9 Favorite Carry-on Books
By Kristen on Jul 21, 2008 in Book Club Favorites
photo credit: terren in Virginia
Last week on NPR, Nancy Pearl highlighted 9 books that she believes are perfect carry-on books. Here are her selections with a snipet of why she chose them!
The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread, by Don Robertson, paperback, 224 pages
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll totally delight in meeting 9-year-old Morris Bird III (whom some classmates unkindly call Morris Bird the Turd) as he decides to skip school one autumn afternoon in 1944 and walk across Cleveland to visit his best friend, Stanley Chaloupka.
The Arrival, by Shaun Tan, hardcover, 128 pages
My next recommendation manages to tell a compelling story without using any words. Shaun Tan’s book, The Arrival, is a picture book — but not one intended for young children. Author/artist Tan shares with us the wonder, excitement and fear that accompany a recent immigrant when he leaves his homeland and family to make a new life far away.
The Thin Place, by Kathryn Davis, paperback, 304 pages
Kathryn Davis’ novel is a mesmerizing and mysterious tale that opens with three adolescent friends on an aimless walk… The town’s denizens seem ordinary enough: Helen Zeebrugge copes with the various indignities of old age; ex-hippie Andrea Murdock researches the past; Buddy the dog does his doggy doings; Gigi the cat works on fully experiencing every one of her nine lives; and 12-year-old Mees tries to understand the strange gift she’s been given. But Varennes is a “thin place,” a shimmering, permeable division between the real and the inchoate, between the living and the dead, and strange things happen almost as a matter of routine.
An Infamous Army, by Georgette Heyer, paperback, 512 pages
Georgette Heyer took the title of her novel about the epic defeat of the Emperor Napoleon at Waterloo from a remark attributed to the Duke of Wellington. Wellington famously (and ruefully) described his understaffed, undermanned and under-equipped troops — which included the remnants of ragtag armies from all across Europe — as “an infamous army.”
Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton, by Sara Wheeler, hardcover, 320 pages
Remember Robert Redford in the film Out of Africa? When I finished Sara Wheeler’s engrossing and fluent Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton, I realized what a terrific choice the casting director made with Redford.
This novel moves Redford’s character, Finch Hatton (1881-1937), into the spotlight, illuminating this complex, dashing, non-conforming man. Wheeler takes us through his childhood in a once-wealthy family, his happiness at Eton and his fascination with the wide open spaces of East Africa, where he spent both his happiest and most bitter days.
Bangkok 8, by John Burdett, paperback, 336 pages
If you like your suspense novels set in exotic locales and you have a high tolerance for grisly and gruesome crimes, then you won’t want to miss John Burdett’s Bangkok 8.
Chester, by Mélanie Watt, hardcover, 32 pages
In literary criticism circles, you often hear the term “metafiction,” which the Encarta Dictionary defines as “fiction writing that deals, often playfully and parodically, with the nature of fiction, the techniques and conventions used in it, and the role of the author.” Well, when I read Mélanie Watt’s Chester, I figured that I had come across perhaps the world’s very first meta-picture book.
Sunshine, by Robin McKinley, paperback, 416 pages
I have never been a fan of novels with vampires in them. In fact, until recently I’d never read horror fiction at all — I’ve always felt that real life is scary enough before you add the supernatural to the mix. But I’ve always loved the novels of award-winning fantasy writer Robin McKinley, and a friend whose book smarts I respected recommended McKinley’s novel Sunshine, so I (somewhat hesitantly) picked it up, started reading and found — to my surprise — that I couldn’t put it down.
Metzger’s Dog, by Thomas Perry, paperback, 336 pages
Perhaps all you need to know to decide whether to read Thomas Perry’s thriller Metzger’s Dog is that Dr. Henry Metzger happens to be a cat. … So, if you’re hankering for a humorous crime story, you can’t do better than this one.
I haven’t read any of these picks, but I am surely requesting Too Close To the Sun ASAP… Out of Africa is one of my very favorite movies… What looks good to you?
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Thanks for this list! I think “The Greatest ThingSince Sliced Bread” and “The Thin Place” sound interesting. I’ll have to check them out!
Anna | Jul 26, 2008 | Reply