it’s the unfamiliar finds that surprise us the most. Before taking a birds-eye view of the world via your plane window, step into the shoes of someone you’re not familiar with because, “the more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go” – Dr. Seuss.

Prefer to read digitally? 

Looking to travel light? Stop by Lotte Duty Free for a new reading gadget. If you already have an iPad or Kindle, start downloading your to-read list with Brisbane Airport’s free WIFI or ensure you have enough charge to last you the flight with the many ports throughout the terminal.