Books I've enjoyed, but not sure they qualify as vacation reading.
B.Traven, The Death Ship
Robert Wolff, In Defense of Anarchism
Ben Shahn, The Shape of Content
The first is a novel about what happened to a young merchant mariner who shipped out of New Orleans and found himself in Belgium without seaman's card or passport. Since he can't prove his identity, he becomes a stateless person. It's written in the 1930s.
The second is a political philosophy work with a very good defense for direct participation in democracy and collectives. It was originally written in the late 1960s and captures the reigning ideals of the period. I didn't finish it because Egypt blew up as a living example.
The last is an extended essay on whether the arts, artists and writers can survive in academia. Shahn had his doubts in 1957 when art departments were barely past their first decade in the public university systems. I read it as a student and didn't really understand what he was talking about. I recently re-read it after more than thirty years. Shahn was right to worry. Part of the central issues he deals with are the narrative in painting which is critical of the establishment...
Or rent The Wire, or piece it together from youtube segments. While it's journalistic fiction it is so good, it might as well be a narrative sociology track on life in urban America. It examines poverty, growing up on the streets, drug scenes, crime, police, schools, unions, newspapers, law, each of the institutions of contemporary society and their break downs. It essentially documents what goes on in a society where the only imperatives are getting money and getting more of it.
I'd call The Wire the most subversive and grown up piece of fiction I've come across in decades. You've got to go back to something like The Bicycle Thief to get near The Wire. I especially liked the kid actors and the character actors drawn from the streets... Oh, hell here's the wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire
It mentions David Simon's frustration as a journalist and Ed Burns problems with the police department. I especially liked the news room scenes and the union stuff. There is a lot of very cool humor in this thing too.
CG