So as I've said, I'm going to be taking a long train ride with my family coast-to-coast: To Chicago, then Chicago to Portland, Oregon on the Empire Builder via Glacier National Park . . . and then back.
So there will be a lot of time for reading.
Here's what I have on my Kindle in sample form, in the order in which I will probably read them:
Reynolds Price, Ardent Spirits: Leaving Home, Coming Back. Price is one of the most distinguished old-school "men of letters," and this is his book about his time at Oxford, coming of age. Not sure if it gets up to his shift to the wheel chair.
Colson Whitehead, Sag Harbor: A Novel. About an upper-middle-class African-American teen, somewhat younger (in the time period of the novel) than I was, dealing with the social contradictions of his milieu.
William R. Forstchen, One Second After. This is a novel about how a small town deals with life after North America's technology is wrecked by an electromagnetic pulse. Forstchen has co-written some novels with Newt Gingrich. I won't hold that against him. I'm not a big fan of the politics, but I'm a sucker for a good end-of-the-world novel (my recent favorite being World Made by Hand).
Clancy Martin, How to Sell: A Novel. About . . . well, I don't know what it's really about, but the setting seems to be the diamond district in NYC.
Joseph Findler, Paranoia. Everyone deserves a good corporate thriller.
Christopher Buckley, Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir. I've loved everything I've read by Buckley, especially, of course, Thank You for Smoking. The extract of this memoir in the New Yorker was a great read, and it would seem that it's also great at this length.
I'm also thinking about this new chick-lit book called Commencement about a group of Smith College grads. And there are books people have recommended to me such as the Kite Runner, Wikinomics, In Defense of Food. We'll see.
And why these books? Dunno. A lot are memoir or memoir-esque; some are about places; they all seem to be page-turners, and none are horribly serious.
More suggestions welcome!
comments powered by Disqus