A riveting read is a great summer holiday pleasure. Director asks a selection of leading business and cultural figures which titles they'll be packing

Gail Rebuck, chairman and chief executive, The Random House Group
Most of my summer reading will be manuscripts of forthcoming titles, which I have downloaded to a Sony eBook Reader. But on my last holiday I was entranced by a collection of titles that are now available to everyone—firstly, AS Byatt's The Children's Book, an engrossing family saga set against a backdrop of art and erudition from the early days of the V&A to Fabianism, suffragettes and the Great War. By contrast, I read Jim Collins's How the Mighty Fall to double check that we had passed his five-point survival plan for companies that would emerge stronger from the recession. I also enjoyed John Boyne's The House of Special Purpose, where, as with his The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, he uses a young boy's voice to narrate a slice of history, this time in pre-revolutionary Russia, where the peasant child has an incredible destiny.
On the cramped easyJet flight home I zoned out reading Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire. His third and last novel featuring the inimitable Lisbeth Salander is now safely saved for my next flight.

Sir Terence Conran, designer, restaurateur and retailer
I'm going to re-read Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh—I remember reading this for the first time when I was in my twenties. It amused me greatly and opened my eyes to the disadvantages of social privilege, and it seems a very appropriate time to read it again now. If I have time I will also have a read of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind. My wife has recommended it highly. Most of the time I travel for business, but this year I am going to Brittany with my wife for a week at the Grand Hôtel des Bains in Locquirec.

We went last year and it was a very modest hotel that overlooked the sea, sand and sailing boats. It is not a tourist hotel in any way and was filled with elderly French intellectuals, who gave it an interesting and very different feel. I plan to design, draw, read and write because it is the perfect place to relax.

Vikki Heywood, executive director, Royal Shakespeare Company
There are three books I plan to take on holiday with me. The first is The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. I know his work well as I produced his play, The Steward of Christendom, and I love his lyrical writing. It's a biographical novel based on the life of a relative who was incarcerated in a mental institution for most of her 100 years of life in Ireland.

Next up is When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson. I have read all her work and this latest one continues her, and my, relationship with her wonderful hero, detective Jackson Brodie. Finally, I'll be reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe—a 1958 classic by the acclaimed Nigerian writer, which I should have read long ago as I met and admired Chinua during an international festival I ran in the 1990s. Now I am shamed again as it has been recommended to me by two of my stepchildren.

Jean-Christophe Novelli, chef
I've just opened a new restaurant, Novelli's, at the Hotel Lorcrimar in Puerto Banus, in Spain, so I'll be spending a lot of time down there this summer.

It might be a holiday destination, but I'm not exactly going to be on holiday. And I don't really have the time or the concentration to read a lot, but there is one book that I always carry around with me. It was a present from my financial adviser, Felix de Palma, who gave it to me when I lost everything some years ago. The book is On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. It's a bible, the best book that has ever been written on the subject. It explains the chemistry of food, how molecules of sugar break down to form caramel. It helps people understand what cooking is all about. When I lost everything, Felix and this book helped me to get back on my feet again.

Diane Lees, director general, Imperial War Museum
I do masses of reading and research as we are looking at how the museum develops its remit for the next generation of visitors, who are more distant from war experience as time passes. I tend to read in the evenings and at the weekends, but don't find it a chore because I love the subject.

I have two books, the first is Europe's Last Summer: Why the World Went to War in 1914 by David Fromkin, which is a new book recommended by our head of research and information, James Taylor.
The second book is under direct instruction of my goddaughter, Holly, who wants to discuss my thinking on a teenage series by Stephenie Meyer about vampires and werewolves. So I'll be reading the final book, Breaking Dawn. I did quite enjoy the first three, only this one to go.

Marshall Marcus, head of music, Southbank Centre
Let me start by owning up: the last thing I will probably grab on the way out before Italy beckons this summer will be unread copies of the London and New York Review of Books. Already packed will be Trickster Travels: A Sixteenth-Century Muslim Between Worlds by Natalie Zemon Davis, a riveting account of a Muslim diplomat travelling between Andalusian Spain, Rome, Fez, and much of North Africa.

I'm also tempted by the runner-up in this year's Royal Philharmonic Society's Creative Communication award, John Tilbury's Cornelius Cardew: A Life Unfinished. And lastly, a reread of Roy Strong's highly informative Art and Power in preparation for some early Italian opera work coming up.

Max Clifford, public relations guru
If I'm honest, I'm not a reader and I rarely read anything that's not work-related. I also don't really take holidays. I've got a house in the hills above Marbella and it's very quiet, but I've got clients down there and people come to visit, so in 18 or 19 days I'll maybe get three or four quiet evenings to myself.

When I have got the time, I'll be reading a book by a new client, Brett Alegre-Wood. It's called The 3+1 Plan and it's basically about how investing in property can give you financial freedom. I'm forever hearing theories about how to make money, but this guy has actually been very successful in the last year and very few people in property can say that.