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Book recommendations

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Hi all!

From time to time, there have been posts about books -- not fashion or style related -- that we enjoy. I'm looking for recommendations of a good book that will keep me occupied on 24 hours of plane and airport time in between iPad viewing marathons. Paperback availability is a plus since those are easier to travel with.

I'm just getting to the final 100 or so pages of The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, and it's going to be a tough act to follow. Part of me wants to hurry up and see what happens, but part of me doesn't want it to end.

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63 replies

Latest reply was from retailgirl

Alassë

Veteran

What genres do you like?

ClaraT

Veteran

Where'd You Go Bernadette? Light reading, funny, I think good for a plane.

Cutting for Stone. 'Heavier' book (literally and figuratively) but my favorite book ever. Well, one of my favorites.

How to be Good. Just read this, sort of different in that it is character-driven more than plot-driven. I liked it a lot, although it seems the Amazon audience doesn't agree with me.

Wild. Never read it, but a million people (ok, several friends) have recommended it and it will be a movie later this year (fun to do the book/movie thing). I think light enough for plane reading. On my to-read list.

Looking forward to others' recs!

Kristin SF

Veteran

Did you read Gone Girl? That's my next book, really looking forward to it!

Also, The Book Thief is on my to-read list.

For travel, do you have a Kindle? Or even your iPad would work. (I find the Kindle is easier on my eyes, however. Plus no reflection.) I know people prefer the feel of a book in their hands, but when traveling, e-readers are great. Plus, you can buy new books at any time. I remember finishing The Hunger Games poolside in Mexico, and immediately buying Book 2 right then and there. Awesome!

pil

Veteran

I'd probably want something easy to read with interruptions - like David Sedaris. We went to Playa maybe six years ago? My son had given me Snow by Orhan Pamuk and I still haven't finished it despite a couple of additional attempts since first picking it up.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

I like many different genres. Thrillers, contemporary literature, memoirs, mystery, etc. Some of the books I've enjoyed recently besides The Goldfinch:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognani
North to the Night by Alvah Simon
Faithful Place by Tana French

I liked The Book Thief too, Kristin. Clara, And you are the second person I've seen mention Where'd You Go Bernadette? -- I will check that out!

Downloaded on my iPad, I have Khaled Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed, Twelve Years a Slave, The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, Skippy Dies by Paul Murray, and Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings. And no, even though I'm a pretty fast reader, I know I will not read all of those on the trip. I sort of "stock up" from time to time. But I know I need to take a paper-based book as well, for when the battery runs down on the iPad. I like to take something really engrossing on the plane.

I am also figuring out what movies or TV shows I should load up on for the flights as well! On my way to the Arctic I took I caught up on multiple seasons of The Wire.

Kristin SF

Veteran

Loved The Wire! You're probably all caught up on Breaking Bad. What about Sherlock and Downton Abbey? I have to say, I resisted The Walking Dead for so long, but DH and I are really enjoying that show, and we are NOT zombie/horror fans at all. It's all about the drama, AMC style. Game of Thrones is another good one.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Yep! I'm just waiting for the new seasons of GoT and Walkng Dead. I have not started Downton Abbey yet, so that might be my series for this trip.

citygirldc

(website)

Veteran

I'm currently reading 11/22/1963 by Stephen King. So far so good, easy reading even though it looks long, and little bit of time travel thrown in.

The premise of the story: what would you do if you could go back in time and change history?

Kristin L

Veteran

Have you read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver or Tinker Taylor Solider Spy by John LeCarre?

Marlene1

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Fun but makes you VERY hungry. Julia Child's My Life in France. Seriously one of my favorite books.

MsMary

Veteran

I just finished "Plainsong" by Kent Haruf. Loved it.

Also if you like Neil Gaiman, check out "American Gods." It'll keep you occupied for a very long trip!

April

Veteran

Ah, Janet -- The Goldfinch! That's what I was going to recommend. Loved loved loved it. I was so sad when I got to the end that I immediately downloaded Tartt's first book, The Secret History.

Last year, I loved My Hollywood by Mona Simpson. Terrible title for a fabulous book. Also A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.

Aquamarine

Veteran

The Good House by Ann Leary...

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

I really enjoy Walter Mosley's series with LT as the main character. The characters are interesting and flawed but lovable.

For TV shows, have you watched House of Cards with Kevin Spacey an Robin Wright Penn? If not, you should give it a try. Great story and plots as well as fashion.

Mia

Veteran

I read Where'd You Go Bernadette on my last plane ride and highly recommend it for a light, easy read. Very clever and funny. I also second the suggestion of Julia Child's "My Life in France". Delightful.

GoldFinch is next on my list so nice to see you recommend it. Happy reading!

JAileen

Veteran

Have you read any Bill Bryson? A Walk in the Woods, The Lost Continent, In a Sunburned Country. I had The Lost Continent for a long flight. I would read a paragraph, laughed, then I would read it aloud to my family, and they laughed. Repeated endlessly. I felt sorry for those sitting around us.

MsMary

Veteran

I'd be happy to send you my copy of "Where's You Go, Bernadette" if there's time for it to get to you before your trip. Or "Plainsong." Both paperback. Let me know!

T

If you like reading Jane Austen inspired lit, Longborne may be a good read. It looks at Pride & Prejudice but from the viewpoint of the household help

Inge

(website)

I always love these threads, and am loving all these suggestions.

I recently read The Goldfinch too, and absolutely loved it (curious to hear what you think of The Secret History, April, I devoured that one in one sitting when it came out. I was reading at the beach that day, and got the worst sunburn of my life, so entranced in the book that I didn't feel anything until it was too late).

If you like sci-fi, Janet, then perhaps you'll like the Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey. I found it to be a very quick and entertaining read. (and am off to order the next instalments in the series).
http://www.amazon.com/Wool-Omn.....8&qid

kkards

Veteran

if you are looking for a light read, i recommend the spellman series by lisa lutz, i think the 1st one was the spellman files. not great literature, but i found them entertaining and perfect for in flight reading.

Inge

(website)

TV-series:

- Luther
http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ.....8;qid=1390

- The Fall, with an excellent Gillian Anderson.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Fall....._1?ie=UTF8

- And if you haven't seen them yet and/or don't mind subtitles, the original (Scandinavian) versions of The Killing and The Bridge.

http://www.amazon.com/Killing-.....=sr_sp-atf

http://www.amazon.com/Bridge-B.....e_1_1?s=mo

- If you're in the mood for lots of '80s fashion and music: Ashes to Ashes.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt10.....flmg_act_8

Irene

Veteran

I was going to say Gone Girl, but I see you already went there.
I loved Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, but I'm not sure it's a plane book.
Anything by Jodi Picoult makes a light reading for me (I'm not a light reader per-se, so there are few 'fun, easy reading books' I know about), but I think I'll learn something from this thread! Something by Stephen King or Carol Oates?

I'm currently reading a book my best friend sent me from the second-back bookshop she's working at in Edinburgh. Totally random pick: Miss Pettigrew lives for a day.
I never thought I would say this about a 1930s English light and frivolous novel, but it is quite funny and a happy surprise

Inge

(website)

Irene, agreed that Miss Pettigrew was a delightful read.

Sara L.

Veteran

Have you read anything by Luis Alberto Urrea? I loved The Hummingbird's Daughter and just finished Into the Beautiful North.

I also really enjoyed The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. It's an older book than the Poisonwood Bible (which I also liked).

Also, I recently read If I Stay by Gayle Forman, which is being made into a movie. It's weepy but good.

Oh, and if you like science fiction I also just read the Divergent series. They start off kind of slow but then pick up.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Sara, I LOVED The Hummingbird's Daughter! I'll have to check out Into the Beautiful North. Also the Divergent series. I enjoyed Neal Stephenson's Reamde and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Also been reading some Joe R. Lansdale -- The Bottoms is excellent. I think I've read every book Barbara Kingsolver has written. I need to go back and re-read The Secret History -- I read it when it first came out and still have it upstairs in our "library."

E

Veteran

Oh if you like mysteries, Deborah Crombie has an excellent series set in England. There are quite a few books now, and she's still publishing new ones, but Wikipedia has as helpful list of the order: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Crombie . I love them for travel, because they're well written and very engaging/page-turning. And they're available as paperbacks (and audiobooks).

bella

(website)

Veteran

Are you into young adult fiction at all? Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy makes for excellent travel reading imo.

April

Veteran

Inge, I'm loving The Secret History as well. I'm horribly picky about books (former lit major) and want them to be both incredibly well written *and* the sort of thing I can't put down. Donna Tartt achieves that for me.

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